 As the data has been showing us for the last couple of weeks, the sacrifice of Vermonters to stay home and stay safe is having a positive impact on the number of COVID-19 cases here in Vermont. And we're continuing to see what appears to be a plateau. Mr. P. Jek will share details on our latest modeling in a moment. I want to thank Vermonters for all they've done to get us to this point. I also want to remind everyone, now is not the time to declare victory, because I think we all know it's going to take us all doing more of what we've been doing to get us through this plateau and into a downward trend. Things like staying home, staying separated, wearing a mask, washing our hands are still as important today as it was in the beginning. While I know it's been difficult and contingent we have a tremendous impact on our economy, I believe it's getting us through this with the fewest number of cases and loss of life and will also result in a less severe economic impact in the long run. Because of all the measures we put into place and because we've been so dedicated, our data shows we can allow a few more people back to work. And as I've said before, because we have one of the strongest stay home orders in the country with more restrictions than most, we can open up the spicket a bit more to catch up and get more in line with our neighbor states. But with these small steps, we have to make sure that we're being responsible. This comes down to each and every one of us to do so. Since my order laid out last week, whether you're a business that's been open or is newly opened, you must continue to follow our health and safety guidelines like keeping employees and customers six feet apart, requiring frequent hand washing and disinfecting of surfaces, wearing a cloth face mask in public, both employees and customers, requiring employees to stay home if they're sick or have symptoms and more. Another really important aspect of today's order is establishing training requirements for employers and employees to help everyone working, but returning to work, understand how they can help themselves and keep others safe. It's these kinds of steps that are going to help us continue to slowly turn the spicket in a way that helps prevent outbreaks and we can keep moving forward because in order to win both the battle on health and the economic battle as well, each of us has to be smart and has to be vigilant. Now, before I get into the steps we're taking today, I want to remind everyone of the principles we set that guide any reopenings. First, we'll continue to keep our eyes on the data to make sure we pay attention to what's happening and that we continue to move in the right direction. Second, we'll make sure our healthcare system remains ready so we're prepared to fight outbreaks as they happen and we have the capacity to treat COVID patients. Third, we'll continue to work with our state lab, hospitals and commercial labs to make testing more available with a focus on proactive testing and followed up by building upon our strong contact tracing program. Fourth, we'll find ways to work smarter and work safer. So when we put people back to work, we'll know they're safe and keeping their families safe as well. And finally, we'll plan for ways to play smarter and play safer so Vermonters can do the things that they love best about Vermont in a way that doesn't put health at risk. Again, this will be a very measured, moderate approach guided by data and science and we'll keep talking with our neighbor states along the way. With all these principles in mind, here's what our next small step forward will look like. Building on last week's order will allow small crews of five or less to perform outdoor work or work in unoccupied structures. We'll also allow manufacturing and distribution operations to open with a maximum of five employees in a space large enough to keep these workers at least six feet apart at all times. For those businesses already open using curbside pickup or delivery, they must continue to operate with a minimum number of employees possible. This latest order will also allow an outdoor retail facility such as a garden center or greenhouse to allow in person buying in these outdoor spaces, but no more than 10 people, including customers and staff will be permitted at any one time. And as I said last week, the Agency of Agriculture has been working on a plan to allow for the reopening of farmers markets on May 1st, but let me be clear, this will not be a traditional farmers market. I've asked that guidance focus on food distribution, not a social gathering. Again, the best way to continue to make small steps, take small steps forward is to make sure we put health and safety first. All of us, employers, employees, customers must take this responsibility seriously. This is literally in our hands, and we have to do this right because we don't want to lose ground or change the trajectory we're on. If we want to continue getting Vermonters back to work, there must be a constant, consistent everyday battle to fight this virus. Again, I know some will think this is too much, and there are others who will think this is not enough, but I continue to make this pledge to Vermonters. We will take a careful and measured approach, with health as the number one priority. No one wants to get Vermonters back to work more than me, but as we do, we must out smart and beat this virus. I know together we can build on our progress, stay united in this work, and get through this stronger than before. And as you think about our economic challenges about this recovery, I'm pleased to have Congressman Welch here with us on the phone to give us an update on what's happening in Washington. Congressman Welch, are you on the phone? I am. Great, thanks for joining us. Governor, thank you. Well, I'm delighted to be with you. I first of all want to say that the most important focus that you have is the right focus to have is the most important one, and that's the health and safety of Vermonters. And the more Vermonters are paying attention to the steps we have to take to keep ourselves and the people we love healthy and safe, that's going to have a ripple effect beyond Vermont, because we all have to be in this together. And the states through our governors have to take the responsibility and the lead on the measures that are required for Vermonters and all of us to be safe. And that's a big responsibility. And you and your team are really taking this very directly. And as one Vermont citizen, I want to say thank you for that. The federal role is really important as well. And that is to try to get us through what is an economic crisis. The effect of social distancing is to shut down business for quite some time. And we know we have to do it, but it's not without consequence. So I'm very pleased in Washington that there's been strong bipartisan support for economic measures. And I'll just go through those very quickly, but that is the $1,200 checks that are going out. They were a little slow coming, but they seem to be underway. If anybody has problems with that, then contact us and we'll try to check into it. The unemployment insurance supplement is helping. And of course, the payroll protection plan and the economic injury disaster loans. The payroll protection plan fund ran out. And yesterday, we were in the house of representatives and passed additional funds for that program. It's been very popular in Vermont. We've had about 7,000 businesses successfully get authorized and have funds available of about a billion dollars. And that is, I think you pointed out, puts Vermont as the third highest per capita in the utilization of that program. Yet many Vermont businesses didn't quite make it before funds ran dry. And the legislation that was passed in the Senate a few days ago with the strong support of Senator Sanders and Senator Leahy, we voted on yesterday in the house. And what it does is number one adds $370 billion to the payroll protection plan and the economic injury disaster loans. So Vermont businesses that have filed applications, there's now money that's available through the SBA to hopefully have your application be successfully granted. The legislation also puts $60 billion in the economic injury disaster loan in grant program. So I would encourage Vermont businesses to make those applications. The legislation specifically authorizes these programs to be available to Vermont's agricultural community. And we know that Vermont Dairy is really on the ropes and we're hopeful that this additional language making it very specific that these programs do apply to our dairy farms that this can be helpful. In addition, there is $100 billion in this package that goes back to for healthcare. It's $75 billion to help our hospitals. And that's obviously extremely critical for us in Vermont. We've got a network of hospitals, certain rural Vermont, as well as, of course, our UVM Medical Center. And this is going to be very important that Vermont get some help in order to maintain the important work that those hospitals are providing to us now and in the future. And then one additional provision that