 Good afternoon everyone hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend and you were able to safely spend some quality time with family and friends We have several topics to cover today, and I know it's a holiday week for many, so I'll be relatively brief There was no White House call today But yesterday I joined other governors on a video call with President Biden to discuss the state of the pandemic The president reiterated some of the points he made in his address last week and that he's committed to working with states to ensure We keep moving forward with schools and businesses open Even with Omicron we have the tools we need so we don't have to fall back to the mandates of 2020 We have vaccines, boosters, testing, and the common-sense precautions we've talked about repeatedly Like wearing masks indoors in crowded public spaces and staying home when sick On testing he discussed the federal effort to acquire a half a billion at-home tests for Americans Which we appreciate and we look forward to learning more about their distribution plan very soon We know rapid tests are in high demand across the country And how useful and important they are And we handed out tens of thousands of them last week and will continue to do so this week Before Christmas, I know there were some who were in line and weren't able to get them before they ran out And I understand the frustration as a result But we're doing the best we can with what we have Until the federal supply chain starts flowing We received a shipment of these tests recently and while a majority are meant for schools and long-term care facilities We're getting any excess rapid tests out the door as fast as we can We hope that supply will increase and with it greater accessibility Again, we've been working with federal partners for weeks on an initiative to directly distribute tests to households And hope to give you final details soon In the next day or so, we'll also announce a strategy to get rapid tests to parents before kids return to school following winter break You can expect this to include pick up locations for parents to get at-home tests for their kids before returning to class Again, we're working as we speak on a plan Because we just got a supply that makes this possible and we'll have more for you in the next day or so But the goal will be to have over 80,000 test kits. That's two per kit available to parents over the next week Finally before we turn over to Commissioner P check Today is Secretary Smith's final week as Secretary of Human Services He promised me his farewell address wouldn't be as long as my state of the state next week That remains to be seen In all seriousness once again, I just wanted to express my sincere gratitude to Mike for his hard work dedication and service over the course of his career For his time as a Navy SEAL to being one of the state's top executives I'm not sure Vermont would be in the place. It is today With the highest vaccination rate in the US highest testing rate Lowest death rate and more if not for him being part of our talented team Mike will be greatly missed, but we wish him all the best in his retirement However long this one lasts With that Mr. P check Starting today with an overview on what's happening on the national scene. I think it's illustrative of What we might expect closer to home in the region than in Vermont over the next number of weeks But we can see that infections in the US have continued to rise as omicron continues to spread across the country Cases are up 63 percent over the last seven days And some jurisdictions around the country are seeing increased as far surpassing that of the national average new york city, for example Cases are up about 250 percent over the last seven days. Washington, DC cases are up 450 percent so cases Again are continuing to rise In parts of the country and generally across the entire country fueled by the omicron variant But nationally and saying holds true For most jurisdictions across the u.s Hospitalizations have not seen a corresponding increase In the national side up three percent over the last seven days Now, of course, there is always a lag between hospitalizations and cases But again for the moment across the country this data is similar to Some international jurisdictions where infections rose and rose really significantly But hospitalizations did not rise as significantly and nearly significantly As the cases with the omicron variant. So we'll watch this very closely It's a very similar story closer to home in new england the next slide We'll see that cases have increased increased across the new england states this week by 34 percent But at the same time hospitalizations are relatively stable increasing just two percent Here in vermont our cases again have been relatively stable over the last seven days up about four percent You'll see that is the case Even though testing has been down About 18 percent that's given our positivity rate up this week. We're up over five percent Represents the 25 percent increase over the last seven days This is a similar increase that we saw after Thanksgiving where More likely than not more symptomatic individuals were getting tested on christmas over the christmas holiday so Again doesn't appear like the moment that vermont has seen a case surge fueled by omicron Which is certainly a good sign However, we also know that it's a matter of time until a more significant spread happens here So the good news is we have time for those that have not gotten a booster shot To get the booster shot before we see the Significant impacts of the variant those that are not vaccinated to get vaccinated We'll have data again in the presentation That makes it very clear that those that are boosted and those that are vaccinated We'll have a very different experience with the virus if they catch it Than those who are not fully vaccinated and boosted Just again before we turn to the hospitalization numbers looking at the Long-term care facilities very stable here for our most vulnerable vermonters Four active outbreaks with the 38 cases in total Now flipping over to hospitalizations here in vermont We saw that our cases are up about four percent But overall hospitalizations continue to be Decreasing down three percent over the last seven days And again as we've seen for much of the delta wave The vast majority of individuals hospitalized are among the unvaccinated 72 percent over the last seven days A similar story on the icu side where we have a 15 percent decrease in our icu Usage for COVID-19 patients over the last week And again 85 percent of those requiring critical care over the last seven days Are unvaccinated so the unvaccinated continue to make Up the vast majority of patients in the hospital And when as we look on the next slide we'll see that Capacity continues to be much better recently than it has been over the last several weeks Both on hospital beds overall and on the icu beds as well So 84 hospital beds medical surge beds available today 21 icu beds available today and again that availability has been increasing Over the last 10 days to two weeks or so But again just quickly looking at the difference between those in our hospitals who are Vaccinated versus those who are boosted versus those who are not fully vaccinated And the numbers continue to be very stark Those who are not fully vaccinated Continue to be about 23 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 Over the last six weeks when compared to those who are fully vaccinated and boosted And you can see that those who are fully vaccinated get a great deal of protection But how important that booster shot is in terms of giving full protection To those who contract the virus so certainly again We have time as the omicron variant is obviously here in vermont But not yet impacting us in the same way as other states and other jurisdictions yet For those that are not yet boosted can do so and get the full protection of the vaccine Similarly on the fatality slide, you'll see that vermont is up to 47 fatalities for the month of december And similar to hospitalizations on the next slide We'll see that there's a significant difference between those who are not fully vaccinated Again 23 times more likely to die from the virus If they contracted over the last six weeks compared to those who are fully vaccinated And boosted so those that are not yet boosted the best chance to stay out of the hospital Best chance to not have the most severe outcomes of the virus Is to get your booster shot and get that full protection the data very clear on that And as we look at the next slide, you'll see vermonters are doing that They are getting their booster shot 53 percent over the age of 18 64 percent over the age of 50 74 percent over the age of 65 vermonts remaining a leader or near the leader in all of those categories So critical that that's happening. We had about 14,000 new vermonters get boosted in the past week Even with the holiday weekend So continue to make good progress on this but Need to continue to push to get those who have not yet gotten that booster shot to get it as quickly as possible And we can see on the 5 to 11 population continue to make progress here vermont remains a national leader in those five to 11 With a single dose and fully vaccinated in that age group And all of that builds up to sort of where we're heading here in vermont and into england and you'll see on the last slide that cases are expected to increase over the next four weeks as we come out of the holiday season And as i'm afraid continues to spread in vermont as well However, as We noted with some of the other jurisdictions around us and in the united states and internationally big question is what will that mean? For the most severe outcomes for hospitalizations and deaths That's still largely A big unknown at the moment But again the data is encouraging from some of the other jurisdictions around the u.s And internationally which will continue to watch closely over the next few weeks to see how their Large increases in cases affects their hospitalizations and other important metrics So again, we do expect cases to remain elevated to increase following the holidays with the on the con variant but The impact that that will have on hospitalizations and other metrics is just not known At the moment and that's something we'll keep a close eye on In the days and weeks ahead So governor with that i'll i'll turn now back over to you Now hear from secretary french Oh, thank you governor. Good afternoon We're making plans for operating schools after the holiday break relative to omicron One of our top priorities remains keeping our schools open to ensure