Gov. Ned Lamont this week announced that Connecticut will soon require non-mask-wearers to present a doctor’s note showing they have a legitimate exemption from the state’s mask mandate. But disability rights advocates say the policy might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and, either way, that businesses already had the right to deny entry to people who aren’t wearing masks.
Lamont is expected to issue an executive order cementing the new policy, but the order had not been released by Thursday morning.
Bob Joondeph, the interim executive director of Disability Rights Connecticut and a former practicing attorney, said that requiring people to carry physician-approved evidence of their disabilities is, at its heart, an unequal burden that is not imposed on people without disabilities.