I think is extremely important in overdue is $25 billion for testing. And Governor, as you said, this first step in this is that we have to have social distancing to flatten the curve and we're having some success on that effort. But then that doesn't cure the disease. It doesn't eradicate the disease. We have to then do testing. We have to do contact tracing. And then we have to have a capacity to quarantine. And this $25 billion in testing is an acknowledgement of the absolute fundamental importance of testing going forward. So Congress has authorized the funding. We want to get that back to the states to help the states where the big challenges of implementation is going to occur. So this is good news, but I want to also acknowledge that this is incredibly difficult and challenging times for Vermont enterprises. You know, most of Vermont businesses are, they're small family affairs. The people who work there are like family. And to suddenly have to, for public health reasons, shut down as financial anxiety as well as health anxiety. And as much as these programs have been funded, you know, the first package was $2.2 trillion. The second, this one was close to $480 billion. It's probably not enough, and we're going to have to continue our efforts. My hope is that on this too, we'll be working with the SBA to get input from our businesses about where we can make some adjustments in what the regulations are to provide some flexibility to meet the needs of the particular circumstances of our businesses. That's important that we continue to be as responsive as we can be to the real world situation that our businesses face. The, I just want to say something about going forward. As you pointed out, Governor, this economic situation has placed immense pressure on state revenues for Vermont's not unique at all. And we must have as a focus going forward, in Congress going forward, providing aid to the states. And I think that is an acknowledgement that the revenues have collapsed in states. You know, if the federal government is really the only governmental entity that has the fiscal capacity to respond to this once-in-a-hundred-year event, if we don't, in so much generously, then it's going to put enormous pressure on our property taxpayers who are going to put enormous pressure on our state budget where will we be able to fund education the way our kids need it? Will we be able to provide access to health care the way our citizens need it? And this event was not the result of any actions in any state. It's the result of the public health epidemic. So my hope going forward is that in the next aid package, we do focus on two things, one among others, but one is aid to the states and B is flexibility so that the states, when they do get aid, can make some of these tough decisions that are better made in my appeal and in your office, Governor, rather than in Washington. So it's great to be a partner with Patrick and Bernie and you and your team. This is a situation where, for matters no from experience, that the best approach is all of us in it together, all for one and one for all. And somehow some way with persistence and calmness, we'll get through this. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Peter. We appreciate all you've done for our state as well as the rest of the congressional delegation and trying to work together. And we're doing that on the local level as well with our legislative counterparts and just trying to get through this and take the politics out of it. And you've been successful in doing that and we appreciate that. Thank you, Governor. At this point, I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Pichek for his presentation on modeling. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Governor. My name is Mike Pichek. I serve as the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, and I have been leading the state's efforts to model and forecast the trajectory of COVID-19 in our state. Today is our fourth media briefing on the state's efforts to forecast the progression and impact of coronavirus in Vermont. As in previous briefings, I will provide an overview of the developments from the past week and then touch on a look forward. Overall, the news continues to be good. Vermont's actual experience continues to trend better than even our best case forecasts. Last week, we announced we had reached the peak of new confirmed cases. This week, the data indicates that we have likely reached our peak regarding the demand on hospital resources as well. And also, in the near future, we anticipate reaching our peak of Vermonters with the active virus, a very important indicator. I want to start first with an update on our mobility data. Our first slide illustrates the decrease in mobility in Vermont over time. First for Vermont on the left and then Northern New England on the right. You can clearly see Vermont's high level of compliance and that also compares favorably to our counterparts in Northern New England. Further, and I think most importantly, you can also clearly see Vermonters continued compliance with social distancing, even as the weeks wear on. This is why we are continuing to see better than expected outcomes. The information is clear and the conclusions are leave no room for doubt. We have also stated all along that practice social distancing is the most important thing Vermonters can do. And it's clear that together our mutual sacrifices are helping us to defeat the virus and continue to save lives. On our next slide, we address the new case growth over time. Vermont continues to see a downward movement in the number of new cases of COVID-19 reported. Over the last week, our three day growth rate fell to less than 1 percent down from 2 percent last week and down from 9 percent the week before. You can see how quickly the virus was growing here in Vermont in mid and late March. And then you can equally see how quickly Vermonters were able to stop the virus in its tracks come late March and middle part of April. At this point, we don't expect our case number in Vermont to double for 37 days. That's an improvement from 27 days last week. Again, I think this clearly shows you how quickly our social distancing efforts were effective, and that is great news for Vermont. Our next slide will show our hospital will show actually our forecasting for the time period ahead. You can see our number of forecasts that we ran over time. And even the one that we ran this week shows that our actual data continues to beat those trends. Again, this is very good news and again is clearly connected to the social distancing that Vermonters continue to practice. Our next forecasting continues to give us confidence that we can meet the health care resource demands for COVID-19. Our PPE supply, our hospital and ICU and ventilator capacities remain far above the current projected needs. Our next slide shows that the trends indicate we are continuing to see improvement in our actual hospital demand. We see the number of hospitalized patients start to decrease the number of ICU patients and the number of ICU and ventilated patients decreasing as well. Again, when we compare this to last week, our numbers have improved and this is a very good indicator. With all this positive news, I do want to stop and remind everyone that we need to stay vigilant. Although we have seen a reduction in the new number of COVID-19 cases, many people in Vermont are still shedding the virus, meaning that they can infect other people. As we can see on our next slide, we don't anticipate reaching our peak on this important measurement until about a week or so. So again, more good news, we anticipate on the way, but only if we continue to make the sacrifices that we have been making for the weeks that lie behind us. Our next slide shows that the percentage of Vermont COVID-19 tests that come back positive over time is also trending in a good direction. This indicator is very good news for Vermont. The experts on our team and also those at the World Health Organization indicate that the confirmed positive cases under 10 percent indicates a state or a region is on the path to containing the virus. And here in Vermont, we've been consistently under that 10 percent threshold for over a week. Again, while maintaining consistent testing, all very good indicators. Looking ahead, we mentioned last week that we had partnered with the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, better known as IHME, one of the nation's premier COVID-19 forecasting institutions and expect their researchers to provide us with a forecast with Vermont specific data sometime early next week. We believe their model will follow our other forecasts and confirm the good progress we have seen across our state. We were we were also heartened to see that IHME included Vermont in a small grouping of states that are best positioned to reopening at the appropriate time. Also, for those interested in learning more about any of these forecasts and our modeling partners, their assumptions, their methodology, their underlying forecasts, I encourage you to visit our department's COVID-19 web page, which