that the education of our students is not interrupted We've used three strategies to keep our schools open during the pandemic And those are the same strategies we use for omicron Those strategies are vaccination contact tracing and testing And mitigation recommendations for school operations In terms of student vaccination levels As commissioner p check just highlighted vermont continues to make good progress in five to 11 in particular As of last week 40 of all five through 11 year olds have completed both shots of fizer Another 15 percent have started their first dose It was highlighted in the chart that brings our five to 11 vaccination rate up to about 55 percent the national leader We also have high vaccination rates among 12 to 17 year olds about 81 percent have at least one dose And the point i'd make is that the high student vaccination rates we see in vermont Not only help keep our schools safe and our students safe and our schools open They also greatly simplify some of the logistics behind contact tracing and test the stay We have been expanding the use of antigen testing in schools under test to stay At some point after the holidays We will be evolving the use of antigen testing in schools to further So that we can make those tests more broadly available to both students and their families This will be part of a larger testing strategy to expand the access to antigen tests across the state Under our expanded school program when students need access to antigen tests Schools will be able to provide those tests to families and their students And the parents not the schools will be responsible for administering the tests at home. That's a major change that we're going to see essentially Schools become a distribution point of antigen tests for students and their families not administrators of a testing program This will result in a loss of some of the data that we've come used to from our testing So we are evaluating to what extent we'll be able to maintain the weekly reporting of cases in school We saw that these data lose some of their currency with the delta variant And we expect omicron will further challenge the timeliness of these data We will continue with our pcr testing in schools, but we'll be making a shift from pcr to lamp testing lamp tests or confirmable tests like pcr But they provide results much more quickly since they're administered on site in schools and the results of the specimens don't have to be Shipped out to the lab Expansion of antigen testing that I just described won't begin right after the holiday, but shortly thereafter Similarly, we'll be bringing the expanded lamp testing online later in the month Expanded testing will be one of our important strategies with omicron Secretary Smith will provide more information on our testing program and his remarks today In terms of our mitigation recommendations for schools We're still evaluating if changes to our recommendations will be necessary We will be pushing back the implementation of our recommendation for not requiring mass in a school when the student vaccination rate is greater than 80 That recommendation was scheduled to go live on january 18th At this point, it's likely we'll push that date back till after the winter vacations, which is approximately february 28th Remote learning like we saw last year is not a policy under active consideration at this point I expect we will see some intermittent school closures in the coming weeks as a result of staff availability issues Since schools do not have many substitutes to draw upon however The recent changes in the cdc guidance on reducing the number of days required for quarantine and isolation Will help with both student attendance and staff availability If the school does need to close due to staffing shortages We'll address school attendance requirements through the existing waiver process And I will be publishing an expedited waiver process for schools to follow later in january That concludes my update. I'll now turn it over to secretary smith Good afternoon as the governor said buckle up. It's going to be a long one. It's not going to be that long Um as of today over 79 of vermonas age five and up have received their full primary dose of covid vaccine Around 233,000 vermonas have gotten a booster shot. That's 53 of the state's population That's 18 years and older for those 16 years and older getting your booster Provides the best protection against getting a severe case of covid It also ensures we have the capacity we need in our health care system For children ages five to 11 the best protection is to have Two doses of the vaccine. We're making good progress on that front. It's today 23,757 Have received their first dose or have an appointment to get their shot That's roughly 53 of all vermont children ages five to 11 42 percent are now fully vaccinated and up to date As I mentioned last week during this holiday season We're asking vermonas to take some common sense steps to help us keep the number of covid cases In check These steps are the following number one get vaccinated and boosted number two test Before you gather with other households plan ahead to get tested first I'll come back to that topic in just a moment Number three is to mask when you gather Please wear a mask as much as possible when you're inside and finally number four is to ask You should know the vaccination status of the people with whom you're gathering That includes knowing whether they're up to date and receive their booster shot Going back to testing for a moment just prior to Christmas and right after Christmas Vermonters did their part they turned out either to get tested or to pick up rapid at home tests Significant testing opportunities continue to be available statewide through our regular testing Program, which includes pcr test just yesterday the health department either added more appointments to Or increased the hours at existing testing sites These include clinics in berlin waterbury northfield Williamstown burlington and middlebury They also added new pop-up clinics in adison washington bennington chiton franklin and ruttland counties In addition for the holiday season the state has been distributing rapid at home antigen and lamp tests This is done either by appointment or at walk-in and drive-through sites last week on thursday and friday more than 50,000 rapid take-home tests were distributed for free Across the state. That's 25,000 kits 50,000 tests two tests per kit This was done through existing testing sites in eight pop-up locations run by v-trans I want to thank v-trans staff for their help in distributing tests this week We will distribute at distribute at least as many rapid tests Rapid take-home tests as we did last week distribution takes place today tomorrow and thursday In the lead-up to the new year's eve holiday It is important to note these rapid take-home tests are an additional layer of testing offered during the holiday season We're pleased to see vermoners using this tool Demand is high and many sites ran out of the rapid take-home tests within hours last thursday And probably will today and tomorrow as well We'll continue to purchase more rapid tests for broad distribution But like other states, we are constrained by the reality of the current supply of tests nationally As more take-home tests become available We will get as many as possible into the hands Of vermoners as fast as possible as a reminder We have a world-class testing infrastructure, which also includes pcr test pcr testing is available widely across the state this week and going forward pcr testing is a key tool To detecting covet the regular schedule of testing clinics resumes after the holiday We encourage vermoners to continue to use Our our world-class testing system Now I want to turn to testing for students vermont is committed to keeping students in schools as much as possible As the governor mentioned in the lead-up to the return to school After the holiday break The state is going to be providing rapid take-home Antigen tests to families with children in kindergarten through 12th grades These tests are going to be distributed across the state and available for any k through 12 students I want to be clear these tests are not intended as a requirement for students returning to school But they do offer families the opportunity to test their children before they return to the classroom Following the winter break And we're encouraging families to take advantage of these tests More information About these tests for students will be provided later this week Now turning to hospitals so far We're encouraged to see capacity in our hospitals remain steady as commissioner peachek had pointed out Obviously this may change as we see how many cases show up following the holiday gathering But I do want to thank health care workers hospital staff as well as fema and ems teams For all their work to ensure that our hospitals continue to have beds available for vermoners As all the data shows the best thing you can do to ensure Hospitalizations are kept under control is to get vaccinated and get boosted. So whether you're looking to give So whether you're looking to get vaccinated or to get tested Please visit health vermont.gov. You can also call 855-722-7878 In closing as the governor mentioned, this is my last press conference I will be retiring at the end of the week. But before I go, I want to deliver a few thank yous first to all state of vermon employees and particularly to the 3500 employees In my agency, but also to all employees across the state, especially our health care workers and first responders A big thank you. I know how much you've sacrificed during this pandemic The weekends nights and holidays you have worked to keep vermoners safe You've built a world-class infrastructure to respond to this pandemic We test more than most parts of most any parts of the country We are one of the most vaccinated states in this country and we have continuously protected Our health care system and prevented death with the lowest per capita covid death rate in the country I am so proud of how our workforce Responded during the pandemic Next I want to thank the governor for his leadership his insight his attention to detail and his level headedness During the response without his leadership It would have been impossible to build the world-class infrastructure that I just mentioned for those who don't know We are successful because the governor dug deep into every plan Brought forward asked the pertinent questions the right questions Sometimes ones that no one else had thought of and because of all of this He made the team function better in our planning and institution governor I