 Good afternoon, everyone. Today, Commissioner Peachek will provide his data presentation. Secretary French will give an education update. Secretary Smith will discuss vaccinations in hospital capacity. And Dr Levine will provide a health update and give some tips for families as we approach Thanksgiving. But first, I want to reiterate how important it is for for monitors to use common sense and take precautions as we approach the holidays so we don't adversely impact our ICU capacity. So the first common sense thing you can do is get vaccinated. The data speaks for itself about three quarters of Vermont's hospitalizations and about 70% of our cases are unvaccinated. So the best way to protect yourself and your family is still to get vaccinated. It's also important to get your booster. As you heard us say, if you're over 18 and it's been six months since you received your second dose of Moderna or Pfizer or two months since J&J, you want to get boosted. Vermont currently leads the nation in boosters amongst those over the age of 65. But we can and need to do better because it's already having a positive effect. In the past 30 days, even as total cases have increased, the case rate for those over 65 has actually declined about 2.5%. Now this is important because we know this population is most at risk. And it also could explain why Vermont's hospitalization rate remains amongst the lowest in the nation, even as cases have climbed. So please get your booster, make it a priority. Given where we are right now, as we've said, Vermonters should wear a mask indoors, be smart about indoor events, use testing as a tool, and of course, stay home when sick. Before you go to a gathering, particularly one that might include elderly people for Thanksgiving, take a test as a precaution. This may be a big part of how we'll manage COVID in the years to come, especially as rapid tests become more available. We're also working to increase access to treatments like monoclonal antibodies to help further limit hospitalizations. Florida and Texas have had a tremendous amount of success with this strategy and we should learn from them. All of these steps, in addition to the measures we have in place in schools, long term care and healthcare facilities will help protect the most vulnerable and keep our healthcare system stable, which has been our top priority from day one. I continue to believe being honest with Vermonters about what we're seeing, encouraging vaccination as the best path forward while also calling for certain steps when needed is the right approach because a perpetual state of emergency and unilateral executive authority is not healthy for our democracy or our people. Considering 44 other states, including 17 out of 23 governors who are Democrats are taking the same approach, meaning they don't have mandates in place, tells me most governors, regardless of party, agree this is the path forward. However, legislative leaders, the speaker and the pro tem in particular had made clear they believe a statewide mass mandate and further mandates are needed right now. Again, I disagree. But to move forward, I extended an olive branch proposing a compromise. My offer is to call them back for a special session for the sole purpose of passing a law that would give municipalities the authority to implement mass mandates in their communities. I've asked for this authority to end April 30th and that municipalities have to revote on it every 30 days, just like we did with the state of emergency. This was something the Vermont League of Cities and Towns asked for last week, and I see it as a compromise between my position and the legislative leadership's position. I've been clear with them that this is as far as I'm willing to go, and I will veto anything else because I do not think mass mandates will move us towards our goals. And I think we need to move out of a perpetual state of mandates. As I read in some of the articles today, it appears they're planning to come back, so we'll move forward on our end. As we've done over the last 20 months and will continue to do, we focus on taking steps to protect vulnerable Vermonters and our health care system. Do not mistake a lack of mandates for a lack of action. This is the path forward and I for one have faith in the people of Vermont who have stepped up throughout the entire pandemic and knowing we need their help to protect the elderly and our health care system will take the steps we're asking them to take without mandates. With that, I'm going to turn over to Commissioner Peachette. Thank you very much, Governor, and good afternoon, everybody. So taking a look at this week's presentation, starting with Vermont's case numbers from the past week, you'll see that we reported about 2,500 cases, an increase of about 260 from last week. You'll see that that increased our rate by about 16 percent. That is a difference from last week in terms of the steepness of that increase that last week we went up 42 percent. So a little bit of a slowing down, but cases still high in cases still increasing, although we did see a little bit of a slowdown over the last three days. When we look at the next chart, we'll look at those case rates in connection with testing and what that did to our positivity rate. So we do see that on the testing front, we remain stable or down just, you know, 0.2 percent. But this week, we had the most testing in the country on a per capita basis. So usually we're near or at the top of that. This week, we're at the top of that number. So a pretty good amount of testing continuing to occur, picking up more cases than many other states are picking up across the country. But you do see at the same time that our positivity rate has remained, you know, sort of high higher than we would like it to be. So still indicates that the prevalence of the virus is high in our communities not yet, certainly decreasing or plateauing. And when we look at the next slide, breaking it down by age, as the governor said, you'll see why it's so critical that we continue to get our five to 11 year olds vaccinated, they continue to have the highest case rate among all age groups, pretty clearly almost double the rate among any of those other age groups, as we compare them to those that are also under 18 and even those over 18 as well. So again, critical to get that group vaccinated as quickly as you can and for parents to do so as quickly as they can. Looking at the next slide, as the governor alluded to, we can really see a pretty significant difference that's developed over the last month or so when we look at our cases by age. Although our cases for those under 25 have increased 74% over the last 30 days, and those 25 to 49 have increased 57%. And those 50 to 64 have increased 63%. We see that our 65 and older rate has held steady and decreasing about 2% over that same period of time. So what that really means, we know that this is our most vulnerable age group, most likely to need hospital care, most likely to need ICU care. So when we look at the hospital numbers over that same period of time, when you look at the entire population, our case rates have gone up about 64% over the last 30 days, our overall hospital numbers have gone up 28% over the last 30 days, but our ICU numbers are flat over that same period of time. We have the same number of people on a seven day average in the ICU 30 days ago as we do today. So it really speaks to the importance of keeping our most vulnerable protected, not having that rate increase, which would put additional pressure on our health care system. And you think about why is that rate staying so steady compared to the other rates? And when you look at the next slide, it's really pretty clear. When you look at the booster doses that Vermonters 65 and older have received compared to all of the other states, Vermont is about 55% of those 65 and older who are fully vaccinated that have received a booster shot. Pretty clear that that 65 age group is really benefiting from the boosters here in Vermont. So as the governor said, really critical for those who are vulnerable in that age group with high case counts and the holidays approaching to go and get your booster shot if you haven't done so already. And those who are under that age group similarly to get that protection as well from the booster shot if you're eligible at this time. Going to the next slide, we'll see that it continues to be the same story that we've seen where most of the cases are occurring among those who are unvaccinated. We see that unvaccinated rate now about 3.9 times higher than the fully vaccinated rate. The the not fully vaccinated rate continues to increase more quickly than the fully vaccinated rate. You know, all of the things that we've continued to see. So while boosters are critical, so are getting people vaccinated if they haven't even received their first dose yet. Looking at hospitalizations again, a similar story. We see more people admitted to the hospital who are not fully vaccinated by about 2.2 times the rate of those who are fully vaccinated. As the governor said, those who are currently hospitalized about a quarter of them are not vaccinated, both generally across the hospital, but particularly with the ICU that stands at 79%. So 79% of those in the ICU are not fully vaccinated. We're also seeing that those who are fully vaccinated are spending less time in the hospital than those who are not fully vaccinated. So across the entire population, those who are vaccinated are spending about 12% less time in the hospital. Those over 65. It's about 22% less time in the hospital. So they're not there for as long. They don't need as much medical treatment just shows that even those that do have a breakthrough case that need hospitalization are able to get out of the hospital more quickly. Looking at our cases by region, you'll see that the Northeast Kingdom continues to have high case counts. Franklin County's case counts are elevated as well. And then two counties that are non our radar now that weren't necessarily on our radar a couple of weeks ago are Rutland County and Bennington County, where you can see those two counties in particular have rates comparable to the Northeast Kingdom, which have had high rates for a number of weeks and even months at this point. The rest of Vermont holding pretty steady, but those areas of the state seen increased case growth over the last week. Looking at higher education, things on campus