Protecting Civil & Human Rights During COVID-19 Public Health Crisis
Dear Governor Lamont,
We, the undersigned forty-three organizations, work with and for Connecticut’s residents who
are underserved and marginalized. Together, we serve and/or represent tens of thousands of
people in the state. In the past week, many of us sent you communications asking you to act
now to protect our communities from the health consequences and collateral fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
We remain deeply concerned that the State of Connecticut’s response to COVID-19 is leaving
behind Connecticut most disproportionately impacted residents. These include people who are
incarcerated and their loved ones, low-income workers, undocumented and documented
immigrants, people who are homeless or housing insecure, people with disabilities, youth in and
at risk of being ensnared in the justice system, people in policed communities, people without
health insurance, people in psychiatric facilities, people who are food insecure, and people
without paid sick days and paid family and medical leave.
Our state is only as healthy as its most vulnerable person. Right now, the state’s responses to
COVID-19 may leave our most disproportionately impacted residents unprotected. Collectively,
we ask you to take immediate actions to protect people’s health, safety, and rights in the
following areas:
● Elderly and people with disabilities & people in in-patient facilities
o The state’s response must ensure the legal rights of people in in-patient
psychiatric facilities, residential care and nursing homes, and facing forced
medication or confinement proceedings. It must also protect the health and
safety of at-home personal care attendants and their disabled clients. For more
information, please reference conversations between DMHAS and the
Connecticut Legal Rights Project.
● Frontline workers
o The state's response must include action for frontline workers, particularly low
wage nursing home and retail employees as well as child care workers, who
are exposing themselves to higher risk and being forced to work irregular
hours - many struggling with childcare at the same time - to deal with an
unprecedented and surging consumer demand for household goods and
care. The state must ensure that nursing home, retail employees (personal
care, food and dry goods), and child care workers receive hazard pay, which
is equal to 1.5X an employee's regular rate of pay; access to posted
schedules at least fourteen days in advance; predictability pay for reduced
hours that occur within the three day notice period at a rate equal to one half
an employee's regular rate of pay for each scheduled work hour that is cut;
right to rest period of 11 hours between shifts; right to decline unscheduled
hours without fear of retaliation; and a right to request a flexible working
arrangement to accommodate familial responsibilities. For more information,
please contact SEIU 32BJ and CT Working Families.
● Immigrants

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 The state’s response must include action to demand the federal government
release all Connecticut residents being held in immigration detention outside of
the state; healthcare and hygiene access for those who remain detained;
hospitals and healthcare centers being declared deportation-free zones;
moratoriums on location monitoring/ICE check-ins in Hartford. More information
from the letter from CT Bail Fund.
● Low-income workers and workers without paid sick days and paid leave
o The state’s response must include protections for service employees and other
low-income workers who are at risk of facing layoffs, reductions in hours and
wages, and viral exposure. For more information, see the letters you have
received from the SEIU, including SEIU 1199 New England.
o Connecticut must fill in remaining gaps between state and federal law to ensure
all workers take the time they need to care and recover without a missed
paycheck. The state must provide paid sick leave to all workers, regardless of the
size of their employer, and those who need to care for their chosen family and
children of any age. The state should also provide 100% wage replacement to all
workers taking paid leave, which is critical to workers who cannot afford to miss
even a portion of their earnings. For more information, contact SEIU 32BJ or see
the op-ed by the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).
● Homeless and housing insecure
o The state must have leadership and protocols in place for COVID-19 interagency
response for homeless with medical respite care and access to testing, provide
increased rental assistance, expand shelter space and unsheltered outreach,
and increase support for staffing. More information from the letter from
Partnership for Strong Communities Reaching Home campaign.
o The state should extend the existing moratorium on evictions and foreclosures
well beyond its current expiration date of March 27 and be comprehensive (e.g. a
stay of all cases in progress, postponement of foreclosures, and suspension of
all executions/ejectments, for the duration of the public health emergency and
continuing until at least 30 days after). The state should also take action to make
sure that massive evictions do not occur at the time the moratorium expires. In
regard to subsidized housing, the state should make sure that its own state
agencies, as well as public housing authorities, adapt their rules to provide
immediate relief to residents faced with income loss as a result of the crisis. The
state must also establish a fund to help people in need pay their rent or
mortgage. For additional detail on the need for housing reform see the letter from
seven housing advocacy organizations and the letter from five legal services
organizations; both letters’ signatories include the Partnership for Strong
Communities, Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Greater Hartford Legal Aid,
Connecticut Legal Services, New Haven Legal Assistance Association, and
others.
o