thank you for your leadership Lastly to the people of vermont. I have never been prouder to be a vermoner You stuck together throughout the pandemic and you continue to do so today As you look out for your neighbors your friends and your loved ones You have proved again and again that this state could show the rest of the country Heck the world How to best respond to a once in a century event Because of all these elements of success the dedicated employees the leadership of the governor And the ways in which the people of the state have come together One person leaving is not going to change the course of our response My only hope is that along the way Along the way I helped make a difference while I was here So I thank all of you. It's been an honor to serve I'll now turn it over to dr. Levine for a health update Thank you secretary, and it's been an honor to serve with you I would like to uh Pick up on secretary smith's Uh approach of covering lots of material Uh, I have a number of items and I want to also pick up on the uh, thanks to vermoners and Join everyone up here in hopes that you all had some time to enjoy the holidays In a safe way As we flip the calendar toward the second winner of kovid I want to again acknowledge and thank vermoners for the positive response to our guidance for Protecting yourselves and others It's always Stressful and never easy planning for holidays But so many of you stepped up to take all the actions that were needed To keep your family's friends and loved ones as safe as possible Taking the time to get tested Including sometimes waiting in long lines Is a tribute to vermoners can do attitude We deal with challenges as they come and again you rose to it You clearly heard my message about protecting the most vulnerable person in your life And I thank you for that As secretary smith said there were thousands of test kits distributed and more will be available in the lead up to new years As we have experienced the pandemic is an ever-evolving challenge the latest of which is called omicron It's only the most recent curve ball That the sars-cov-2 virus has thrown at us all and it's why our continued commitment to testing is so important We're learning more each day about this new variant, but one thing is certain It is here and it's the most contagious version of the very of the virus yet While it's already becoming the most dominant variant around the world And now in the u.s. It will soon become dominant in vermont We already know the basics for slowing its spread and protecting each other One is to know if you have it and to take the appropriate steps to keep from giving it to others So yesterday As most of you have probably heard by now the cdc announced new guidance for isolation and quarantine To help us deal with omicron Interestingly, it may make life easier for us all because of how transmissible the virus is now Now remember when we use the term isolation That is the period following your positive test or active infection The word quarantine follows your exposure to an infected person When you're a close contact, but for the moment are free of infection The science has found That even more so than the earlier strains of this virus Most transmission of the omicron variant occurs earlier on after exposure Generally within one to two days before onset of symptoms in two to three days after So the cdc has shortened the recommended time for isolation Basically cutting it in half from 10 days for those who are positive to five days If asymptomatic followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others in addition CDC have revised its recommended quarantine period for people who are unvaccinated Or those who are due for a booster but have not yet gotten it They now recommend quarantine for five days Followed by strict mask use for an additional five days Those who are fully vaccinated with a booster or recently vaccinated Meaning less than six months since the mRNA vaccine or two months since j and j Still do not need to quarantine though a test is recommended five days later So the essentials of their plan are of course the change in the number of days But also a reliance on masking in the post isolation post quarantine period No reliance on testing through any part of that process Vermont is adopting these recommendations effective immediately Because cdc only announced the guidance yesterday We are reviewing the details for their impact on all sectors in vermont such as health care and congregate settings We'll be making this information and more guidance available to the public And health care providers as soon as possible Please know that it will take a little time for all the related materials and online resources to be updated And one more important point If you test positive with an at-home test and you are not severely ill Please do not go to the nearest emergency department There is no need to get a confirmatory positive pcr test Unless you qualify for one of the treatments that i will speak about in a few minutes In which case you should be talking with your doctor This brings us back to the holidays Many of you have been enjoying the season with friends and families Unfortunately a reality of COVID-19 means Just as we did after Thanksgiving we should be prepared for a spike in cases Clusters and outbreaks resulting from being around more people than usual We'll also be seeing an increase in cases as a result of Omicron This is not welcome but likely inevitable However as the case numbers increase I suggest we not focus too much on those figures While many of you may regard case number data as important and I understand that But really what I and every person on this stage will be watching closely Are the data and metrics of serious outcomes among people Specifically hospitalizations and deaths Just like we've been doing every day since day one Here's why even if you get sick from COVID If you are fully protected Meaning you've had your primary vaccine series and your booster shot You will generally have mild cold like symptoms or at worst flu symptoms And the illness may be short lived Like having the flu it's not fun Not that being sick ever is But full protection means you should escape the worst of it And reports from around the country and in Vermont are bearing this out The data on serious outcomes however are key indicators of the worst impacts of the coronavirus These are the figures that inform us of where we are in the pandemic And as they have for almost two years now Drive our actions for protecting Vermonters from these terrible outcomes And preserving the capacity of our healthcare system As each of us can get any needed care Whether we have COVID or another health need Let me emphasize once again You are not fully protected against COVID-19 Or up to date on vaccination until you get that booster shot You are also not fully protecting others until you get that booster shot Now among those at high risk and otherwise vulnerable to the greatest dangers posed by the virus Are our youngest Vermonters You may have noticed that around the U.S. pediatric hospitalizations are up in a somewhat alarming way We are fortunate so far that we are not seeing that here And don't want to Now our vaccination rate in the 5 to 11 year olds leads the country by a long shot And by mid-January Over 55% of this population will be fully protected Unfortunately, that is not good enough So I'm again asking every parent and caregiver in Vermont To please get your children vaccinated ages 5 to 11 The time for thinking about it has passed There is vaccine that is just for kids So they can have the protection they need to stay healthy and safe It's for them and the people they are with Their grandparents so they can stay in school And enjoy the childhood they deserve You can find more information on our website at healthvermont.gov slash kids vaccine I do have another topic or two to cover and appreciate you're staying with me Let's turn to monoclonal antibodies These really have been our mainstay thus far They are the treatments that can be used for those age 65 or older Or those with certain medical conditions The same long list that I've recited here many times In that you can now find on our website healthvermont.gov slash covid-19 dash testing If this is you and you test positive for covid-19 Reach out to your healthcare provider as soon as you can get your result Timing is important to successful treatment One of the advantages of how long the pandemic has gone on Is that it has allowed time for new treatments to be developed Vermont has received an extremely limited supply Of all the current covid-19 therapeutics CitrovaMab, EbuShelt, PaxLovid, and MonLupiravir They've either arrived or will be coming in the next several days The federal government will continue to allocate supply based upon hospitalization and case data And this will continue through most of January CitrovaMab is the only monoclonal antibody now with activity or efficacy against the Omicron variant Like all the other monoclonals it requires an infusion center And this one is only delivered intravenously It's also effective against the Delta variant We still have a limited amount of the older monoclonal antibodies as well And where the chance for Delta infection is high And until Omicron is responsible for over 80 percent of infections in Vermont Which could occur within a week We will target use of these appropriately Today the CDC's modeling on their now cast section of their website Revised last week's report and actually downgraded the amount of Omicron around the country and in our region Around the country it's currently in the 56 plus percent range And varies greatly by different regions Region one which is where we are in New England Last week was downgraded to 11 percent even though we thought it was about three times that It's now in the 44 percent range So there's still plenty of opportunity for us to use these older monoclonal antibodies Because many of our new test positive cases will still be Delta Evuchelt Evuchelt is the only new medication that serves as a preventive As I mentioned last week, it's a long-acting Injectable monoclonal antibody It's for people who are immunocompromised and have an inadequate response to vaccination It's used for people who've not yet been exposed or infected with the virus And it may provide Over a 70 percent reduction in risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 This one is given by an intramuscular injection Now all these other medications are intended for people Who by age or underlying medical condition are at high risk for a serious outcome from a COVID infection The decisions regarding the three drugs