have calmed down a bit. There are 60 cases this week to be reported down from the 108 or 103 cases from last week. And that 60 cases is pretty much in line with what we've been seeing throughout the throughout much of the fall semester. So good to see things quiet on that front. Looking at the long term care facility chart, you'll see that there are now 15 active outbreaks. That's up from about seven active outbreaks last week. Last week, we had 103 cases associated with those outbreaks. This week, it's 100 or 218. I will note, however, that of that 218 and of those active outbreaks, a significant number appear to be among staff. So these active outbreak numbers include both residents of long term care facilities and staff at those facilities. So when we go to the next page, you'll see that the number of staff, sorry, the number of residents in a long term care facility have held pretty steady over the week and over the last few weeks as well, consistent with our over 65 data. So it appears again that a number of staff members in long term care facilities have contracted COVID over the last week. And then looking at our fatality numbers, you'll see that for the month of November, we are up to 19 fatalities for Vermont, adding a six deaths, unfortunately, from last week. And then looking ahead a little bit to what lies ahead, both in the forecasting and for Thanksgiving, wanted to show this slide we showed it last week, but wanted to overlay some of the upcoming holidays and some of the holidays that we experienced last year. You can see that after Halloween, both last year and this year, we saw an increase in cases here in Vermont. But when you look at last year for Thanksgiving, it actually did not necessarily result in a dramatic increase in cases or hospitalizations. There was a decrease around the holiday, largely due to a decrease in testing, you know, a shift in testing, a shift in reporting as well. But then in those weeks following Thanksgiving, the case rates actually declined a bit, leading into the Christmas and New Year holidays. After those holidays, the case rates did go up as you can see. So Thanksgiving last year, you know, we really asked Vermonters to be smart about how they celebrated, not to travel very far away from your home to limit the number of people that you engage with and interact with. And we did see that in the mobility data. We mentioned this last year, but we'll show it again this year, that between 2019 and 2020, close to 55 to 60 percent reduction in the amount of travel that occurred around Thanksgiving, both in-state and those leaving the state and returning. So we can certainly see that Vermonters were able to keep cases low throughout the holiday, celebrate it smartly, and we encourage them to do so again this year. We know we can do it. The evidence shows it and we're looking forward to hopefully having that occur again this year by following the advice that Dr. Levine will lay out in a minute. That turns us to our forecast. You know, the forecast from this past week, we trended on the higher end of what we were expecting. So this week the forecast continues to show some elevation, not anticipating cases to go down. Similarly, like we said last week, there's also the uncertainty with the Thanksgiving holiday that we have to contend with as well. So bottom line on that front, not expecting the cases to go down at this point, similar to last week. And then finally, taking a look at where we stand on vaccination across first and second doses, you can see we continue to rank at or near the top on most of the vaccination measures. When we go to the next slide, you'll also see the same is true on those getting their booster shot. So across our entire population, we're about 26.5% of those fully vaccinated who've received a booster dose, number one in the country, but still quite a bit of room there. We've seen the data and the evidence that it's reducing our cases, helping people stay out of the hospital. So really critical for those who are eligible to get their booster shot. And we're seeing among that 65 and older population, really high uptake in the booster shot, which has been very helpful for that age group, helpful to keep our ICUs from increasing further than they are, and certainly encourage anyone in that age group who hasn't done so yet to go get their booster shot. So with that, I will now turn it over to Secretary French. Thank you, Commissioner Pichett. Good afternoon. I'm going to begin my comments with an update on our test to stay initiative. Test to stay is a part of a larger testing strategy we call response testing, which is focused on putting our testing capacity at the school level, so school staff like school nurses, can have access to testing at the point of need and in real time. We think response testing will allow us to strike a better balance between the managing the health risks from COVID-19 with the educational risks to students from being having them be excluded from school. Test to stay is an attractive option because it enables students to continue to stay in school instead of quarantining and test to stay students participate in a daily antigen test screening process prior to entering a school building for seven days in a row. To date, we've had about 35 of our supervisor unions districts enrolled in test to stay. That's about half of our school districts. We also have 17 independent schools participating in the program. When I say enrolled in test to stay, I mean they've either received the test kits or the orders have been placed that are going to be delivered this week. In total, we have about 51,000 antigen test kits on order for test to stay. As of today, we've had 81 schools conduct antigen tests as part of test to stay. Last Monday and Tuesday alone we had over 900 tests given in Vermont schools and that exceeded the total number from the prior week in total. And last week altogether we had 2,600 antigen tests administered as part of test to stay. So you can see the program is ramping up considerably in our schools. Another indicator of that ramping up is that parents are required to give consent to participate in any of our response testing programs and including test to stay. As of last Friday we had 13,000 parental consent forms logged in the system. As we observed earlier in the rollout of test to stay, one of the key challenges in implementing it is logistical aspects and that primary consideration from a logistical standpoint is staffing. A pattern I started to notice among school districts that are moving forward quickly with test to stay relative to their staffing as they are leveraging non-clinical school staff in addition to school nurses. I saw this approach being used very distinctly in Maple Run School District in St. Albans a few weeks ago and more recently in districts in the Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union. Franklin Northeast reached out to us last week. They had an outbreak there, resulted in the identification of 150 close contacts in their schools. Franklin Northeast was able to implement test to stay very quickly in their communities basically within a 48-hour period. My understanding is the district enrolled about 50 students in the program which means in total they avoided the as a result of enrolling students in the test to stay program they in total basically avoided the loss of approximately 220 school days for those students. So you can see test to stay can be very effective in terms of preventing loss instruction. I thought I'd share a few comments. The Franklin Northeast Superintendent shared her newsletter with me that went out on Sunday. It's really well done. It really does a great job of describing for her communities what's going on relative to COVID. And one of the things she observed like the larger statewide pattern that you heard Commissioner Pichek note, 80% of the cases that they're seeing in their schools are among those that are unvaccinated. She observed that they have seen positive cases as a result of transmission in their schools but by far and away most of their cases are connected to transmission within families or from group activities outside of the school. I really want to you know commend their staff for the excellent work they've done in standing up test to stay in such a rapid manner. But you know Franklin Northeast like many of our school districts right now is really struggling in the face of the elevated case counts as a result of the Delta surge. The challenges they're facing right now across the state really underscore the importance of vaccination. And you know strategies like test to stay are only going to go so far if we do not achieve higher rates of vaccination in our communities particularly among school children. We have deployed additional testing to Franklin Northeast largely to capture the testing interest on the part of families in a larger community. We've also established school-based clinics that are coming up soon I wanted to highlight them. There'll be a vaccination clinic at Richford Elementary on November 22nd. Berkshire Elementary and Sheldon Elementary will host clinics on December 15th and December 16th respectively. Secretary Smith will provide more information on the 5 to 11 vaccination effort in his report. But I just want to emphasize again how critical this vaccination campaign will be to keeping our schools open in the coming weeks and months. I was heartened to hear about the strong interest in 5 to 11 vaccination we are seeing around the state. I think this is really great news both for our students and our schools. We have one of the highest vaccination rates among the student population that's age 12 to 18 about 75 percent statewide. But we know this rate varies considerably from region to region. After the holidays I think we'll start to see this variability play out in school operations around the state. Those schools with high vaccination student rates will see more stability in their operations and those with low rates will see more quarantines and the cancellation of school activities. They will also see greater fatigue among their school staff. From my perspective school staff have been struggling heroically to keep school going and to maintain some sense of normalcy for students. The efforts of staff though however heroic are not sustainable and I expect ultimately we will see intermittent school closures among schools with relatively low student vaccination