NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WCBS 880/AP) -- Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced Tuesday that K-12 students will be required to wear face masks through at least September.
Lamont said keeping children and teachers safe remains a top priority with the school year set to begin in two weeks.
“We did it well last fall, we’re going to do it again this fall and show the rest of the country we know how to do it safely,” said Lamont at a news conference with student-athletes and coaches Tuesday.
Lamont said more information on the mask mandate will be laid out in the coming days.
Lamont’s executive order requiring masks in schools is set to expire with the rest of his special executive powers Sept. 30.
But Martin Looney, the Democratic president pro tempore of the state Senate from New Haven, said lawmakers will meet next month to decide whether to extend those executive powers further, a move he said he would support.
Lamont said he’s also planning to meet with union leaders who represent nursing home workers to discuss whether to extend the deadline for getting those workers vaccinated.
An executive order prevents nursing homes from employing anyone who has not received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 7. Nursing home owners found in violation of the order face fines of $20,000 a day.
Lamont lamented the continually rising virus numbers Tuesday, saying Tuesday’s seven-day infection rate rose to 3.4%.
Lamont said he prefers using incentives to mandates when it comes to convincing people to get vaccinated, but believes the effectiveness of concert ticket or cash giveaways may be waning.