Governor Ned Lamont is in a tough spot. This week, he had a group of medical professionals send him a letter saying the way to stop the spike in hospital admissions due to Covid-19 is to close businesses like indoor restaurants and gyms. Meanwhile, the business owners who run those restaurants and gyms are asking for looser restrictions so they can stay afloat during an economic collapse.

He has parents calling him because their kids can’t go to school to learn or play sports, and teachers calling because they’re teaching in classroom conditions they feel are unsafe.

Everyone wants to be at the front of the line when vaccines start to roll into the state by the end of the year, and aside from CDC guidance, he’s getting little help from Washington, where lawmakers continue to dicker over an aid package.

That was the backdrop for our conversation with Gov. Lamont this week. In part one, we talked about the alarming rise in Connecticut’s infection and hospitalization rates, plans to help businesses through the pandemic, and who should be first in line to get vaccines.

John is CT Mirror's Director of Events. A well-known and highly-regarded radio personality and moderator, he divides his time between CT Mirror — where he heads up our events program and serves as a multi-platform consultant — and the NPR / PRI program Science Friday. Previously, John was executive editor of the New England News Collaborative and the host of NEXT, a weekly program about New England. He also appeared weekly on The Wheelhouse, WNPR’s news roundtable program. His 25 years in public media also include serving as vice president of news for Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, host of WNPR’s Where We Live, and regular fill-in host for the PRI program Science Friday in New York. He was twice recognized by PRNDI as America’s best public radio call-in show.

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