as of yesterday includes all of that information as well as any of their interactive models as well. I want to again thank all Vermonters for their continued compliance with state guidance. You are making a major impact and everyone should be very proud. However, as the governor emphasized, we cannot let this incredible work that we've all made pass in vain. We must continue to stay on this important social distancing track for the benefit of our neighbors, but particularly for the benefit of those who are most at risk. I know if we do this, we will emerge from this crisis even stronger and even more resilient. Thank you very much. And at this time, I'd like to introduce Dr. Levine. Thank you. I don't need to reiterate the data presentation today and I don't want to detract from the important messages that came from Commissioner P. Chack and the governor. So I'm going to limit my remarks today to one public health message and it's an important one. As a byproduct of the COVID era that we're in now, healthcare institutions across the nation are reporting marked decreases in patients presenting with heart attacks, strokes and other serious medical illnesses. One could try to come up with a scientific theory about why that is and indeed research is underway. However, the prevailing thought is that the diseases have not gone away, but people are reluctant to present to hospitals and other healthcare institutions worried that they might contract COVID. A very understandable concern you might recognize. But at the same time, my message today is our institutions are safe, especially here across Vermont. Should you have symptoms that make you think you have COVID, call your healthcare professional. But should you have symptoms that you think might be more serious, such as an impending heart attack, a possibility of a stroke or any other serious condition that you would have normally sought medical care for. Please make sure you seek medical care, whether that be with a phone call, whether that be with a 911 call or a presentation to an emergency room. Thank you. At this point in time, we'll open up for questions. Dr. Levine, are you saying that you would be more soft staying reacting to the fear of COVID than when you put it plainly, if you would. You're at greater risk by staying home until you're having a heart problem. You would be going to a hospital. What's that? Absolutely. I really do believe that our healthcare workers go to their site of employment every day. They are heroes, truly, as they are being called commonly across the country because of the fact that they may be exposed to other patients with COVID. But clearly, if they were uncomfortable with the environment they were going to, they would not show up. And the fact is one can go to that environment with a non-COVID complaint and feel comfortable that everyone being on such a high covert alert status themselves will treat them in the way that they would want to be treated so that they can have their condition attended to and not come out of there with an infection as a byproduct of that visit. Can you, I mean, are you separating COVID patients from others such that people can expect they would not be exposed when they walk in the emergency room door? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, there's a protocol for every person who's going to present to an emergency room and I think the staff are well aware of how to make sure that the right things happen for the right person. And of course, our EMS responders are also on very high alert regarding COVID as well. So again, their environment that you would enter on your way to the hospital, if it was that serious, would also be protective for you, just as it would be protective from them if you actually had COVID yourself. Calvin? That's just sort of a question for maybe the governor or Commissioner Harrington. So in the first turn of the state this past week, how many volunteers went back to work? Because I'm just wondering if it's possible to be able to do a forward contact tracing, right, in terms of, you know, maybe people sign in to work and so we know how many people are actually getting back to work. Yeah, I think it's a bit early to retrieve that information because it's, you know, as we gave the order, it's two people at a time starting on Monday, maybe some didn't go to work immediately and to collect all the data is going to be difficult in the short time period. But over time, again, from our standpoint, it's important to have that and know how many people are going back to work and how many people are coming off, let's say, unemployment. But at the same time, just watching the trajectory and watching the modeling to be sure that the number of COVID cases, the positives aren't rising at a dramatic rate and they may rise a little bit as we open up more businesses, but we don't exceed the the limits of our health care system. So that's what we'll be watching. Maybe Commissioner Harrington, do you have any thoughts on this either? I'll just add, Governor, that we'll be watching. We'd really be looking for trending data in terms of number of weekly claims filed. So like you said, at this point, it's just too early. But as we see the trend line going forward, we'll be able to report back. And follow up, do we know what percentage of the workforce, I guess, shut down when we had all these mass closures? I don't know. I mean, we know, obviously, how many have signed up for unemployment and and through the pandemic, unemployment assistance with self-employed and independence, that's starting to trend a bit. And we're getting gathering those numbers. So we know the magnitude of the tens of thousands. And, Mr. Commissioner Harrington, do you have a figure on how many at this point in time? Are on unemployment assistance at this point? Yeah, so we know that our workforce is somewhere between 330,000 to 350,000 under normal circumstances. We know also that we've received roughly 80 to 85 initial claims that's prior to PUA, but not all of those are eligible, of course. So I think we're roughly at about somewhere between 20 to 23% unemployment. But again, that's a very fluid number. As we see numbers, you know, weekly filings go up and down each week. All right, we're going to go to the phone lines now. The first step on the phone is Chris Roy, Newport Daily Express. Chris Roy, Newport Daily Express. Yes, good morning. I'm just wondering if the governor can give an update or somebody can give an update. Look towards Memorial Day weekend. I've heard from several people over this past week who are concerned about planning for large Memorial Day events. In one case, there'll probably be about 300 or 400 people in an event. Should they continue planning for that event? The state can expect to open up the personal care services industry, whether it's beauty salons or hairdressers or something along those lines. And can you kind of give an update when that's going to happen? Thanks. Yeah, again, very difficult to determine at this point in time. As I said, we're watching the data, watching the trending, making sure that the numbers aren't growing. So as we open this picket, one little turn at a time, we don't do anything that would have a detrimental effect on Vermonters. So to determine something out that far, Memorial Day is going to be, again, very difficult to do. I know that there are some parades and Memorial Day parades who have already canceled. So I would expect we'll see more of that as time moves on. But again, I can't stress enough this moderate approach, methodical approach is something that we're just going to have to take week to week and for me to promise or to take something away from someone who is counting on this a month or month and a half away. I don't think would be beneficial either. So again, you'll just have to bear with us. We'll do the best we can in trying to open up this economy and get people back to whatever normal is in the future as quick as possible. But I wouldn't be able to give you any dates at this point or any certainty. Can we name our bureau reopen? Again, we look at risk there as well. When I see some of, I was reading a John Hopkins report, Guidance to Governors and they give a rating as to what is high risk or high densities and so forth. And so we take some of that and we have this team that is working on what we could open and benefit the most people with the least amount of risk. So I know our team is looking at this and is presenting on a weekly basis as to what they have for ideas. But I'm sure it'll come up at some point, but I'm not sure where it is on the list at this point. Okay, thank you very much. I'm no longer muted. I have three questions, but I think the first one is really simple. A few minutes ago, one of you mentioned the, I think it's the IHME, is that the correct initials? Had some sort of a report or something or other that Vermont was among the best states to go forward. Is that something you could share with us? I would be interested in seeing that. Let's just take one at a time maybe, Mr. Pichek. Okay, sure. I mean, that's just like, you know, send us a link or whatever question. I'd