● Incarcerated or in policed communities
o The state’s response must include action for decarceration; preventing
lockdowns and solitary confinement; and providing meaningful access to
healthcare, hygiene supplies, and free phone calls for all people who remain
incarcerated. In addition, any state de-incarceration plans must include

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 immediate housing for people reentering society. For more information, see the
three letters you received from the ACLU of Connecticut, Katal Center, and a
group of more than 23 organizations and nearly 400 individuals.
o The state’s response for youth who are incarcerated must include action for
decarceration; preventing lockdowns and solitary confinement; access to
healthcare, hygiene supplies, schooling, and free phone calls. We are concerned
by reports of curfews that could endanger youth, and of youth being denied
access to lawyers in detention. For more information, see the letters you have
received from the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, Center for Children’s
Advocacy, and Office of the Child Advocate.
o The state’s responses must include appropriate arrest moratoriums, as jailing
places people in danger of confinement in close proximity to others and, in turn,
risks viral exposure and spread. The state should make clear that any arrestbased enforcement of things like quarantines or curfews are unwelcome, as
these would be counterproductive to public health and safety. See the letter from
the ACLU of Connecticut.
● Financially insecure people who need income supports
o Temporarily suspend re-determination or termination of eligibility for all federally
reimbursed assistance programs during the emergency and seek all appropriate
waivers from the federal government under Section 1135 of the Social Security
Act, etc. to ensure ongoing federal reimbursement to Connecticut. This will
ensure that there is no interruption of critical medical, food or other needs and
that interruptions in the state’s workforce and ability to process applications will
not disrupt benefits. Provide good-cause exemptions for the SNAP work
requirements and time limits. Remind caseworkers to boost SNAP promptly when
households report reduced hours of work, and to act on reported changes right
away. Request that Congress provide emergency SNAP assistance or other
direct monetary assistance to households with children who would otherwise
receive free or reduced-priced meals if not for their schools being closed due to
the COVID-19 emergency. More information from CT Voices for Children.
o Waive Care4Kids income eligibility for healthcare workers, first responders and
others deemed essential during the state of emergency. More information from
the CT Early Childhood Alliance.
● People who can become pregnant
o The state’s measures to mitigate spread of COVID-19 are crucial, but we must be
aware & address the impacts they will have on access to sexual and reproductive
health care. All executive orders relating to shutdowns that include exceptions
about essential healthcare also specifically include providers of time-sensitive
reproductive healthcare including abortion care, particularly if there are travel
restrictions. More information from NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut.
● Uninsured people
o HUSKY Health, the state’s public health coverage program for low-income
children and families, should be expanded to all income eligible families,
including undocumented children and parents. For more information, see the oped from the Center for Children’s Advocacy.

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 o

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Waive copays and coinsurance for COVID-19 testing and related visits.
Connecticut should require all insurers regulated by the state to cover COVID-19
testing and related treatment at 100%, without coinsurance, copays or
deductibles. This is critical to ensuring that cost concerns do not become a
barrier to testing or treatment. More information from CT Voices for Children.
Utilize contingency funds to provide outreach, education and testing to people
who are most likely to be affected by COVID-19, including those in homeless
shelters and Connecticut residents who visit food pantries and senior centers.
More information from CT Voices for Children.

