HARTFORD, CT (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday warned Connecticut residents to keep taking precautions to protect themselves from COVID-19, calling a tweet from the president that urged Americans not to be "afraid" of the virus "totally inappropriate."
In a tweet announcing his plans to check out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center following his COVID-19 diagnosis, President Donald Trump said Americans shouldn't "be afraid of COVID" or "let it dominate (their) lives."
Asked about Trump's tweet at a news briefing Monday afternoon, Lamont said it was "the exact wrong time to relax your guard."
"I think it's totally inappropriate," he said. "I wish the president was not making light, especially given the fact that he, at his age, was afflicted."
"Thank God it was not more serious, and I wish him all the very best when he comes out, but for a lot of people my age, his age and older, it's been very serious," he added. "This is no time for us to relax."
Connecticut is still reporting "a lot" of COVID-19 cases, Lamont noted. Of the 50,333 COVID-19 tests results that came back on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 823, or 1.6 percent, were positive, he said.
As of Sunday night, 129 people in the state were hospitalized with COVID-19, up by 19 from Saturday. The state also reported four new COVID-19 deaths, bringing its death toll to 4,517.
Southeast Connecticut continues to have a higher infection rate than the rest of the state, at approximately 3 percent, Lamont said.
Half of the state's new hospitalizations, meanwhile, were reported in New London County, he added.
Connecticut is still on track to enter Phase 3 of its reopening later week, the governor said.