be interested in seeing that. So Wilson, if you do go to our website and I think it was provided in the media briefing, we do have information about IHME's interactive model. Also their white paper. If you go into that website, you'll be able to find information updated as of last Friday, putting Vermont with four other states or three other states that are in the best position to reopen. Okay, great. That's, I will go look for that. Thank you. The second question is, why do you send, this is for whoever wants to answer it. Why do you think Vermont is doing so well? I mean, is it a function of being a small state or is it just better management and cooperation from everybody? I would have to say, and I'd ask Dr. Levine to weigh in as well, but from my standpoint, it's just the amount of cooperation we've had. It's about Vermonters and doing the right thing. And they don't always like what they hear, but I was pleasantly surprised when we had, one of the initial closures was the bars and restaurants. And this was right before St. Patrick's Day. And I thought that there might be an uprising as a result. But again, I have to give Vermonters a great credit and those owners and those businesses for closing down immediately and seeing the risks. And I think we care about each other enough to know and we're a small state, rural in nature. But I think it's just how we're built. And I think when, you know, we're in trouble, we band together and try and do the right thing. So I think it's probably all the above, you know, the strategies we've used along the way. Again, they've been, they've impacted a lot of people personally and financially and but at the same time, it appears that we made the right decisions and we did this together. And it wouldn't, you know, putting these measures forward is they're only as successful as people who have a willingness to do it and follow direction in some respects. And again, we've, I think Vermonters have come together in this time of need to do the right thing. Mission Levine. Okay, perfect. I can't add a lot to that because I don't want to minimize anything that was just said as being the key players in that role. The only additional things I'd say are we did follow the science and we followed the data that you've been looking at all along. And a lot of this is about timing of things. As we're fond of saying it's not always the if, but it's the when and the timing was very carefully calibrated for each of the interventions that came very sequentially over time. And in the end, comprise the suite, if you will, of mitigation interventions. And they all needed to be done to be successful, but they needed to be done in the way they were done and played out. And I think we did try to be as early as possible in this epidemic, which is an important point, not to let things get out of hand, but also not to come in with the most stringent policies at a time when they might not have been effective. Okay, and thank you. The third question is a simple one for Dr. Levine again. You were just talking about healthcare providers noticing people aren't seeking medical services. Are there any bad outcomes that you can point to? You know, somebody who did have chest pains, didn't go to the doctor, and then things didn't turn out like they could have if they would have got prompt attention for it. You know, in any, not just heart attacks, anything on there. Yeah, so there's more national data than I can cite local data. And it's just statistical, just knowing the normal frequency of these events in a population and saying, there can't be a silver lining to COVID that there's less of these events occurring because you've acquired the virus. It's probably because people aren't presenting as much. One to-do thing on the to-do list is to work with our medical examiner because we so often cite to you the deaths that came as a result of COVID, but that's not the only thing people are dying from. And to see if there is anything unusual about rates that are being seen that would contribute to what you were implying that maybe we are having bad outcomes that we're just not aware of. The other thing we'll learn quickly when the healthcare system gradually begins to open up again is if there are people who actually have done worse because they weren't attending to things until they felt more comfortable engaging with the healthcare system. Hopefully that won't be the case because we have such a robust telemedicine, telehealth, and even telephone medicine operation going on now that I know Vermonters are accessing. So hopefully we won't find that they've let things go too wrong. Okay, great. Thank you. Wilson, I just wanted to also add maybe a little caution to the wind and something that I always have my eye on and I've mentioned this before, but as we have all this good news here in Vermont, we're not in Ireland and we're doing all the right things and we're seeing the benefit of doing that. But not very far from us in some of those other states, New York, is past their peak, but they still had thousands of deaths last week. Massachusetts, Boston in particular, they had a thousand deaths again last week. They're in their peak right now. That's 180 miles away from us from right here. As well, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, still right in the middle of it. So that's why we have to do this methodically, cautiously knowing that anything can happen and we just have to make sure that we're as cautious as possible and protecting and watching the modeling to make sure that we don't exceed that healthcare capacity because we might need it at some point. So I just, again, with all the good news, I just want to let people know what's on my mind as we move forward. Okay, thank you very much. All of you. Thanks, Wilson. Joe. 2020 being active cases and confirmed COVID cases. Diverge radicals going down. I don't understand. Yeah, so good question, Joe. So the active cases, as you point out, start to go down and that's because the confirmed number of cases starts to slow down. So as we get less and less cases, new cases into Vermont, then obviously those cases that were active, you know, 14 days prior, 10 days prior, those folks recover and get better. They're no longer actively shedding the virus or actively have the virus, but the additional new people that have the confirmed virus continues to shrink. So we see that we see those numbers diverge as the confirmed cases do slowly go up. And again, this is a forecast and we're doing better than that forecast. And then the active cases, again, start to drop off pretty quickly thereafter. I'm not sure who this is for, but the governor noted at the start to keep the eyes on the data and the Islander continues to get inquiries from readers, not only in the island, but readers in Colchester Milton into Franklin County. They want to know about their individual towns and maybe their neighboring towns, local, local, local. They want to know about the tests in their towns. Countywide numbers map can be misleading and meaningless. Franklin County shows 90 cases, but three dozen of those have moved to California which claims 12. So who else has moved? And now that HIPAA has been disputed is no longer a valid reason to withhold this. So I'm just wondering when we're going to see these individuals and as Dr. Levine shared these with the local health and health department network. I think we have an answer for you. I'm going to let Secretary Smith answer this one. Mike, I think this is Mike Smith, Secretary of Human Services. I think you brought this issue up about a week ago and we've been working on a map that will list these confirmed positive cases by town. And I think we'll be ready by Monday to display that list as we move forward. So you'll be able to see the data by town on Monday on a map that will be on the health department website. Tell us a little bit about Turkey. I don't know. There's some interference I didn't hear. But I'm just wondering, Dr. Levine, just wondering if you have shared that with your individual local health officers, whether you've shared them with the governor, the public safety commissioner. Who have you shared the individual towns with so that local officials know whether they've got a problem in their town? Yeah, so the sharing comes with the actual data being completely authenticated, made, accurate, et cetera. So it will all happen on Monday. So the local health officers in your network there have not even been told if they've got a problem like in the town of Swanson or Manchester or Wallingford or something, if they've got a huge percentage of the county number, they have not been told at this point. True, although should they have whatever you call a huge problem, we would have already been in the loop with them on that. Well, how many towns have you reached out to then that have a huge problem? So most of the towns that we've reached out to have facilities in those towns where outbreaks have occurred. And so because of, by virtue of having the facility and people working at that facility, they are aware of what's gone on. Throughout the rest of the month... Can we get a list of the facilities? I know we've talked about Birchwood, Brunk and Health and Rehab, the Correctional Center. But can we get a complete list of all those facilities? Yes, and I believe we've shared a lot of that previously, but we can do that again. I know we've got a lot of them. I just want to make sure we're not missing any. Sure. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Brittany, Local 22. Hi. So kind of a two-part question here. I was wondering about this status of the unemployment log. I mean, we've got a lot of calls from our viewers saying that they still can't get through and they're not getting the payment protection program. Either it's not taking applicants or it's not ready and they're not getting their benefits. So I was just wondering about that. Is it backed up and everything? And then I guess the second part of my question is just about, we also had a viewer ask about being self-employed and that they filed for unemployment a week ago. And then now they're trying to file to be self-employed but they're told that they're not allowed to because they're already in the system and they're having issues with that and just curious as to what they should do. I'm going to turn this one over to Commissioner Harrington. We continue to work through any backlogs we have, but most of the general UI claims have been paid except for those that are going through the adjudication process. And we continue to ask people to that theme to expedite adjudication to the best of our ability. We did open up the pandemic unemployment assistance program not to be confused with the paycheck protection program but the PUA program is for individuals who are either independent contractors or self-employed individuals or others who are not generally eligible. The first group that we've allowed to go into the PUA program are the self-employed and independent contractors. There are pockets of that group. This has been an ever-changing situation over the past six weeks including just improvements to our system. And so we are hearing nuanced situations where people try to have gone through the initial application program but then when they try to go into the PUA program there's for some reason the program is not allowing them in or doesn't recognize them or their information. We've been managing those and clearing those as soon as they come up but we are getting some cases where that information didn't transfer over for one reason or another between our mainframe system and the PUA program. But most people if in terms of general population who are self-employed or independent contractors can go in and complete the application from start to finish they fill out a new claims application or initial claims application and as they go through the initial claims application if they begin to identify a self-employed or independent contractor that application becomes expanded to include the PUA application as well. So they end up filling out both components of the application and then they'll receive a contact in 12 to 24 hours just letting them know that they are eligible for PUA and can move forward with weekly filings. There is a population out there that we are working through right now which are people who are not don't necessarily fall into the self-employed population but also are not typically eligible under general UI. We are aware of that population. That is where some of the people are getting hung up and we're working to bring that population into the PUA application. An example of somebody who might fall into that group would be if they had only been working for their employer for a month or two prior to being laid off they may not have enough wages in the UI system to be eligible. They would eventually become eligible under PUA and we are moving those people into the PUA system today and over the coming days. So the more and more people will become eligible as they're brought over into the PUA system. Did I answer all those questions? That does. I just have one. So our viewer also said that they were told to fill out a PUA application and that it would be sent to their email also check their spam folder because it might be in there but they said they never received it and that it had been a couple days and they tried to call but the DOL is not accepting phone calls. So I was wondering about that as well if you've heard any issues with this. Sure. Again, there are a couple of things that happen there. One is if they submitted the PUA application it will take 12 to 24 hours to process in the system. The system has only been up for 36 hours. So again, it may be that it just hasn't been processed yet and that's why they haven't received the email or there was an issue on the claim that needs to be adjudicated. There aren't many of those but there are a handful of the people who have applied just so people are aware as of about 10 o'clock this morning we had about 5,800 PUA applications been submitted and I believe about 19,000 weekly filings that had been submitted because people are able to go in and file for back weeks back to March 15th. In terms of the phone calls certainly we knew there would be an influx as soon as this program went live. We have our Maximus vendor which currently has 30 people on as of yesterday they will be adding another 25 people by this afternoon and then as of Monday we should have somewhere between 70 and 80 people in that call center alone and they're the ones handling the PUA. We'll continue to track data and call volumes over both yesterday, today the call center is open on Saturday and if we need to make additional adjustments either in more staff or shedding other calls that are going into that call center to a different group of people we'll be making those adjustments as soon as that information is available. Thank you so much. Yes ma'am. Patricia Bennington Banner. Hello, can you hear me? We can. Hi, I just have a very quick question for Commissioner Harrington and you may have mentioned it and I might have missed it. When did the pandemic and employment assistance program officially go live that is accept applications and was it accepting both online and phone applications immediately or did one start first and then the other? Commissioner Harrington. So it's yes, sir. It's completely electronic. We do have a call center up that that will help people answer questions. They unless someone doesn't have internet or doesn't have a computer, you know, we will complete app like help people complete applications electronically in those circumstances but people are encouraged to go online to our website to complete the form electronically under their own power and if they have questions they can call the hotline. I do know that there are some people who have not been able to get through on the hotline. That is something we hope to rectify by bringing on these additional agents this afternoon and then building up to Monday as well. And then with regards to the question of when it went live, it was over the evening of Wednesday. So I believe the first round of people received an email Wednesday evening. So again, we're kind of in the first, you know, 36 to 48 hour period of the program really being promoted. Fully live happened yesterday. And you said that you had, I believe it was 5,800 applications as of 10 o'clock this morning for PUA? Yeah, so we had approximately 25 to 3000 applications by the end of the day yesterday and as of 10 o'clock this morning we were up to 5,800 and certainly as we bring in more eligible groups but also as more and more people become aware of the application. What I will see that number grow what I will just say for the record so everybody can share this out there. If an individual has not completed any application yet for the Department of Labor on the department's homepage there is a link that says complete an initial application. That's where they should start. If they click self-employed it will automatically add questions to the application to allow them to also apply both for general UI and PUA all at one time. And that is the quickest way to get into the system. What we are running into or the people who are running into problems are people who may have already filled out an application prior to PUA going live. In those cases if they indicated they were self-employed in their initial application there is a link for them to go into the PUA application and complete the application. But again there's this other population of people who are not self-employed, not independent contractors but are not eligible for general UI and it's likely they will be eligible for PUA and we're working through that process right now. But again, yep, go ahead. If I understand you correctly I'm just a little confused of what you mean. So the people who want to seek PUA should file an initial claim with general unemployment or they should file an initial claim with PUA or are those terms one and the same? So the part where it becomes confusing and not of our doing but the federal requirements are explicit in that someone must first be denied for general UI before they can be eligible for PUA. What we've done is try to