rates as a result of staffing issues. Again I'm pleased the response we have seen to date with the 5 to 11 vaccination. I expect as in other areas of our response Vermont will be a national leader in this area. I just want to underscore how critical this effort will be to keep our schools open in the coming months for the education of our students to continue in an uninterrupted manner they need to get vaccinated. Parents and have questions are concerned about vaccine they should contact their pediatrician or healthcare provider. So that concludes my report. I'll now turn it over to Secretary Smith. Thank you Secretary French and good afternoon everyone. As of today 15,991 children ages five to 11 have received either their first dose of COVID vaccine or they have an appointment. That's just over 36% of all Vermont children ages five to 11 years old. This week Vermont receives 7,000 additional doses of pediatric vaccine above what was originally allocated. That original number was 5,100. This allows us to begin distributing more than 3,000 doses to 42 pediatric and family practices. These are all the practices that have requested doses of the pediatric vaccine. In addition to doctor's offices vaccines are available through pharmacies schools and community based vaccine clinics. You can make an appointment for your child by going online to healthvermont.gov slash kids vaccine or by contacting your local pharmacy or doctor's office. You can also call 855-722-7878. Now I'll turn to booster doses. So far nearly 131,000 people have received boosters in this state. As you expect and as you heard those 65 years and older are the groups of people who received the most booster doses and what we see is very clear. Cases among that group are going down. So the boosters work and it's important to get one. Just this week alone we have more than 100 clinics throughout the state for both vaccines and boosters. You're eligible if you're 18 or older and it's been six months since your last shot of Moderna or Pfizer or two months in the case of J&J. So please make an appointment to get your booster. To make an appointment you can call 855-722-7878 or go online at healthvermont.gov slash my vaccine. Now I want to discuss monoclonal antibodies. We've worked with hospitals and EMS across the state to ensure that this effective treatment is available and as of today it's available at most hospitals in Vermont and we have made it available to long-term care facilities through our EMS partners. Now I want to provide an update on hospital capacity. Recently we've brought online 80 additional subacute care beds. This will help people who are ready to move out of the hospital to other facilities that will free a possible capacity for those who need it. And we're exploring the possibility of opening up an additional additional subacute beds. Last week to further enhance the health care capacity we asked hospitals to open 10 additional ICU beds that they haven't been able to staff. We will provide financial assistance to help staff those beds. I have two more topics to cover. The first is contact tracing. The second is planning for Thanksgiving gatherings. According to the CDC only a few states engage in contact tracing to the same extent that we do here in Vermont. And Vermont is considered a leader in that effort. However the Delta variant which spreads faster than earlier versions of the virus requires us to look at our tactics and see if there is a strategy that can be layered on to our current contact tracing efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the process. This requires thinking through both our testing and contact tracing strategies looking at how we might make changes to slow the spread of the virus. We have the equivalent of approximately 150 full time people who are dedicated to contact tracing. That team has been doing an excellent job throughout and I want to thank them. But during the pandemic we've learned a lot and we are constantly adapting our approaches as we encounter different circumstances. In a Delta like surge we need to do better because the variant spreads faster and speed in our response is essential. We need to evolve contact tracing to speed it up and change the method of how we test. We will eventually when the supply chain is available rely on rapid tests thereby reducing the time between taking a test and getting the results from days to hours. In addition the evolution involves includes educating the public on how to respond to a positive test. We began doing this on the health department's website several months ago and we are now asking people to reach out immediately to their contacts following a positive test result instead of waiting for the department of health to contact them. This will significantly speed up the notification of contacts. If people need guidance on what to do the department of health website provides detail instructions. We still plan to use our traditional contact tracing approach but have it concentrate on outbreaks and vulnerable populations such as those living in congregate settings. We need to evolve as the virus evolves and that's what we're doing with our contact tracing. I want to turn to Thanksgiving. Finally Thanksgiving is next week. As we saw Halloween did lead to increased case counts. Halloween is becoming my late least favorite holiday so we want to we want Vermonters to be careful. Dr. Levine is going to cover this in more detail with his recommendations but these include make sure you're vaccinated get your booster if eligible and plan to get tested before Thanksgiving if you are gathering with others. Please plan ahead get tested by Monday to have your results in advance of Thanksgiving or stock up on rapid tests which you can get at your local pharmacy or online. Be prepared. Ensure that you're keeping yourself your family and your friends safe over the holidays. So with that I'll turn it over to Dr. Levine. Thank you. I'd like to start today with a sidebar and express my appreciation to Senator Patrick Leahy who as we all know announced he will not seek another term. Senator Leahy has been and remains a national leader for public health from his work to rid the world of landmines to a steadfast and active support for the WIC program and our nation's children and is directing of funds for fighting the opioid use crisis. His efforts have saved many lives and improved countless others and I look forward to thanking him in person for decades of work on behalf of the health of Vermonters. I wish him and Marcel the best of days in a well-earned retirement. Now I have an announcement of my own of sorts but not about my future but rather about all of us. The pandemic is not over. I know many people are simply done thinking about COVID but unfortunately it is a fact that we continue to live with. The pandemic, the first such global health event in over a century is not over yet. Thanks to the vaccines our lives have changed dramatically since last year but this virus continues to evolve and fight back every step of the way. We're getting closer to a stage when the virus is truly going to be endemic where we have enough immunity that the virus can circulate without causing huge spikes in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Still with us but manageable. But Vermont is not there yet. The virus is spreading at high levels in our communities. It still threatens the worst outcomes especially among people who are not vaccinated and those at high risk. It's also endangering our healthcare system. Now don't get me wrong I for many for many we are in a better place than before with people who are fully vaccinated being able to do much more in their lives and not feeling like they are in any strict lockdown mode but as we see from the data the virus is a threat mostly to the unvaccinated but also to a lesser but measurable extent to those have made the medically right choice to become vaccinated. To those Romaners I am only asking that they go about their days as responsibly as possible and plan for future events and activities in light of the current high levels of transmission in the state. We know from many Halloween gatherings and the experience of one of our highly vaccinated college campuses that gathering indoors mask less is the recipe for not just new cases but for those cases potentially coming into contact with a more vulnerable Vermonner who might well end up in the hospital. We really do anticipate and hope that the transition from pandemic to endemic is not far off but in the meantime we need to use our knowledge and experience with this virus to our advantage. We need to remember how to live our lives in a pandemic and that starts with Thanksgiving a little over a week from now. I know how much we're all looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends especially after being apart last year but in this pandemic knowing what we can and what we do about this virus Thanksgiving can be a little bit risky. If you're a vaccinated you have the best layer of protection you can get but with our current levels of transmission we still need your help to keep others safe. So here's how we can all keep Thanksgiving gathering safer especially knowing that multiple generations are often coming together and that even younger people can have health conditions that predispose them to a more serious bout with COVID. First have the talk before you go we once called it the COVID talk but now the focus really is on vaccination to learn if people will be fully vaccinated or if extra precautions need to be taken for anyone at higher risk such as masking when you're not eating this is always a good practice in a multi household event when children who are not fully vaccinated may be together with grandparents the more people who are vaccinated around your table the safer everyone will be as a host you have the right to inquire and set the rules two keep it small the more people and the more households the higher the chance that someone could have the virus and expose other people even people you trust the most can have the virus and not know it three get tested testing before you gather is a great way to protect everyone you should get a free PCR test no later than Monday November 22nd to make sure you get your results in time you can get extra reassurance with a rapid antigen test that you will purchase either on the internet or at a pharmacy closer to the gathering these at home tests