Satrova Mab, Pax Lovid and Malnupiravir Are guided by effectiveness against severe outcomes Potential adverse effects or contraindications Now if you have a positive COVID test and do not require hospitalization Pax Lovid Which we anticipate coming into the state this week Is preferred due to the fact that it's an oral medication And has an extraordinarily high 85 percent efficacy rate against serious outcomes So long as the ordering doctor or other clinician does not identify any serious Considerations regarding interactions with medications the patient may be on It can be given to people age 12 and above If there are contraindications or the drug is unavailable And if intravenous therapy is an option The monoclonal antibody Satrova Mab would be the preferred drug That is also for ages 12 and above The third and final choice would be Malnupiravir Which is also convenient because it's oral And will be somewhat more available because Merck had a lot of time to gear up its production before its approval It however suffers from having the lowest efficacy rate But keep in mind 30 percent is better than zero And it is unsafe in pregnancy There are also theoretical concerns. It will increase the mutagenicity of the virus This drug is only for people age 18 and older So if I could sum up everything I've just covered there would be this We're nearing the point, but not quite there yet where COVID is an endemic virus One that we will contend with each year like the flu getting vaccinated regularly Managing our health needs and risk tolerance We're nearing that point, but we have a ways to go yet We have Omicron, which moves fast within days And from other parts of the world may actually race through the population That remains to be seen if that will be true here in the United States So we almost stay on our guard We absolutely need to do everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus Which has taken the lives of friends, family, neighbors, and millions of people around the world And changed the lives of millions more No one of us wants to be the person responsible for making someone else sick or worse Especially if there's something we could have done to prevent it The theme is that we are all in this together Our state is working hard and with partners across Vermont to make tests And other resources available to you where you are So let's do all that we can as individuals Wearing masks and wear masks that are doubled up Either cloth and surgical Or just a surgical or just an N95 Test regularly Maintain distance Stay home of sick And use the same rules for New Year's Eve gatherings that you used for other holidays Have the COVID talk So you know the vaccination and booster status of all your guests or companions Keep the groups very small this time Have a testing strategy with either traditional PCR Or a rapid lamp or antigen tests the day of the gathering We've come this far And I know we can do this Thank you and here's to a better and healthy 2022 for us all Thank you. Dr. Levine will now open it up to questions Starting with folks in the room Governor, the thing that most perked my ears up about Secretary French's presentation Was this warning that schools could possibly close due to staffing challenges That would be quite impactful to many families What then would be your advice to moms and dads who might worry about Childcare or their own workplace obligations? Well, first of all, get boosted Everyone get boosted Whether it's staff, teachers, kids, parents Everyone should be focusing on getting boosted to prevent this from happening I think the reality that Secretary French was talking about is real I mean, we don't know what's coming We know that it transmits very quickly And we know that we have limitations in terms of workforce across all sectors So we're watching this not just in the education community But throughout every sector across the state So we want to protect ourselves as best we can In light of that But again, I think Secretary French was forecasting, preparing To, in case this does happen But we all have the ability to do what we can to prevent that from happening And I still believe there's an opportunity to do so But again, cases are going to rise We know that But the metric we're watching is hospitalizations And then again, preventing that from happening Booster, booster, booster Rapid antigen testing I know you mentioned that the state is looking into sending antigen tests to households It looks like Connecticut is already embarking on a similar Initiative with about three million tests or so Why are they able to carve that out right now Where we are still doing our own tests? Hard to know I mean, obviously, antigen tests are in short supply And in increasing demand across many states Some states have been more successful than others in obtaining them We're working with the federal government right now We hope to be able to announce a plan where we might have more at our disposal But just not ready to talk about that until it actually happens I just don't want to mislead anyone until we know for sure But we hope to have a similar plan That we'll be able to communicate I was looking at the website It looked like there were a few of the antigen giveaways, I guess That were canceled and then there were brand new testing sites that were set up Those are, looks like they're booked out in some Population centers If people want to find a state run Test before, or an antigen test before New Year's I mean, are you confident that that can happen given our supply? Well, again, we only have a certain amount of antigen tests that we can distribute at this point We are going to be getting antigen tests out To the 80 plus thousand students across the state And we think that's a positive step But again, we're distributing them the best we can With the supply we have without impacting all other sectors I mean, our responsibility, again, our focus has been on the plan to test the stay in schools As well as long-term care facilities So we want to make sure that we reserve enough testing antigen tests for that But distributing the excess as well I mean, again, in the last last week and this week We were able to get tens of thousands of tests out But again, we have 600,000 people But we know that wasn't going to be enough And again, there's a lot of demand for that Anything you want to add to that, Secretary Smith? Kevin, we did add testing sites, pop-up sites to the website We added for tomorrow a Chittenden County pop-up site in Williston with 200 appointments And we also added new pop-up clinics in Addison, Bennington, Franklin and Rutland County Addison County 150 appointments, Bennington County 150 appointments Wednesday Addison County another 150 Franklin County another 150 appointments This is above and beyond what we do with testing In those areas with the state testing sites Rutland County also another 150 And we've increased the hours in Washington County as well Berlin hours have been increased today from nine to six Burlington, Berlin on Wednesday will be nine to seven Waterbury on Wednesday will be nine to seven Remember, if you want to get tested, you can still get a PCR test And still have the results before you go on the holiday So I would encourage everybody to use all the platforms that we have The engine tests, the PCR test platforms that we have We have numerous sites where people can go and get tested And we do have, Secretary Smith, we do have the lamp tests on Those are by reserve, by reservation But that's on the 30th or 31st? Yeah, on the 30th 30th, okay And also pharmacies are being restocked I know they're limited in numbers, but people should check there as well You have to pay for them or unless you have commercial insurance Which will be reimbursed This is a question for Dr. Levine This change by the CDC, more than a few people have noticed that CEOs of airlines, this is a change that they were asking for Just a few days before this change So how confident are you that this is a change Done for the data and the science Not because of political pressure Can I just want to add something We were looking at this as a state over the last couple of weeks We weren't ready to communicate that at this point in time We wanted to see what the Omicron was going to do Ours was a bit more conservative We were looking at seven days with a testing platform as well We still may have guidance in that regard That may be a little bit different than the CDC But we haven't gotten together as a team to discuss that But we may come up with our own version of the CDC guidance That we think might be more appropriate for Vermont We want to keep it simple We want to be able to use it across different sectors As well and keep people safe at the same time But Dr. Levine And Ditto to all of that The reality is, you know, CDC has been criticized Off and on throughout the pandemic Part of the criticism has been sort of their being too slow This appeared out of nowhere, so it was very, very quick So the whole public health establishment has to Really get a little more of the scientific evidence Behind what they did Which they haven't shared yet or published But I do think they were trying to be very pragmatic in this They knew that the Omicron moves fast They knew that the impact not only in the healthcare workforce But multiple sectors of workforce could be profound And that it seemed to cause less illness in people Who were at least in the vaccinated pool And probably would enable them to return to work Quicker than if they had waited the traditional 10-day period I think they were also, if I can read between the lines Thinking a little bit about the supply chain we were just talking about And understanding that While most of the population is looking for testing Just to understand their status This would add a whole new pressure on the testing infrastructure If people wanted to test out of isolation or quarantine So that's the rationale I've heard for most of this Just to give you some of that context So supply issues? How does that factor in when it comes to quarantine isolation Or public health response? How much should do we have enough test kits? Does that factor into getting the virus to not spread? Yeah, so the supply issue is purely with the antigen test PCR test plenty of supply But of course it adds a day or two to your isolation period When you wait for the result Whereas if you wanted to test somebody for how infectious They may be to somebody else An antigen test is ideal at the end of that isolation period And you get the result immediately So the reality is They didn't want to put further pressure on an antigen test system That doesn't have full supply chain