 Good morning, everyone. I'm Mike Smith, Secretary of the Agency of Human Services. As is the case with most Tuesdays, Governor Scott is currently on another call with fellow governors and White House officials. He'll be joining us shortly. Today I'll start off with an update on our progress with the vaccination program as well as announce new and convenient locations where you can walk in and get your shot this week. We haven't given up yet. There's lots of opportunities to get a shot, and we hope you take advantage of those for those that have not been vaccinated. And then I'll wrap up with an update of our efforts with the General Assistance Housing Program. As you probably know by now on Sunday evening, we achieved our long awaited goal. 80% of eligible Vermonters have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. As of this morning, that number is 18.3% of eligible Vermonters 12 years old and above have received at least one dose of the vaccine. We are the first in the country to achieve this milestone. This is remarkable, but we are not stopping there. We will all benefit if more Vermonters are vaccinated against this terrible virus. We also anticipate that children age 5 to 11, a group of approximately 44,000 will become eligible to be vaccinated in the fall. And we've begun planning for that, as the governor had mentioned yesterday. In terms of our overall progress, here's the breakdown. As I mentioned, Vermonters 12 plus with at least one dose, 80.3% best in the nation. Vermonters 18 plus with at least one dose, this is the one that the White House uses. And they use a unreconciled number, so I'll give you that number that they use directly from the CDC. It's 83.6%. And all Vermonters with at least one dose, it's 71%. And that's a reconciled number that we reconcile with DFR. Let's move on and look at the many convenient opportunities available to get vaccinated. There are 59 clinics planned this week, and I urge all Vermonters to take advantage of them and protect yourself, your loved ones and your community. You can visit healthvermont.gov slash my vaccine for more information. Most pharmacies, and you can start seeing them here, most pharmacies around Vermont, are also offering walk-in vaccinations. Ask your local pharmacists or simply walk into CVS, Hannaford Food and Drug, Walgreens, Price Shopper Market 32, Rite Aid, Shaw's Supermarket, or Costco. Now, here's what to expect for pop-up clinics this week. Today, as you can see, there's quite a long list that we'll go through, but it's important because it shows that we are putting out the effort to make sure that every Vermonner that wants a vaccine gets a vaccine. We'll be at the Community Health Center of Burlington, there are Hubbardton Forge in Castleton, Northwest Medical Center Urgent Care in St. Albans, People's Health and Wellness in Berry, Sheldon Food Shelf in Sheldon, Snyder's Home in Shelburne, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, their Express Care, and the University of Vermont has several locations, which is at their main campus pharmacy, at their Fannie Allen campus pharmacy, and at their outpatient pharmacy on South Prospect Street in Burlington. Tomorrow, we'll be at Cabot Co-op in Cabot, the Capital Candy Company in Berry, again, the Community Health Center in Burlington, EMS Clinic at the State Capitol in Montpelier, Mount of Scutney Hospital in Windsor, North Avenue Co-op in Burlington, North Country Hospital in Newport, Northwestern Medical Center Urgent Care in St. Albans, and Southwestern Vermont Medical Care Express Care Medical Center Express Care in Bennington. And again, you can see the various pharmacies at the UVM Medical Center at the main campus, Fannie Allen and on Prospect Street, and then, of course, one more, West Brattleboro Fire Station in Brattleboro. On Thursday, once more, Community Health Center in Burlington, Food City in St. Albans, Jay Peak Resort in Jay, Mountain Health Center in Bristol, North Eastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. John'sbury, Northwest Urgent Care in St. Albans, Southwest Express Care in Bennington, the St. Albans Bay Farmers Market, the St. Albans District Office, that's the the District Office, the State Office Building in St. Albans, the St. John'sbury Probation and Parole Office, Sun Common in Waterbury, all the UVM pharmacies that I talked about previously. And on Friday, Cabot Creamery again, again the Community Health Center in Burlington, Gifford Health Center in Randolph, Greenscrete School in Brattleboro, Mount of Scutney again in Windsor, Northwestern, Southwestern Express Care or Urgent Care Centers, and all the UVM pharmacy locations. On Saturday, the American Legion Post 10 in Berry, the Johnson Transfer Station, the Montpelier Mountaineers, the Northwest Farmers Market in St. Albans, Northwestern Medical Center Urgent Care, Outer Limits Health Club in Brattleboro, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Express Care, the Monkey House on behalf of Downtown Winooski, and the UVM Medical Center Main Campus Pharmacy in Burlington. And on Sunday, Northwestern Medical Center Urgent Care, the Stowe Transfer Station, the University of Vermont Medical Center Main Campus Pharmacy. So as you can see, there are a lot of opportunities. And as I said, over 50 coming up this week in order to get vaccinated. In future, in the future, we'll start planning to combine both vaccination and testing capabilities as we move forward. We're in the planning stages. And as I mentioned, we're in the planning stages for vaccination, perhaps in the fall of those that are five to 11 years old as well. So let me turn to another subject. In terms of general assistance, in terms of the general assistance housing program, we are currently housing 2,295 people in 1,631 hotel and motel rooms across the state. And we are starting to lose capacity every day in the hotel motels in terms of rooms as the state begins to reopen. This program had restrictive criteria for eligibility in place before the pandemic. We recognized the need to protect the most vulnerable and we suspended all eligibility criteria during the pandemic. On June 1st, new eligibility criteria was implemented for new households seeking assistance. It is more expansive than the pre pandemic eligibility with regard to housing households with children, people with disabilities, and older Vermonters. And we are still serving households at risk of domestic violence or other life threatening conditions. Households including a pregnant person and victims of natural disasters such as fire and flood. The utilization of the program has decreased significantly since the beginning of June. Households currently in motels will be screened using the new eligibility guidelines effective July 1. We project that approximately two-thirds of households in motels will continue to be eligible for additional 84 days at that point. This includes the most vulnerable populations I mentioned earlier. Households with children and people with disabilities may be able to have their emergency housing extended past 84 days depending on their circumstances. We do not intend to delay implementing the new eligibility criteria for the emergency housing plan. We have worked collaboratively with several community partners including Vermont Legal Aid, COTS, Vermont Community Action Partnership, Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness, Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, Chittenden Homeless Alliance, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, and Groundworks. And we have agreed upon an intentional phased transition. Our plan for transitioning away from the expanded motel voucher program has specific phases that we intend that were intended to avoid a cliff. And therefore we have phased in new eligibility for new households first and will subsequently apply those criteria to currently housed households beginning in July. This tiered approach also means that eligible households, particularly households with children, older Vermonters, and individuals with disabilities will continue to be housed for an additional three months and in some cases even longer. Households who will be ineligible for continued housing as of July 1st may be