 Good afternoon everyone there was no White House call today, but there will be one next week Look, I know Vermonters are concerned as we see the rise in cases from the Delta variant across the nation and here in Vermont This isn't where we wanted to be, but we need to accept that we're going to be managing this for quite some time Unfortunately, we built a very strong foundation for defense here in Vermont As you know, Vermont continues to have the highest vaccination rate in the nation and among the highest in the world This is helping to dampen the impacts of the Delta variant as we see its effect across the globe What we're experiencing is a higher rise in cases and more importantly hospitalizations occurring among the unvaccinated As a CDC director Dr. Walensky said on our call last week This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated Those who are vaccinated and still contract the virus are largely reporting mild or asymptomatic cases Because the vaccines work and they're still our best tool to prevent the worst impacts of the disease Because based on the modeling we've shared and in the experiences We've seen in other states and countries impacted by the Delta variant. We expect cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks This may happen even though we're approaching 85 percent of the eligible population And we've seen our vaccination rate pick up over the past several weeks That still leaves about 85,000 eligible Vermonters who have not signed up in addition to those under 12 who aren't eligible yet Unfortunately, that's a large enough number for the Delta spread as We can see from our own numbers and the rest of the highly vaccinated Northeast Recently we've seen several Vermont employers and institutions Especially in riskier settings take steps towards requiring the COVID-19 vaccine And I applaud them for taking this approach to further protect their employees and customers I think this is a good idea and I want to thank our colleges and universities Hospitals like the UVM Medical Center help network Dartmouth Hitchcock Mount Eskusti Hospital Browderboro Memorial and many others both small and large for stepping up. I Believe all hospitals long-term care facilities and other places that come into frequent contact with high risk populations should follow suit and require the vaccine and To help set the example I'm announcing today that my team is working to do the same Starting with certain state institutions like the Veterans Home Correctional Facilities and our psychiatric hospital A legal team from my office and the agency of administration is working with the Department of Human Resources and Others to move forward with the vaccine requirement for these state Employees and we'll have more details in the days to come And to other private employers out there as we see Delta finding its way to more unvaccinated individuals Taking a similar step could help with your business operations as well At a time when our workforce challenges remain significant and as a former business owner myself I know how disruptive it can be when you find yourself short-staffed Unexpectedly if your company doesn't have a high vaccination rate You could see major disruptions if Delta gets in and one good way to protect that from happening Is to incentivize and require the COVID-19 vaccine? In a few minutes, we'll get our data and modeling presentation from Commissioner P check Secretary Smith will provide an update on vaccine clinics and Dr. Levine will give a health update The first I'll turn it over to Commissioner Harrington to talk about the extra federal unemployment benefits Which are expiring next month and what Vermonters can do to help prepare help prepare Thank You governor and good afternoon everyone I do want to take just a minute today to talk about the end of these federal benefits as many of you may know The federal extended unemployment benefit programs created under the CARES Act Are scheduled to expire on September 4th, 2021 marking the last full benefit week in vermont For the pandemic unemployment assistance program, which is also known as the pua program And that is the program for self-employed independent contractors and others who did not qualify for traditional unemployment pandemic emergency unemployment compensation or PEUC Which has allowed claimants in regular ui to continue to file after they exhausted their state benefits And federal pandemic unemployment compensation or fpuc Which provided the additional 300 dollars per week added to each claimants benefit check across all of the programs To give folks an idea of the size of these programs as of july 31st There were roughly 14,900 vermoners filing for weekly benefits Approximately 5,800 individuals were filing in the pua program Approximately 3,800 individuals were filing in the PEUC program And roughly 5,300 individuals were filing in the regular state ui program This means we are expecting that about 10,000 claimants will no longer be eligible for unemployment benefits after september 4th And all claimants will see a drop in their benefit amount when the 300 dollar supplemental benefit goes away These programs played an important role in providing temporary assistance to make sure many vermoners Receive the support they needed through difficult and uncertain times As we approach the end of these benefits, it's important that these uh, those still enrolled are aware of the opportunities available to them In the job market and that the department of labor can help Move them into the workforce before september 4th That's why the department has been contacted With claimants through direct mail email and phone as well as through program materials to ensure they are aware of this Fast approaching date and the services that are available to them And on the workforce development side our team of local career specialists have been conducting Direct phone calls to claimants In the PEUC and pua programs to ensure claimants are aware of the free workforce support services the department offers We know the longer an individual is out of work The more difficult it can be for them to re-enter the workforce And because of this our job center specialists and job centers throughout the state are open for in-person and virtual services And we will be expanding the number of hours available over the next few weeks With offices now open in-person services Offering in-person services in berry bennington braddleboro burlington middlebury ruttland St. Albans and st. Johnsbury and virtual services by appointment across the state Our local career specialists are ready to assist you with your job placement efforts and various training opportunities There are currently more than 8,800 jobs in vermont job link And we can pinpoint the best jobs available in each region for each claimant and help make that purse that important first connection for the job seeker Our team is also holding weekly virtual workshops and events including sessions on resume writing Reemployment strategies and interviewing as well as virtual job fairs to help link job seekers with employers I encourage anyone looking for a job to attend any or all of these sessions These services are completely free and a great way to to begin reengaging with employers You can find more information at labor dot vermont dot gov slash jobs We know that many businesses are also struggling to find employees and looking to fill good positions So our team is also there to support employers through talent Through job promotion Hiring event coordination and applicant referrals employers can also find more information online at labor dot vermont dot gov slash jobs We know the end of these programs could be a difficult transition for some of our very close neighbors And at the department of labor we want to help get these folks back to work as soon as possible So please If this applies to you and you're looking for a place to start We're here to help Reach out to us. So we know how to get in contact with you and we can help you find your next career Individuals and employers without consistent internet access can also contact our main workforce development team by phone at 833 719 1051 833 719 1051 or by email at labor dot vt jobs at vermont dot gov At this time, I'll turn it over to commissioner p check for the weekly data and modeling report Thank you Thank you very much commissioner herrington and good afternoon everyone As the governor alluded to cases continue to increase across the country this week with the national seven day average rising From 