yet Sometime in January, as you've heard from President Biden That half a billion will become closer to reality But it just wasn't then So I'm sure that's why it wasn't played out that way Just a quick clarification So the state might have slightly stricter guidance Than what the CDC is calling for? We haven't discussed it yet is what the governor was saying And we'll get together as a team And hopefully once we see some of the data That the CDC provides Be able to interpret that and apply it to Vermont Again, if I could just in yesterday We've been considering this for the last couple of weeks As I said We were on a call with President Biden yesterday Around the noon hour Dr. Walensky was on the call as well Was asked directly about this Whether the CDC was going to have any new guidance In this regard And she said that they were contemplating this This was that noon So this surprised us all last night So again, we just haven't gotten together as a team Had any opportunity this morning to talk about this at great length About what we're going to do for the long term Last question probably for Dr. Lee It's been a few weeks now since the legislature came back And allowed town municipalities to pass their own mask mandates Are we what are we seeing in the data in terms of You know whether that's been effective or not being effective I mean are we seeing lower infection rates In towns that have cast mask mandates now? I think that would be difficult to determine In some respects And Dr. Levine can speak for himself But I mean they're 17 I think Or 19 out of 251 towns and villages Have committed to mask mandates So again, we're very mobile You know as a society So I think it'd be very difficult to determine Whether they had an effect on both sides In that smaller location Some regards I agree with that And unfortunately it's only been weeks It's really hard to take a change like that And look for a dramatic response Over that short period of time But believe me Love to do that analysis It's going to get very complicated doing that analysis Because of Omicron increasing But we'll do our best And again to be clear We advocate for people to wear masks indoors In crowded spaces in particular So it's something we've been doing for quite some time And we continue to do so It's part of our strategy And hope everyone that over the next few weeks Um Takes assesses their situation And make sure that they protect themselves and others By doing taking all those steps including asking up We'll move to the phones now Starting with Wilson Ring Associate Dress Um, hi, happy new year everybody I'm curious how much testing we're able to do For the of the new cases Which ones are Delta, Omicron Or who knows what other cases Might sneak in there from time to time And as far as that I ask Because don't some of the treatments For example the I don't know if it's fair to call it old But a one of the monoclonal antibody treatments It's not as effective as the Omicron version And so wouldn't know having an answer to that Be critical to being able to treat people who need Treatment more than staying home and getting better Yeah, I think Dr. Levine talked about that during his remarks But it is critical that we know But some of the, you know, when we heard last week How many cases we had in Vermont And what we have today What we have in this region It's all modeled It's not really accurate in some respects Because we have We're included in a much larger population With higher amounts of population in certain areas But we're included with probably Boston And Hartford and other areas Where they have a huge amount of population So I'm not sure how accurate it is right now Well, I guess that's my question Is how accurate Don't you need a degree of accuracy For some of these treatments? Yeah, so let me take a step back So the first thing is, you know, we have Still in the single digit numbers of Documented Omicron cases Realizing that data we got in before Christmas Was really in the time span of around December 12th Because there is that lag period in the amount of time It takes to do whole genome sequencing We had some further data from our own public health lab Which is one of the only ones in the state That uses a certain analyzer That allows us to see if a certain gene has dropped out In the genome of the virus But it's not whole genome sequencing It just gives you a hint That you may have a specimen That would probably sequence positive for Omicron So we didn't have large numbers And we just have this CDC modeling data to go with The ideal treatment for The coronavirus that we have available right now Is the monoclonal antibody treatment And ideally you would want to know Who has Delta? Who has Omicron? Unfortunately that decision takes days to learn Because of the time span for whole genome sequencing To occur over So a clinician has to make this decision At the time the patient's there Because the earlier in the course of illness The more efficacious the treatment will be So right now because we know That it is not the dominant virus in Vermont now Omicron And that we still probably have more Delta than Omicron Any of the monoclonal antibodies will be Good treatment for a patient who walks in the door If a patient walks in the door And we actually have the benefit of knowing That they have Omicron Or have a high suspicion for Omicron Based on other circumstances They should be prioritized to getting the Sotrovomab Because that is the one that works specifically best in Omicron But it's going to be for a week or so A challenge to really understand who has what When we get to the 80% modeling threshold Of Omicron being 80% of cases in Vermont We just won't use the older ones And everyone will get Sotrovomab If they're getting an intravenous monoclonal antibody So is that clear? Yeah it is, thank you very much You answered my question Briana, NBC 5 Hi Governor, this may be a question for Dr. Villavine But we said in previous briefings That we're sort of moving towards antigen tests As the way of the future And they may end up replacing PCR tests at some point So how will that end up affecting the health department's data? It seems like that means a lot of sampling Will be captured in the positivity number If we're relying on people to self-report their results Especially if we're trying to get more antigen tests Out to the public in greater numbers Yeah you're absolutely right It will affect our numbers Because you know well we might hope That people who attest positive with an antigen test Would call in and report that The reality is it probably not So it's going to affect a number of different things Like our positivity rate may will increase It probably will increase But as well we need to just go back again And having the data is important But the one metric we can rely on The one metric that we've been using since day one Is hospitalizations Protecting our healthcare system So making using that as an indicator Is what we have that's consistent It's been consistent from the beginning And it'll be consistent throughout this pandemic To endemic And remember as well The antigen test PCR tests will be Will continue with them That's part of one of the tools we have in our toolbox And we want to continue to utilize that But antigen tests are going to be Just another tool that we can apply And will give us instantaneous results And so the testing will contain the virus That's what we're hoping will happen So while it's important for all of us For all of you to get the data It's more important that they That we get the test results individually So that we don't spread the virus further So again while it's unfortunate That we're going to be missing some of this data The important part is that we're going to be able To stop the virus from spreading And that's our goal That will mean And we've made it really easy to report your result The minute you click on the COVID portion Of the Department of Health webpage You'll see you can click on a special button And you'll get to the little form Which only has a few questions And you can put your data into that I fully expect there will be Vermonters Who do that well And others who It slips their mind or they forget Or what have you And probably we'll learn more positives But not all the negatives So again we won't have the universe of testing But the reality is As long as the outcome is the same Which as the governor said is Somebody could make a decision Because they had a rapid test And they knew the result And unfortunately I've heard from many people That even though they regretted it It was beneficial because they learned Before their Christmas gathering That somebody was positive And it changed the whole planning for the holiday But they could make that adjustment Instantaneously in their lives And even though we may not know That they actually had a positive test The right outcome occurred And they protected others around them So that's really the ultimate goal In all of this Keep in mind Every one of us grew up knowing what the flu was And every year we think about the flu Because there's always a flu season None of us knows how many cases of flu In any season there've been Except for last year When there were almost none So we knew there were almost none That was so remarkable But we've never relied on knowing How many cases of the flu there are Every year to try to figure out What we should do or not do with regard to the flu But we have relied on how many people Are in the hospital because of the flu And how many people are actually dying from the flu As a way of really understanding What we need to do with influenza From a year to year standpoint So though we're not endemic yet With the COVID-19 virus SARS-CoV-2 That's where we're headed And that's why case numbers Are not going to be as critical For any of us to know I really love percent positivity Because Vermont has throughout the pandemic Enjoyed one of the lowest ones you can have But we're going to have a distorted view Of percent positivity If we don't know the whole universe Of tests that have been done So concepts like that Are just going to vanish eventually Thank you very much And Governor Scott Just a quick question for you Right now the Joint Rules Committee Is discussing Reopening plans for the upcoming legislative session Just wondering will you be there in person And do you think it's appropriate for everyone To be there in person Obviously we'll work with the legislature To make sure that we adhere to their rules It hasn't been determined whether I'll be there in person To deliver the state of the state That's something we'll have to determine Over the next few days In terms of whether they should