#WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) called on the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to utilize its emergency enforcement mechanism to require employers to develop and implement comprehensive plans to keep all essential workers who continue to perform their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic safe. The lawmakers asked OSHA to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which would provide employers with a consistent roadmap of standards to follow to ensure all employees who continue to come into work across the country are protected, and eventually develop a permanent standard should another such emergency arise in the future.

“As the number of confirmed cases and fatalities related to COVID-19 continue to rise, frontline workers continue to keep desperately needed services in place – providing food, public transit, emergency services, healthcare, and ensuring construction projects move forward – despite the risks associated with exposure to the virus. Many of these workers lack the necessary personal protective equipment and other resources to keep themselves safe,” the senators wrote in a letter to DOL Secretary Eugene Scalia. “The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the immediate need for OSHA to issue such a standard to protect all those who are required to work during this public health emergency from exposure to the coronavirus.” 

The senators also called on OSHA to immediately issue an enforcement memo which would allow the agency to conduct on-site enforcement that ensures businesses are at the very least following current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance before the new ETS takes effect. They noted the precedent and framework provided by a similar enforcement memo issued in reaction to the H1N1 influenza in November 2009.

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#HARTFORD, CT – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is directing U.S. and State of Connecticut flags to be lowered to half-staff statewide effective immediately in recognition and mourning of all those who have lost their lives and been affected by COVID-19. The flags will remain lowered throughout the emergency. Accordingly, since no flag should fly higher than the U.S. flag, all other flags – including state, municipal, corporate, or otherwise – should also be lowered during this same duration of time.

“This global pandemic is impacting the lives of so many families, friends, and loved ones in Connecticut, and we mourn for those who have been impacted,” Governor Lamont said. “This is an incredibly trying time and a tragic period in our state’s history. I continue to urge every resident of Connecticut to stay home and practice social distancing as much as possible, because not only may your life depend on it, but it could also impact the lives of others.”

“My family and I are thinking of every person who has lost someone during this pandemic, especially as we begin to approach Easter, Passover, and Ramadan,” Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz said. “It is truly heartbreaking to know that so many Connecticut communities will be in mourning during this holy season. Our prayers and sympathies are with them in this very difficult time.”

The Office of the Governor will send out a notification when flags should be returned to full-staff.

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