are a good tool for this if you have access to them they come in boxes of two so if you use them we recommend using one Tuesday or Wednesday and the other on Thanksgiving Day to make sure your negative result is accurate four and you've heard this plenty of times if you have any symptoms even mild ones please make the hard but right choice to skip the dinner and stay home there will be plenty of leftovers and five get tested five to seven days after the holiday gathering even if you're fully vaccinated and even if you don't have any symptoms now even though these tips are for Thanksgiving please keep all the usual guidance in mind for any activities right now staying outside when you can masking indoors in public avoiding crowds like Black Friday shoppers and as you plan for the holiday season that's yet to come remember that the COVID vaccine and booster as well as the flu vaccine take two weeks to be fully effective mark your calendars to get protected in time for your gatherings and celebrations finally I also want to update you on our contact tracing workflow and reiterate some of the same messages as I've mentioned previously with such a contagious variant as Delta and with such high volumes of positive tests for containment to be successful we need a much faster system that will enable Vermonters to immediately do the right things now many have already been doing this on their own but now it is even more important so if you test positive take the following actions immediately begin isolating at home away from others immediately start reaching out to your close contacts to let them know that they may have been exposed to COVID you may not receive a call from a contact tracer as quickly as you can do these actions but our website has all of the tools you need to help stop further spread including how to identify your infectious period and your close contacts what to say when you reach out to the close contact your own timeline for ending isolation when you should seek medical care and translated materials for those in need you can get all this information by visiting healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19 positive now we know testing positive for COVID-19 can be stressful but using these resources is the fastest way to keep ourselves our loved ones in our communities healthy and stop the spread of COVID-19 now I want to be clear we are still contact tracing but as our case numbers have grown we are focusing this effort on the people at highest risk of COVID prioritizing those most at risk of serious outcomes much as we did in other aspects of our response at other points during the pandemic this means we're doing the same types of case investigations for long-term care and health care settings schools correctional facilities and other high risk settings we fully expect that when case volumes decrease and the not too distant future contact tracing will continue to be the successful strategy it has always been for Vermont in containing this virus preventing clusters of cases or outbreaks from turning into higher levels of transmission in our communities turn it back to the Governor now thank you Dr. Levine we'll now open it up to questions Governor legislative leaders have called for a data-driven mask mandate in the past what specifically changed this time around well again I don't think a mask mandate a statewide mask mandate is necessary at this point in time I am just looking for some sort of a compromise I think that they've been very vocal about it I want to try and meet them where they are and authorizing this and having them move forward with something in law provides them with something that's in between my position and theirs so there's nothing that's changed about my position but I'm just recognizing the fact that we need to compromise I mean we need more compromise across the country and this is just the way of reaching out to do just that you've said a statewide mask mandate that you don't think that would be effective but when it comes to the actual local level you know if the legislature does pass this law and local decision makers will be put in that position some of them might be looking for guidance what would you recommend would you say they should do this or no do you mean the local authorities a local mask mandate as you know if a select board or a town manager is thinking about whether or not to pursue that at the local level they probably know their they know their residents better than I do they know what's going on in their community but at the same time I think you have to reflect on what mandates represent and sometimes the very people you're trying to help are going to be resistant to having another mandate to force them into a mandate what we're trying to do our strategy is to get more people vaccinated we're trying to educate people we're trying to bring them to us to get through this there's a social science to this and sometimes forcing people or potentially trying to force people into doing something they don't want to do just hardens them and they're going to resist so I'm not convinced that they're going to we're going to see a substantial change as a result of this because I've just seen we've been at this a while but the vast majority of the cases we're seeing even though it's in the minority the vast minority of for monitors who haven't been vaccinated the vast majority of the cases that we're seeing in the vast area it's about 70 percent amongst the unvaccinated 70 percent of those in the hospital are amongst the unvaccinated so again what we're trying to do our strategy is to try and educate them and allow them to do the right thing forcing them I'm not sure is going to work at this point in time I was wondering then you know from the standpoint of this being an olive branch or a compromise how is this a good deal for legislators when you're basically inviting them to pass a policy that you think is not going to be effective they don't have to do it I mean I'm offering this as a compromise it's an olive branch if they don't think it is don't do it it's pretty simple I wanted to ask you about public morale you know last year we were quite literally the envy of the nation I would get calls and texts from my friends all over the country saying boy I wish I was living in Vermont now when you look at these case increases we're not the best in the nation anymore what what does that do to our reputation what does that do to our sense of you know pride that we once had as Vermonters well I think we still have a lot to be proud of and I think you have to look at the cases and where the cases are growing and reflect on that I was speaking to another governor the other night in the same sort of position that we're in and when they look at again the data and the number of cases they have we have but then you look at the hospitalizations we're still amongst the lowest in the nation that's been our strategy all along we keep we're looking at hospitalizations and the ICU capacity we're protecting our healthcare system and we've done just that other states have exceeded that and even today if you look at the the state some of the states that have a lower case count their hospitalizations are up so again that could mean that they're not testing as much we we have a very robust testing one of the highest in the in the country per capita so we've taken a different strategy we'd rather have people know whether they have it or not and again we're somewhat of a victim of our own success early on we had a lot of people vaccinate appropriately and it's I think it's preserved life it's preserved the health for monitors but at the same time we know that now we've learned that the vaccine has waned a bit so we were one of the first to to jump in it's waning a bit and we that's why we need to get people to get boosted and and we want to to do that we'll continue to promote that but I think we still have a lot to be proud of you shouldn't focus just on cases focus on the real the real number and that's the hospitalizations and and the ICU data as a part of that I also wanted to ask you what your Thanksgiving's going to look like you heard from Dr. Levine how are you how are you celebrating and any adjustments that you and your family may be making yeah I won't be doing much I have a long list of things to do so it'll be just probably the two of us at Thanksgiving so I don't think we have to worry about much in our household your thoughts on the big announcement from Senator Leahy he made at the State House yesterday I know you had sent out the statement but just any reflections on the on the career Patrick Leahy even though he's still got another year left there yeah you know he's not done yet okay what's not put him into retirement before he finishes his year out I'm sure we're going to see a lot from Senator Leahy over the next year he's been he's been an advocate for Vermont his heart is here in Vermont it's bittersweet as I said yesterday down in Bennington to see this happen because on the one hand he's a powerful powerful voice for Vermonters and we've seen that time and time again over the last four decades so he's done a tremendous amount of good for Vermont but the same time I mean he's been there for 40 years and he deserves a retirement he deserves to enjoy all the things he's he's helped create here in Vermont so on that side I'm happy for him but from a from a governor from Vermont I'm sad to see him go and and again we speak almost on a weekly basis sometimes he just calls to say hi and so is he's just a real decent human being and he's done a lot of great things for for us and I've enjoyed working with him the Vermont GOP says that there could be an opportunity within the next year to potentially put a Republican into that seat I mean what what are you thinking in here and feeling well I I think there could be I just don't know who that is but but you know anything's possible I just had a follow-up question for Dr. Levine Secretary Smith touched on supply chain issues with rapid antigen testing I know you you said that those are going to be a critical part of our response especially kind of in the the long term as we transition to endemic I mean how long do you see some of those supply chain issues lasting and I mean how much do some of these tests cost and is it feasible for people to get that right now all good questions so we are actually trying to figure out the supply chain issues and trying to