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As you probably are aware, we started the 2022 legislative session pretty quickly with a house vote to decide which of the Governor’s eleven executive orders needed to be put in statute temporarily over the next few months. Most of them, except for vaccine mandates on teachers and state workers, were codified into law for a variety of short time periods.
The most contentious of the Executive Orders is the school mask mandate. I cast my vote to allow, through June 30th, CSDE and DPH to have authority over mask mandates in schools. They have the public health expertise and intimate knowledge of how our school systems work.
Throughout the Northeast, states are announcing plans to remove school and community masking requirements. Connecticut has signaled that Feb. 28th will be the date mask guidance ends, at least as far as state mandates go. This will allow local authorities to decide their own approach to masking.
Across the state we have seen many different impacts from the pandemic. What works for one community may have detrimental impacts on another. This approach recognizes a move away from a one size fits all decision-making body. Each town, city and even region have very different COVID numbers and vaccine rates throughout age groups. This law gives each town, through their BOE and health departments, more local control.
Here in the community, I serve on the East Shore District Health Department’s Community Health Improvement Project (CHIP) Board. Each month we are presented the data that has been collected. While I was unable to attend the meeting on Thursday because of session, I asked for the data ahead of my vote, so I would be able to understand the COVID and vaccine situation on the ground here in Branford. Here is what I learned.
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We are not out of the woods yet. Numbers are coming down fast but not flattening out yet. If we continue to trend in the direction we are going, over the next few weeks, we will be in a good place coinciding with the February 28th date when the local authority goes into effect.
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I want to reflect and recognize the collective and individual trauma we have experienced over the past two years. When I became your state representative, I was fortunate to have some background in both education and public health policy. I am also a parent. Even then, none of us had any idea of the breadth of the decisions we were going to have to make over the course of two years.
I have received your emails and texts, I’m supportive of your viewpoints, and am thankful for your communications. I have heard from people on both sides of this mask choice issue, pretty much evenly. I recognize that some of you will want us to slow down and others will want us to speed up. This bill is a compromise and is not going to make anyone 100% happy, but I do know that we have done everything we can to move through this pandemic together.
There is a Senate vote scheduled on Monday, if the bills remain unchanged and pass, they will go on then to be signed by the Governor. Then DPH/CSDE will be able to issue their mask guidance and any changing quarantine procedures. There will be a lapse of a week to allow local districts to put in place any policies, or not.
I appreciate your support and please don’t hesitate to reach out should you need anything.
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