Update: CMS Guidance Counselor Among 9 Suing Lamont over “Highly Invasive” Weekly Nasal Swab Testing

This article has been updated to reflect that Ms Alfano is a guidance counselor for Greenwich Schools who had to drive three hours round trip until Feb 4, 2022 to access saliva tests. She is still employed by the district.

Back in September when Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 13g, state employees, school staff and childcare workers were required to either get vaccinated for Covid-19 vaccine or have weekly testing, or lose their jobs.

A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by a Colleen Alfano and eight additional plaintiffs against Governor Lamont and CT’s Dept of Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani.

Alfano, a Greenwich resident and CMS guidance counselor, until February 4 made weekly three-hour round trips for saliva tests

All nine plaintiffs are teachers or other employees across the state mostly in public schools, though one worked at a private school in Woodstock.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Lindy Urso and John I Bolton.

In August, Governor Lamont announced a vaccine mandate would be effective Sept 27.

“The vaccines work. They’re safe. Hundreds of millions have been administered,” Lamont said at the time.

“I want Connecticut to take the lead in terms of employees getting vaccinated,” he continued, adding that about 75% of Connecticut teachers had already already vaccinated.

All nine plaintiffs are unvaccinated. Their complaint describes the nasal swab testing as highly invasive and having “concomitant contamination of the body with the unknown chemical composition of the said nasal swab.”

At the Oct 21, 2021 Greenwich Board of Education meeting, Marija Mikolajczak, read a statement she described as a consolidation of statements from unvaccinated teachers who didn’t feel safe to speak and wished to be anonymous.

‘We’re all being discriminated against because of a personal decision not to be vaccinated…The new mandate not only discriminates against those who have chosen not to be vaccinated, whether for personal religious, or medical reasons, but has left us feeling threatened, isolated and scared. We endure constant stress, lack of sleep and fear of retaliation…Teachers eat in the faculty room and attend meetings unmasked all day long, yet as an unvaccinated staff member, I’ve been asked to remain masked at all times. This has segregated me from my peers and colleagues, put me in a situation to isolate myself in my classroom for lunch even though I continue to test negative and have no symptoms…The second day of school this year I was told by a colleague with whom I have been friends for almost a decade that she won’t work with me because I am not vaccinated…We live with constant stress having to get a test with known carcinogens placed in our nasal cavity every single week.’

Fast forward to this week.

Per the complaint, Ms Alfano had to drive a three-hour round trip every week, on her own time, to access a saliva test, rather than subjecting herself to the nasal swab testing.

Another plaintiff, Melissa Cassidy, who worked for Woodstock Academy, a private school for grades 9–12, was forced to resign from her teaching position. Per the complaint, “…Woodstock Academy refused accept the weekly testing alternative to vaccination as provided under Executive Order 13g and, this Plaintiff outright lost her job.”

Another teacher, Sarah Yaiser, who works for Wethersfield Public Schools, was, according to the complaint, put on administrative leave for four days for refusing vaccination or testing. She subsequently complied with the weekly testing requirement.

The lawsuit says that all the plaintiffs have suffered emotional distress as a result of the stigma of objecting to getting vaccinated and doing weekly nasal swab testing.

And according to the complaint, some plaintiffs are being required to pay out-of-pocket for the compelled testing to stay in compliance, as there is no provision in Executive Order 13g for the state to provide such tests free of charge.

The plaintiffs say the Governor did not have statutory authority for the testing requirement as an alternate to mandatory vaccination.

They say the have suffered harm and weren’t informed by the defendants of the risks and benefits of the vaccine or of their rights of refusal or conscientious objection concerning about their personal health care decision. The complaint also talks about irreparable harm from the nasal swab testing, including sanctity of their DNA.

They say Executive Order 13g violates the Due Process clause of the state Constitution and they want it to be invalidated.

They say because the defendants have Sovereign Immunity, they cannot recover monies spent in actual costs, costs of travel or both for testing absent the consent of the defendant via the Court of Claims.

But they seek attorney fees and costs, and any additional relief the Court deems appropriate.

This week Governor Lamont announced that in anticipation of his executive orders expiring on Feb 15, he recommended ending the statewide school mask mandate on Feb 28, inclusive of sports. The Governor wants 11 of his orders to continue, but not the requirement that teachers be vaccinated or have weekly testing.

*In addition to Ms Alfano of Greenwich, the plaintiffs are William Michael of Southbury, Kara Giacobbe of Trumbull, Peter Gersz of Killingworth, Melissa Cassidy of Griswold, Sarah Yaiser of Newington, Michelle Bond of Old Lyme, Maria Hainer of East Haddam and Tricia Edgar of Colchester.