get more definitive information from the federal government what's happening is the testing strategy for the future and this is hopefully not distant future this is near-term future is to actually have rapid testing capacity in your own home at point of care rapid response time of a test like an antigen test to help manage your life help you understand if you should be going to that event that night or what have you or if those symptoms that you're experiencing might be COVID versus a common cold or what have you so that's the strategy the federal government has really been buying up tremendous volumes of antigen tests so that they can I think deploy them in the way I've described across states in an equitable equitable manner we just don't know the timeline and all of these things we know that they are available now but there are pressure points on them so in terms of us being able to purchase large quantities in terms of an individual being able to go to a drug store and always find them on the shelf and not cleaned out those are challenges right now that exists but having said that it is still a strategy people can use in the way I described for Thanksgiving generally the cost for what I've been able to see is for a two pack 20 bucks 20ish plus or minus dollars bucks so again we understand again that's not free like the current PCR testing and I'd certainly want for monitors who don't want to spend that money or are not able to spend that money to take advantage of the fact we still have free testing and just make sure they time it correctly so that they don't get a test the day before Thanksgiving expecting that they're going to have a result for the dinner ask one good follow-up as well I just want to just finish the question because I have some other information as you know every two weeks we will meet with the White House the Governor's to do with the National Governors Association so we've we put that question very question forward for the next meeting next Tuesday so that we can ask them where we're at because we do see this I don't dispute anything that Dr. Levine said this is the future and and I for one if there is a supply chain issue then I would I would ask the President to use his powers for the production act to implement and to try and produce more tests because I think it's going to be essential for us as we move from pandemic to endemic I just have a quick question as we're it seems like we're potentially heading down this road depending on what the Legislature decides to do where in several weeks from now we may be looking at sort of a patchwork of local mask mandates around the state if that's the direction they choose to go I'm curious to hear from a public health perspective what you think about the potential effectiveness of having something like that in place yeah no actually that's a great question and it's a fair question and there's actually evidence in the literature to show that even that as opposed to a nationwide or statewide or you know countrywide approach depending on where you are in the world can be successful so some of the literature that is there that supports mask mandates actually was done in states where they had a patchwork of various types of either mandates or no mandate at all because the state government did not take action it was all done on a local level and it was the literature supports the fact that in those places where there were mandates they had better impact than in places where they didn't now I again caution you all that this is pre-delta era testing our studies and we don't really have the final word in the delta era but as I've said at many of these press conferences it's a very different variant strain and because it's so transmissible and so contagious and we've had so few states that have had mandates during this time the word is not in about how successful that modality can be in this era I've done a fair amount of emailing and phone calling to colleagues at my level in states that have had mandates and they will actually attest to what our governor has said that compliance has been really challenging they found their population not only wasn't in the mood to be mandated on anything but that they were akin to my opening comments today already exiting the pandemic and not feeling like this was a timely strategy because that wasn't where they were in their lives and those are in some of these states that are less way less vaccinated than Vermont so I just have to caution you that it's had really no definitive but variable success as it's been deployed during the delta part of the pandemic so we run away can I say you two two sort of data questions one how are we doing this year when it comes to the uptake of the flu vaccine and two do you have any sense of how many Vermonters might fall into that category of long haul COVID people so two very different questions thank you for asking me the first one because it gives me another chance to make an announcement so the rate of uptake of flu vaccine this year is almost almost identical to what it was prior to the pandemic but I cautioned people last year 2020 during the pandemic we really had a more robust uptake of flu so the fact is I would like to see our level this year at least emulate last years and not just go back to the pre-pandemic so I would like to let people know that there's plenty of flu vaccine out there I understand that perhaps maybe going to pharmacies has been challenging because they're a bit preoccupied with COVID vaccine COVID boosters COVID pediatric now but the reality is whether it's a pharmacy a healthcare provider they can find flu vaccine everywhere with long COVID I wish I could give you a number you know we had so little cases pre-delta that that in itself was a challenge but the fact of the matter is nationwide we're just beginning to learn these kind of statistics and the rate that has been given for most has been around 10 to 30 percent which is a pretty wide range but if you think about the number of cases of COVID in the world and in the United States that's tremendous number of people and I often look at that and talk about the next pandemic is managing people who have suffered with long COVID the pediatric population Dr. Fauci spoke about this a few weeks ago and thought that the number was in the four or five percent range so again for parents who are sitting on the fence not wondering about vaccinating their five to 11 year old long COVID is something you probably don't want to have to face and there's still a one in 20 chance of that occurring by current statistics if you had a child who got COVID so I would advise people to really consider that and the pediatric pediatrician community continues to have town halls throughout the state so several have been completed already and I've been kind of informally told that parents with concerns had their concerns answered and actually said now I'm really eager to get my kid vaccinated so they do make a difference so if there are parents out there that just want more information and want a trusted pediatrician from their part of the state these are all of the dates are all available on the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics website Dr. Levine if you don't mind I've asked one more question of you here you did briefly mention do I have the common cold do I have cold with the winter months pre-pandemic the cold just sort of came with the territory here so what is the guidance you can share with people even if you think this is just a cold the guidance you can share so at a time when community transmission is as high as it is not just in Vermont but throughout most of the country for that matter the strategy really should be protect yourself protect your family and others by knowing as early as possible whether you have COVID or not so if you have symptoms that you wonder are the common cold whether you're vaccinated or not you should probably get yourself tested either through our site or through the antigen testing as I described is already after one and we have 15 people in the queue so would ask folks to keep to the two questions we offered starting with Chris Roy at the Newport Daily Express Chris Newport Daily Express right we will go to Greg at the County Courier Governor in regard to calling the legislature back it's widely known that you strive for savings in state government but calling the legislature back for what 45 days early for one action that really you could take yourself and then they could finalize in January I'm just wondering you know that money could go to housing the homeless reducing taxes some people have suggested that you're in action is just pure stubbornness and at the financial cost of remoders I wonder how you would address that well again it's just a compromise I think in this day and age they have made their position quite clear they think a statewide mandate is important the statewide mandates should be imposed whether it's a mass mandate or other mandates and I don't agree so at times because of the the amount of work we have to do together over the next few months I thought it was an opportunity to meet them where they are and to give them something so that we can move into the session seamlessly and try to get the work done for the people so I don't see it as a waste of time or money and if they don't again they don't see the need at this point and they want to try to impose further restrictions then I'm willing to go they can do that in January but and they don't have to meet right now but it's totally up to them but you could institute something that if I was willing to do so that goes against everything that I have said I think I've I've made my position very clear I don't believe that we need to impose any mandates at this point in time we don't have a state of emergency I'm not going to enact my emergency powers to do so so that would be what I'd have to do and I'm not willing to do it so this is the only path forward to give us us give them something in in regards to what they want so that's what I'm doing okay I want to just touch on the test-the-state program as Secretary French mentioned many of these programs are being conducted out of the school setting I'm wondering if if you're looking at this as maybe leading into later on a test-the-state type of program for adults and the general workforce who become a close contact but want to get tested on a daily basis in order to go back to work is that