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April 9, 2020

Lamont to extend school, business shutdowns

PHOTO | New Haven BIZ Claire's Corner Copia, a downtown New Haven staple for decades.
By Michael C. Bingham

Gov. Ned Lamont will extend the executive order mandating that “non-essential” businesses as well as public schools in Connecticut remain closed until May 20, the governor announced Thursday.

During a small-business conference call with David Lehman, commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic & Community Development, Lamont said he also intended to extend the restaurant and bar shutdown from the previously announced April 30 targeted reopening date to some time in May.

The governor was responding to a phoned-in question from a restaurant owner about whether he could expect to reopen for business by the previously announced April 30 target date.

“I regret to say that we’re going to announce within a day or so that public schools will remain closed for at least another month — until May 20,” Lamont said. “I would assume that you can say the same thing about bars and restaurants and some of our other businesses,” he added.

On Friday during his daily briefing the governor officially extended the non-essential business shutdown to May 20. He also issued an official statement about the extension of the schools shutdown:

“Out of the best interests of the health and safety of students, teachers, and staff, we feel this is the best approach at this time,” Lamont said. “We’ll continue consulting with our public health experts and education officials in the coming weeks as the situation continues to change.

“I want everyone to know that this is done out of an abundance of caution, and our education officials will continue to speak with school districts to help amplify their learn-from-home initiatives during this difficult time,” Lamont added.

On March 17 Lamont joined the governors of New York and New Jersey when he issued an executive order mandating the closing of restaurants and bars that serve food for eating in. Movie theaters, fitness centers and recreational facilities were ordered shuttered at the same time.

“The general theme [of questions during the teleconference] is, ‘When can I get back to work, when can I get my business going again?” Lamont said during the Thursday afternoon teleconference. “Everything we’re trying to do at the state level is doing what we can to keep businesses intact.”

“But I’m a little scared that if we move too fast and take too much risk, we’re liable to have a second [outbreak] of this virus, which would just be tragic for everybody,” he said.

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