eligible for essential payment of $2,500 to help with expenses. The intention is to provide a cash payment that can help those, these households, care for their own basic needs. In addition to the essential payments, the Department for Children and Families has other programs that can help households who will still be housed in motels. Households may qualify for emergency rental assistance to help with security deposits, rents for up to 12 months, and utility bills. Financial assistance up to $8,000 for eligible costs such as security deposits, moving costs, transportation, program fees is also potentially available to help households in motels transition into and keep stable housing. This flexibility money is the rapid resolution housing initiative that we have put in place. In terms of mass feeding program, the Department of Children and Families will also be able to continue offering the maximum emergency allotment of three squares Vermont benefits. These maximum emergency allotments are supplemental food benefits to help three square Vermont households during the pandemic. All eligible three squares Vermont households receive at least $95 a month in these extra food benefits with many households receiving more up to the maximum allowed based upon the household size. We will also continue to work on connecting kids to summer meals through the agency of education as well as connecting households in motels to meals on wheels as appropriate. The Governor's new executive order will help sustain the housing and food programs as it allows for the continued drawdown of FEMA funding to support non-congregate housing and the Department of Children and Families will be able to continue to offer the maximum emergency allotment of three squares Vermont benefits. We are doing everything possible to assist Vermonters and allow a smooth transition into more permanent housing and support services that will meet their long-term needs. As I mentioned in FY21, we will spend substantial amounts of money, approximately $80 million for this program, and in FY22 we are still spending substantial amounts of money for this program in terms of approximately $38 million. That compares to what the program was originally spending pre-pandemic which was $5 to $7 million. So you can see we are still continuing a substantial investment in this program to make sure there is a step down. In the future, the best solution to homelessness is permanent housing. As the Governor has mentioned and as he has proposed and as the legislature has put into the budget, we have substantial amounts for building permanent housing for people that are homeless. So we will continue to do everything possible to make sure that transition to a permanent solution, permanent housing, is available. I will wrap it up by extending my deepest gratitude to all of our vaccination partners and community partners that we have collaborated with to have such success in the vaccination program. It is impossible for me to mention everyone involved. But I do know the dedication and sacrifice that has been taken place in the service of Vermonters over the past 15 months. Many people, many of the people that I have just described, took time away from their families in order to serve Vermonters. And it was gratifying for me to see just how dedicated all these people were. I also want to acknowledge that Vermonters really stepped up to get their shot. Our state may be small, but we are mighty, and I thank you all. I'll turn it over now to Commissioner Pichek for our weekly modeling update. Well, thank you very much Secretary Smith and good morning everyone. COVID-19 trends in Vermont continued to see significant improvement this week, and our forecasts for the near future have never been better. Quite simply, Vermont remains the safest state in the country. We have the country's lowest case hospitalization and death rates, and we maintain the country's highest vaccination rates. This week, we are only reporting 48 new COVID-19 cases. The first time in nine months that Vermont has reported fewer than 50 cases in a week. Cases are now down 97% since our peak on April 1st, and our seven-day average continues to fall as well down 41% this week. We are seeing cases fall consistently across all age groups, and only two cases in our most vulnerable age group, those over 65 years old. Further, the median age of cases now stands at 32 years old. We are also seeing cases fall consistently across Vermont, with every region of our state seeing cases trending down, and Grand Isle and Addison counties this week did not report a single case. Case trends are continuing to closely follow our forecasts, and over the next couple of weeks, we anticipate seeing cases falling into the low single digits and remaining there for some time. We also saw a significant drop in Vermont's hospitalization rate, declining 53% this last week and 74% over the last two weeks, and we continue to frequently see days where our ICUs are free of any individuals requiring critical care in Vermont. And we anticipate that these rates will continue to move even lower in the weeks ahead. Most importantly though, Vermont did not report a single COVID-19 death this week, and was the only state in the country to be this fortunate. And generally our fatality rate has stayed extremely low, with only one COVID-19 death reported in the last 29 days. We continue to forecast that Vermont will have five or fewer COVID-19 deaths in the month of June, a step down again from last month, and a big step down from the months during the winter time period. We are seeing these continued improved trends because of our sustained vaccination progress. We see that for the second week in a row, Vermont remains at the top of all vaccination categories in the country, a very impressive accomplishment, and certainly a testament to the character of our state. After crossing the 80% threshold, the CDC is now reporting an additional 983 Vermonters have started vaccination, moving our percent of eligible Vermonters who have started vaccination up to 80.3%. With COVID-19 improving across the state, the region, and the country, we did want to provide an update on the situation in Canada and Quebec. Similar to the United States, Canada experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases this winter, with case rates and death rates reaching their highest point before improving late in the winter and early in the spring. But unlike the U.S., Canada saw a significant surge again this past spring due to the spread of more transmissible variants of COVID-19 and a limited vaccine supply. However, over the last four weeks, the Canadian vaccination rates have increased dramatically, surpassing the United States, the United Kingdom, and even Israel in terms of the percentage of the Canadian population that has started vaccination. Now, with one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, its cases have also fallen significantly down 79% over the past month. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada would begin to reopen, including reopening its border, when the country hit 75% of its population who had received at least one dose, and 20% that was fully vaccinated. Canada currently stands at 64.7% having started, and 12.2% being fully vaccinated, meaning that they are likely a matter of weeks away from meeting these thresholds. Quebec has had a similar experience with its vaccination rates increasing dramatically over the past few weeks, now standing at 68.9% of its total population having started vaccination, and its cases have also dramatically decreased over the past few weeks. Looking more broadly at our region, things continue to look good in the Northeast with cases falling for the 10th straight week. Cases this week were under 6,300 for the region. This is the first time cases have ever been this low since last March. Additionally, New England continues to lead the country in vaccinations, with the six New England states also being the six leading states in terms of the percentage of their residents who are fully vaccinated. We've also continued to closely watch the reopenings across the region, and at this point, all New England states have fully reopened, some for as long