Gov. Ned Lamont announced Wednesday that the at-home test kits slated to arrive in Connecticut tomorrow experienced a shipping delay and are stuck on the West Coast.
“My staff and multiple state agencies have spent the past several days working around the clock to accelerate the movement of our tests through what is clearly a shipping and distribution bottleneck on the West Coast amid unprecedented international demand for tests,” Lamont said.” I want to thank our municipal and emergency management partners who have quickly and efficiently established their methods of distribution of the tests, clearly communicating them to their communities. My administration is in regular communication with city and town leaders, and we will provide updates as we have them in order to distribute the tests as quickly as possible. I thank our staff and leadership at the Department of Administrative Services, the Department of Public Health, the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the Connecticut National Guard for their incredible work to execute on this test delivery.”
The Department of Emergency Management was holding a conference call with local officials Wednesday. Local officials were left to cancel any distribution events scheduled for Thursday.
“Right now, we are hopeful that the shipment will arrive in time for Middletown’s scheduled giveaways on Friday, and they remain scheduled,” Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim said in a tweet.
In East Hartford, the distribution has been delayed until the tests arrive in the state. Other towns are asking residents to pay attention to social media and still others are keeping their plans for Friday with hope the tests arrive by then.
Glastonbury has tentatively rescheduled its distribution for 10 a.m. Dec. 31.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said Lamont should have waited to announce them because the tests were not here yet.
“Supply chain and shipping challenges have been a major part of the news cycle over the last year, and that fact, combined with an increased demand for tests right now, means it’s no surprise that Connecticut isn’t receiving these tests on time,” Candelora said. “What is surprising, however, is that the Governor and his team would be so bold to not only make their announcement Monday, but to also urge municipal officials to mobilize even though the tests had yet to arrive here. The governor can’t fix this with a press release—he’s over his skis on this one, and it’s going to cause a lot of headaches for local leaders who stretched themselves and their staffs to set up these distribution events.”