When the governor’s communications director tested positive for COVID-19 last week, it forced the governor, Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, and senior members of the administration home.
“In our office, we have taken all the necessary protocols,” Paul Mounds, Gov. Lamont’s chief of staff, said. “Everyone wears a mask in the office. There’s hand sanitizer everywhere in the office. We do wipe downs after meetings if there are meetings or such. We’ve spaced out chairs.”
Max Reiss, Lamont’s communications director, tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday hours after joining the governor and the two U.S. senators at an indoor press conference in West Haven.
A member of the governor’s security detail also tested positive for the virus this week but was not at the West Haven event. No one else on the governor’s staff has tested positive.
The quarantine doesn’t mean business stops -- it just means more meetings on Microsoft Teams from home and juggling family responsibilities.
“We went into a full biweekly testing protocol for key members of the governor's staff, particularly those who had functions within the office and those who had close proximity to the governor. We put that in place as soon as we saw what happened in the White House and the spread that happened there,” Mounds said.
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Lamont is working from his home in Greenwich where he will hold his biweekly COVID press conference.
Earlier in the day, Lamont confirmed he’s still negative.
“I’m fine. I’m tested three times a week and I’ve tested negative each time,” Lamont said. “When you’re exposed to somebody who has tested positive, you’ve got to get off the battlefield for a while. This is my underground bunker.”
Mounds said there are no plans to return to work at the state capitol next week. He said all the staff, including the governor, will remain in quarantine for the full 10 days, through the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Obviously everything is going to be dictated by the community spread and what the virus is in the state,” Mounds said.
He said they will reassess how many public events the governor does in December.
“Nothing is foolproof. Everyone’s not in a bubble. People, you just never know in terms of how a person can obtain it, where? Things of that sort. I’m not even going to go into that process,” Mounds said.
