Declaring that Connecticut is not “Mississippi,” Gov. Ned Lamont Thursday afternoon issued a statewide Covid-19 vaccination mandate for all public and private-school teachers.
The mandate takes effect Sept. 27.
It requires all teachers to get vaccinated unless they have an exception for a medical reason (like allergy to a vaccine component or potential response to current treatments) or “sincerely held religious belief.”
Those who do opt out must undergo weekly Covid-19 testing.
Teachers who violate the order will face penalties to be negotiated before Sept. 27 through union collective bargaining.
Lamont unveiled the executive order at a resumption of his online Covid-19 news briefings. He said he was acting in response to the upsurge in cases due to the Delta variant. He also said he was looking at what happened in Mississippi: more than 20,000 students tested positive there in the first week of school reopening. Mississippi has far lower vaccination rates than Connecticut, and it bans local indoor masks mandates. (Connecticut cities like New Haven and Hamden have instituted indoor mandates.)
“No offense, but we’re not Mississippi,” Lamont said. “Look at the headline: They just opened school!”
“Our kids are going to be in schools safely. Our teachers will be able to teach safely. You’re going to be able to go to work safely. That is what these rules are all about.”
He noted that employers from Cigna to hospitals to Uber and Facebook have already instituted employee vaccination mandates.
“This is how we break the back of Covid,” Lamont said.
While noting the rise in Covid-19 with the Delta variant, Lamont also offered perspective, with a chart showing that hospitalizations are far below the rate seen in the past two peaks. He said he expects the current uptick to continue, but believes Connecticut will not return to the level of, say, 2,000 Covid-19 patients hospitalized statewide (as compared to 344 currently). He said he’s confident Connecticut will rank among the top states in the nation for comparatively high vaccination rates and comparatively low hospitalization and death rates.
Still, with cases continuing to rise, the city needed to take stronger measures than offering vaccination incentives, the governor said. “We’ve got to do better. We’re going to be a little stronger in terms of our ‘medicine.’”
The governor had previously declared a vaccination mandate for nursing home workers, effective Sept. 7. That order will now include state employees who work in hospitals, as well.
Asked about a statewide in-door mask mandate, Lamont said that he isn’t ordering that at this point. “Check back with me,” he said, “in a week.”
While the statewide mandate was being crafted this week, New Haven teachers union President David Cicarella he supports this “reasonable compromise” that pairs a mandate with medical or religious exemptions or weekly testing for teachers with other reasons for opting out.
responsible leadership. glad to read this.