be Or shouldn't be This is a decision they need to make In the best interest of their members And again we'll adhere to that policy It's really my hope that this is short-lived If they do go remote That we can get back to in person Like Congress has done And other states have done as well Because I really think we're missing something And it's been done for all the right reasons I'm not criticizing at all The decisions they've made on this But I do know that we'll get a better product We have a lot of work to do And being in person face to face Is something that is essential to our process So we'll see what they do in the next few days But again I hope this doesn't continue Throughout the entire legislative session That at some point in time We'll be able to get back to in person Legislation, legislators coming To the state house and people The people coming as well to debate the issues Great, thank you so much, that's all for me Chris Roy, Newport Daily Express Chris Roy, we'll move to Aaron Botanko, BT Digger Hi, I have a couple questions I believe that they will be for Secretary French The first one is just to clarify When you say that you're planning to have schools Distribute those antigen tests Are you talking about distributing them just for this week Or are you also talking about having schools Distribute them for the test to stay program Yeah, first of all, I just want to clarify We had said we're going to distribute those tests It's not going to be the schools That distribute the antigen test this week So we just want to be clear about that We'll be able to give you further details In the next day or so on that We don't want to impact the schools themselves We know they're under a lot of stress as it is But this is what we're doing right now We do have a reserve of tests for our test to stay That we're going to continue to utilize Because that's been essential to keeping kids in school And it's been quite effective And I think many districts have benefited from that Secretary Smith Sorry, Secretary French So Erin, as the governor mentioned The state will be handling the distribution In the holiday period What I was speaking to is just sort of Where we're going with test to stay As I'll call it an evolution of a practice And a strategy in response to Amicron You know, we've been making steady progress On the expansion of test to stay In the use of antigen tests You know, prior to the holiday we had Added public pre-K into that You know, we see the broader availability Of antigen tests as being a key strategy I think as you've heard some of the questions today The rub of that's going to be about controlling that process And it's going to be hard to have it both ways Meaning that we've largely used schools To be part of the public health apparatus In terms of managing the data and so forth As we seek to expand the amount of testing Going on in our communities We're going to have to let go of some of that control So it's not going to happen immediately After the holiday But I would hope by mid-January We're going to start to make a shift Where schools are acting more like Distribution centers of the testing So when students are identified Through the contact tracing process And so forth that schools would provide An easy means of distribution of the tests For both students and families But that's ultimately the goal Is to put more of the testing out in communities Again, that's going to be a key strategy To containing the amicron variant Okay, in the past you've mentioned Concerns about parents being honest About their kids having exposure Or testing positive Do you have any concerns about that With these entrance and test being given out Especially if parents are going to be Struggling to find childcare Or deal with staffing shortages across the state Yeah, it's not so much my personal concern In that area I just We've highlighted that throughout the pandemic If you can remember in the early parts of the pandemic Where schools acted symptom checking Which was one of our recommendations This is pre-vaccination And to a certain extent pre-testing We had that sort of initial pushback From schools to a certain extent That they were uncomfortable With allowing parents to do the symptom checking Ultimately we did allow parents to do that And I think we're going to have a similar transition And again it's going to be a balancing act Between deploying more testing Versus controlling that process And again I think Dr. Levine's story Around the holiday If we can put the test in the hands of people To give them actionable information more quickly Ultimately that's what's going to lead The containment of the virus So that's ultimately I think Going to be how we're going to utilize schools And I will say personally as secretary I've been anxious to shift our focus At the state level Because we do have considerable federal resources To work more directly On what we call the education recovery issues Resulting in the pandemic So I would like to make that transition So we can more appropriately I think focus on the educational work That's in front of us Relative to the impact of the pandemic on students Well on that note I believe it was you who said that In February you're going to have to make a decision About whether schools have to extend Their school year If they switch to remote learning Has there been any changes to that? I know I think the last time we discussed This was like in September or October So I don't know if there have been any updates On that front I'm trying to remember the specific comment I don't know to what extent I said that But I did mention today the waiver process And maybe that's what you're referring to So we have an existing waiver process In our regulation That basically kicks in around February And that's a process that the state board Has given me authority to adjudicate again That's what they've done for the last couple of years As I mentioned earlier in my remarks today We'll be publishing an expedited waiver process For schools to pursue But that'll be our primary approach To dealing with any kind of school closure As a result of staff availability Basically to leverage the existing waiver process That we have in regulation Okay, thank you Joseph Gresser, Barton Chronicle Hello I have a question which I believe Will properly go to Dr. Levine There was a recent report And it's not a scientific paper And I know this is an early stage in the research But it was about some work being done At Walter Reed Hospital On a vaccine that uses multiple parts Of the coronavirus as its target And the report suggested that It's been successful in the early part of trials And its design could make it Effective against all forms of SARS Which I think might include the common cold But I'm not an expert on that I was wondering if you've heard anything about it And where it is in the testing And what kind of promise this has, if any Yeah, I'm not going to be able to lighten you Much more beyond what you've said Because you're right It's not really a scientific report that's come out yet What I can tell you though Is learning from Omicron Our latest variant That has over 30 mutations in the spike protein area Which had people concerned at first Since there were so many But it also had an additional 20-ish mutations In other parts of the virus And so the theory here is that The next variant or the one after that Or whatever may continue to evolve in that same direction And soon the neutralization antibody capacity Against the spike proteins may not be effective In the future variations on the theme Unclear if that will become true But more so than just the common cold I think what they were intrigued by at Walter Reed Was also some of the older and more lethal SARS viruses Like the SARS, the first one that SARS was named after And the mirror, which was the Middle Eastern one That in the past caused a lot of worldwide concern initially And then fizzled out, fortunately So the thesis here is that You'll have a more generalizable vaccine That could span more coronaviruses Than just the one we're preoccupied with right now But I really don't have any more insight to give you In terms of how those trials are going And if that will be reality Thank you One other question Is the theory applicable, for example, to the flu virus? Yes, so there's a lot of talk about a universal flu virus So these are the kinds of studies that are ongoing right now Because wouldn't that be nice? You know, each year the flu vaccine is made Based on a previous year's experience Trying to guess what the flu is going to throw at us the next year And trying to design the vaccine in a way that will cover Those variations on the theme So a more universal vaccine would be a welcomed event We're not that close to that But we're closer than we've ever been So just stay tuned Thank you Good afternoon, Governor First I want to start with Secretary Smith And reiterate my thank you for the work he said in the State Vermont Secretary Smith, I wanted to ask Since this is probably the last time we get to talk What's the status of the internal investigation you've called for With the George Elementary School teacher Charged with sexual assault And as you know, multiple DCF reports were made years before that Greg, I don't have an update on that right now But I'll make sure that we do get an update to you Right after I get done with the press conference here Thank you And for Dr. Levine here Dr. Levine, I've heard some people say There may be a silver lining with the Omicron variant Although it spreads easier It also is reported to have a lesser impact on infected people And someone said that this was maybe a good thing That we're going to get to herd immunity With those who refuse to get vaccinated With a variant that they may get easier And be infected slightly less with Combining that with the new treatment of Paclovid We might actually be seeing a good scenario With COVID I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that And you mentioned Paclovid would be available And stay hopefully by the end of the week I'm wondering to what extent it would be available Or are you expected to be available? Sure, all good thoughts and good questions The reality is that There will be a greater degree of what is term natural immunity Meaning the kind of immunity you get from getting the infection And vaccine induced immunity from the vaccine There'll be a greater degree of all of that together Once Omicron has come through and being so infectious Infected more people than probably any other variant has done So some people do look at that as a little bit of a good sign And the reality is that maybe we will have more Of some