streamline that process. So instead of someone submitting a general UI application waiting for a determination and applying for pandemic unemployment assistance it's all part of one application. So all they need to do is complete an initial claims application which will allow them to fill out both the general UI questions and the pandemic unemployment assistance questions depending on what they collect within the application. The only people that would need to simply fill out the PUA portion of the application are those that had already filled out a general UI application prior to Wednesday. And again, that was, I know it gets confusing there. There's really no good solution but we're trying to make it as seamless as possible. So if they haven't done anything as of today they simply need to fill out an initial claim application and that will include if they are eligible for PUA to have them fill out the PUA question. So if they identify, if they make an indication on the forms and how that they would be eligible like if they were self-employed if they say they were freelance, things like that. Correct. All right, Patricia, if you have any follow-ups maybe you can connect with the Department of Labor afterwards directly as well. I'm good, thank you. And Wallace Allen, B.T. Digger. Hi, my question is about the order that allows five people to go back to a workplace. Governor, is there any guidance you can give people who I know will be asking? What does that mean for my company that has a lot of different departments where people don't come in contact with each other? Can each have five questions like that that you've probably already heard? Can you just give a little more detail? Yeah, I'm going to ask Secretary Curley to give that explanation because I believe it's in the guidance. Yes, thank you, Governor. Secretary Curley here. If somebody is unclear from the executive order and would like additional guidance we have additional guidance on our website at A-B-B-D dot Vermont dot gov. And folks can go there get additional guidance if they're still not sure. There's a place to select a tab to seek additional guidance and we can get detailed information about how they operate and try to walk them through it and get to the right place. Can you just tell me for the example that I just gave you that would work? Like if a company has six, 40 in a space that the only five can go back or if they've never come in contact with each other could there be more? I'm not comfortable not knowing what the setup of their arrangement is. So I'd prefer to understand specifically what the setup is. There are guidelines in our guidance to talk about spacing. So I would suggest that they go there first but we're happy to try to get those answers for them. I just would be uncomfortable giving a blanket answer in this situation. All right. Thanks very much. Thank you for me. Pat, WCAX. Hi, my question today is about antibody testing. California has already ramped it up and early data that was described yesterday by Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York from their serology tests have shown that up to one in five people in their city area could have the antibodies to this virus. New York's Health Commissioner has said he's confident that the tests they're using are accurate enough to use to determine immunity and maybe even send people back to work. I've been feeling several inquiries from Vermonters who want to see if they may have some immunity to COVID-19. They're hearing about these testing programs in other states and they're wondering why Vermont isn't rolling them out faster. So my question is when can we see antibody testing among the general population here and why isn't it more of a priority right now? Sure. Don't conflate the fact that it isn't happening with, it isn't a priority, first of all. We had an expert working group report back to us, I believe, just a week ago and they were not comfortable with the state of the testing at that point in time with regards to its accuracy and validity and would it give us the information we were looking for in comprehensively? So we elected not to go with it at that point in time. One of their specific recommendations was to not use it for individual use such as can I go back to work tomorrow. But that population level, what we call zero prevalent studies would be appropriate when they could recommend a specific testing panel. So we are going to be doing it on a more population-based basis as you implied with New York and it will be in the near future. I can tell you that. It won't be tomorrow. So I guess the follow-up then is when is our next set of recommendations from that working group do? You said, I know last time, that they had a month to re-evaluate antibody testing. Is it still going to be a month from now? Can we hear anything else about it? So now we're probably three weeks from now. I will say that my laboratory team and epidemiology team and myself were on the call last night just Vermont with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and we actually asked them many of the same questions you just asked me and they did not actually have answers to them all at that point in time and said they would be getting back to us to also help advise us. So we're not just looking to our local expert group, if you will, but we were looking nationally as well. Are we working with New York at all given that they're, you know, you're heading this among their citizens? We are not working with New York for this particular problem now, though I can tell you that there's lots of conversations going on with New York all the time but not on launching this prevalent study. I guess the question, I'm going to pull this directly from an email I got from a viewer who's wanting to know if the tests are good enough for New York, why they're not good enough for us. You'll have to ask New York. I've told you the guidance we've received which confirms some of the guidance that I've been hearing from many other places and that my reading has led to as well but I can't speak for why New York thinks they're good enough at this point in time. All right, thank you. This is a two-part question for Secretary French. The federal government is sending a little more than $31 million in emergency relief funds for the AOE to hand out to Vermont's elementary and secondary schools. First, how will that money be apportioned to the various school districts? And second, the AOE is allowed to keep 10% with about $3.1 million of the money for administering the funds but will the AOE be keeping the money or passing it on to help the schools with their budgets? Hi, good morning. This is Dan French. Thank you for the questions. The first question was how is the AOE going to be allocating those funds out to school districts? Firstly, I'll point out the application just went live yesterday after 2 o'clock in the afternoon so we're still formulating that guidance but my understanding is that we'll be allocating those funds to the school districts based on the same formula that Title I funds are allocated which means it's a function of their basically the census information and poverty levels. Second question pertain to the agency's ability to reserve up to 10% approximately $3 million. Yes, we haven't decided how much we're going to reserve at this point but we are anticipating reserving some of that to identify the needs of the state level. In particular, our expectation is that there are going to be increased needs for social and emotional support for students. So we're thinking that both of our reservation would be targeted to support the social and emotional needs of students as those emerge through system statewide. Alright, Tim, a question from our business magazine. Good morning, Dr. Levine. I have seen reports and actually talked to a doctor about the changing use of ventilators. They've been not as successful I suppose as hoped and there's a new procedure of actually turning patients on their stomach while they're on oxygen and not intubating and I'm wondering if that practice is being done here in Vermont and if you're finding any success with that. So you're referring to what's called prone positioning and let's go back before the COVID epidemic. That's actually been a part of care and ICU management for a select group of patients anyways. So even without saying what the cause of their respiratory difficulty was, it was often being utilized as part of ICU management. I don't want to go too much further than that because I'm not actively managing patients right now in the ICU and I can't speak to exactly how that protocol is being implemented in the COVID era and if there's been any differences or not. I can say that one thing we're learning about this infection is that people even early in their course, sometimes knowing it themselves in terms of the way they feel, other times unbeknownst to them, can drop their oxygen levels quite a bit if you do oximetry studies on them. So I think we're learning that perhaps understanding how well someone's oxygenation is going early on can be useful in hopefully providing what's needed early in the course