as five weeks, and in each case, they have continued to see their cases, hospitalizations, and deaths trend down. All of these point to a continued expectation of an enjoyable and very safe summer here in Vermont and in the region. At this time, I would like to turn it over to Dr. Levine. Thank you, Commissioner Pichek. Well, it's been quite a while since we've had back-to-back COVID press briefings, and those usually weren't for good reasons, but I'm really glad this week. It's because of the great news that the governor first announced yesterday. One of the tricky things about the field of public health is that we almost never get to a point where disease is completely gone. Even when we hit a significant milestone as we did yesterday, the effort continues. So long as COVID-19 is still present, even at the low levels we currently have in Vermont, it's my job and that of everyone connected to your health to make sure that you and all of us continue to do everything we can to ensure that we don't lose ground. So let's get to it. Meeting our goal of getting vaccine into the arms of 80 percent of everyone aged 12 and over is deeply meaningful. As I said 24 hours ago, this achievement means fewer chances for COVID to spread, fewer people hospitalized, and as we all hope, as little additional loss of life as possible. But low incidence rates aren't the same as zero. This remains an active and innovative virus and we almost take the actions needed to stop it in its tracks. I'm very encouraged by how well Vermont has responded to our call to get vaccinated and for understanding the reasons for those appeals. That being said, nearly one in five people eligible to be vaccinated have yet to take that step. If you still have questions, visit our website or talk to a friend, a loved one, or your doctor and find your reason. Let me give you an update on one such important reason, the Delta variant. This is the variant that's now spreading widely in many countries and at this point accounts for about 10 percent of cases in the United States and in the United Kingdom it accounts for more than 90 percent of new cases. This variant, formerly called B16172 and first identified in India, is showing traits of being far more contagious and potentially more dangerous than the strains we've been seeing, though the science is not yet clear on the latter. Even here in Vermont, we've identified three cases through our genomic sequencing of positive cases. Our lab is now fully capable of doing whole genome sequencing and as we have less cases reported on a daily basis, we are able to do whole genome sequencing on a higher percentage of our cases. We had formally one case in an international traveler. For the latest two that have just been reported out today, one was in a domestic traveler returning to Vermont and the other we do not have exposure information on. Now I'm hopeful we don't see more of this virus, but we have seen this show before. Variants that start slow then spread and finally become the predominant strain in the country. How do we stop it? We all know the answer, vaccination, with a hefty side of continued prevention measures like hand washing and staying home if you're sick. Because then, the virus quickly reaches a dead end in Vermont and it can't be transmitted from person to person and can't mutate and lead to more virulent strains. It's also okay to keep going with some of the prevention steps we adopted for the past year and a half. We're no longer required to wear a mask and I've already seen more smiles in the last day than I have for months. One side effect of less mask use is that you should be prepared for a slight surge in the numbers of other respiratory virus illnesses being seen, such as the common cold. It turns out that masking was actually effective in preventing a lot more than just COVID. Now this is a transitional period for many of us. You may personally still be more comfortable wearing your mask. If that's true, go ahead. In fact I've seen many people in places like airports who have done so for years. We've learned a great deal about how masks can protect you and others and I remind all of us whether we choose to wear a mask or not, please don't judge. As in so many aspects of life as human beings, none of us can know anyone else's physical or emotional situation. Kids in particular are in a bit of a gray area. Currently we continue to recommend mask use by children under age 12 when indoors because they are not yet able to be vaccinated. However, as we have every step of the way, we are closely following the science and our own data, including case levels and virus transmission. We may get to a point, perhaps fairly soon, where case numbers are so consistently low in Vermont that we may conclude the risk of transmission and illness are low enough to warrant a change in that recommendation. Parents and caregivers should rest assured that the health and well-being of our children will drive our decisions and you will have all the information and guidance you need to protect and promote the health of your children. Thank you again for your trust and confidence. These past months have shown that even the often hidden dynamics of a virus new to the human race cannot stand up to the determination of our monitors. And it looks like the governor has returned from his phone call. Thank you, Dr. Levine. Good morning, everyone. Just got off the phone with fellow governors and White House officials. Dr. Walensky said nationwide trends continue to move in the right direction and 64.5% of those over the age of 18 have received at least one dose. She also talked about the Delta variant, which Dr. Levine just spoke about. Importantly, she noted that the science shows vaccines are effective against this variant as well, saying vaccines are the best defense against it. So again, if you hadn't gotten your shot yet, there's still many easy opportunities to do so and you can help make sure we keep these variants at bay. It's also important to get your second dose of Pfizer or Moderna when you do for that. And as has been the case for the last several weeks, our allocation of Pfizer and Moderna doses remain the same. No new allocations for J&J, although they did say the FDA extended the shelf life of J&J by six weeks. So that's good news. So that was about it on the White House call. So as you know, we reached our 80% threshold and as a result, I issued a directive to lift all remaining restrictions. I want to once again thank all of our monitors for their hard work and commitment. We leave the nation because of you. As we've said, and as you saw from Secretary Smith, we're not letting up because the people we vaccinate tomorrow are just as important as those we vaccinated yesterday. Although our strategy will evolve as we enter this new phase, phase meeting people where they are and making shots successful is our goal. And we're still committed to doing the work that needs to be done. Next, tonight at midnight, the state of emergency which has been in place since March 13, 2020 will expire. Unlike every other month since today, it will not be extended. When a governor declares a state of emergency, they are granted a significant amount of authority to act quickly for the public's health and safety. They're often used for natural disasters like after a tropical storm Irene or blizzards or major flooding. This state of emergency has been unique, both in its length and nature, because the challenges we faced with COVID isn't something we've ever seen in our lifetimes. However, in our system of government, extending a state of emergency longer than it's needed isn't appropriate. And authority must be restored to the normal process with checks and balances. So as a result of Vermonters stepping up to be vaccinated at such high rate, restrictions are no longer needed. And the state of emergency is no longer needed either. Now, as I said weeks ago, we want to make sure that when lifting this order, people who've relied on some of the programs and services aren't left behind. I asked my general counsel, Jay Johnson, to work with agencies and departments to identify programs that will still be needed. As a result, today I will sign a separate executive order under my general