Summer camps in Connecticut  will be allowed to open June 29 under strict health guidelines after Gov. Ned Lamont announced that schools will be closed for the rest of the academic year.

The state has reported 448 new coronavirus cases since Monday, with 77 more virus-related deaths. Lamont says 36 more people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Gov. Lamont says that this is the first day in eight days that the net number of hospitalizations has increased, which should remind us to be cautious moving forward.

Lamont also says the state was just not in a place yet to allow children back into the classrooms, and that he had been holding out hope.

He says distance learning will continue, and 60,000 laptops and thousands of reading materials from Scholastic will be given to students.

Lamont says the state is looking at plans for summer school.

 

- There are 30,621 reported cases of coronavirus in the state, with 448 new cases since Monday. There are 2,633 virus-related fatalities, with 77 new deaths.

- There are also 1,500 hospitalizations due to coronavirus, with 36 new hospitalizations. Lamont says this is the first day in eight days that the net number of hospitalizations has increased.

- There have been 108,643 coronavirus tests performed, with 3,313 new tests performed since Monday.

- Lamont says school will not open until at least June 30.

- "Your school year has not ended," says the state education commissioner to students.

- The state's education commissioner says the state is looking at opening summer school in July and is getting feedback from thousands of educators, students and parents.

- Officials say child care center remain open in the state, and that the state is designing guidelines for summer camps, which will be posted May 15. They say summer camps in the state can open on June 29, and that five child care centers for first responders can remain open.