78,000 To 110,000 today And looking at the active case map, we see that the active case growth continues to largely be clustered In the southern part of the country where many of the states are less vaccinated But these impacts are continuing to be felt in all other regions Including our own But the data does point to some optimistic signs First the rate of new people getting vaccinated across the country is the highest it has been in over two months And although cases are still rising the rate of growth has slowed here in vermont regionally and nationally And the data still clearly shows that the most vaccinated regions of our country are avoiding the worst outcomes First turning to the change in the national weekly case growth We can see that cases have been rising in the us over the last seven weeks Quickly increasing from seven to 12 to 45 to 65 percent And although cases are still increasing the percent in which they are doing so has been declining over the last three weeks Similarly looking at the cases in the northeast we see a similar trend where cases were rising More quickly and then more recently that growth rate has slowed down over the last three weeks Again cases continue to rise in the northeast but the rate in which they're doing so Is starting to show signs of slowing down And when we look at vermont's numbers we see a similar trend where cases have Shot up in terms of the percent of growth But more recently that has plateaued we haven't seen a downward trend in vermont's numbers yet But it certainly has shown signs of slowing down So with all of those indications being that potentially the case growth is slowing About seven or six weeks in Fits in well with the next slide that looks at places around the world Well, the where the delta variant has driven case growth Obviously first in india then in the uk but in a number of other countries and then of course here in the united states as well So this analysis looks at each of those peaks it puts them all on the same Timeline so at the moment that their cases started to rise because of delta That is the moment here shown as the zero date And then we bring it forward into the future and look at what those peaks looked like in each of those countries and jurisdictions As you can see india the united kingdom vietnam Myanmar indonesia And also places here in the united states including Missouri and arkansas Where the delta variant first landed have all shown signs of rising for about seven eight nine weeks And then reaching a peak and then declining as well You can also see on this analysis that the united states is just outside of that zone about seven weeks To just under seven weeks away So with the case growth slowing in the united states it does show indication Again that when we get into the next two to three weeks, hopefully our cases will peak here and start to go down Again on the next slide we talked about how the outcomes are still significantly different Depending on your vaccination rate You can see here the states that have the lowest vaccination rate States more in the middle of the pack and then states at the high end of the vaccination rate with vermont specifically included as well So again, even though our cases are rising in vermont You can see the difference in our case growth compared to those less vaccinated regions of the of the country And most importantly you can see the difference in the hospitalization rates again, even though our hospitalization rates are rising They're significantly different than those other parts of the country Where hospitalizations have been rising for some time and are significantly higher than ours on a per capita basis And again, even though our hospital rates have gone up We continue to have the lowest hospitalization rates in the country And similarly on the fatality side, you can see how vermont with three fatalities reported so far in the month of august Unfortunately, of course Still has a very low rate relative to these other parts of the country Looking more specifically at the vermont data a chart that we showed a couple of weeks ago Looks at the vaccination rates of those vermonters who are fully vaccinated and the case rates And then looks at the case rates of those vermonters who are not fully vaccinated So a few weeks ago these lines were much closer to each other Of course the unvaccinated population always had more cases But we're starting to see that split out a little bit more significantly with the rise Among the unpopular unvaccinated population rising more quickly than the fully vaccinated population Again another reason for those who haven't done so to protect themselves from the delta variant Lastly on the vermont data looking at the forecast we see as the governor indicated Rates are expected to rise over the next three weeks Again vermont is about five to six weeks into this growth phase So we want to keep a close eye on those states missouri and arkansas And we want to keep a close eye on the united states rates overall If we start to see those rates fall in the next week or two We can have more confidence that our rates will peak and fall as well as we get closer to the end of august into early september And then just an update quickly on the vaccination numbers. We can see that vermont Continue to increase its vaccination rate 2763 people this week that's up 12 percent from last week And you can see there are now about 85 000 vermonters who are eligible who have not started vaccination On the next slide you can see that increase that 12 percent over last week and the fact that cases have rates have been going up For those seeking vaccination for about the last five or six weeks So again a good sign there in vermont that our vaccination rates are increasing as well And you can see on the last slide that that means that we continue to maintain Our top standing in all of these categories across the country when it comes to vaccination. So again Even though cases are expected to rise in the northeast in here in vermont vermont It continues to be the best state position to withstand this delta variant rise And with that i'll turn it over to secretary smith Thank you commissioner p check. Good afternoon everyone I'm going to cover the various walk-in vaccination clinics That will be open at schools and other sites across vermont this week But first we have seen as you have seen on the chart an increase In uh in number of cases But we've also seen the demand in testing for some parts of the state Particularly in chitin chitin county and although we have a robust daily testing capability throughout the state We have begun to leverage our ems personnel at certain locations where we have seen heavier traffic We are adding hours to the pine street testing center in berlington And opening a new testing location in the berlington district office This should help us meet any increased demand for testing Just remember testing is free and easy. So visit health vermont.gov slash my vaccine to find a testing site So when should you get tested if you have any covet 19 symptoms get tested in quarantine? If you have if you are unvaccinated and have a known exposure to someone who is suspected or confirmed to have covet Quarantine and didn't and then get tested at day seven If you are fully vaccinated and have a known exposure to someone that is suspected or confirmed to have Coven 19 you are protected If you do not have any symptoms you do not need to quarantine If you'd like to be reassured consider getting a test three to five days after exposure Turning to vaccination rates as of today as commissioner p check had talked about 84.6 of eligible Eligible vermoners have received at least one dose Of the vaccine and 75.4 percent of all eligible vermoners are fully vaccinated The vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing the most serious effects of covet 19 including against the delta variant From our nightly reports. We have seen that most of those who are getting the virus in vermont are unvaccinated And so The sooner you that you and or your eligible family members get a first dose the closer you'll be to becoming fully vaccinated So again, please take the short amount of time it takes to get vaccinated Although we do see cases where people get covet 19 that are fully vaccinated these instances are far less prevalent If you are vaccinated plus vaccination makes cases less severe and often they are mild Given the rise in cases, especially among vermoners Unvaccinated and given that just over 85,000 of eligible vermoners still haven't been