 Well, thank you everybody for being here today. I'm David Zuckerman, your Lieutenant Governor, and I'm here to speak today about the importance of mandating masks for public safety, health, and our economy. It's clear from the science and research that masks must be worn in all public buildings, including statewide offices and schools, as well as at outdoor mask gathering events. The health and safety of Vermonters is at stake. COVID-19 does not know state or town borders. We cannot have some municipalities requiring masks and others not. The evidence is clear that masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better. I've been contacted by many, many Vermonters asking me to do all I can to mandate masks. People reach out to my office, post on social media, call me, and stop me on the street. There are many Vermonters who are worried about their own health and that of others. I want to tell you one story about an older Vermonter who wrote to me about masks. She has a compromised immune system and needed her refrigerator repaired. When the appliance repair person arrived, he was not wearing a mask. When she asked him if he had a mask, she said it was like he became a different person. And she was terrified to ask him again because she feared, quote, the outcome would be worse than the risk of getting COVID-19. She ended her message by saying, quote, if Governor Scott had been truly protecting Vermonters, I would not have had to risk my safety in my own home just to get my refrigerator working again. We need to keep all Vermonters safe by mandating masks to be worn for all of our health and to protect all employees and to allow our state to keep progressing towards health rather than slipping backwards as we have seen in other states. Now, I would like to introduce Catherine Becker Van Haste, the State Director for Senator Bernie Sanders. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor Zuckerman for having me here today on behalf of Senator Sanders. As we talk about the need for keeping Vermonters safe and for protecting each other through wearing masks, I thought I would share a little information from Senator Sanders regarding his efforts to make masks available to all. We know that if we expect Vermonters and all Americans to wear masks, we have to make sure that they are readily available to everyone who needs them. So in that vein, Senator Sanders is preparing to introduce the Masks for All Act of 2020, which would require the federal government to use available authorities, including the Federal Defense Production Act, to eliminate the shortage of masks, surgical masks, and N95 respirators to distribute them to the public as soon as possible. Through Senator Sanders' legislation, three masks would be sent to each person in the country and also made available at shelters for housing insecure individuals and other places where they can be used for unhoused folks. Senator Sanders came to this legislation in part due to conversations that he had with Dr. Fauci during a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing when he spoke to Dr. Fauci about the need for masks and Dr. Fauci himself expressed the importance of wearing masks and the science behind mask wearing as a way to protect our fellow Vermonters and our fellow Americans. We know that by wearing masks, we can save the U.S. economy upwards of a trillion dollars by allowing us to reopen safely. And at a time when the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 3.5 million Americans and killed more than 138,000 Americans and 56 Vermonters, we believe Congress has the responsibility to ensure that families and workers have the personal protective equipment they need to stay safe. So thank you for having me here today on behalf of Senator Sanders and I appreciate the work being done in Vermont. Thank you. Excuse me. I'm Senator Anthony Polina and among other things I serve as Vice Chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee. On that committee over the last couple of months, we've crafted a number of pieces of legislation which were passed by the legislature and signed by the governor directed at making it easier for local government and organizations to function while avoiding the dangers of COVID-19, making it possible for them to do their work without person-to-person contact. So now we have select boards that can meet remotely, quasi-judicial committees that can meet remotely. We've actually made it possible for home inspectors to do their work without entering homes that they're not familiar with. We have a legislature that's met remotely and we're going to be voting remotely. So we've done a lot of good work around keeping people's distance and making it possible for people to operate in a remote kind of way without the face-to-face contact but it's worked. We've done a good job. Basically, Vermont's numbers are really good but we can do better and given the fact that we've already done a lot of work around making it easier for organizations and local governments to operate remotely and without danger from COVID-19, it's important that we take the next step. The next step is making sure that we're safe when we're out and about around town, out in public and the way to do that is by mandating masks for all Vermonters. Thank you. Good morning everyone. My name is Anne Watson. I'm the Mayor of Montpelier. I am here to in support of mask ordinance for or order for the whole state. I'm speaking on behalf of myself and not the Montpelier City Council at this point, though I think many of them would agree. Normally when I speak to folks from the state about the authority to regulate, I'm usually asking for greater authority for municipalities. I'm usually asking for more capacity for Montpelier but not today, not regarding infectious diseases. Our municipal public health officials do a great job but when it comes to global pandemics, we could absolutely use state guidance. Municipalities do not generally have medical doctors on staff to help provide