and maybe preventing the need for ventilator management later on. But it's all in the sort of formative stages right now, so it's hard to say much more about that, but we're gaining a greater appreciation of that in people who thought they were doing better than they might have by how the numbers look, so to speak. As a follow-up to that in your earlier discussion about patients perhaps being reluctant to go to the hospital, UVMMC had a release yesterday about there hasn't been a positive case among staff in a couple of weeks, I guess. Is that typical of all the hospitals in the state that the staff are not showing any positive cases? You know, I don't have data in front of me on that, so I'd be reluctant to generalize in that way. Certainly, we're not hearing about huge healthcare workforce issues, and that was one of the things as we were planning for surge, we were really concerned about. We always talk about hospital beds and ICUs and ventilators, but the healthcare workforce was an equal part of that concern, and we had the Medical Reserve Corps and we had concerns about what we need to pull people from other places, and that did not come to be. So my hope is that we're not seeing inordinately large numbers of healthcare workers unable to come to work because of COVID, but I am aware there have been infections in healthcare workers. That would be completely true. I just don't want to generalize to saying it was a minimal problem everywhere across the street without having data for you, but we'll try to find that. Thank you. All right, great. Thanks. Avery? Hello. Do you all plan to release more strict guidelines on facial covering as to potentially making the mandatory and what can you say to the availability of these type of coverings? I know there's been with stores closed and things. I know people have kind of been having a hard time trying to figure out what should they be using to cover their face if they don't have the typical actual math covering. I'll answer part of that then I'll turn it over to Dr. Levine. But as you can see in the guidance and as we had portrayed last week in the guidance that anyone and all employees that are going back to work must wear facial coverings or if they're in a retail situation in their cash years they can utilize Lexan if they've already set it up a sneeze guard of sorts. But all other employees must be wearing facial coverings and so we reiterated that in this week's order as well to make sure that that was perfectly clear. Dr. Levine? I would just urge if people have not done it to go to healthfermont.gov our COVID-19 website which has extensive information on it about cloth facial coverings links to descriptions about how one can make them their own and also links to places where one can purchase them without again making any commentary about which place would be better or what have you just an available list that we have so that any Vermonter can figure something out in terms of what to do for a cloth facial cover. A quick follow-up has there been it who is enforcing people employees specifically wearing masks? Is that something that's happening? You know that was an important part of this week's order and when we wanted to increase the number of people going back to work from three to five or two to five we also put in place a guidance to make sure that they were getting the proper education as well before they go into the workplace so we have tasked employers with dedicating a health and safety officer on these job sites and as we increase the numbers moving forward they'll be properly trained by VOSHA as well as independent associations and so forth who already have programs in place and have been approved or will be approved by VOSHA so this is on the employer a health and safety officer in particular that will have to make sure that all of the guidelines are being followed it's not just the facial coverings but also sanitize different areas and other guidelines you'll see in the order as well as in the guidance so we want to make sure that the work sites are safe and that all the protections are put into place and that the employees have the training necessary to understand why this is really important because in the future they'll become a resource for us because they'll be properly trained and can train others their families and so forth on why this is so essential so in terms of where you can have masks made again I had some when I saw some of your reports on the National Guard setting up a facility in Essex and I didn't see many of them having facial coverings I engage the Vermont glove company in Randolph and they made some hundred of them for me to bring to the National Guard members so there are many Vermont companies who are making these and I know a lot of people have donated their services in this regard and many have made their own my wife made a few dozen as well so it can be done you just have to search it out but there are a lot of companies making these facial coverings right here in the state Thank you This question is related to Commissioner Pichec's active cases slide and I'm wondering are asymptomatic carriers factored into those numbers? Yeah so what we have modeled on the presentation is confirmed cases but of course there are asymptomatic patients as well of course what the percentage that is asymptomatic we talked to our experts about that the estimate could be 25% it could be less, it could be more there's not great scientific definitiveness on that point but you can assume that though when the number of confirmed cases slow down so do the number of asymptomatic cases so it is factored in that sense but what we've depicted in the chart is just confirmed cases Okay just quick follow up so you're still using the 1 in 4 or 25% as sort of a rough estimate? I think it's a fair rough estimate but again there's not a sort of scientific conclusion or definitiveness about what that number is at this point Great, okay thank you so much Yep And about out of state visitors at the moment the state has a two week quarantine in place for out of state visitors that could prove difficult to reconcile with summer tourism as more people start coming up to their summer homes or visiting from up places with larger COVID outbreak what restrictions are you envisioning for tourists and visitors? Are you concerned about new visitors causing a new wave of infections? Yeah very concerned about people coming into our state as I explained earlier when we looked just 180 miles away to Boston for instance they had a thousand deaths last week and their cases are continuing to climb and they're right in the middle of this pandemic and they're very very much a hotspot and New York is not out of this either thousands of deaths last week with Rhode Island and Connecticut and New Jersey as well being right in the middle of it so yes I'm very concerned about what this means to Vermont and that's why we have to be really careful and cautious about what we do and what we open up and because that could be an attraction to some from other states to come to our state but so that's why we've left this measure in place where if you come into the state outside of Vermont that you have to self-isolate for 14 days now understanding as well that we have a lot of our Vermonters who have wintered in Florida or other places coming back to Vermont we took this up and I actually tasked our group our working group to find a way for us to streamline this in some way whether it's going to be a test of some sort I don't know but it is on our list of areas of concern for me Vermonters again that is just coming back home and we want to make this as easy as possible but until we have that guidance they should consider either staying where they are for another period of time or be prepared to self-isolate for 14 days once they get here Okay, as a follow-up we're hearing from businesses that operate tourism-related industries summer camps events that usually occur in the summer that they don't know how to plan or what's going to happen this summer do you have any advice for them specifically? Yeah, well once again we're taking this week to week it is on our radar and we know how important summer camps are to the vast number of Vermonters as well as childcare facilities so it is on our list something that we hope that we can have some guidance in the near future but at this point in time we don't have while we're considering it we don't have anything definitive to give you at this point but the advice of the say we are we know this is an area of an issue that these summer camps have to know sooner rather than later as well as parents who have been counting on this as well for some childcare for this summer so we're working on it we're going to see what we can come up with but at this point in time any mass gatherings over 10 are still limited and but as we open this pick it a little bit more hopefully we'll come to some conclusions alright as a follow-up to the conversation about masks earlier are there any changes to issuing a mask recommendation for people in public places rather than a mask order for customers in stores and things like that