something you see in the future yeah in fact I mentioned that in my remarks that I think this is the future I think antigen testing rapid testing at home is going to be part of the answer so we need the supply chain to catch up they need to be affordable I believe that there are going to be some businesses that will require this and supply them I think this is the future it's going to be the future until we get through this which is going to be you know months maybe years and not days and weeks but to be clear that's not something that can happen now even with the programs that are outside of the school setting well again I think that is something that we're transitioning towards we have to make sure that we have the supply chain to do that and that's what I'm going to be bringing up and we've asked them to discuss in next Tuesday's briefing with the governors from the White House so we'll find out more then hopefully they have a huge stockpile and that they're building upon and that they'll be able to distribute that to the states because again I feel this is the future okay thank you governor thank you to Guy Page at the Vermont Daily Chronicle hello governor you just said that there could be a Vermont Republican Senator could that be you too it couldn't be me no no I'm I'm out of this one but there could be I just don't know who it is but we'll see okay Secretary Smith said that there is a staffing shortage for hospital beds to what extent is the shortage of nurses and other hands-on care staff due to hospital vaccination requirements and do you expect it to worsen as we near January 4th the Biden administration administration deadline for 100 hospital employment vaccination yeah I'll let Secretary Smith answer that one Guy as you know throughout the United States we have a nursing shortage we've had a nursing shortage before the pandemic started but we it's been acutely sort of recognized as the pandemic is going on these beds have not been unstaffed because of any sort of vaccine sort of mandate they've been unstaffed because they haven't been able to get the nurses to staff them up or the cost of the nurses to get them up like in traveling nurses has been so exorbitantly high that it's been difficult to get them we have said we will help you out financially to try to find those nurses across the United States in terms of it but I have not heard that it's been vaccination related I just wondered I know a lot of states are saying come here and you don't need to worry about a vaccination requirement I just wonder if we've lost any nurses do that yeah but you've got to remember the vaccination status for the most of the health care facilities especially hospitals is probably going to be nationwide given the Medicaid and Medicare mandates that are coming down from the national government so I don't think that is the issue we're seeing here okay thank you with Congress taking so long to get this infrastructure bill finally signed by the president what has that done to some of the project timelines that you've had in place hoping that the funding would come to center? yeah I don't think it's impacted us in terms of the maybe the traditional infrastructure we have we had that in place beforehand we got through this season we're in the same in this fiscal year but certainly this is coming at a good time for us because we're so seasonal here in Vermont and our season is just about run out in terms of construction traditional construction so we're in good shape in that regard and we'll be looking forward to receiving all of the funding to increase the number of roads and bridges as well as climate change initiatives and broadband I think this is all good news for us here in Vermont what's your feeling on the progress with the broadband effort so far? well they're laying the ground work I think the broadband board has done a tremendous amount of work thus far and the other CUDs are working with them as well as with private entities so I think we're laying the ground work and hopefully we'll be able to put a lot of fiber in the ground in the coming year to two years to meet our goals but it's all going to come down to I mean I'm still concerned whatever it is whether it's traditional infrastructure roads bridges etc or broadband or climate change initiatives concerning the workforce we are still struggling and we are going to continue to struggle we need as we've seen pre-pandemic we had a workforce shortage and the pandemic has exacerbated that and so we're going to be plagued with that and that's why this session we need to we need to work together I knew with the legislature to come up with ways to attract more people to Vermont especially to grow the workforce so look forward to that we again we're faced with the problem before the pandemic but it's gotten much worse since for me thank you Attorney Porter Hello this is a question about PCR testing as we go into winter currently for people in the Mad River Valley our closest testing site is in Waterbury and that is a 30 to 40 mile round trip which takes 50 to 60 minutes we're curious here if there will be anything closer as we go into winter because not everybody can take 16 minutes out of their day I understand that Sugarbush has been reaching out to the Department of Health about the possibility of hosting an ongoing winter testing site in Warren on the Sugarbush Access Road is that a possibility? I'll let Secretary Smith answer but again I would offer that antigen testing may be part of the strategy as well Italy so let me look into the ability to deliver tests closer to the area that you're describing and the Governor is absolutely right I mean there is a fundamental shift going on here that we have to acknowledge and implement and depending on supply chain that will be you'll be seeing that in the very near future I think this fundamental switch which brings a lot of testing capability or at least will try to bring a lot of testing capability right to your front door or at least near your front door so let me check on the availability of PCR in the area that you just described Thank you that's the Mad River Valley and then I just have a quick question and I'm not sure who is collecting this data on COVID cases in schools the state COVID pre-K to 12 website showed 12 cases as of November 15th and our school district has reported 23 cases as of November 15th that's a pretty significant lag and when we asked about this before we were told it's simply a reporting metric can you can probably Secretary French clarify how that reporting metric works Yeah hi Lisa thank you for the question I do remember when you asked that a couple of weeks ago oh might be helpful if I took my mask off yeah I do remember when you asked that a couple of weeks ago and it is I think it's firstly it's a partnership with the health department that monitors that but I've heard that question more frequently from several different districts so I could just hazard a guess at this point but we have to dig deeper into it but I think there is a bit of a lag time perhaps with the number of cases that we're seeing there's also I think with the sort of proliferation of other testing opportunities going on particularly over-the-counter as was alluded to earlier you know sometimes I'm hearing from schools that you know parents are determining they have a case through a over-the-counter test kit that's not necessarily a case that was confirmed to the state testing process so there's some variability as well but I think it's just the volume of cases that we're seeing and it will certainly endeavor to do a better job in that but that would be my guess at this point thank you that's it for me Kevin Cullen the Boston Blue thanks Rebecca Governor your decision not to contest the seat that Senator Leahy will vacate comes just after New Hampshire Governor Kristen Unu announced that he will not challenge Senator Hatham both you and Governor Sununu have regularly bemoaned partisan gridlock and the lack of civility in Washington but I'd ask how does that change if more moderate voices like yours aren't heard in Washington yeah I you know Kevin you make a good point I I think there needs to be more moderate more centrist in Washington I just choose not to be one of them it's it's something that it takes a different maybe style maybe a different approach than than I'm willing to contend with I mean it's it's an uphill battle and and to be that way regardless of this isn't partisan a moderate centrist in Washington is amongst the minority unfortunately and you know I've served my entire political life in the minority and I'm not sure that I want to jump into that quagmire so to speak Lastly Governor have you talked to Governor Sununu about this very issue we have discussed this in the past but but not of late I haven't spoken to him since he made his announcement and made his decision but we've talked a little bit about it in the past very good thanks Governor thank you I wonder if Secretary Smith has an update on any uh advances in the homeless housing and whether any commercial or office buildings at which there's a lot vacant right now might be considered or available have you got one Tim uh yeah there's a lot right here in Chittenden County actually Governor but of course they're not that not really suitable a lot of them but but perhaps there are I think that's part of the issue as well is trying to renovate and rehabilitate to the standards needed with all the facilities it's it's you know it's just very difficult very expensive and time consuming but I'll let Secretary Smith answer yeah Tim I don't have any updates and I'll check with DCF just to make sure if there are any updates but I'm I haven't had any updates on that as you know we have changed the adverse weather policy to make sure that it doesn't go day to day that we put it into place just before Thanksgiving and it it goes for a hundred days after that but that's the only update that I have on the on that issue does it appear there's enough hotel motels at this point to serve the people that choose to go in that direction we've we've had challenges with hotel motels in the you know in the recent past and I haven't gotten an update of where we are on on that in terms of today but I know we've had challenges I know that we've had people that want to come in the program that qualify for the that come into the program and we don't have the hotel space for them but we've been looking for hotel space