CT Insider With less than two weeks before the General Assembly’s statutory deadline, a new round of COVID infections in the state Senate has prompted legislative leaders to order mandatory masking for staff, elected officials and the public on the third floor of the State Capitol building as well as the fourth floor Senate galleries.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, made the announcement late Monday night in an email to Capitol reporters, citing “a number of positive COVID tests” in the Senate. Daily rapid COVID tests will be performed on senators and staff, and senators who test negative will be allowed to take off masks on the Senate floor.
Looney’s announcement, made after consulting with Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, came several hours after Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, an eighth-term veteran of the General Assembly, announced that he tested positive for the virus. “I had a good run,” Lesser announced on Twitter. “Unfortunately last night I tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time. Symptoms so far are minor. Isolating and taking anti-viral medication.”