vaccinated We are ramping up our efforts both at the school level And generally we also want to support schools across vermont to get to an 80 percent vaccination rate Starting this week and over the next three weeks There will be vaccine vaccine clinics in schools across the state serving all districts Clinics will continue in schools over the next two months if you are 12 or older And haven't gotten vaccinated Getting your shot now is a great way to get ready to go back to school If you are under 18 you can register online or walk in as long as you have a parent or guardian And have the appropriate parental consent forms. It's quick and it's easy You can walk in and get vaccinated at most local pharmacies as well Including those in grocery stores You can also visit various pharmacy locations at the university of vermont medical center the community health centers of Burlington the northwestern medical center and the southwestern medical center in addition to these options Here's where you'll find 38 pop-up and school based clinics just this week Today Manchester elementary school hazing union high school woodstock farmers market Addison county fair and field days The grandville fire department and the johnson elementary school tomorrow wednesday St. Albin city elementary school twin valley middle and high school oxbow riverfront park in morrisville The addison county fair and field days in new haven the waterbury ambulance in waterbury center 1311 berry mom pilia road that's in berlin is right behind the burger king The ruttland department of health uh the health district office in downtown ruttland On thursday berm Burton academy north country high school North eastern vermont regional hospital montpellier parks here in montpellier The retreat farm in brattleboro the addison county fair and field days in new haven again Waterbury farmers market in downtown waterbury the berry town ems in east berry on friday august 13th The shampoos shampoos valley union high school in heinsberg morris town elementary school in morris town The halifax community center in halifax the antique car show at farce field in waterbury the addison county Fair and field days in new haven the cambridge rescue station in jefferson bill the newport waterfront plaza in newport And again, 1311 berry montpellier road in berlin on saturday the brattleboro music center and retreat farm It's a presentation music music under the stars. It's in brattleboro Mountain marketplace in louden dairy Grand isle Sheriff's department in grand isle the stowe community church in stowe king arthur's baking company in norwich Again the addison county fair and field days in new haven Again the antique car show at farce field in waterbury Canaan high school in canaan the grand isle elementary school in grand isle on sunday spalding high school in berry Please take advantage of the many opportunities and as you saw there are many opportunities to become vaccinated And it's just not only people that are going back to school anybody can visit these clinics and get vaccinated All it requires is simply a bit of your time. It's only a few minutes of your time Again, you can find information on all of these locations at the health department's website, which is healthpermont.gov slash my vaccine and remember Get tested for covet if you have any symptoms test sites can also be found at healthvermont.gov Slash my vaccine. I'll now turn it over to dr. Levine for a health update Thanks very much Let me just start out with three key words vaccination vaccination vaccination I say that because at this time in our experience with covet 19 This is the number one thing the most important action any of us can take We have a very powerful tool Vaccines that are highly effective at preventing the most serious outcomes of the covet 19 illness and the SARS-CoV-2 virus Including against the delta variant In fact According to a study led by Yale school of public health The vaccines are estimated to have saved some 279,000 lives and prevented 1.25 million hospitalizations Even if those numbers are on the high end, that's pretty amazing to consider Now we know in vermont the tool works even better as we have some of the highest vaccination rates in the country Now as you heard at 84.6 percent having had at least one dose Better protecting our whole population And vermoners have been faithfully stepping up to get their second dose with a rate of full vaccination now exceeding 75 percent Also a first in the nation ranking We've learned a great deal about the virus and almost unprecedented amount In more than 18 months Unfortunately one key aspect we know Is the virus continues to evolve And right now the most contagious version of it the delta variant is firmly established in the country And is found in nearly all of the cases that we have done whole genome sequencing on in vermont Close to 90 percent Because it's so contagious more than twice that of the original strain It's quickly moving through our unvaccinated population Causing cases to rise and contributing to more community spread and outbreaks That means we're seeing rates rise In our communities again like in camps workplaces and other settings We may be just starting to see the impact on hospitalizations as well With the majority as expected in the unvaccinated population It's also leading to some cases in vaccinated people But again those people are still protected from severe illness At the same time however our experience informs our knowledge and with that our ability to respond and counter the threat Also continues to evolve That's why we want everyone who's eligible for vaccination To get vaccinated as soon as possible because that protection is how we ensure people are protected So many vermonas have been vaccinated and again, thank you for taking that important step But there are a little over 80,000 people in the state Who have not yet been vaccinated some because they're not eligible, but many who are So to those fellow vermonas, please know that when we urge you to get your shot It's because as a physician as a human being I don't want you to get sick I don't want you to end up in the hospital and I certainly don't want you to die Getting your shot is also very important if we're going to be able to slow the spread And protect those who are not yet able to be vaccinated Indeed, I know many of you have heard this message because as commissioner p check showed we've seen an uptick Not only nationally but in vermont in vaccination demand And if you look at news of the so-called breakthrough cases as a reason to not get vaccinated Take my reassurance that this is completely unjustified About two percent of our cases since january of this year have been among fully vaccinated vermonas That's a rate of such infections in the over 465,000 vermonas That means less than 0.1 percent of those who have been vaccinated So does taking a chance on almost definite risk of getting covet with a highly transmissible variant Or getting a severe illness or a possible long covet syndrome Still makes sense or does getting vaccinated make more sense? It's not politics. It's not an agenda. It's public health medical science plain and simple In the meantime, each of us have our own situations and day-to-day activities Days into which we once more must incorporate What works best for protecting ourselves our families and our communities from the virus These are the prevention steps you've heard so many times over the past Year plus wash your hands stay home when sick and call your doctor if you have symptoms of the virus This includes masking. I get lots of questions about masking If you are not vaccinated, we encourage you to wear a mask in public indoor spaces This will protect you and those around you And if you're vaccinated and you choose to wear a mask as an extra extra layer of protection indoors Especially if it's crowded or if you travel That's okay too Do what makes sense for you and your personal comfort level And do so knowing you should not be judged for that The science hasn't changed Wearing a mask helps protect you and the people around you from getting or spreading covid and this current variant A mask contains your respiratory droplets and can keep them from reaching others Covid-19 can spread from anyone even if a person does not have symptoms And the fact is many of us have people in our lives we need to protect Including younger children who can't be vaccinated yet Hopefully by late fall or early winter Or those who are older who have weaker immune systems And unfortunately some