powers, not my emergency powers to do the following. First, it maintains the National Guard's active state service status. This will allow the guard to continue assisting with our response as needed, including with vaccination clinics. The order also extends Vermont's access to federal funding for expanded emergency housing and feeding programs, which Secretary Smith discussed earlier. We know many Vermonters relied on these services throughout the pandemic. And Vermont has been seen as a model for our efforts to safely house those experiencing homelessness. We believe this has had a significant impact, and our goal is to help make sure there's a smooth transition back to pre-pandemic services. Another provision relates to H313, which I signed into law last week. Among other things, this keeps a portion of my executive order in place, allowing restaurants and bars to continue serving drinks to go. This has been an important revenue stream for both employers and employees in an industry that has been hit especially hard. The law H313 goes into effect July 1, so the order will serve as a bridge until we get there. Even as this emergency comes to an end, we know there are still Vermonters struggling because of it. Protecting the most vulnerable has been one of the top priorities of my administration over the last four years. As we enter the recovery phase, that remains true. My team and I will focus on building a stronger, more prosperous Vermont, learn the lessons of the pandemic, and continue to do whatever we can to grow the economy, make Vermont more affordable, and protect the most vulnerable. With that, we'll go back to questions, or we'll go to questions, I guess. Thanks, Governor. I think this might be a question for Secretary Smith. So regarding the $2,500 stipend giving to people transitioning out of the hotel voucher, what sort of checks will there be to make sure that this money is going where it needs to go and that will be appropriately spent? We actually have Commissioner Brown, Sean Brown on the line. He might be more appropriate to answer that question. Sean, did you hear the question? Hello? Try once again. Sean? Hello, Governor. This is Commissioner Brown. Could you have the reporter repeat the question at trouble hearing it? Calvin, could you do that once more? Sure. So regarding the $2,500 transitional stipend giving to people to transition out of the hotel voucher program, what sort of checks will there be to make sure that the money is being spent where it needs to be spent on housing? The payment is not intended specifically to cover the cost of housing. It's being referred to as an essential payment so that individuals have flexibility to meet whatever needs that they have as they transition out of the program. So it could meet a variety of needs and so we're working with our community partners across the state to make sure that all of the households that are eligible receive the payment will also be offering to those households that are interested some financial literacy training and then making sure they have the ability to access those funds and cash the check and access them. But they really have flexibility to meet whatever needs they're experiencing as they transition out of the program. Governor, in 30 days now the eviction moratorium expires. I guess what's the plan from the statewide perspective after that that is triggered? Yeah, I mean the legislature put the 30 days in place after the emergency order expires. They felt comfortable in giving that amount of time for people to get their acts in order so to speak and I think it's at that point up to the judiciary to take over. So there are continued to be protections in place. They will take each case and make sure it's viable and inappropriate. So we have to have faith in the third branch of government. And then I guess the last follow-up to that is you know there have been federal programs designed to give direct aid to renters to prevent evictions but you know we're hearing anecdotally that this money has been you know in other states but also here in Vermont it's been slow to get out the door. So I guess I'm just wondering you know if you're concerned about you know money not getting out the door in time or if there's any sort of concern. Yeah I think there has been a little bit of a delay I'd say with the Treasury but I think we're getting up to speed in that respect. So I think by the by the time the 30 days clips is that we'll be we'll be in good shape. Thanks. Jolie Sherman, local 22, local 44. Hi Governor, I wanted to know have you been or plan to be in contact with other governors or administrations to share your vaccination strategies? Well I mean we I do confer with fellow governors on a you know ongoing basis. We get together every couple of weeks and just exchange ideas. I've been exchanging our ideas along the way. Everyone has a different approaches to their to their states. They know their states better than we do. I will admit that what we do in Vermont might not work in Texas and vice versa and so you have to kind of cater to to your state and figure out what works for you but we certainly have offered our perspective and I know we're a small state but it still you know comes down to math and and from a percentage state standpoint we've done a lot of things right. But it it has a lot to do with the attitude of Vermonters I believe and we've been we've been blessed with the right attitude here. And I just want to ask I want to confirm lifting all remaining restrictions means no masks no capacity limits when it comes to gatherings. What else might we notice? Yeah just think back pre-pandemic the way it was when there was no restrictions whatsoever and that's what we're going back to. The only difference might be if there's any federal restrictions like with with transportation for instance public transportation they still have guidelines in place for that and I think I believe a long-term care facilities as well. But other than that just just go back to where we were probably 16 months ago and that's where we're going to be today. I just have one more question for you and I'd like to ask Dr. Levine something. How many press conferences have there been up until this point? I had that I announced that yesterday and it's I can't recall how many that was. I think this will be 146. Yeah 146 is what I'm being told. And Dr. Levine one question for you would you recommend that vaccinated individuals if they feel sick and it might be COVID would you recommend them getting tested? Oh absolutely yeah we're still in a time where COVID is still in the environment that's around us so if someone has anything on the symptom checklist for COVID even if they're vaccinated it would be a good idea to get a test. The likelihood in Vermont of them having a positive test is very low you know the number of cases that we've seen in vaccinated people six in 10,000 so it's a pretty the odds are pretty much saying it's probably a common cold or something else of the sort but at the same time I think we're at a time period where we all want to continue to protect one another so getting a test is so easy and believe me there are no lines for testing now so one can go no matter what region the state to one of our testing centers and get tested. Thank you so much. Yeah I believe we still have 16 or 17 fixed sites still available I believe so it is easy to accomplish and it's free so take advantage of that a peace of mind if nothing else. Good morning. Sonia was unable to overcome the technical and audio challenges with yesterday's press conference and I missed the opportunity to congratulate you and your cabinet on hitting the 80 percent benchmark. I also want to acknowledge how responsive and helpful the staff and your cabinet members have been. Every piece of information that was promised has been delivered whether it was from Secretary French's office, Secretary Smith's office or Secretary Curley who reached out herself via email several times. I thank you all for that and thanks to Jason and Rebecca for their yeoman's work wrangling reporters for these press counselors and we have heard from readers that they're having issues finding appropriate summer programming for their children. Do