Anti-mask Trump supporters disrupt Lamont event in Berlin

Waving a Trump flag, anti-mask activists confronted Gov. Ned Lamont Wednesday morning at a groundbreaking event at the new Berlin train station.

Using a bullhorn, about a half dozen opponents of Lamont’s recent decision to extend a state of emergency through early February disrupted the ceremony and forced the governor to curtail his remarks.

“I’m going to follow him to every event,” said Aaron McCool of Naugatuck, who held the bullhorn and said Lamont had not right to require his three-year-old daughter to wear a mask in her day-care program.

The group heckled Lamont and chanted “you are not a king, Ned."

Lamont replied to the demonstrators questioning the mask mandate and state of emergency that he would “rather be too conservative” in how fast to re-open the state.

After an outbreak in the later winter and spring, Connecticut has largely kept COVID-19 infections under control. Connecticut has been among the leading states in reducing hospitalizations from the coronavirus. Recently, there have been new warnings that the state’s infection rate may be increasing again.

“The science is clear. We know that masks are one of the best ways to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Connecticut was one of the earliest adopters of a mask mandate. Combined with out efforts to limit large gatherings it shows that Connecticut’s approach has worked,” said Max Reiss, a Lamont spokesman who was at the Berlin event.

President Trump has often ridiculed mask requirements. The federal Centers for Disease Control says that mask wearing can limit the spread of COVID-19.

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