of them are getting covid and becoming ill A mask is a temporary simple but effective tool we can add to the vaccine to keep everyone safer But remember the most powerful tool right now is the vaccine Finally a reminder about testing If you have any symptoms or think you've been exposed to covid Or we're in a higher risk situation Get tested As you've heard in some parts of the state demand is higher right now So it's best to make an appointment if you can Visit healthvermont.gov slash testing Governor thank you. Dr. Levine will now open it up to questions Could you enlighten us about the increase in hospitalizations and Those in intensive care Are any of those folks Unvaccinated and are any children in intensive care? I believe there are some who are Vaccinated I don't believe there were any children Who are hospitalized at this time, but I would ask Dr. Levine to elaborate 100 percent of the hospitalized patients are adults unvaccinated yeah, so 75 percent of the hospitalized patients are unvaccinated If you do the math that's 25 percent of the eligible population to get vaccinated are are unvaccinated So what is your guidance to employers who see the cdc spread now? as you guessed very six counties substantial or high and they're saying We have a 4.6 percent of at least a first shot should we go back to masking or Asking everybody to mask inside What do you say? Yeah, I think as we've said all along For an employer, that's their personal choice They are completely free to expect masking in those populations When it comes to mandating vaccine You've heard from the governor this morning, and I'll let him comment further on that But many are joining A growing sentiment that mandating vaccine in their setting Is a useful public health tool And it's a useful business tool to keep their population of employees healthy and to keep Their work environment safe Specific factors triggered your decision to rethink the wisdom of the vaccine mandate for some state employees. I think it's the the transmissible disease the variant has Shown how quickly that it can spread We have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable under our Care and and I think those in The veterans home of the psychiatric hospital as well as the offenders in the correctional facilities They're under our care So I wanted to make sure that we weren't there weren't any holes in our staffing Now the mandatory Vaccination that we're considering will have Some sort of an exit ramp as well. It won't be forced. It will be Um, there may be a testing involved. There may be some other avenue So that for those who are not willing to be vaccinated But but we just think it's a good idea considering What's happening what we're seeing across the country? And I just want to again reiterate We've seen how effective The vaccines are We we look at the the number of cases Who are hospitalized at this point in time? Which isn't where we'd like to be but we never said that these were 100 effective We said the vaccines were 85 effective uh, Pfizer and Moderna, I believe So there is some risk involved But when you look at that there's 99.99 9% Of those who have been vaccinated who aren't in the hospital at this time So those are pretty good odds So we think it's a good idea for people to get vaccinated Do you know how many people are would be required to be vaccinated under your plan? I do not know. Um, I don't know What the percentage is it it ranges. It's different for different facilities Some within corrections for instance There's a higher number of unvaccinated up in the northern part of the state than in other regions And is this something you think about expanding to other state employees? Let's we're going to take one step at a time Again, we want to and we believe that this as commissioner peach. I could talked about Our modeling is shown and we've seen this throughout the world that this will subside and start Producing after seven or eight weeks. So it's not something that We're ready to impose at this point in time But as we said from the beginning, you know, we were watching the data. We're we're listening to the science We're trying to do what's best for Vermonters And at this point in time we feel That protecting the most vulnerable those under our care under our jurisdiction We have an obligation to try and protect you today are calling on other Vermont businesses to Consider a vaccine slash testing mandate as well Why not take whatever steps you would need to take In order to use your executive authority to compel We have to reissue the state of emergency and I'm not willing to do that at this time There's no need for the state of emergency The governor the chamber of commerce, um, they have a survey out right now to their member of businesses Who will you know what taking the temperature on Mandating the vaccine and they're already hearing from some businesses that are saying the opposite of what you're saying that Requiring the vaccine will just be one more hurdle for them to overcome. Uh, especially Recruiting workers. How about you respond? Well again, that's their choice. Um, and uh, we've we've recognized that from the very beginning Whether it's customers coming through the door or whether they're it's their employees They have to do their own risk assessment and decide if that's Fits their business or not For many, I think we've seen that many businesses throughout vermont have imposed this requirement And so everyone makes the decision for themselves I guess it might be for dr. Levine. I think this has come up for but Is there any progress made on When the state reports, um, cases and hospitalizations and deaths if if we can differentiate between Vaccinated versus unvaccinated right reporting how many breakthrough cases some viewers have told me that but that could actually help increase confidence in the vaccine yes, so in our Weekly updates which are now every other week, but they're still called weekly updates We have Added several slides that talked about the breakthrough infections. So the data from that is readily available to those who regularly check that Hospitalization data we're working on trying to perfect that science and getting a good sense not just for cases But for actual hospitals hospitalized patients What their Status is vaccinated versus unvaccinated. It's a little more challenging than just for the cases Challenges are that we're dealing with a heterogeneous group of hospitals that have different reporting schedules that Some of the data, you know Would be protected data regarding patients um, some of the data might not be immediately present because somebody's admitted in distress and Goes to an icu and they may not have access to Data regarding their vaccination status and we'd have to go to other data sets to try to find that and then combine it in so If it is simpler tracking that with cases as you're putting out every two weeks Is there a reason the health department couldn't put out that breakdown among new cases on a more frequent basis than every two weeks? I shared Calvin's feedback that we're getting sure constant requests for for that information Yeah, there's no reason why we can't do that again. I think the focus on it is misplaced as my opening comments Hopefully convinced people But but I understand people are hungry for information of all sorts I want to also just make a follow-up comment to the governors on the Vaccines mandating You know, we're talking about populations that are very vulnerable. So as opposed to the business sector, we're talking about People who are serving vulnerable populations, which is an important consideration And we have very variable rates around the state Some very commendable rates and some of our health care systems and in our long-term care facilities with staff Equaling or exceeding the vaccination rate of the general population in vermont And then some notable exceptions in the other direction where they could do better So it's a very heterogeneous group, but it's a little different to talk about those caring for the vulnerable than Just in general the concept But you've stopped short of recommending such mandates for k312 schools or even licensed child care centers Which are our children who can't be vaccinated considered vulnerable in this context? Our school guidance came up last week and it was pretty clear about Obviously it wasn't clear about mandating vaccine That wasn't the topic, but we've already got a success rate in the education sector. That's quite high And spate paid special attention to that sector early