you have a sense of whether the number of slots for kids is sufficient and if not how big is that gap? You know I think it's it depends on the region. Obviously we're trying to make sure there are enough slots available for any child or younger person who wants it because we think it's that important but but I can get someone I don't have that information here but it certainly could have somebody contact you and provide you with that information because I think it's you know it's more regionalized and there may be opportunities that that may not be apparent so we'd be happy to to look into that for you. Great thank you that's it for me. Wilson Rank, Associated Press. Hi good morning everybody I have a couple of I think they're quick questions. Dr. Levine you kind of mentioned this when you were speaking earlier but do you think that COVID is going forward is going to become just an endemic background disease that's going to pop up pretty much forever? You probably don't want me to say yes but I think you're correct that that's what the predictions are but that would be far better than being an epidemic or a pandemic disease so I think when doctors see symptomatic patients with the appropriate symptoms there'll be times that they'll be doing a test that can look for several viruses at one time on the nasal swab and one of those will be COVID so the answer is yes. Okay, thank you and I guess this is for the governor and Dr. Levine both of you have either of you missed any of the what was it 146 of these news conferences and now that the emergency is over do you have any vacation plans either or all of you? Yeah I believe that I missed at least one I believe and Dr. Levine might have missed one as well so we're tied. But any travel plans? I have no travel plans at this point in time Dr. Levine. None in the immediate future. Okay well it seems like I don't want to delay or betray my journalistic objectivity but I think you might be due or at least entitled. Anyway thank you those are my questions. Oh thank you. Mike Donahue, the Islander. Thank you Jason Governor. I'd like to echo at least a little bit about your leadership and your team over the past 15 months we've heard from readers who asked us to share their ongoing thanks to you and the fact that you're still standing after 146 grillings since it all. So and you are welcome to ride your bike up to the Champaign Islands anytime you want. I might want to do that yeah. So just following up on yesterday's question about the U.S. Canadian border and certainly Commissioner Peechak's numbers from Canada and Quebec are very encouraging and as I mentioned there are 15 international crossing points in the four northern counties. What can you do and maybe the other 12 governors in states that share the Canadian border to pressure President Biden Prime Minister Trudeau to speed up the opening of the border. I mean at the 13 governor's caucus at all on a reopening plan and it may be trying to share more vaccines with Canada. I know we talked yesterday about the fact that U.S. is going to share vaccines but obviously it would have a huge economic impact if the Canadian border was open at 90 miles. It's critical for a lot of businesses that depend on summer and fall tourism and everything. Yeah I don't have any of the details but I did hear some news this morning. It appears that there is going to be a meeting fairly soon with the Canadian officials and U.S. officials to talk about the border reopening. So I'm I'm really hopeful that this will happen sometime in maybe July from my standpoint. And again I don't I'm just speculating on what could happen because this really is up to Canadian officials and U.S. officials but we keep the pressure up. We we know it's important to us especially for the northern part of the state but but it's it's something we talk about with them quite often and I believe that it's more on the other side. You know it's the Canadian side that they may have been more apprehensive but as I said yesterday they have they have made a significant ground in terms of first doses for Canadians up in the 60 percent range which is remarkable from where they were and the second dose is I think they're in the maybe the nine percent range something like that but it's it's picking up and so it doesn't appear that it's a problem with supply at this point. It may be at this point just getting the shots in arms so we'll continue if if any Canadians come across the border for work-related issues. We believe we can vaccinate them so we'll continue to do our part in our small way. But is there any thought of caucusing with the other well governors to really develop a plan that the President Biden could use? Yeah I don't know. Yeah we haven't we haven't spoken. You yourself are posting them. Yeah we haven't we haven't done that but we did have a New England governors I think I mentioned this a couple weeks ago. New England governors and and Eastern Premier's meeting and we talked about this issue and and tried to advocate but but again I believe it's not the pressure on the US side I think we need the pressure on the other side on the Canadian side and they you know some of their some of Premier's are just reading their own constituents are saying that they're a bit apprehensive about opening up the border so I'm not I'm not sure that they're as excited about this as we are at this point but this was a couple weeks ago and again they've made significant gains in the number of vaccinations over the last even two weeks so I I think this meeting will will bear some fruit and and I believe that we'll we'll have some some word fairly soon on on when the border will be reopened. Okay very good thank you very much as always appreciate it. Tim McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine. Hi Governor I have a question about Broadband but just to follow up on Willie's question I was wondering it occurs to me will the COVID vaccine become part of the regular flu vaccine mix like H1N1 has become? I was just trying to determine who Willie is but I guess it's Wilson ring correct? Wilson ring yeah I didn't know he had a nickname but Dr. Levine. It's one of the it's one of the questions that will be answered with some of the research that's been going on for a couple months and will continue to go on this year. Keep in mind the original people in the clinical trials for the vaccine were a summer ago so there's about a year's worth now of information available from them on antibody levels and how well they're maintaining those levels and that's going to determine the need for or frequency at which we need to have booster doses so no one is committing to a one-year booster yet but it's been foreshadowed for a long time but it could go longer than a year if people's immune response is really robust so I can't really answer your question until that research has been completed and it's really in progress now because that would also then raise the issue if it's one year well then you might think probably you'd get a yearly shot like the flu shot but if it's not one year it may be something different like other vaccines we have where you may get two or three doses in a lifetime so it's very hard to give you a complete answer yet okay very great thank you the governor wants to add something I failed to mention on the call with the White House this morning Dr. Walensky did mention that there's a meeting scheduled for Friday to talk about boosters and in second doses and so forth and yearly there's no vote that will be taken but it will determine I guess what is needed to determine that whether how much more research and and what areas they're going to concentrate on so there is going to be a meeting on Friday ACIP that's it ACIP okay great thank you as far as the broadband is concerned governor you know there's a ton of money out there 150 million dollars plus perhaps more coming and people are wondering well when when am I going to get my broadband and is it going to cost me you know a car payment to get it so there's those two concerns when and how much yeah well here's what I can tell you we want to expedite the process as quickly as we can the the legislature did put some oversight in this we have to determine a an executive