CT Gov. Lamont: We Have 200 Nurses on Furlough Because We Can’t Test Them

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) stated that 200 nurses in his state are on furlough because they can’t be tested for coronavirus.

Lamont said, “I can tell you, Danbury Hospital is already at capacity, and they have 200 nurses who are on furlough because they were in contact. If I could test those nurses, I could potentially get them back into the game a lot sooner.”

Host Chris Hayes then asked, “Wait a second, you’ve got 200 nurses sitting on the sidelines right now who can’t get back to work because they can’t be tested to confirm whether or not they have the virus?”

Lamont responded, “Exactly. We’ve got a surge in use, demand is going up, and I’m losing nurses by the day who have to furlough themselves for a period of time. That’s a priority for testing for me. Our testing capacity is going up, but it’s going up very incrementally, and that’s dangerous.”

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