Democratic Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut said he is easing COVID-19 quarantine restrictions for students — while children as young as 5 begin to get vaccinated.
Lamont said his voluntary “screen and stay” initiative would allow students and staff who have been in close contact with a known COVID-19 case to remain in school if they are wearing a mask and don’t develop symptoms. He said it would end the need for repeated student quarantines.
“Screen and stay in school is one more signal of success in our battle against COVID,” he said.
House Republicans said he should go further.
“Frankly as we all know from the data and the science, kids can go to school safely. They are not good spreaders of the virus especially when they are younger,” said House GOP Minority Leader Vincent Candelora.
“Daycares remained open through the whole pandemic when no one was vaccinated and we didn’t see any outbreaks in daycares,” he said.
Lamont has said he would wait until after the Christmas holiday season to make a decision on removing mask mandates and the other COVID-19 restrictions.