on In our vaccine efforts But the guidance was very specific about ways to help protect children As school reopens But you're saying when we have staff members who are dealing with vulnerable populations Um, we should have a vaccine mandate in place for those people Why wouldn't that same rationale apply to staff that are working with people who Are unable to get vaccinated Yeah, the head of the uh The nea, I guess I believe it is nationally Ashley has endorsed what you just said Um In vermont, we haven't gone that far I guess the question is why why wouldn't you go that far? Well I think we're talking about different situations. Uh, peter. I mean you're talking about 24 seven in a psychiatric hospital Or in the offender population Um, or the vermont veterans home 24 seven in the same building When we're talking about kids in school, it's not for Those periods of time. So we've um, we've instituted mandatory masking in in schools for the first two to three weeks as well as For those who are ineligible to be vaccinated Over time. So we think that's the right approach Getting kids back in school is It's going to be better for their mental health and And we believe it's a safe approach that we're taking Uh, your thoughts on your colleague in new york's decision to resign? I just uh, actually saw that With the mounting credible allegations Against him. I think it was the right decision to make probably not surprising But um, but I think it's for the best of uh for the people of new york Secretary smith, um, what sort of knock-on effects are you anticipating as a result of the exploration of some of these federal unemployment programs and and What are you doing? Well, I mean, I think the commissioner has been clear that this could you know result in people needing food housing child care subsidies, uh, what have you And you've got this slug of almost 10,000 people they're going to be going from not just unemployment, but the $300 weekly add-on to nothing and I'm just Wonder if that's something that's on your radar Anything you're doing to prepare for that? We aren't doing anything special. We've had You know through our three three squares meal program we've had really enormous capacity in that program thanks to the federal government and thanks to What we've done here at the state level so I think from a food aspect of it I don't think you know, we're we're not going to be overwhelmed From that that perspective from a health care Perspective we're not going to be overwhelmed As well And I'm trying to think through the various programs that we have We're in pretty good. We're in pretty good shape to withstand something that May come our way whether it's a virus related or natural disaster or an instance like this We're in pretty good shape Just keep in mind though that's we're talking about the $300 stipend, right? But for the people who are on PUA The whole kit and caputals going away and for the and more than half the people who are on unemployment right now If they're on the extended benefits or they're losing not just the $300 but also yeah, but keep in mind as well We're struggling in every single sector across the state For employees. So I believe there are opportunities out there We want to be able to help them find their career path and a job in the meantime or whatever maybe the combination So we feel as though and this isn't Our action. This is the federal government's action But we believe that there are jobs available for those who who want to work Governor maybe for Dr. Levine too, you know, we can talk about getting back to cases just for a second But you know in the next couple of weeks those are slaves come down, but we're hearing more and more about The lambda variant delta plus variant over in Korea I just wonder if you could shed some light as to how Solid some of these projections are in light of additional variants I think Dr. Levine can answer this probably better than I can but you know We see this like with the flu different variants of the flu year after year and we're going to see this With COVID as well in the in the coming years That's why it's so important To get everybody vaccinated just as quick as possible to create this line of defense so that doesn't mutate further Right. We want we don't want the new variants to grow. We want to shut it off just as quick as we possibly can I believe had we as a country Have been more fully vaccinated We wouldn't have this situation that we're in today And I think that when you see states where they have, you know, 30 to 40 percent vaccination rates This is the result of that the variants are allowed to grow and mutate and and change and get through into different populations, so This is this is the result of that Lack of effort in terms of vaccination Obviously everybody's watching lambda and delta plus and whatever comes next none of them are really Present in the whole genome sequencing In this country to any degree. I think lambda was under one percent So they do bear watching. We don't really know what they're going to turn into The cdc has this whole kind of gradation of Levels of concern you start as a variant of interest you become a variant of concern Then you become worse than that If you're like a delta Just just to piggyback on the comments that were made about mandating vaccine in different populations I think it's Clear to people but just to be extra clear If we mandate vaccine for who knows who tomorrow That's not going to matter for delta because the delta cycle is still Several weeks to in duration One dose of a vaccine won't be enough It's really looking forward to the fall and winter and making sure that if any of the things Calvin you're concerned about and these other greek letters Become of a concern the population will already be prepared to meet them So I think that's really the thrust of where we're going Sort of a follow-up to that question. I mean historically speaking Pandemics end You know they just disappear. Well, what do you see happening here? Gee if I had the answer to that I'd be on the news shows nationally every night The pandemic The kind of what we've been through pandemic I do see coming to an end But to piggyback on the governor's answer It's not like coronavirus is going to disappear Coronavirus is going to be here. Yes, there may be new variants, but maybe there won't be The bottom line is we can't really predict that with certainty We're all living through our own first pandemic The one back in 1918 Seemed to come to an end, but it didn't come to a grinding halt If you read more about it it sort of had its tail and lingering So we're kind of in that phase right now and we have to be prepared for that And the best optimism I can give is if the efforts of the current federal administration And other developed nations around the world to get vaccine to developing nations Can be successful We will see more of this ending of the pandemic Because clearly the variants we've had thus far, especially the delta didn't evolve Under stress from vaccine On people they came at times when people weren't vaccinated And were able to continue to freely transmit virus One to another So we need to really try to put an end to that And the most successful strategy is going to be improving our rate in this country But continuing in parallel to improve the rate around the rest of the world of percent vaccinated Dr. Levine a couple quick questions about at-home COVID tests from a colleague She had noticed that there was a sign outside a local CVS Saying they were all out of those at-home tests She was wondering if post vaccines or I guess not post vaccines, but at this stage of vaccinations if more people are using those How does the state find out about a case in that scenario if they're using an at-home test that they bought at a pharmacy? Yeah, so if the person does not report it to us and the person does not report for medical care That would go under the radar because we we'd have no idea that they'd even done the test There's some caveats in that test. So when you do a home test If you're positive at a time like now and you did the test because you have symptoms That's a very reliable home test to do But if you really were worried about COVID And you did you had a negative test There's instructions there about maybe you should actually go get medical care get the uh Sort of gold standard test like a PCR test as opposed to an antigen test and make sure you weren't a false negative on that Evaluation and then of course we would have insight into that Further questions were about the