director for a board broadband board so some of it's out of our hands the administration's hands at this point so there's a few steps we have to take in the meantime but we're we'll do do all we can to get this get this fiber on the poles and and in the ground and everything we can do to to get Vermonters the broadband that's needed as far as the costs again we we are in hopes that we're able to we have this funding for the infrastructure to put put that into place so that won't be utilized as a as a reason to to charge more because because this funding will be be utilized for the for the infrastructure the the CUDs will have a role to play in this as well and so they're almost a non-profit in some respects so that should be advantageous in some regions okay great thank you very much and while sound seven days hi thanks um I have a question about the expiration of the eviction moratorium next month I'm wondering how the state is preparing for what's going to happen when presumably at least some people are going to have to leave their rental I'm just wondering if you know how many people this might involve or what the timeline might be I know there's going to be a backlog in the courts but at some point it does sound like there's going to be some movement there and it doesn't really sound like there is any sort of housing set up for people who find themselves out of their homes yeah I'm I think Commissioner Hanford might be on it might be able to answer some of those questions yes Governor can you hear me we can yes so the eviction moratorium it's 30 days um so July 15th you know I don't think this as a surprise this has been in the works for for months um and rent was never forgiven during that period so many Vermonters have prepared for paying that back rent there's over 375 million dollars in federal aid to help with rental assistance um and we have community partners more than 20 across the state helping people access this assistance language translation landlord tenant mediation technology assistance you know and funding has been provided to groups like for monthly delay to provide eviction prevention services so you know we feel we have the resources in place that help folks a lot of the requirements that are slowing this down are federal and we really can't um you know wave those folks need to submit the necessary paperwork prove that they're eligible you know I think that we will have the time to solve most of these problems and it's important to know that the eviction process is a lengthy one it takes time and that it can be halted at any point um by paying your back rent if the eviction is for non payment of rent so it's important that we go back to you know due process and these cases occurred and we restore that uh for both landlords and tenants benefit so do you have any idea how many cases this affects or how many households this might affect you know I don't have exact numbers you know there has been a significant drop in the number of eviction filings during this period I know that for certain um you know their folks were still able to file evictions but they weren't processed uh and in normal year it's about 600 I have not received um update from the court on how much how many evictions are in process right now I don't believe it is a tsunami coming I think that folks have been preparing for this and that there's ample assistance to help people pay their back rent and utilities and even going forward for more than a year um more than 375 million in aid to help people pay their rent so um I think that's a lot of help for folks it's a little bit of an unusual situation now because I have heard from more than one person who is being evicted because their landlord is selling the house and they're doing that because house prices are so extraordinarily high right now so for those who can't gain access to the money to help them pay their back rent and stay where there are they're going to have to leave and right now it's hard for them to find another place does the state have anything other than rental assistance in place to help them well you know you're bringing up uh you know our housing situation and as the governor mentioned you know we had an historic um amount of funding provided to build more housing more than 130 million to directly support the building of more affordable housing and you know this funding can be matched with the rental assistance to help people exit homelessness as secretary Smith mentioned and it's an ongoing effort you know we need to build more housing also middle income home ownership units and you know and there's more work to do in this area but everyone's working collaboratively and building units as fast as possible right but that's not because I mean that money is obviously not going to turn into housing within the next few months yeah and don't forget you know two or three years ago when we had a historic amount which we thought was historic at that point 37 million dollar housing bond and then it leveraged another 65 million of private assets for a hundred million dollars worth of housing which was historic at that point that's still being completed right now I mean that's we're seeing the tail end of that so it's not as though we haven't been building any housing it's just that we know we've known for quite some time we need more of it exactly and I would just add that last winter with the crf money we were able to build 500 units of housing in six to eight months so some of these projects can happen fast we have more work to do in this area we need to have a more efficient permitting regulations to allow the housing to be built quicker in the areas we want you know all it's like to say it's folks are doing everything they can to try to bring more units online and we need to continue to work together to help you know build more housing we also and as you might recall during the legislative session sought to expedite some permitting in some areas particularly in communities and downtowns and we weren't successful in completing that but we we're going to continue to monitor that and if that's a a bottleneck then we will we'll again ask the legislature to help us out move to Greg Lamarrow the county courier Greg Lamarrow okay can you hear me now yes we can yeah go ahead Greg okay thank you Governor good afternoon uh just want to reiterate what a few other reporters have said and thank you and your staff for the uh the leadership uh through this pandemic um I do also at the same time want to circle back around to a question that I asked a handful months ago and at the time you basically kind of said you know we're we're still great and sick of it haven't gotten to think of that about it much um hindsight being 2020 what would you have done different if if you could go back 15 16 maybe even 24 months and prepare and and respond to this pandemic well it's easy you know playing Monday morning quarterback in some respects it depends on whether you're talking you know on the federal level or the state level I think we did the best we could under the circumstances and with the cards that we were dealt but there were a number of of issues that we as a country we as the world weren't prepared for um so that um that becomes problematic to to go back and unwind that and determine what we should have could have what it should have done uh at that that point but but they're going to be numerous and I think I said on on Monday or yesterday that you know in the future uh we are going to have to invest more in uh in science I believe in this in this country and probably in the world to to better prepare ourselves for the future putting all of the PPE and so forth in place and making sure that we have manufacturing sites maybe within our control here in this country I think we had we relied heavily especially with PPE on other countries and I wish we had had more manufacturing ability right here in the U.S. and that we could have controlled that more and protected ourselves better I just remember you know going to great lengths trying to find PPE and testing supplies and so forth and we just weren't prepared as a country uh or again as as in a world population so so I think going back that would be some of my my thoughts dr. Levine