guidance. I'll confess I don't think most Vermonters knew who Mark Levine was before March of this year and now I hear his name regularly in casual conversation. And for good reason, we need medical experts to advise us through this or any pandemic. When the state leaves public health decisions to municipalities, it creates disparate impacts on economics and basically negates any public health benefit. While Montpelier has issued an emergency order requiring masks in businesses, its surrounding towns and cities have not issued similar ordinances or orders. We know that people from Washington County shop and work at various locations throughout Washington County and beyond and we know that masks are an effective impediment to COVID-19 so when we intermingle across municipalities, it doesn't matter when one municipality has a mask order and another does not. We are all at greater risk when everyone isn't on board. Economically speaking, Montpelier's mask order puts Montpelier businesses at an advantage over surrounding towns because people simply feel more comfortable shopping here. I've received multiple comments and emails from folks thanking us for issuing a mask order because it makes them feel like Montpelier is a safe place to shop. But my hope is not just for the survival of Montpelier businesses but for all Vermont's businesses. A statewide mask order would level the playing field for businesses across Vermont regardless of which municipality they are in. And considering that the school year is just right around the corner from starting when students will be intermingling with each other, it seems like the value of wearing masks in public spaces would be proactive in safeguarding the health of Vermonters. And lastly, speaking as a person with a background in science, I would want someone with a medical degree making decisions regarding public health. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Catherine, Anthony, and Anne for speaking to this issue that is important to Vermonters all across the state. We know Vermonters have made and continue to make huge sacrifices to keep our state and all of our community members safe. Data clearly shows that those with and without symptoms can spread COVID-19. Mounting evidence shows that when all parties wear masks, the risk of transmission is greatly reduced. This is critical for our health and our economy. We know a statewide mandate would increase compliance and reduce confusion for Vermonters and tourists. I also want to thank the governor because it sounds like recently he's moving in the direction of a mandate for masks. I only hope that it isn't due to an outbreak or new evidence showing growing numbers. We need to do this before we get further outbreaks. We need a statewide mandate and the state must supply every public safety employee and any business that needs masks if a citizen refuses to wear a mask in public buildings or mass gatherings. Then law enforcement representatives should have masks in their supply and supply them with a mask and use it as an opportunity to educate those individuals and encourage compliance. We have an opportunity in front of us to keep our COVID-19 infection rate low to stay ahead of the second wave and ensure our schools have the tools that they need to reopen safely. Help our businesses and their employees stay safe as we encourage tourists to visit and keep our elderly and those most vulnerable healthy. Thank you and I'm open to questions. I'm assuming if you have a question for one of the others they would take it as well. Hi Grace, of course I forgot to take this off. Well we regularly balance personal freedoms with the greater public health and in this instance we have learned how transmittable this disease is and how deadly it is particularly for seniors and those who are health compromised. And this is a time when for public health and the economy we should move forward to the mask mandate to hasten our getting COVID-19 under control. We've seen in states where they relax how quickly it can explode. And over 22 states now have mask mandates and I think Vermont should join. It'll encourage tourists to come and it will also guide tourists in terms of our standards in this state. Well there's always friction in society but leadership is setting the right tone and we have seen that in states with mask mandates there is higher wearing of masks. Not everyone is going to do so and those individuals put themselves apparently at more risk and themselves above others but as a whole there are populations that won't wear them until it's a mandate but actually will wear them when they recognize what the leadership asks for for all of our public good. Well I think as I address the first and foremost thing would be for law enforcement to have masks available and say you know this is our state law please put out a mask. Ultimately if an individual is in a space where they could potentially infect others and it is outside of the mask ordinance that they need to be wearing one then that law enforcement could have scored them out of that premise. We don't need to be finding people we're certainly not going to be putting people in jail over this that's absurd but I think with a proactive positive public safety message we could also reinstall faith in some of the challenges that law enforcement have faced recently and have it be about public safety and health and they can distribute masks to those that need them. Any other questions? Sure if you want afterwards you can step aside and have that conversation you know as a separate conversation but I'd be happy to talk about it. Any other questions for anybody? Thank you all for joining us thank you to my cohort here to also talk about masks at the both the national and local level. We do have a business owner who couldn't get coverage until noon who's going to be here shortly if you'd like to speak with her Deb might be able to stay out here to introduce you. I have another meeting at noon so I can't stay until then but thank you.