accuracy accuracy rate and whether they should get a PCR test So I think you answered those two. Yeah, although the accuracy rate again much better for Having a positive result and believing it than having a negative result and being falsely reassured Uh, but keep in mind the ones that they're selling at CVS have received emergency use authorizations So that's important Governor can I ask you a question about something else? Sure the weekend the national guard released its report that followed Allegations of sexual harassment and some misconduct as you know your big support I'm just wondering in what areas do you want the Vermont National Guard to improve? Yeah, I uh, I haven't read the report We do have it, but I haven't read it yet myself But I have a great deal of faith in general night. He's made this his mission I think he's made great strides in this regard the transparency that he's shown Is has been encouraging I think for all of us And uh, if there's anyone who can get to the bottom of this and trying to you know, culture doesn't change overnight And but he is doing his best to change that culture And again, I think he's made great strides in that regard How will you know you've done the job? Well, he'll continue to be transparent and honest and open as he did with this press conference He had the other day and this report will continue to be a somewhat of a living document And we'll continue to to look at The the data and making sure that we're doing all we can Does it surprise you to hear that the good old boy network Is alive and well again culture is very difficult to change in every regard So I I can't say that I'm surprised. It's uh, it's unfortunate. I'm disappointed, but but I'm not surprised I have a couple more questions for dr. Levine. I want to know the health department on Friday night Notify the public about this outbreak at a water very summer camp I wanted to know if we could get a little more information on where the investigation of that stands As well as one one basic question about it. Was this camp primarily outdoor or indoor? Do you say anything about the environment that these campers were particularly in from day to day? Yeah, so my sense is I can't give you this with 100 certainty that more of it was outdoors than indoors But that doesn't preclude campers from gathering together indoors The current case number I don't have as of today And the reason we put out the public announcement was again because campers Probably in a less or totally asymptomatic state We're circulating within the community and Not aware of their infectious status. So we wanted to make sure that people were aware of that Do we know anything about how the infection spread among that population? Do we know if it came from an adult? Whether the adult was vaccinated or not and Does there seem to be evidence of one child spreading into another child? Again, so these are all great Questions from an epidemiology standpoint and they never are answerable on the first couple days They take time for investigation They take time for accumulating more people who have gotten tested and seeing what their status is I can tell you that it's pretty un I hate to say uncommon, but I think it's true. It's uncommon to often find the index case So Though it's always of interest It's very challenging to do that quite often. I will say that, you know We are seeing cases in vermont in all the kinds of settings you'd expect from workplaces to camps to health care In child care facilities all the same spectrum as we would have seen at any other point in the pandemic That continues But we do note that people who have traveled in return and people who have a household contact continue to remain more Vulnerable if you will and susceptible to getting infected But that's not exactly different than at any other time How many outbreaks are currently under investigation right now? I don't have the number for today Um, I can get that to you. Is there a reason that's not reported more regularly for you know, I know that's in the Weekly summary that you were talking about that comes out every two weeks. Is there a reason that the public can't get that information on a more regular basis? Nothing's being hidden. There's no reason Frankly, it isn't super helpful To be honest Most of the outbreaks that we see now are of modest size Vaccine has prevented them from turning into what they would have turned into in a pre-vaccine era We see far more what we call situations, which are just A cluster of a couple of cases or a specific Site that has a case known that we're that concerns us because of the nature of the site And again, these don't turn into outbreaks with great regularity All right, I've got to Starting with lisa waterbury around about Lisa the waterbury around about all right. We'll try tom davis compass vermont Tom davis compass vermont Thanks, jason A couple quick questions for you. Uh, dr will be one really quickly. Um The last time that you spoke to us, you said that nearly 86 of new covid cases Were the delta variant if I have my notes correct. Has that changed? It's changed to about 90 percent Okay, thank you Governor, I've been speaking with uh, some spokespeople at the canadian government and um, they showed their frustration that Uh, that the united states government continues to say that they're working closely with the canadian government um about reopening for canada to come into the united states When the truth is she said we can't tell you anything. We're ready to go Um And uh, she said I've not heard anything on our end from the united states But you know, they could agree like we're basically We're in place to allow canadians to visit I know you didn't have your call this week, but I wondered if If you had any intel or even speculation as to what the heck the us is doing Yeah, I share their frustration, uh as well as Lack of understanding as to what the holdup is again Quebec canada Overall is in better shape than we are in many regards who we They should fear what's happening in the us. We shouldn't fear what's going on in canada and especially kebac so we have not as you know, we We national governor's association along with a number of governors penned a letter to the white house and asked them for a meeting We have not heard anything to my knowledge at at this point. So we anxiously await that But um, but I again I I have no idea why There's a lack of action in that regard It just seems as though we could have a reciprocal type of reciprocity in terms of whatever they're Requiring to come Across the border into canada. We could we could do the same for those in canada to come to the us The two canadian uh publications were speculating also piece of young news It's on the financial side of speculating that one of the issues may be that The entire apparatus uh for the borders was stripped down and canadian side Significantly during the trump administration and they The us just may not have resources in place to handle Incoming canadians. Have you heard anything about that? I have not heard No No, I haven't heard that at all But I haven't heard anything to be perfectly honest Right Last real quick question. I spoke with the vermont air national guard this morning Um, and they they gave me some information But I was curious if anyone in your administration Has any information about uh low flying c 130 cargo planes Over sent mainly central vermont from the reports our readers have sent When I say low flying, I mean just above the treetops Usually in groups of two or three that's been going on for over a month Does anybody in the administration right thing about that? Yeah, this is the first I've heard of it, tom And I live right here in south of vermont and I have not seen or heard them But uh, but I'll see what I can find out Okay, thank you. He he speculated that it was one of the new york's squadrons Who do have c 130s? I actually saw one and got a picture of it So I'll be checking in with that for the few years if you're people hear anything, I always appreciate it I can't can't blame them for wanting to come to vermont, but uh, I have no other info on that Okay, thanks. That's it for me. Appreciate it Ham davis of vermont journal Uh, just a question. I have a question for dr. Levine Um Do you hear me we can go ahead ham? Uh, I'd like to ask dr. Levine as much as he is able to uh tell us what he can Know or speculate about the Uh, the situation that we might get if somebody if the s cbc decides that people need to boost the shot The first shot that we're given and the first shot