kind of community immunity as a result of that You have to still keep in mind that the price you pay Is that there'll be people who are very vulnerable Who may be impacted by this more infectious virus And don't do as well Even in the era where more treatments are becoming apparent And keep in mind we're in a little bit of a race Because there isn't as much access to all of the treatments yet Since they've all been approved very, very recently And the timing of Omicron So unfortunately that disconnectedness occurs PacSlovid though should be Many of us are hoping it will be somewhat of a game changer Because it is an oral drug And unless you take other medications for which there may be A interaction and hence a contraindication to taking PacSlovid There may be many people who qualify for the drug It's pretty user friendly It does have some side effects So people need to have informed consent and be aware of the side effects But the reality is we'll have the ability to treat Somewhere in the range of a couple hundred people at most Early on in our experience And that's all related to federal allocation Trying to be fair across the whole country So it's not going to be a lot of people that will have access to the drug Early on we hope that production ramps up And that as we get into the middle of January Those numbers can increase significantly Clarification here A couple hundred people a day, a week, a month A week A week, okay And that's going to be prioritized based on What like age maybe where they are Or is that going to be based on like their underlying conditions So there'll be some geographic equity across the state It'll be distributed probably via drive through pharmacies So that infected people don't have to be confronting The public and pharmacists etc And it was still determined by their age And or underlying conditions that would qualify them to take that drug Okay, thank you Dr. Levy Russell Forbes Hi, thank you for taking the question Can you hear me We can Okay, the governor just pointed out that it's important to be able to get your Test result shortly after you've been tested And I'm wondering if the state collects any hard data on the number of days that it takes To get a result after you've done a PCR test Here in Rutland where I happen to be today It can take more than a week to get a test result And I'm wondering is that normal? Is it possible if you do collect data on the length of time that it takes to get a result To publish by testing site the performance of these different sites In turning around the test Thank you I'm hoping that PCR result was due to the holidays Because typically we see 24 to 36 hour turnaround for most sites But Dr. Levine will have more on this Yeah, a week would be extraordinary And I think you would agree worthless Because unless you've taken all the right actions while you were waiting it would be challenging Which is why we're evolving into a new kind of framework But to answer the question The prime lab that we use in Boston 24 to 36 hours has pretty much been the rule for quite a while And that's incorporating tests that are done across the state Because of the contract we have So it's every region of the state could benefit in that way For outbreak management and other special occasions We use our public health laboratory Which likewise has a very short turnaround time There are laboratory corporations that can take longer So depending on where you got your test Could be at a pharmacy Could be at a urgent care or somewhere else You might have a longer wait based on those laboratories performance So it's not really Rutland's performance versus Burlington's performance It's the laboratory that's used to run the test So if you could send us any knowledge you have of the test that you got We could get some better understanding We do keep track of this data though I don't believe we have this on our website But we keep track of this data called turnaround time Because it's critical to us You can't manage a pandemic if your data is five days old Thank you I had one other question Which is about the economic impact of the continuing pandemic On the tourism industry so far here in Vermont Is there someone that could speak to that? Sure, I think Secretary Curley might be on But I will say we've been performing quite well In some respects over the fall going into winter In terms of receipts We've been watching that And it appears that we're going to have a successful winter season But Secretary Curley might be able to answer that Hi Governor, can you hear me? We can Okay, so when asked about the tax I'm assuming we may not be just talking explicitly about the tax But more about how the industry is doing as a whole So I'll attempt to answer and just support what you just said You know we, I can't give you the exact figures But we are seeing a really nice rebound for the hospitality and the tourism industry In our state, you know Vermont is seen as a safe place to be With lots of outdoor recreation opportunities So we've definitely seen a nice rebound there And I do believe our rooms and meals taxes are up at this point We know that there continues to be challenges With workforce having enough workers to fill the vacant job But businesses are really, they've pivoted And they've changed their models a little bit And tried to make it work But still really, really searching for more help Because they would like to take on more and grow more So overall I think we're feeling very fortunate About where we're headed And hope that we can continue And that we can create the workforce and the pipeline To fill those vacancies Thank you again Thank you You bet Lisa Loomis, the Value Reporter Good afternoon What were these self-report rates for the December 23rd lands And antibody tests? I don't mean the positivity rate But the rate of people reporting the results Lisa, I can't give you a rate I know that since we've been having the self-report mechanism We're in the 1200 to 1500 person range And I believe from the Christmas holiday That was about 900 of those But that doesn't give you a rate Because to calculate a rate You'd have to know how many people did antigen tests Both the ones we handed out And the ones they bought at pharmacies, etc And we just have no insight into that part But we have the absolute number Which is what I've given you Great, thank you And I'm not sure if this question is for you, Dr. Maline Or for the Governor Or for Secretary French Will schools be following the new CDC guidelines For isolation and quarantine? Parents have been looking today Are confused by what you've said About adopting these guidelines immediately And what Governor Scott said About the state potentially creating its own guidelines I've been watching and looking and I'm confused too Yeah, I'll let Secretary French answer that Hi, Lisa As Dr. Levine said And the Governor as well You know, this just happened So we're in the process of the team sort of debriefing on that I think, you know, we think it is good news As the Governor mentioned We'd already been working in that direction anyway But whatever we do from schools Will be exactly what the Health Department prescribes For the state and so forth Great, thank you very much Thanks everybody Howard, VPR Okay, thank you, Jason So we've been talking a lot about the home tests And about people reporting And not reporting And what that means for the state's numbers But can you be a little more specific If possible On what the future may hold As far as the quote unquote official numbers That come out A lot of people, you know, look at the data every day They make decisions about it Where it is in the state Is there going to come a time When you're just not going to report it And even at this point right now With the few home tests happening And that increasing How relying can we be on the data that we do have? Yeah, you know, we're in a transitionary period And I can't stand here and tell you That we're going to be able to continue To give you the data that we've been Being able to communicate to you Over the last almost two years Because it's just a different approach Different strategy At this antigen test Will be, I think, instrumental In containing the virus But we won't have the data available We'll continue to provide any data we have And be able to give you that information But it's, again, difficult Because we want people to use antigen tests We'd like them to report it back to us If there's a positive case Or a negative test case So that we can really determine what's going on But the bottom line is We want to contain the virus And we want people to be safe And we want people to get boosted And we want people to adhere to all the other policies So while it's beneficial to have the data The goal really is for people to assess Their own situation And whether they're in a situation Where they have tested positive or negative And then make determination As to whether they proceed Whatever plans they have Dr. Levine And it all has to do with the transition From pandemic to endemic And while we're pandemic We want as much data as we can Because we need to have a good handle On everything we can But at the same time We are going to be transitioning To endemic at some point Hopefully once we're done with Omicron And it's going to be a very different ball game At that point And no one's going to really want to be following The numbers as strictly as we've been following Them all along But keep in mind PCR testing hasn't gone away We have thousands of Romanos Accessing our PCR test sites all the time And reporting out large numbers of results That's going to continue But there will be a time When the phenomenon of having these state Testing sites is in the past Because we don't do that with any other Respiratory virus That hopefully this one included Occurs in a seasonal nature People who are ill enough Go tested through the healthcare system Because they might qualify for certain treatments Others may do self-test at home Because they want to protect others around them But it will be a very different framework At that point Because we probably won't have All of this apparatus that we have now In terms of testing centers, etc But you don't know if it's going to be weeks or months Before we see a big shift in the data That's released every day No, I'd say it's in evolution And it's occurring now But we still have pretty reliable data That we can compare now to before in But there's going to be probably over these next weeks With more and more energy and testing being done Less emphasis on what is the percent positivity Because it won't be an accurate number anymore All right, thanks And one more quick question for