anything you'd want to add to that I think not too much to add to those thoughts um I think we learned perhaps as a state that it's not a good situation when you have to have 50 states competing with one another at a time of a crisis and even competing with premiers and prime ministers around the world as well um that doesn't say so much about what we could do or not do better uh because there were a lot of national issues at that time that we kind of were stuck with um anytime you have 256 people who are no longer with us you you ask yourself those questions in the middle of the night all the time um I wish I could say that you know some percentage of those were people we could have saved from the fate that ultimately uh they succumbed to but the reality was early on the virus spread so quickly and we lost a number of people in some of our nursing homes and we forever regret that but at the same time we tried our best we implemented all kinds of restrictive visitation procedures etc so very challenging questions but I do think the issues of having PPE having a stockpile of PPE having reliable PPE that you know is actually what it is supposed to be especially with regard to the uh N95 and KN95 mask is really important and then um you know I think our state learned so much along the way about our need to stockpile that equipment to get whatever testing capability it could have and diversify that so we would not be dependent on one supply line I'd say most of what we learned we learned along the way but we learned it early along the way so we tried to implement things as quickly as possible that would prevent us from running short on one supply or another supply and uh being stuck so you know the ultimate answer to the question is a country that has invested much more in public health and an emergency preparedness and I don't mean emergency preparedness for blizzards hurricanes floods because those are events that don't have this long of a tail end so to speak and an aftermath they they have an aftermath that can be very substantial from devastation but the actual natural event comes and goes we need to make sure that we remember that viruses like this coronavirus um are probably in our future and probably less than once in a century so I think we need to always be cognizant of that that's that's all I'll say for now thank you Dr. Libby and thank you governor both a lot more expensive than I expected thank you Pete Hirschfeldt VPR thank you Jason um if I understood Secretary Smith uh correctly it sounds like about two-thirds the people that are in motel housing right now in emergency vouchers will be able to stay beyond July 1 that's really 700 to 800 folks who are gonna have to leave after June 30th I'm wondering if each of those individuals will be getting a $2,500 check and also what else will be done to help both folks who maybe don't have a place to go and also keep that they're going to be camping in lots of instances um I think I'm going to ask Commissioner Brown to weigh in he's been working with our community partners for quite some time on this very issue so he probably has all the information at his fingertips thank you governor um yes uh Sean Brown commissioner um in terms of the number of households that will be ineligible you are correct Peter there's a little over 720 households that will no longer be eligible but that's our estimate right now obviously we will go through the eligibility process with those households to see if they do meet a category moving forward but based on the information we have for those households right now we believe it's about 720 households will not be eligible um at the end of June um each of those households will be eligible for the $2,500 payment um if um but as they transition out of the program um and we are working very closely with our um partner housing partners across the state as they um develop uh transitional housing plans for each of these households in terms of um what options might be available whether um it's moving into a permanent housing situation returning to live with family or friends if that's where they came from before the pandemic um as as the state shut down last spring also some of them might transition into another system of care um depending on their level of need that could be um um a treatment facility or a community care home um you know we saw systems of care shut down across the state and and individuals coming into the emergency housing program and we want to reestablish folks into those places as well um and and for those who who choose to um want to camp you know would they would there would be supports in place for those as well um and so there's a wide variety of options available for the for those households and not eligible and our goal is to make sure that they all have a safe place to go and are working hard to with the planning on the transition for those households now thank you commissioner one more quick question for you governor you said that the executive order that you're signing I believe today will enable Vermont to continue to avail itself of some of the federal funding streams established for emergencies do you know offhand exactly which revenue sources you're going to be able to continue to be able to drawing down by signing this executive order jay do you have the answer that jay johnson here hi peter I believe it's better it's FEMA funding for the most part for emergency housing resources um for feeding the same and I believe that it's supplemental um uh snap assistance for um that's coming from hhs from a different program thank you all as always abry powell wcax abry powell we'll move to erin potanko vt digger sorry can you hear me now yep go ahead abry governor you've mentioned a lot about how we got to this 80 mark and doing the age band approach but can you talk a little bit about why you think Vermonters went and got the vaccine and really stepped up before the July 4th deadline you know I don't I don't have the complete answer um except that I knowing Vermonters um the way I think I do most wanted to do the right thing wanted to do the right thing for their families and friends and um knew they had enough faith in uh what Dr. Levine Dr. Calso and others were were saying in in terms of the the safeness of the vaccine uh they were willing to do so and and again it was uh a joint effort on a number of different fronts and and finally bringing you know in the beginning when we had the vaccine there was such a huge demand that it was uh outstripping the supply uh towards the end we had to change our approach because you know the demand decreased the supply increased and so we had to find ways to meet them where they are and and that's why we tried a number different ways and we there isn't any one way that worked better than others I think just the combined effort and and highlighting the fact that they were there was vaccine available and with the help of the media I think it all worked together to bring people to the point we are today so I don't know is there's one single answer it was just a joint effort on everyone's part across Vermont across different sectors and that doesn't it's not just from the government's standpoint because it took it took the whole village to get together to bring us to this point. And the second question is the expiration of the state of emergency going to have an impact on DMV operations? I don't not significantly what we found with DMV for instance there are a number of people that are using online services more doing it by mail and I expect that will continue obviously we'll be reopening some of the facilities as well and and I think they'll be more in person so I don't know is there's going to be a significant change but but hopefully it will all be for the better whatever the change is it will all be for the better. Thank you. Erin Potenko, BT Digger. Durgs in your executive order are expected to last. Um, particularly the continued federal assistance um for food and housing? I think I got part of that Erin um so the executive order will lapse tonight the the or the emergency order the executive order that will put into place will fill the gap for some of the funding for the homeless program and feeding and so forth. So we