well we've we have given guidance that we would hope that people that are going into public places would wear a mask we hope that employers have obviously employees are going to be required but we are not requiring people mandating that people wear masks when they are in certain situations but but again some of the stores we're hoping they can provide signage and guidance and education as to why this is important okay thank you Dan Burlington pre-press the question for Governor Scott Governor we got a lot of good news today including on PPE but Vermont nurses continue to say that there's an urgent need to increase the supply they've sent you a letter directly with a whole series of requests on expanding funding and having businesses turn over PPE so there seems to be a disconnect here that I I don't understand and I'm wondering what you can tell me you know about that because the nurses really seem to be looking at this very differently yeah I I'm going to let Secretary Smith answer that or try to answer that obviously I'm wondering about the disconnect as well my wife is a nurse and so I completely understand some of their fears but Secretary Smith Dan Mike Smith thank you for the for the question I often say I have two health commissioners one that report that the governor has appointed and reports to me as the Secretary of Agency of Human Services and the other one that I live with who's a nurse as well but the to get to your question I met with the CEOs we do have a sufficient supply at the state level of PPE and there is a disconnect here and I've asked the CEOs of all hospitals about a week ago to start trying to communicate to their employees on the use of their PPE and how they're deploying their PPE because we have had as you can see in the slides we can we've had a or is on the website we've had a sufficient amount of PPE now you know as we go forward we're going to have to be careful with PPE as we start opening up different avenues as well but there is a disconnect and we're trying to get to the bottom of the disconnect of why we have the sufficient levels and and still getting these requests for more PPE so stay tuned for more Dan okay thank you patient of likely revenue shortfalls for the current fiscal year have you issued any hold on spending for any departments and agencies for money that's already been appropriated for this current budget here yeah again we have we put a number of measures into place secretary young is on the phone I believe at this point and she can explain further but yeah this is going to be an issue as we move forward we're going to have tremendous opportunities tremendous holes in our budget as well as on the you know the state side local side and all throughout the state government so we're going to have to make some tough decisions in the coming months but secretary young do you have anything further you could offer thank you governor and thank you Peter yes you've got it correct that we have been looking at our end of year fiscal year budget we have put a directive out to agencies and departments to minimize any any discretionary expense expenditures they have for the next three months or the next two and a half months now or nearly two months a hiring freeze for other than non essential or critical employees which are going through the secretary's office and more importantly we've put out three requests for submissions for a supplemental budget adjustment to be taken up by the legislature in May and we are collecting those submissions this week and formulating a proposal for another budget adjustment thank you Dana Caledonia record good afternoon this is for secretary Smith it was it was reported yesterday that the inmates within the search facility here in st. John'sbury are not showing any symptoms of the virus and are currently undergoing testing to see if in fact the infection is still exist this was said to have happened is going to happen within the next two days so the question is if negative how soon will the inmates be returning to the northwest complex and will the transfer happen piecemeal if some of the 33 are still found to be infected thank you for the question there's there's a complex dance that's going to have to happen here first those those inmates as st. John'sbury are going to have to have two negative tests before they're eligible to be moved secondly we want to make sure that northwest has been tested as well for the second time or retested for the second time as we as we move forward so we're going to we're going to test the individuals at st. John'sbury to make sure a they get their two negative tests that happen and then be we're going to make sure that the facility in in st. Albans is is retested and then we'll start making moves based upon those test results in the near future I think the st. Albans facilities slated for retest starting this weekend or beginning of next week is that the same time frame for the second test to come through in st. John'sbury yeah I think we're I think we're doing the the second test either today or tomorrow or over the weekend but it's it's relatively in short order here it's sort of in conjunction with the time frame that we're doing northwest Vermont okay and thank you sir I just wanted to follow up there haven't been any additional inmates come to the st. John'sbury facility beyond the 33 almost you know about two weeks ago is there a sense that is there a plan I guess on the books that says when are we going to be able to not call st. John'sbury a surge facility anymore or is it too early to tell for something like that I think it's too early to tell for something like that we always want to maintain surge capacity depending on what is happening on the ground certainly northwest was a you know as we tested in northwest we had that surge capacity in st. John'sbury we have the policy as you know that if if one case is positive in an institution like a correctional facility long-term care facility we will do universal testing in that facility so it's just too early to tell what what's going to happen here in the next month I would say or so great thank you very much just just so we can I'm clear on what our intentions are our goal is to bring those who have been sent to st. John'sbury that are COVID positive back to that facility where they came from so just as quick as we can we want to get them back to the northwest correctional facility. Hi I have two spigot related questions for the governor first should we just be expecting announcements like this every Friday moving forward are you planning to make weekly announcements or do you just tell us your timeline on that? Yeah that's that's basically my hope Colin that we can we can do this every Friday work throughout the week watch the modeling watch the trajectory watch other states trying to determine what they're doing as well so that we can we can work together in some capacity and try and catch up to where they are quite frankly because we've been very restrictive and have benefited from that so that's that's the plan hopefully we can continue to have good positive news and we'll be able to again open this in a methodical way so we can put people back to work. Yeah and then just a follow up on that when you mentioned other states I mean how much is that going to weigh into your decision making the experience that other states are having in curbing the spread of the virus I think you mentioned being aware that opening up too fast here might encourage people from other states to flock to Vermont so can you just talk a little bit about your thinking there? Yeah in terms of some of the attractions in Vermont whether it's our campgrounds or state parks and so forth if we in the case of I know New Hampshire and Maine are very concerned about their beaches for instance and so not that that's a concern for us but that's why they want to work together as a region with Massachusetts to make sure that they're open all of them at the same time so that one state is an impacted now Massachusetts and anywhere near ready to do anything like that at this point but I know they're under incredible amount of pressure to do so same holds true for let's say golf courses I know a lot of pressure is being put on those in Massachusetts and in New Hampshire and Maine as well as in Vermont but if one does it and the others do not it just puts a lot of burden on that one state and could impact them in an adverse way if if we're open up and a lot of people from Connecticut and New Hampshire and Massachusetts and so forth come to our state to play golf so that's why we're trying to coordinate in some some senses and and we'll continue to you know I have almost daily talks with other governors in some state across the country but certainly here regionally we're staying in touch to at least be aware of what they're doing some of what's happened in New York for instance I I wasn't aware until I heard it on from the media so we're coordinating more with the would New Hampshire Maine mass and so forth thank you all right that's all of our questioners today thank you everyone thank you very much we'll see you on Monday thanks for tuning in