that we're given in vermont were Uh, we're in january and in february And there's been some mention in the media that that once you get past six months that you that that the Yeah, protective effects might begin to fade a little bit What I'd like to know is I understand that that decision is not for me, but I very value dr. Levine's Horseback guess is professional guess about how close we are to that question and secondly Whether any thought has been given to How the state might deal with that If you get a decision that that the that the Vaccinated population needs the needs of booster Sure, there's a couple questions wrapped together there. Um, let's start with the fact that There's really good data that shows that at six months We can continue to rely on the vaccines that we've been given especially the messenger rna vaccine because They were authorized as you remember earlier So we have a little more experience with them over time the j and j came online later than the first two So there's great data there There's data that's emerging regarding those who are immunocompromised Some of that shows that there may be segments of that population since that's a broad umbrella that could actually benefit from a booster shot Whereas other data shows that unfortunately though we might think it would do them good There are many segments of that population that don't seem to benefit from a booster shot There's also data that's in people and data that's in test tubes All of that's being sort of You know analyzed and synthesized by people in the fda and elsewhere But the bottom line is Um I think the fda is on a fast timeline to get the full approval of the first two vaccines Before labor day, you know, they've been under a lot of pressure. They have a lot of data to analyze They're putting more bodies on the effort to analyze that data But we may find by labor day or sometime that month Will have full approval which will Make a big difference when it comes to their next decisions regarding booster shots Nobody sees the need for that tomorrow Or in the next few weeks But hopefully we'll have more information from them regarding the timing I I think that We could certainly go to the end of the year Uh, which would make it a one-year point for people who got the very earliest vaccine Just again based on the data that's available to review now, but there's so much more data that's coming up We and uh, and the agency of human services and at the department of health have really been looking at the two populations those who are Eligible for a booster at some point when that time comes and those who Couldn't yet be vaccinated Mainly the under 12 So we have sort of parallel planning processes in place for both of them So that we won't be overwhelmed clearly for the Adult population who might need a booster We all know that that would be a huge effort And it wouldn't be something that everyone could easily accomplish in the confines of their own doctor's office So that all of the systems we probably employed earlier on would come back into play For that effort But if you know again, it might be a very restricted effort It might be a part of the population that has immune system issues And that would be a different challenge than the whole adult population so Hopefully I answered you well enough without saying too much Thank you very much Thank you Greg Lamberall the county courier Good afternoon governor I'm curious the people that are reaching out to get tested when they show up to a testing site Are they also given the opportunity at those testing sites to get vaccinated? I don't think all of our sites have been co-mingled, but that's that's our plan in the future But I'll let secretary smith answer Yeah, Greg We were moving and we are still moving towards having combined sites testing and vaccine about 14 of them Maybe even as high as 16 of them Situated around the state We have not dismantled the testing apparatus that we have right now As you know, we have approximately 15 to 17 Sort of testing sites that go on we haven't dismantled that because we've seen the upsurge In testing that people want so we've we've kept that apparatus in place But in the future you will see both of them combined testing and vaccine probably in your You know healthcare setting Such as a hospital or a urgent care facility associated with the hospital and secondly governor as you know the Some of our counties are are reaching a threshold where the CDC has enacted a 60 day eviction moratorium I'm wondering if there's any concern from your office that There may be at least a small group of people that Like to see that and and it may actually have a negative impact on public health Meaning if they are Evicted is that what you're saying? Greg? Correct, correct. Um, of course we're concerned we do have We have systems in place to help those who have been evicted and Support for them As well, you know the court system Now will hear these cases and We have to have faith in the judicial process that they'll make the right decisions But that won't be overnight either. I mean the courts are are backed up as well Certainly, okay. Thank you governor out. I'm sure we'll talk again next week. All right. Thank you We're gonna try uh lisa from the water very roundabout again Hi, very. Thanks a lot. Jason. Does that work now? Yes Okay, great. Um one for dr. Levine. Although based on your answer earlier I'm not sure you're gonna have much of this detail I just I would check so um the latest number in the water very outbreak that I received Yesterday was 24 cases Um, I'm wondering if that at least if you have a sense of whether all of these cases are among children or if there's others Adults that are part of that group at this point You're right. I can't elaborate further on that but I can get that information Okay, thank you. One other question about through the process that the health department engages in Is whether or not there's some sort of a protocol for outreach with the community One of the things that I'm hearing here is that The folks at the town level here with the rec program and and paying attention to communicating with families Feel really out of the loop and they were really surprised to hear yesterday that the case number had gone to 24 from 13 on friday Um, they're getting a lot of questions And they don't seem to have like a point of contact as far as you know information from the health department to update them Um, I realize things are moving really quickly and people are swamped But is that something that tries to get work into the process? Yeah, obviously the priority is communicating with those who have been identified as cases or as contacts And with the camp administration, you know, which is all done very early on and that continues on terms of updates Um, you know in terms of how the situation is being managed or not managed, obviously We continue to communicate with those in charge of running the operation It is challenging if you're looking for, you know, a daily kind of case count and a daily advisory for people because the advice wouldn't change Based on One day's cases versus the next From what we would initially have given people on day one But I do respect the fact that people are hungry for information When they know that they may have had a family member who could have been exposed, etc But hopefully they've received the proper advice from the get-go so that they know how their behavior should evolve Right good point. Um, and for what it's worth I am hearing that the testing has definitely Jumped in town in the last few days. People are definitely taking advantage of the extra hours for testing. Um And it's that message has gotten out for people to be checking. Um One other question maybe this is the governor and that the cdc recommends at this point This is a recommendation that in areas of higher substantial spread People be wearing masks indoors and it looks on their tracker at this point that a handful of counties in Vermont kick that box right now including washington county shittenden county Um, are you looking at that at this point in terms of, you know, maybe being a little stronger in the recommendations being made To people who are not just unvaccinated but regardless of your vaccination status. I still think it's a Personal choice. I think you have to make decisions depending on your risk Who who was in your family who's in your household so to speak? And whether you should be Going to events inside that where you might pick up the the variant So again, I think you have to do