Connecticut Gov. Lamont strikes hopeful tone at final COVID-19 press conference: ‘No mission accomplished banners’

Gov. Ned Lamont held his final, regularly scheduled coronavirus press briefing Thursday, complete with all the markings of a victory lap: reflections on the past 14 months, congratulations for a job well done and forecasts of a bright summer.

But, with his various coronavirus advisers arrayed across the Zoom screen, Lamont himself posed a question: Was Connecticut declaring victory too soon?

“George W. Bush got on the aircraft carrier in what turned out to be the third inning of the war in Iraq and he had a big ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign behind him,” Lamont said. “Are we being a little premature here, or do we think with vaccinations we have turned the corner and with vigilance we’re going to be in good shape a year from now?”

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb pushed back against the governor’s self-probing question. The end of the coronavirus press briefings was not a victory declaration, Gottlieb said. It was an interim victory declaration.

“I think that we’re in as good of a place as we can be given all the circumstances,” Gottlieb said. “I do think that this is an interim victory. And I think that the next round of covid and how we grapple with it is going to look different.”

In addition to Gottlieb, a Fairfield County resident, Lamont was also joined on Thursday by some of his other stalwart advisers during the COVID crisis, including Dr. Albert Ko, from the Yale School of Public Health, and Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo. Also on hand at what was billed as the final virtual COVID news conference were his chief of staff, Paul Mounds, Jr.; Josh Geballe, chief operating officer; and Deidre S. Gifford, acting commissioner of the state Department of Public Health.

Regardless of the exact phrasing used by Lamont and his advisers, the administration’s tone has notably shifted in recent days. The governor is now focusing less on continued caution, making room for celebration.

At a Wednesday afternoon press briefing alongside business leaders and officials, Lamont told Connecticut residents to “get out of the damn house” and return to traveling and eating out. And on Thursday, the governor pointed to the state’s steadily improving coronavirus metrics as a reason to halt the twice-weekly video updates.

“The numbers are where we want them to be,” Lamont said.

And while Connecticut’s metrics have steadily improved in recent weeks — hospitalizations are at their lowest number in more than six months and the weekly average positivity rate is well below 1% — public health experts say the pandemic is not over. The governor and his staff have acknowledged this, too, balancing the two messages.

Connecticut still has more than 1.3 million residents who have not received even a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 62.5% of Connecticut residents have received at least one shot of a vaccine — leaving 37.5%, including children, who have not.

“When it comes to vaccines, we still have some work to do,” Lamont said. “We are not taking our foot off the accelerator when it comes to getting everybody vaccinated.”

Plus, there has not been enough time for the effect of the state’s reopening to show up in the coronavirus metrics.

Public health experts, including from outside of Connecticut, say that the state’s May 19 reopening would likely cause some increase in cases. That increase would show up about two to three weeks after the reopening, experts agreed, but some said the numbers should be closely monitored for at least six weeks in order to determine if the uptick is permanent.

“You have to monitor those trend lines like a hawk,” said Dr. Phil Landrigan, a pediatrician and public health researcher at Boston College, earlier this month.

Lamont said on both Wednesday and Thursday that the state plans to continue monitoring the coronavirus metrics for months to come. The governor and his top staff, including chief operating officer Josh Geballe and acting public health Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford, said they’ll continue to push for people to get vaccinated.

“No mission accomplished banners,” Lamont said Thursday. “We’ve got to be very vigilant moving forward.”

Courant staff writers Alex Putterman and Eliza Fawcett contributed to this report.

Emily Brindley can be reached at ebrindley@courant.com.