● Youth
o The State Department of Education should plan now for a full summer school
schedule for all students who need to enroll. While online learning is a viable
option for many, 14 percent of Connecticut households do not have internet
access, and many may not have home computer access at all, making it virtually
impossible for many low-income students to engage in meaningful online
learning when attendance at brick and mortar schools is not an option. For more
information, see the op-ed from the Center for Children’s Advocacy. We are also
calling on SDE to work with local school districts to continually provide specific
and consistent special education services to children with Individualized
Education Programs (IEPs). SDE guidance to districts should address the
special circumstances facing children with special needs during a lengthy school
shut down.
In addition, we request transparency regarding membership of the state’s emergency
response teams and daily, public briefings regarding the state’s emergency response plans
for disproportionately impacted residents.
People who are at risk of falling through the cracks in the state’s COVID-19 response are most
often impacted in many ways – they are service workers who are also immigrants, incarcerated
people who are disabled, homeless people living in highly policed areas, and people at the
intersections of all areas mentioned above. While we have listed these action areas discreetly,
they are intersectional. We recognize that the state’s failure to act in one would mean harm in
another.
Our collective call for you to act underscores the need for the State of Connecticut to take
seriously all of these considerations or risk a COVID-19 response that increases the vast
inequities already in our state. Each of our organizations would welcome working with you and
your administration in crafting a COVID-19 response that ensures public health, safety, and
rights for everyone. We also encourage you as the state or in your demands of the federal
government include stimulus support for nonprofits serving the most underserved and
marginalized in our state every day.
Sincerely,
ACLU of Connecticut
Aurora Women and Girls Foundation
Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition (BCAC)
Center for Leadership and Justice

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 Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity
Community Renewal Team
Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance
Connecticut Fair Housing Center
Connecticut Legal Services
Connecticut Voices for Children
Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF)
Connecticut Working Families
CSEA SEIU Local 2001
CSU-AAUP
CT Black Women
CT Citizen Action Group
CT Cross Disability lifespan Alliance
Every Woman Connecticut
Gardner's House Inc
Girls For Technology
Greater Hartford Legal Aid
Hartford GYN Center
Immanuel Congregational Church
Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice
LiveGirl
Middletown Works
Moral Monday CT
NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut
New Haven Legal Assistance Association
New Haven Peoples Center
Open Communities Alliance
Partnership for Strong Communities
Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in CT
R kids Family Center
RACCE
Random Hacks of Kindness Junior
SEIU 32BJ
Southern New England Conference United Church of Christ
The Connecticut Women's Consortium
The CT Maternal and Child Health Coalition
The Narrative Project
United Auto Workers Region 9A
Women and Girls Funds Task Force of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut
YWCA Hartford Region
CC:
Josh Geballe, COO (Josh.Geballe@ct.gov)
Paul Mounds, Chief of Staff (Paul.Mounds@ct.gov)
Amy Porter, ADS Commissioner (Amy.Porter@ct.gov)
Vanessa Dorantes, DCF Commissioner (commissioner.dcf@ct.gov)
Diedre Gifford, DDS Commissioner (Diedre.Gifford@ct.gov)
Rollin Cook, DOC Commissioner (Rollin.Cook@ct.gov)
Beth Bye, OEC Commissioner (Beth.Bye@ct.gov)
Miguel Cardona, SDE Commissioner (Miguel.Cardona@ct.gov)

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 Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, DMHAS Commissioner (Miriam.Dephin-Rittmon@ct.gov)
James Rovella, DESPP Commissioner (James.Rovella@ct.gov)
Seila Mosquera-Bruno, DOH Commissioner (Seila.Mosquera@ct.gov)
Kurt Westby, DOL Commissioner (Kurt.Westby@ct.gov)
Renee Coleman-Mitchell, DPH Commissioner (Renee.Coleman-Mitchell@ct.gov)
Richard Colangelo, Chief State’s Attorney (Richard.Colangelo@ct.gov)
Martin Looney, Senate President Pro Tempore (Looney@senatedems.ct.gov)
Bob Duff, Senate Majority Leader (Duff@senatedems.ct.gov)
Len Fasano, Senate Minority Leader (Len.Fasano@cga.ct.gov)
Joe Aresimowicz, Speaker of the House (Joe.Aresimowicz@cga.ct.gov)
Matthew Ritter, House Majority Leader (Matthew.Ritter@cga.ct.gov)
Themis Klarides, House Minority Leader (Themis.Klarides@cga.ct.gov)

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