Governor Ned Lamont visited Bethel yesterday.  He  delivered remarks at an event celebrating Manufacturing Month hosted by WorkspaceCT, a newly opened joint venture between two of Connecticut’s six regional education service centers.  While there, he noted that the state is prepared to pay for weekly COVID-19 tests for several thousand eligible state employees who choose not to be vaccinated.  The state previously said it would only pay for four weeks of initial testing.  Lamont said yesterday that free testing will be part of an agreement he expects in the coming days with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition about his vaccine-or test mandate for the 32,000 executive branch employees.  About 5,500 workers chose the testing option.  4 percent of the workforce, about 1,200 employees, are not in compliance.