your own risk assessment and then make your own decision at that point Okay, thanks very much donor and dr. Levine appreciate it. Thank you Leora angle smith from odd digger Hi this question is for dr. Levine. Um, I want to know the cases that we do have in nursing homes right now Like what's the distribution of like residents versus staff folks who are unvaccinated versus vaccinated anything like that Yeah, I don't I don't have a Table of data to provide you with at this time So I I can tell you though and this is probably the most important take home message That situations in nursing homes in August of 2021 Is nothing like it was at any point prior in the pandemic They're not we're not having abundant cases Identified at the same time We're not having abundant transmission across different physical parts of facilities and When people are identified as positive Fortunately and not exclusively but fortunately the majority of them are already previously vaccinated if they're residents of the nursing home And do not have severe cases So it's a very very different environment not to say that it's Easy street for everyone because obviously when a case is identified it has implications for visitation. It has implications for the anxiety level that others have But it's a much better situation in the vaccination era than it was previously Thank you. And a second question about testing So the the volume of testing is not going up because folks are asking or needing more tests How are the sort of supplies and and like turnaround time for results? Yeah, so in terms of supplies that continues to be a Metrics that we follow every week several times a week Every time we have a report out from our health operations center We get a report out from our facilities about how much reagent they have how many collection kits they have So we feel comfortable with that We have a lot of partners in this effort Many of them healthcare providers across the state We have no indication that they have run into problems with their supply chain at this time either We are seeing an uptick in numbers of tests done and I get on a daily basis But it's still much less than it was at a time when we were doing a lot of surveillance testing in schools and nursing homes in hospitals and In long-term care facilities We do expect there'll be an uptick in some of the surveillance testing as schools reopen because as you know We've offered that capacity across the school systems We have colleges returning But they are returning almost exclusively to With policies that are mandating vaccination amongst their student bodies So right now we're we're doing fine with that With regard to turnaround time I've heard some reports of people who have had to wait as long as 72 hours, which I thought was a little unusual I don't know how prevalent that is Because we've been really having rapid turnaround times as there wasn't that much demand for testing previously But even now the demand is nowhere near what it used to be So my hope is that most people can still have a 48 hour window of time and get the result within that Um, I I'll make a point of looking into that further Thank you. Dr. Levine I may be able to to help with that a bit We do keep track of that on a weekly basis and We have enough supply At the present rate. I believe we have enough of a supply for the next year Even when we had increased demand for testing I believe we have about a three month supply at the at the highest point. Let me just confirm Yeah, well, yes, we have more than a year of supply at the present rate Lisa Lumis the value reporter Good afternoon. I believe my question is for dr. Levine What can you provide us with in terms of demographics about the people who are hospitalized and who are in intensive care? Do you have any an age range or an average age for both of those groups? So I can tell you that they're adults Um, I can't tell you too much more at this point But that's the kind of information that we are working on In terms of all of the data sets we have to draw from to be able to portray to you But I can't give you that today. Okay. I will look forward to it next week That's it for me. Thank you very much Chris Roy Newport Daily Express Chris Roy move to Andrew McGregor. Caledonian record Yes, good afternoon. Can you hear me? We can Excellent, uh a question for commissioner PCI Um, you indicated the pace of new vaccinations was increased in the last few weeks Are you seeing that in all regions of the state? Um, and in particular in the northeast kingdom? Yes, it's a good question. We looked at it across age groups. So we didn't look at it geographically yesterday I will say At you know at glance it does appear that The the vaccinations are going up relative to you know the the amount of people that are already vaccinated geographically We haven't done an analysis on that on the age We did find that the vaccination rates are going up more quickly in the younger populations So the population that are less vaccinated particularly 12 to 15 year olds And then you know those 17 18 and then those in their 20s We can look at that though Andrew and get back to you for next week, certainly Okay, thank you. Well, you're at the podium in your presentation You said we may have several more weeks of daily case growth And looking at the forecast does this all suggest that the state could be Seeing perhaps 200 or more new cases per day Justice kids are heading back to school Yeah, so the timing the timing is you know, I think the timing and then the the quantity of cases are two different things In terms of the timing it does unfortunately seem like the timing will be at the end of august or the You know early part of september when cases would be at their highest whether that's nationally regionally or in vermont In terms of the quantity how high that could go, you know, right now we're projecting out Three weeks and you know, that would be right around the point when you would hope to start to see cases really slow And start to come down And we're looking at you know, seven day average. It's around 140 to 147 cases a day So right now we're about 82 cases a day. So, you know, that just gives you some perspective where we are But it does we do anticipate them growing again over the next three weeks and then starting to come down Okay, thank you staying on top on topic but as a follow-up And not sure whether this would be for dr. Levine or perhaps secretary smith or french Given what commissioner pc act just said about, you know, potentially peaking just as the return to school How aggressive Will the surveillance testing that you intend to deploy in schools be to start the year um And have you given any thoughts to looking for ways to Do surveillance testing among students before they even return to campus We'll let secretary french try and answer that first Yeah, good afternoon Well, I think our major approach is to make it as widely available as possible It will be voluntary, but We think it is important to make it widely available and also make an available for those that are also already vaccinated Thanks, I know when you first started the teacher surveillance The initial week you you tried to do as much of the state as you possibly could and then established a rolling pattern Are is there an intent or a plan to to have that initial push? With with a greater amount in a wider range of surveillance testing at the beginning of the year Not yet, but we are, you know, again working really hard to make the testing widely available and We're seeing a strong response from districts in terms of signing up for that. So we'll make adjustments as necessary But we do see the surveillance testing as an important component of our overall medication strategy for schools And is that uh, is that going to be available? Well, how quickly into the semester will that be available that's starting week one week two How quickly would do you intend to get that started? Oh, we're working on it now. So perhaps secretary Smith could give more on the detail But uh, we fully expected having it deployed at the start of school Could you repeat the question? Andrew just just curious how early in the in the school year the surveillance testing will begin Is that is that something you're hoping to get started as soon as kids get back to campus or will there be a delay? I think what we're striving for is to make sure that we do it upon Their return to campus Okay, that's it for me. Thank you everyone. All right. Thank you very much for tuning in. We'll see you again next Tuesday