As Connecticut continues to see rising hospitalizations and deaths linked to COVID-19, an infectious disease physician, who joined Gov. Ned Lamont at his news briefing Monday, said the state should shut down indoor dining.

Dr. Manisha Juthani with the Yale School of Medicine said indoor dining is a risky endeavor both at a restaurant and at someone’s home other than your own. In both scenarios, people are dining in confined spaces without their masks on for an extended period of time, creating a high-risk environment for transmitting the virus.

“Meal times are a major high-risk event when transmission of this virus can occur, certainly high risk in a restaurant because you could be around others as well who are infecting you, but still even in a household environment,” she said.

Juthani was among a group of 30-plus Connecticut doctors who urged Lamont, in a Nov. 24 letter, to close gyms, prohibit indoor dining and ban all other unnecessary public gatherings to protect residents from contracting COVID-19 and help hospitals and caregivers from becoming overwhelmed.

The Connecticut Restaurant Association recently announced that more than 600 restaurants have gone out of business since the pandemic began. The association has said its members have taken extraordinary precautions to ensure their patrons are safe.

“Restaurants have done the best they can given the nature of restaurant dining. I miss restaurant dining. I wish I would feel comfortable to go back. My reason for discomfort is not because of their lack of preparation,” Juthani said.

Lamont did not announce any further restrictions Monday and was not specific about what would lead him to shut down indoor dining or institute other bans.

“No decisions have been made, but I am talking to all of my fellow governors, and we’re going to do the right thing together,” he said. He said he’d be talking to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker later Monday about measures they could take collectively to curb the spread of COVID-19 in their states if the situation worsens.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Baker have both indicated that indoor dining in their states could be shut down if the current trend in hospitalizations continues. Raimondo recently limited indoor dining capacity in Rhode Island to 33%.

Lamont has long said the state’s hospitalization rate and hospital capacity factor heavily into his decision making regarding the state’s response to the pandemic. Pressed Monday on what metrics would lead him to institute further restrictions, he referenced the recent regional-stay-at-home order announced by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, which is triggered in regions where intensive care unit beds are at 85% capacity or higher. Lamont said in Connecticut it would also depend on the overall trend in hospitalizations, not single-day metrics.

Since Friday, 33 more people in Connecticut have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, and the number of people who’ve died related to COVID-19 rose by 78, state data shows. During the same period, the number of cases increased by more than 8,100. The state's positivity rate is at 6.61%.

In New London County, there were an additional five deaths since Friday, bringing the total number of associated deaths to 185, and hospitalizations decreased by one to 53. On Monday, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital had 27 COVID-19 patients and Westerly Hospital had 12. The number of cases in the county rose by more than 400 since Friday. Electric Boat is reporting nearly 650 cases since the pandemic began, with more than 100 reported in the last week.

Meanwhile Connecticut is getting ready to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Lamont said Monday the first 16,000 doses of the vaccine allotted for hospital workers is expected to begin being administered on Dec. 14, and one week later another 16,000 doses will begin to be administered to residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

State officials have said that by the end of January, the overwhelming majority of those who are slated to receive the vaccine first, which includes health care workers, including employees in long-term care facilities, as well as nursing home residents and emergency medical responders, are expected to receive the first and second doses of the vaccine.

Also on Monday, Lamont signed an executive order allowing licensed pharmacists in the state to administer the vaccine. The Trump administration has partnered with CVS and Walgreens to provide and administer the vaccine in nursing homes across the country.

j.bergman@theday.com