we continue to look for hotel space for the winner and we will continue like I said last time where I think the best promise for us is looking at vacant facilities that may be eligible to be converted over the winter time period you know I talked last time maybe a college dorm that isn't being used or something along that line we do have 500 people in shelters right now we'd like to increase that shelter like capacity to another 500 that's why we're looking at these type of facilities around the state but you got to think of what we what we're doing we have about 1400 in hotel motels we have 500 in shelters right at the moment we estimate that you know there aren't that many people left that are looking for facilities but we need probably about 500 more you know 500 to accommodate 500 more people that's that's what we're looking at where we think we have about 200 that are still out there and just remember Tim some will never get some don't want to come into the shelters and that's that's an important aspect of what we're finding as well all right thank you very much hi I think this is also a question for Secretary Smith I'm wondering if there's certain parts of the state that are lagging in vaccine sign-ups for kids and if so what the state is trying to do to target those areas either Secretary Smith or Secretary French hi this is Secretary French I think it's too early to tell you know it's really been going well but it's a non-stop problem solving on the part of the state also on the part of local school districts to meet the demand which is again really good to see but I don't think the larger trend is apparent yet but it's something we'll definitely be keeping an eye on as I mentioned in my remarks today the vaccination rate that we have for the 12 to 18 population is high as a state average but does vary considerably region to region I would be surprised to see the 5 to 11 rate not similarly vary so it's something we'll have to monitor but right now the vaccination clinic campaign is going exceedingly well okay thank you question about the ICU beds you guys have mentioned that you added or that you reopened 10 ICU beds that were on staff where are the beds and also how many more beds can we so realistically open if we need to Secretary Smith they are as we mentioned there are several types of beds that we're looking at one is to open a hotel hospital capacity we are looking at how do we move people that don't need to be in a hospital but need some level of care called subacute care out of the hospital into other facilities we've done that in the first round about moving about 80 patients out of hospitals across sort of the state moving 80 patients out of hospitals to either long-term care facilities or rehab facilities we're looking at moving more of those subacute maybe up to 80 again subacute patients out of long-term excuse me out of hospitals that will open up hospital beds within the hospitals and ability to manage any sort of non ICU patients that are coming in on the ICU we've put out with this what happened Friday evening I had a Friday afternoon and Friday Friday morning Friday afternoon Friday evening I had discussions with both the hospital CEOs and the hospital association and basically what I said is we did we did a survey to find out how many hospital beds are out there that can be opened and they're not open because they're not staffed and then we came up with a formula for the next three months of how we could participate in helping finance finding nurses critical care nurses and respiratory therapists to open up those 10 beds those are spread out over about five hospitals throughout the state I don't have the list in my mind but I will I will make sure that you get the name of those hospitals thank you one last question how many cases are staffed versus residents in long-term care facilities right now yeah I'll turn to commissioner P check on that and see if he has that so we don't have the exact percentage but it's somewhere close to 70 percent staff and 30 percent you know give or take residents based on the data that we saw this morning thank you very much yes good afternoon thanks for secretary french returning the subject of schools with lower vaccination rates you mentioned some schools are experiencing staff fatigue and will likely see operational disruption in the weeks ahead how are schools dealing with that fatigue now and what resources are available to them and do schools have latitude to shift to remote learning and still meet the required number of education dates yeah I think there's a variety of strategies going on and I would say the fatigue is fairly widespread across the system you know delta no one could have anticipated the challenge that it would pose the things like contact tracing and contact tracing in particular to sort of just highlight secretary smith's comments earlier on the need to iterate on contact tracing we've made at least I think three changes in contact tracing precisely because of our experience with managing essentially the speed and the increased contagion of the delta variant in schools so I think it's important that as we said in our last iteration on contact tracing that schools really strive to implement the contact tracing strategies that we've described move away from things like contact tracing outdoors try as best as possible particularly at the elementary level to implement the three feet as opposed to whole classroom so some things there that can be done I think the the issue of test to stay in particular is a really promising strategy as you've heard today that what I've seen as a success pattern there is really requiring and utilizing sort of the non-clinical staff of schools I was thinking of the St. Albans situation where they essentially use their central office staff to implement test to stay so those those kinds of local options need to be worked through we are working at the state level to secure some temporary staff temporary hiring staff that could be available and I think after the first of the year particularly if the five through 11 campaign rolls out very successfully we'll see places that are going to need more support than others and I think our disposition at the state level would then shift to sort of a targeted approach where we can come in with a team and help a specific district work through some of the logistical challenges in terms of remote learning just underscore that you know we're operating under our existing regulation which in the regulation I'm speaking to speaks to the minimum number of days that students schools must be in operation for schools for students and that's 175 days a year in the lots that's defined as when a majority of the students are physically present in the school so we don't have the ability to necessarily count if a whole school was in remote learning we don't have the ability to count that as a attendance day but nonetheless schools are using remote learning to keep students connected and so forth and that's perfectly acceptable in terms of the statutory and regulatory requirement we are poised to have a waiver process an expedited waiver process available starting around February that's when the regulation kicks in the state board did grant that authority to me so we'll have that available for schools but at this point remote learning is being utilized but it's not necessarily available to count towards the minimal attendance requirements okay thank you and then governor or perhaps commissioner P-check the slide in the modeling deck that compared case trends this fall to last year it was pointed out that starting in mid-December last year cases seemed to plateau and drift a little bit lower I know that recreational sports were shut down just about this day last year with cases being so prevalent now among kids and winter sports gearing up really with a variable use of masking is this a point of concern in the potential flashpoint for new cases going forward? well again I mean things were much different a year ago in many different regards we had we had mandates still in place at that point but I would also offer that the indoor sports I believe and secretary more can isn't on the line so she can't tell me but I believe that indoor sports do have to be mass so there isn't across the board so I don't believe there's any variable there well I think a number of locations and sporting groups are interpreting the guidance as recommendations and not necessarily something that needs to be strictly adhered to yeah I think that could be true for the school districts themselves maybe secretary french could comment on that yeah with our just a your point of comparison to last year of course I think the big difference is vaccination which we didn't have in our toolkit last year but you know we you're right we do have recommendations specifically I'll speak to the school recommendations which I think secretary more if she were available would underscore are the same for recreational sports they are recommendations but we strongly recommend that athletes get vaccinated we strongly recommend that athletes wear masks and spectators do as well so they are recommendations but we also work closely with the VPA to ensure that I think there'll be some consistency with that but it remains to be seen how that will unfold but I think you know just to draw the distinction again between last year and this year last year we didn't have vaccination and really our exclusive focus I think appropriately was on keeping people safe I think this year particularly with vaccination being in our toolkit we're increasingly focusing on balancing the educational needs of students with their their risks from the COVID emergency or the COVID pandemic so as we saw last winter athletic activities play a critical role in the mental health and well-being in the educational routine of students so it's important that we strive to seek that appropriate balance and I I think our recommendations do that thank you everyone for your time just want to offer as well just that the we believe the VPA is going to follow our guidance so that question previous question might be a better question for them but we believe that they're going to follow that not to take any more time I would just suggest that recreational sports that are operating right now ahead of the high school sports got it okay to have a different implementation yep I understand now Erin can you hear me we can I I came