don't expect that there will be any laps in between this will just continue as we know it today from a funding standpoint. So the funding continues indefinitely into the future? Oh I think there's a there's an end date uh there as well I mean that'll be determined federally so there's an end date I just I'm not quite sure when that is but some of the dates I've heard of course um like the $300 supplemental on the UI ends in September and uh so I'm sure that there will be others that other programs that will be ending as well I just I don't have the answer but we can get it for you. Okay so there's there's no particular end to the funding on the executive orders part like we don't specify that the executive order will continue for another month? No. Yeah um and and the National Guard is also activated indefinitely? Yes until we determine when we don't need that that resource anymore we don't want that to be indefinite but you know we'll continue to utilize them as much as we need to they've been a great partner. Yeah okay um my other question is um you know as the state reopens a lot of counties are at or near that 80 benchmark but as the county is still only about 56 percent vaccinated um does that concern you um you know as a potential place where community transmission could happen because the vaccination rate is lower than the best date? Yeah I mean it concerns me I would like to see the number increase obviously um but again we'll try and we're not going to give up on them we'll provide four opportunities for them to get vaccinated and trying to meet them where they are in terms of giving them the information maybe as time goes on they'll see that others have have experienced you know a more healthy life and without fear of the virus or any of the variants and that may help them come around to the fact that they should get vaccinated but we're not going to give up but but again it's it's rural and obviously in that that area fewer people it wouldn't take too many to get up to that 80 percent in that region and we'll see what happens but we'll continue our efforts. Thank you. Ed Barber, Newport Daily Express. I do have one question which is kind of related to talking to the administrator of the country hospital yesterday and he said that the hospital's not been receiving the Pfizer vaccine to be able to use the 12 to 15 year old age group I was wondering why they're not getting the vaccine in and is there a supply chain issue with that? That would that would that would surprise me Ed but but have that administrator give us a call because we can rectify that pretty quick I'm pretty sure. Okay well I want to be equally equally clear I I believe we can fix that if if there's a problem so give us a call. Secretary Smith would be most appropriate what's your cell number? 555. Great. And Secretary Smith said he will reach out to North Country Hospital as well. Okay very good thank you. Dr. Levine might have a comment on this. The only thing I wanted to comment on is obviously the Essex County number does seem low and it's lower than other other counties. We're trying to dig into a little more to see if it's really as low as the number 56 percent or could be a little higher. You may recall the state of New Hampshire just developed a registry of its own which is newly launched. There may be some data for Vermonters who have gone to pharmacies in New Hampshire or other sites in New Hampshire and gotten their vaccine so the number could be higher but I can't tell you that for sure now but we have a team working on trying to figure out if there's more data to reconcile which would not only help the number in that county look good but it would also obviously be very useful to know that the county is actually at a higher vaccination rate than we thought so more to come but I can't tell you exactly when. Thank you very much and have a great day. Thank you. Tom Davis, Compass for Mod. Thanks Jason. One question I had was Secretary Smith when you were going through the list of obviously the pharmacies but also where vaccination clinics and opportunities will be held. Are any of them providing the option of the Johnson and Johnson vaccination or is it all either Pfizer or Moderna? Tom I believe it's a mix but I'm in terms of what who is doing what with Johnson and Johnson Moderna and Pfizer but I will double check on that. They get their on through the federal pharmacy program they get their distribution separately than are so I don't remember off the top of my head how much Johnson and Johnson is coming to them but in the past it's been a mix of Johnson and Johnson Moderna and Pfizer but I'll get back to you Tom on it. Thank you I appreciate that. One other question with the announcement yesterday from the state police that they're going back to more normalized operations with your proclamation governor one thing that seems to everyone wants to know is will we see more state police vehicles on the roads in Vermont? I believe you will and so I would advocate and advise people to slow down. You're going to see more activity out on the on the highways in terms of the Vermont state police. Very good thank you all. Guy Page from Daily Chronicle. Governor you've been asked about offering interstate assistance. Another interstate crisis governor Abbott of Texas and Governor Ducey of Arizona on June 10th sent a letter to I believe all of their fellow governors invoking the interstate emergency management assistance compact seeking to help stop the inflow of illegal immigrants. In 1999 the Vermont legislature joined this compact which promises help for quote any disaster or emergency declared by the governor of the affected party state. So will Vermont be sending help as requested by Governor Abbott and Governor Ducey and if so what kind and if not why not? I haven't received any calls from either Governor Ducey or Governor Abbott and they have my number so I'm not I'm not aware that they need our help but but obviously we'll do whatever we can to assist them. Thank you. Governor also is it permissible now for an employer to terminate an employee who refuses vaccination and if so is a negative antibody test acceptable as an alternative? Yeah that's a legal question I don't have the answer to. Be happy to research that though I just I don't I just don't know guy. That doesn't come up when employers are are talking about well can we can we fire someone or get rid of someone who's not vaccinated that's brought that up? Yeah I haven't heard that question as of yet but I would imagine it will. Great well I look forward to and I'm gonna yeah I'm sorry I'm gonna let Jay Johnson add a little bit of color to this. Okay thank you governor. Hi guy I am we've researched that this a little bit in terms of whether an employer can fire someone for not being vaccinated. The problem with the vaccinations I think is everyone recognizes it's an emergency use authorization at this point and I think that the law just isn't clear the EEOC has provides certain guidance and there's a different law under which the emergency authorization is issued so it's really not that clear and I don't know of any litigation that has tested it yet so I think like the governor said we probably will see some litigation arising out of it and then we'll but I think really as Dr. Levine has said in the past what we're hoping for is the commercial use authorization and then employers can make that decision. So once once it's authorized then they will be able to terminate. Well that would be the theory yes I mean I would say unless something changes in law I think that would be the theory. Okay well what about if someone says hey I've got a negative antibody test antibody show I don't I don't have it is that is that an acceptable alternative? I think that's going to be another one of those test real life test cases you know a legal test I would say. And finally I just want to say that Jason your press secretary has been the most responsive helpful press contact of any governor I've not helped him in the last 20 years and he's he's done good work and so have all the rest of you as well. Well thank you I haven't heard anyone compliment him to that degree. That's it all right thank you very much and we'll see you again next week.