the governor We got a press release, I think yesterday That Jay Peek was offering a free water park day If they got their booster shot And I know that you've been a little You weren't a big fan of incentivizing shots at first Though we gave out creamies And we did a couple other things I just wonder what you're thinking on that Is, you know, as we have been kind of stuck at 80, 82% As far as the folks that are And I asked the same question last week What other strategies are there for trying to convince Those Vermonters who don't really seem Convinced that they need to get the shot Yeah, again, presenting the data every week Like as we do should convince a few people And maybe some personal anecdotes from family members Might help You know, it sounds like a great strategy they're using It's a marketing tool in some respects And they're getting people to do what's best for them And in all of Vermont And that's to get boosters So if an entity like Jay Peake Decides to offer that as an incentive That's fine That's not something that I'm opposed to at all And it works for both of us So if there are other entities And individual businesses that have a strategy I think Waterbury had an approach Where they gave away gift certificates To their local downtown shop local And get a $5 credit of some sort That's a great strategy too So I think we're at the stage Where if you want to do it, business decides to do it That's great But we, I'm opposed to doing it on a statewide level With taxpayer dollars at this point I don't think there's a need And I just don't think that would give us the best return either I wanted to go back as well You asked how long before this data would be Not being able to be provided But as I said, we'll continue to provide it as best we can With a PCR test and so forth But a lot of this is going to be predicated on the supply It sounds like a lot when we talk about The president's goal of having Half a billion antigen tests available to Americans But when you do the math, it doesn't really work out I mean, we need to continue that supply chain Over quite some time Because that would, if everyone took one That would be less than two tests per person So we need to make sure that The production act is enforced The defense production act And that we get more and more of these into the supply chain Because it's going to be essential in the future And we're going to see an evolution of these tests as well I would predict They're going to be easier to use and simplified And hopefully less expensive as time goes on Okay, great, thank you all I appreciate the time, thanks Lisa, the water very roundabout Heather, thank you, Jason Can you hear me? We can Well, many questions Question about having people report their results From these take-home tests I'm not clear on whether when they're handing out the tests Are they reminding people or are they distributing them To please get on the website and log in to log their results I'm not sure that's the case Dr. Levine, anything? Tell me about the package inserts I'll tell them Okay Either through the company or through your help Okay, apparently in the inserts, in the test kits It does have something that says You should report these to the health department or someone So there is some sort of messaging in the test kits From the companies Okay, so that's clearly something that we could be informing people of too I'm wondering, maybe this is a Dr. Levine question Is it, are we confident enough of the results of these home tests That if somebody tests positive at home Or is there still a recommendation that they go and Confirm this with the PCR test as well Or should they just take whatever steps they need to take Going forward based on the result that's a positive from the home test They should accept the result of the home test And not confer with the PCR if it's a positive test So if they have symptoms and they test positive Or if they have no symptoms as they test positive In December of 2021 in Vermont There's a lot of COVID around So a positive test is a positive test It doesn't need to be confirmed with a PCR test However, if you have symptoms that you think are compatible with COVID And you have a negative home test You may still want to get a confirmatory PCR Because the PCR is more sensitive So that you will learn if your home negative test is truly negative Or if actually it was a false negative Because it wasn't as sensitive as the PCR So that's the only time I would do that That's really helpful Thank you And I have a question for Secretary French On the idea behind the home test now being distributed Eventually in the coming weeks through schools I'm sure that's going to be welcomed by a lot of families One of the things that I've heard people very frustrated about Is that there's been sort of a benchmark Where the tests have not been handed out to the children in school Unless they were considered to have been contagious in school Given the fact that this Omicron variant is moving so quickly And kids could be exposed And the goal is to try to keep everybody from spreading it Is that still going to be a criteria Or if someone thinks that they've been exposed Will these tests be available regardless of whether you think you Or exposed to school or whatever in order to try to keep the spread down Yes, thank you It's our intention to make them widely available Regardless of where the contagion or originated So sort of to your latter points Our intention to use schools ultimately as a distribution center For the tests in our communities for families and students That would be great because I know that's been a real frustration For some families who feel like they need the test And they haven't been available And that would have made a difference for them But I'm sure that's going to be welcome news Last question I might want to ask I don't know if this is something that's been considered yet I know when the legislature gets together Soon they're going to be discussing town meeting And what the guidance is going to be for towns Making their decisions for whether to gather in person And I'm wondering if the health department And if the state's going to have any recommendations Coming together as to whether it's going to be safe To have town meetings in person Or if it's going to look more like last year's town meeting Again, I think the legislature will have an interest in this As well as the secretary of state And we'll be getting together with them To give any advice we can But it'll be the decision of the secretary of state and others So we'll see We've been advocating as we did last year For more of the mail-in ballots as well So we'll continue to advocate for that Okay, thank you very much, everyone Lisa, as well, I just wanted to remind you I know I said this earlier But when we talk about the imaging tests And having them more widely available And distributed to a wider group It's all predicated on the supply So just keep that in mind We're doing the best we can with the supply we have Which is limited Of course, good point, thank you Guy Page, Vermont Daily Chronicle Afternoon, Governor Commissioner Levine said of vaccination The time for thinking about it is past And some of my readers are thinking not so fast Given some new developments Forty-nine-year-old New York Times editor Died on December 18th of a heart attack A day after he got his booster Locally, a healthy vaccinated 19-year-old son Of a friend of mine who's now experiencing heart palpitations Never had him before And also experts are saying that Omicron Is both less dangerous and more likely To result in breakthrough Now, so my question is If these developments are true and relevant How is it still ethical to incentivize For monitors to use a term used a couple weeks ago To vaccinate by taking away their livelihood? Again, I think the data backs up our argument But I'll let Dr. Levine make that The guy, I don't know what these two cases you've mentioned And if they are related to the vaccine it's tragic Though we'd certainly want to ascertain they were But the reality is we now deal In hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine When we look at adverse effects And the data from millions Hundreds of millions of doses does not Really support a policy that would say These are dangerous and shouldn't be used If anything, it's the complete opposite That they've been extraordinarily safe For newly developed vaccines and efficacious I think your comment on Omicron was The fact that there will be more breakthrough cases A term we don't like to use but you're right And the reality is, yes, this is a more infectious variant And even people who've been vaccinated Can more easily get Omicron But again, that's not what the vaccine was designed to do Prevent a case of Omicron The vaccine was designed to prevent a case of Omicron From ever getting so serious That someone would end up in the hospital Or, God forbid, die from it And the data is backing that up Throughout the pandemic With every variant strain that we've had So again, keep your eye on the right ball The ball is vaccines are meant to prevent severe outcomes So just like you can get a cold from getting Omicron And most people who have been vaccinated Who get ill, get a cold or a mild flu-like illness Their lungs, which are the main place That this virus can do a lot of damage Are very protected And they're not presenting to the same degree As others who are unvaccinated with shortness of breath With need to have x-rays for pneumonia With ICU admission So I do believe the data still supports the vaccine very well Thank you Meg, the Bradford Journal opinion Hi, good afternoon I noticed early in the press conference That Governor Scott said something about a plan to Send out rapid tests to households with children Within the next week before schools reopen Is there anything else you can tell us about that? We're right in the middle of finalizing that And it's because we just got the supply So we didn't know it was going to be available So we want to distribute that We won't You know, our thought is We're just going to have to use distribution Points in some locations And try to get them to parents So that they can test their kids Before they go back on Monday But we'll have more details in the next day or so Okay, thank you That's it Okay Thank you very much And we will not see you next Tuesday The state of the state is on Wednesday As they typically do We won't have a press briefing But if anything comes up We will distribute that information And if any of the media has questions Obviously you know where we are at So we'll answer them to the best of our ability So thank you very much Happy New Year