across a Twitter thread from an appointed official in a small Vermont town and I'm going to shorten it a little bit since take of time but I wanted to read a couple of quotes from this thread every single one of us regardless of party affiliation or absence of stain is doing that work because we care about our town sometimes we have very heated conversations about how best to use our limited resources to best help our communities so we hash it out we talk we argue and we vote now it's the pandemic people don't have a lot of time or money but stretch then we're busy arguing about the stuff we have to argue about and now the governor has decided that we should also have to argue about math if we're worried about it if we want to have our community safer by having local masking we have to go have that discussion too as if our agendas are already backed up it's handy to pass the bus volunteers and low-level officials who then have to take the brunt of the consequences in our homes where we don't have security details putting the burden of math mandates on individual towns is actually the same as deciding there will be no math mandate you have any response to that governor well again the mass mandate isn't my idea this is something that the legislative leaders have promoted and asked for I'm not willing to go there we're not no longer in a state of emergency from my perspective I don't think a mass mandate is the right approach or any mandates of any significance is the right approach because it's counterproductive I think we stick to our plan the first thing we need to do is is to get people who are unvaccinated vaccinated and I think the mass mandates hurt that effort again we're not an outlier here in this state 40 44 states are doing the same thing and the other states who are doing something different aren't exactly leading the nation either so we have a difference of opinion on this with the legislature so I offered this as a compromise if they feel as though this isn't what is good for Vermont they don't have to pass it and I'm perfectly content with that please school board meetings have gotten very contentious and heated over the past year and you've kind of spoken in favor of civility in the situation what do you have to say about the probable debates and arguments that are going to come up about these potential mass mandates well I think debates and heated discussion is something that we all experience over whether it's legislative or on local issues or in school boards and so forth but I think you can have those debates and something I promoted throughout my entire political life by the way for civility civility and respect it's something that I practice I not only preach it but I practice it and and I would say you know find someone who can say otherwise because this is the way I've led my life and I think you can have both I think you can have those debates those important debates that need to happen we've had them throughout our history here in Vermont with town meetings they get heated as well but it takes calmer heads to prevail it takes common decency and respect in civility I think wins the day so again I know it's difficult we're under everyone is under an incredible amount of stress but but you know I think we can have both and and by the way I mean this isn't my idea I think you probably saw on some of the media reports you might have even written about it but VLCT the Vermont League of Cities and Towns this is the organization that represents those bodies have advocated for this they say this is the answer this is what they want so this is a my idea and I'm just giving them what they want or I'm at least putting this on the table so maybe you should be asking VLCT and not me that's all thank you East Brattleboro Reformer Hi I have a question for Secretary French last night at a school board meeting a parent was was kind of upset with a high school because during the morning announcements the vaccine was being promoted I was just wondering if this is something that's happening in other schools is it sort of being promoted is it encouraged and what your view is on this I'll give my perspective I think it should be promoted and and I hope we get as many of our five to 11 year olds five to 18 year olds vaccinated as possible but Secretary French yeah thanks for the question as we did with the 12 through 18 vaccination campaign we provide school districts with information materials to promote vaccination we work in partnership with the health department to do that I will say with the five to 11 campaign we've had to differentiate that strategy a bit as we've heard you know parents who have questions sometimes it's best to hear from their pediatrician or their family health provider in that regard so we've been sensitive to how best we can support school districts and providing information of their parents and sometimes that's a reference to a local health provider or pediatrician as opposed to the school being the primary disseminator that information but we do we do support vaccination and provide the communications materials for schools that support it as well okay thanks Governor Scott I was just wondering if if you could weigh in the cannabis on the cannabis control boards recommendation to legislature that one to two percent of the state excise tax on retail sales go to municipalities where the retail sales occurred do you have any thoughts on that do you think that that's fair I think we'll have to let the legislature debate that I couldn't answer that at this point in time I'd want to confer with our tax commissioner as well as others in finance I mean this I just don't have a any answer for you at this point they're an independent yeah they're an independent body and they'll put forward what they feel they need and then the legislature will debate it and we will as well all right thanks Peter Herzfeld BPR thanks Rebecca uh Commissioner Sherling is still with us here Mr. Sherling he he may be on I'm not sure I haven't heard from him today okay um if he's not I'll follow up with him in the book let me let me check Commissioner Sherling are you on he is not responding Peter okay okay I'll reach out and that's all for me thanks thank you can you hand me okay we can hi thanks for your time so this past week some of the national headlines were about how Vermont has been one of the most vaccinated states in the nation and yet people are still getting the virus at some of the highest rates in the nation and I know you somebody's you've explained some of it already some of the nuances but can you or doctors will be and speak more to how does this not show that the vaccine strategy might not be working in the plan well again I think if you look at the data Mike and Dr. Levine can answer further but as as we've said if you look at the data it's showing that 70 percent of those cases a high number of cases is amongst the unvaccinated and that's a pretty when you start doing the math that's a pretty small population in regards that we have you know 450 500,000 people who are vaccinated at this point and we may have 50 to a 100,000 maybe 100,000 total with a five to 11 year olds at this point who are unvaccinated so when you look at those percentages it does skew towards pointing a pretty obvious fact that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated and that's what's driving our cases but Dr. Levine yeah I'll give the cliff notes version of what I said at last week's press conference when you look at the reasons it has to do with the Delta variant being way more contagious than anything we've encountered before being spread very rapidly by people it has to do with the fact that we had probably the lowest in the nation rate of people having had COVID prior to the Delta variant so we had very little immunity in the population for the virus we also had the most efficient and early vaccine success so that because waning of vaccine immunity is a real phenomenon we would have had a population that was at higher risk for that as well needing booster and we have a very mobile population who's been taking advantage of the fact that they've been vaccinated and doing things in person much more than before including as we unfortunately saw at Halloween some gatherings so again as the governor said we have this 50 to 100,000 fold person young and other ages that have not been vaccinated or are just beginning to get vaccinated and this variant will find them all especially at a time like winter when it's getting colder and people are indoors and gathering more into those circumstances so that's sort of the setting the table for what you've been asking about but again keep in mind and you can see it right now in the statistics about those over 65 to correct that waning of immunity is not a heavy lift people just need to present and get their booster shot and we've made it very easy for them to do that and really have tried to facilitate that and we're seeing in the 60 to 65 an older age group it's having a significant impact already and every day now when I look at our case reports at the most we're talking about 15% of the population over age 60 account for some of those cases so it's everybody younger and the most boosted part of the population we have in Vermont and in the country right now is Vermonters over age 65 who have really gone to very good extremes to get boosted so that's very very important and just don't lose sight of that okay thank you if I may real quick I have some data that a nurse shared with me on the nurse shortage and the vaccine mandates I heard a you and guys page talking about that earlier in the call he had mentioned asked about the nurse shortage and if they that was expected to be exaggerated by the vaccine mandate a nurse shared with me and this is one of my articles on the website to North Dakota at one hospital in Rutland now this includes the assistance so it's not just nurses this is the I think they call RNAs and LNAs but all together it was 87 hospital workers at one hospital that were expected to leave I just wanted to share that and I think at UBM medical center the number was much higher but I just wanted to share that because I heard it discussed earlier in the call and I thought I might find that interesting here and if you want to respond to that please do all right thank you thanks for sharing Mike we'll look into that and see if that's accurate okay thank you very much we'll see you again next Tuesday