Connecticut failed to deliver at-home COVID-19 tests because supplier backed out, Gov. Ned Lamont says

A deal for Connecticut to buy millions of at-home COVID-19 tests to hand out to residents fell apart when the state was outbid, Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged Thursday evening.

Lamont and administration officials said they were told the tests were on the way from California, when in fact Connecticut was the loser in a deal that was “misrepresented” to state officials. It was not immediately clear who was getting the tests instead.

The development — after Lamont said the tests were on the way all week — stunned municipalities across Connecticut who were planning to hand out the free tests on Thursday and Friday.

“We had a deal to get those rapid tests. We are not going to get them on the schedule that we wanted. I think there were a lot of competing folks who wanted those tests,” said Lamont, who appeared at an East Hartford press conference Thursday evening.

“That particular shipment is not on its way, other shipments will be on the way subject to enormous caveats,” Lamont said. “There are a lot of brokers in this game. There were a lot of people putting money on the table.”

“We are scouring the globe as we were a year and a half ago to make sure we can get all the testing material that we need. It is complicated. It’s not like it’s Federal Express. … It’s more like surge pricing,” said Lamont, who returned to Connecticut on Thursday from a Florida vacation.

Commissioner of Public Public Health Dr. Manisha Juthani, appearing with Lamont, said “things were misrepresented to us. It is unfortunate it did not turn out the way we had intended. This was an agreement that did not come through.

“We were shown pictures and told things were being loaded.”

Earlier this week, the state said it had purchased 3 million COVID-19 at-home rapid tests and 6 million N95 masks to help curb the spread of the virus. Two million of the tests were to go to schools.

The Lamont administration had said repeatedly this week that the delay was due to shipping and supply chain problems. Transmission of COVID-19 has spiked this week across Connecticut, with the daily positivity rate hitting 20% Thursday. Meanwhile, demand for COVID-19 testing has surged.

“The entire state of Connecticut was misled by the governor’s office on Monday at a time when information and data is critical. At this point, we need to trust, but verify, everything that comes out of that office.,” House Republican leader Vincent Candelora said Thursday afternoon. “Apparently now, the gig is up.”

“To hold a teleconference yesterday and telling everybody that they’re delayed in shipping is potentially an outright fabrication. I’m guarding my comments right now. But if, in fact, the state of Connecticut never had a contract for these test kits and misled the entire state of Connecticut, they really have some explaining to do,” Candelora said.

“I believe there was a purchase order, I believe there was a contract and I know there was an agreement,” Lamont said Thursday.

The agreement was with Jack Rubenstein CT, LLC, a Glastonbury-based wholesaler, Lamont spokesman Max Reiss said Thursday.

The state has previously purchased personal protective equipment like masks and gowns from the company before, Reiss said, including multiple purchase orders about a year and a half ago.

State money never changed hands, officials said. Under the terms of the agreement, the state was going to pay once the test kits were delivered.

At the start of the week, Lamont’s administration pressed communities to quickly organize distributions so they could get 1 million free at-home tests into people’s hands before the holiday weekend. Theoretically, that would have given nearly a third of Connecticut residents a chance to test before going to New Year’s dinners, parties or holiday weekend family gatherings.

But late Wednesday afternoon, Lamont acknowledged the tests were still in California. The state hoped they’d arrive on a overnight flight to Bradley International Airport, but that didn’t happen, Reiss said Thursday.

“No distributions on Thursday will be possible,” the state said in an email to municipal leaders Wednesday night.

Lamont initially said the delay was “clearly a shipping and distribution bottleneck on the West Coast amid unprecedented international demand for tests.”

The first wave — with 1 million tests — had been expected to arrive Wednesday night. Municipalities across the state rushed to make plans to distribute the tests.

By Thursday afternoon, Manchester, West Hartford, Bloomfield, South Windsor, Newington and others junked plans to distribute tests on Friday because the state still wasn’t guaranteeing when the kits would show up.

Most communities said their giveaways were suspended “until further notice” because of the uncertainty.

The last-minute news of delay stunned municipal officials, who had to scramble to revise the plans for massive drive-through distributions that they’d hurriedly cobbled together over the past couple of days.

Some mayors complained that Lamont’s staff had pressed them earlier this week to get the tests into residents’ hands before the New Year’s holiday on short notice, but then didn’t deliver.

Despite having only skeleton staffs on hand during the usually slow week between Christmas and New Year’s, dozens of communities scheduled workers or lined up volunteers to staff large-scale drive-through distributions Thursday at town halls or high school parking lots. They had to abruptly scrap those plans Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

“Postponed until further notice” read a message on the website for East Hartford, where workers had been scheduled to start handing out nearly 6,400 test kits at noon Thursday.

“This is very disappointing news, as I know many Darien residents were hoping to access these test kits,” Darien First Selectwoman Monica McNally said Wednesday night in a text to residents who had been expecting to start getting their test kits Thursday.

And with no information from Lamont’s administration about a reliable delivery date, towns and cities that were scheduled to hand out kits on Friday grew increasingly skeptical about whether they’d be able to go forward.

Manchester announced it was “pausing” its distribution indefinitely, and — like other communities — offered no makeup date.

“The specific time of arrival remains unknown at this time,” West Hartford announced on its website. The town had planned to start giving out 8,010 tests Friday, but said it can’t reschedule until the supplies arrive.

“We are disappointed to announce that the distribution of at-home test kits that was scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled,” town Emergency Manager Director Meghan L. Manke advised residents on Newington’s web page Thursday. “At this time, the state has not communicated a new date or plan for distributing test kits to municipalities.

“We share your frustrations and appreciate your understanding as we try to navigate this situation,” Manke wrote.

Just before noon, South Windsor Town Manager Michael Maniscalco announced his town has given up on Friday, too.

“We regret to inform you that we will not be distributing home test kits and masks tomorrow as originally planned. While we have developed a comprehensive distribution plan, it is now paused indefinitely,” he advised residents.

“Overall I’m disappointed, but we’re doing the best we can with the information we have,” said East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh. “And I think the vast majority of the community understands that.”

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart had said all week that she wouldn’t schedule distribution until next Tuesday because she wasn’t certain the state would deliver on time.

“How could I commit to giving these out when I don’t even have them in hand yet?” she asked.

On Thursday, Lamont’s office announced the state had received 15,000 tests from other vendors, and would send them immediately to Foodshare and the department of housing.

“We’re trying to accelerate this distribution as much as we possibly can. We’ve received a small number of tests and we are working to get those out through our channels,” Reiss said. “When it comes to N95 masks, we want to get the higher quality masks to the municipalities as soon as we can. We have no update on the other shipments. We are continuing to work every angle we can to get them here.”