MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Gov. Ned Lamont

Interview

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And Governor Ned Lamont, Democrat of Connecticut joins me now. Governor, it`s good to have you. Take me through what the requirements in your state are or where are places where you are requiring the vaccine and what the result of that those policies has been.

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Good evening, Chris. I`ll tell you that through encouragement and incentives, we got about 88 of our adults vaccinated. We got the overwhelming majority of our nurses and teachers vaccinated, but that wasn`t good enough, so we put in place mandates.

That means that all teachers must be vaccinated and they are all getting vaccinated. All health care workers must be vaccinated. All state employees as of midnight tonight must be vaccinated or at least give us their testing protocols and how we can keep people safe. And I`d like to tell you that well over 90 percent of our folks are following that.

[20:55:17]

HAYES: Right now, if I`m not mistaken, according to the CDC data we have, you`ve got the most vaccinated state in the -- in the union in terms of percentage eligible population. These numbers float around but that`s 12 and up, 79.3 percent. What is that meant for what Delta looks like, what normal life looks like, your hospital system, as you have seen cases go up a bit as delta hit Connecticut, but what`s it meant for the state, for businesses and hospitals?

LAMONT: I think a lot of pride that we`re getting it right. That our schools are open and they don`t have to shut down for quarantine like what`s happening in other states. That our hospitals have extra capacity so we can take care of surgeries for all of our citizens. And some of the other states that are less vaccinated, they`re flying their patients into Connecticut so we can provide life-saving surgeries for them as well. You know, I know everybody is exhausted but people are staying the course a little bit longer.

HAYES: You have -- there are some requirements at college and universities. And so far, that was another place I think a lot of folks were worried. You`ve got people in dormitories, you`ve got young people very close to each other. So far, it looks like that`s also a bright spot. Official saying that high levels of vaccination have not only limited cases, also allowed schools to lighten up on pandemic related restrictions they imposed last year in your state. How are things in higher ed in Connecticut?

LAMONT: Right now, all of our higher ed institutions mandated vaccines for everybody. Overwhelmingly, people are complying with that. And they have the lowest infection rates in the state. You know, these are young people living in congregate settings. It`s working.

HAYES: You have not taken the step that California was the first state to take, which is to add COVID vaccination to the list of required vaccinations for school entry, that`s for kids that are 12 to 18. Why not?

LAMON: Right now, we`re using encouragement. I`d say we`ve got well over 75 percent of those kids vaccinated. And I am recording the mask for everybody K through 12. And I think that`s keeping people safe.

HAYES: So, you`ve got 75 percent of that eligible population vaccinated just through -- I mean, there`s so, what`s going on there? Is this a reality about Connecticut, about the demographics of your state, about outreach? Like why is this going this way in Connecticut?

LAMONT: Chris, we got hit really hard very early along with New York and New Jersey. I think that this is a state where we look out for each other. It`s not just our personal freedom but what we can do. When it came to our high schools, we really wanted them to be open in person.

You know, the best advocates were our coaches. They said you`re part of a team. We want you on the field. If you have to quarantine. the rest of our team can`t play.

HAYES: That`s interesting. So, they`ve been a key aspect of this. You would -- you would imagine that`s a -- that`s a sort of key authority figure in a lot of places around the country that are really struggling to get their vaccination numbers up.

Do you think about life in Connecticut going into this winter? How different do you see it being than last winter which, of course, was bad across the country, not you know -- not particularly in Connecticut, but like everywhere, it was -- it was a tough winter?

LAMONT: It was a tough winter because we thought we were getting out of the woods. You know, a year ago summer, we opened up our schools, all of our businesses were open, but thankfully everybody wore the mask. And Connecticut was one of the first to get people vaccinated. So, that second wave of Delta hit us a lot less severely than they did some other states.

I think people who are in Connecticut feel like these protocols are working and they`re willing to hang in there a little longer to stay safe.

HAYES: But what is hanging there longer means?

LAMONT: Hang in there longer means kids in school wearing the masks a little bit longer. Hanging in there means those who are sort of, I don`t really want to get vaccinated are more likely now to get vaccinated, overwhelming majority. People looking out for each other and I think because they see it is working.

HAYES: Well, we`ll see. Your state may be the first to sort of cross into a threshold where we`re really looking at something that at least approaches herd immunity or really stamps out transmission. I hope we all arrive there sooner rather than later. Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, thank you.

LAMONT: Thanks, Chris.

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