Name: How to Reopen: Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont
Uploaded: 2020-05-20
Duration: 5 min 33 s
Description: As Connecticut begins to reopen, Governor Lamont talks about his top priorities and policies.

As Connecticut begins to reopen, Governor Lamont talks about his top priorities and policies.

How to Reopen: Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont

Features

Lamont discusses his top priorities and policies.

we kept most of our economy open. We kept major manufacturing and outdoor construction and public health. I'd say, well, over 70% of our economy we kept going. So what we're doing on May 20th, as we slowly open, is allow the rest of those retail that were only available for takeout. Slowly let people in. And, uh, we're gonna do restaurants, but only outside. Uh, we're not going to have schools through June 30 in traditional classrooms, but we are going to have summer camps soon thereafter. That will lead into summer school that will lead in the residential housing for graduates. So we're slowly ramp up. We're doing the same thing in each sector. I'm listening to, I hope the best of the best. I've got a reopened Connecticut committee. We put together an amazing group of about 50 folks who, uh, we're working out at home these days. Um, academic scientists business. It's led by in renewing. She's the former CEO of Pepsi. In addition, we've got Dr Albert Ko. He's the top epidemiologists infectious disease, um, over at Yale and surprisingly to me, um, they reach awful lot of agreement because the business group no matter how much they want to open. Uh knows that if the consumer doesn't feel confident, it's not gonna work. And the scientific community's, uh, feel good or approval is really important. Their care. Nail salons, restaurants. I think you're gonna find that maybe we open them and that the consumers can be a little hesitant because it's not quite as obvious how you were socially distance in an environment like that, Uh, and I think it's going to take some time. And I think that's why it's really important to listen to the scientists. Not that there are any business, but that their point of view is going to be important in terms of giving the consumer confidence. I think I'll go to that to our restaurant. I see the mass, I see the clubs. I see how they're keeping things clean. There seem to be taking it seriously. Now that is the governor say it's okay for me to go there as long as the tables are six ft apart. But also the scientific team has put together, I think that will help in the methodical reopening. I think everything is going to be different and it's not just the distancing protocols and how we learn to clean and disinfect. I think we learned a lot about learning, teaching and education, and nothing replaces the classroom. But I think you're gonna find distance learning as a much more prominent place. We probably have smaller classes, and not everybody is in the classroom at all. Given times telehealth. I think health is going to be transformed. They were so slow, right? You always go in. Your doctor's office is the last fax machine you ever saw. It was just incredible. And I think we're going to find we can take care of a lot more people a lot more efficiently, a lot more safely. I think people are gonna rethink nursing homes. You know, you really love Grandma's nursing home in the right place for her to be. Or maybe she can stay at home a little longer and we'll find a home health care that is supportive there. So I think you're gonna see a lot of changing dimensions. Over the next few years. It may be throttled back. We've got 100,000 fever meters coming. We've got remote thermometers to take your temperature via Bluetooth taken up to the cloud. I hope we're going to be able to track this. C word is See if we can tamp it down. Make sure we have the track and trace. Make sure that this thing does not take on a 1918 2nd life of its own. That's every governor is the greatest fear. We don't have the capacity to hospitals to handle what could be a second way. I'm not gonna let that happen. It's going to be a top six months. Uh, we're better. Economically. I think that most of our peers we had a pretty good rainy day fund. I'm not going to have to raise taxes and slash services for the near term. You know, if this thing goes on six months, 12 months and people are reluctant to go back to restaurants, we don't have any sales tax. Um, then it's going to be tougher, just like it is for all of our neighboring states. Uh, we have big, strong manufacturing, you know, we make helicopters, we make jet engines, we make submarines. I think that gives us a certain ballast in our ship as we go through. Because those are jobs are going to keep going throughout this economy. I think we're going to take a second look at small towns in suburban life, a little out of favor in the last decade. Maybe in this decade, people are say, Hey, not so bad. Combine that with our really good school system, I think that Connecticut will be pretty well positioned.