 in on the bi-weekly White House call with White House officials, CDC Director Dr. Walensky, Dr. Fauci, and other governors. Notably, Dr. Fauci had said he was still hopeful the vaccine would be approved for kids under 12 this fall, though he couldn't commit to an exact timeline. Dr. Fauci also said vaccines remain effective against the severe outcomes we've talked about. Both he and Dr. Walensky talked about boosters for those with certain health conditions, saying this is meant to give an added layer of protection to those who are most susceptible. And we may see that extended to everyone, but again, they said this is an extra layer of protection, and the vaccines are still effective. Secretary Smith and Dr. Levine will talk more about this in a moment. Throughout this pandemic, we've made our decisions and recommendations by looking at the data, trusting the science and looking at the big picture, knowing nothing is black and white. We've stuck to this approach even when public pressure is called for different strategies, criticized our priorities, demanded more, or protested for less. Yet throughout, we've led the nation in our response and we continue to lead today. This is why we've been monitoring the data very closely, especially in recent weeks. And while cases have ticked up, it's important for Vermonters to remember we're not Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or any other states with significantly lower vaccination rates and significantly higher hospitalizations than Vermont. Because in Vermont, when you look beyond one metric, you realize the data continues to show vaccines work. Mr. Pchak will go into more detail in a few minutes, but Vermont continues to have the highest vaccination rates, hitting 85% of those eligible with at least one dose over the weekend. And those numbers keep going up. We also continue to have the lowest hospitalization rate in the country, and that's really important. More specifically, the data shows vaccines are preventing cases. Yes, there are so-called breakthrough cases, but that term is misleading. We always knew vaccines weren't 100% effective, but they have minimized the severity. Because in the rare cases where a fully vaccinated person does get it, they're unlikely to go to the hospital and are often asymptomatic. So let's look at the data and talk about what's really important. Since January, only 2% of cases among Vermonters have been fully vaccinated, 2%. And of the more than 430,000 fully vaccinated Vermonters, 1.1%. That's one-tenth of 1% have gotten COVID. And of the same vaccinated group, only .004% have been hospitalized. And .002% have died, most of whom had other chronic conditions that contributed to this outcome. I share this today not to sugarcoat anything, but to reinforce that vaccines are working and to help Vermonters understand their current risks, which continues to be very, very low for those who are fully vaccinated. So with this data in mind, we know our high vaccination rate means we can and should be thinking differently about this virus and how we control it. And this is why we're not changing our statewide guidance or adding new recommendations at this time. But we do want to remind folks of our current recommendations. First, our top recommendation continues to be, and this was after we lifted the state of emergency, get vaccinated. They're free, safe and effective. Second, I want to clear up some misinformation I've seen around our school guidance. Primarily for folks who don't seem to think we're recommending masking. So let's be clear on what we've asked schools to do. When schools open, we're asking all students, all teachers, and all school employees to wear masks for the first two to three weeks of school. They should stay required for all those not yet eligible for the vaccine. That means kids under 12. Now, just like we did for Vermonters, we're comfortable lifting that requirement once those eligible hit 80% with both doses. But it would be just lifted for the eligible population and only if that threshold is met at that school. And under federal rule, masks are required on buses for everyone. So for those folks who don't think we have any masking recommendations in place, that's just not true. Because masking will be a part of the school year. Separate from schools, since we ended the state of emergency, we've recommended the unvaccinated wear masks when in indoor public settings. This hasn't changed. And we want to be clear that we're encouraging it, whether you're just not eligible, haven't had time, or have chosen not to get a vaccine just yet. And if you fall into these last two categories, we'd ask you to simply look at the data. This is clearly a pandemic of the unvaccinated, with nearly all the hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated at this point. And while we're talking about masks right now, I want to be crystal clear. The vaccine is by far the best, most effective way for you to protect yourself and your loved ones. It's the best way to make sure your kids stay in school without disruption this year. It's still the best way to make sure you're not the case that breaks into a long-term care facility. And if you're still not convinced to get the vaccine, you should be putting on a mask when you're inside for all these reasons. Regardless of the choices each of us make, we must remember we're all in this together. Unfortunately, we have a much better tool in our toolbox right now, so please help make sure we don't have to take any steps backward. Get a vaccine today, and if you have concerns, talk to a trusted medical professional, not Facebook. I'm confident we can keep moving forward, but we need everyone pulling in the same direction, and we're not going to do it blindly. We've always watched the data, and we've done what's best for Vermonters. I'll now turn it over to Commissioner Pichek for a modeling update. Thank you very much, Governor, and good afternoon, everyone. On the national level, to start things off, we continue to see that cases are still on the rise with the national seven-day average topping out at about 139,000 cases, but we are also continuing to see some encouraging signs that we referenced last week, specifically that the rate of increase week over week does continue to slow. This week, cases increased 19 percent over last week's total, down from 38 percent the week before, and 54 percent the week before that. To be clear, the cases are still increasing, but this slowdown does provide increasing and further evidence that, as a nation, we're headed toward a COVID peak with this most recent Delta wave. Again, the timing would be consistent with the other observed Delta peaks that we've seen across the globe. The United States is entering that seven to nine-week period when a number of other countries saw their cases start to slow down and decrease, and that is the trend that the country is on at the moment. And a little closer to home, we see similar trends here in the northeast as well, where we saw about 8,000 more cases this week compared to last week, but the rate of growth continues the slow with cases increasing only 19 percent this week over last week, compared to 44 percent the week before, and 58 percent the week before that. Again, all of these signs point to the northeast, entering a period of time where cases will continue to slow and eventually fall over the next couple of weeks. And we're seeing a similar story here in Vermont as well, where reported cases this week were 758, a 41 percent increase over last week, but the rate of growth was about half of what it was compared to last week, and we anticipate that cases will continue to slow and eventually decrease in the coming weeks. Just to mention that cases here in Vermont started to rise later than the national cases in the northeast as well, which would explain the little bit higher growth rate that we're seeing this week. But again, the trends are very similar to what is being experienced in the northeast and nationally, and it continues to point to the fact that cases will slow and will reach a peak here in the short future. And we look at our case rate more specifically here in Vermont. We continue to see trends that we've seen previously continue to present themselves with new cases among the population that's not fully vaccinated, being much higher than among the fully vaccinated population. Currently, that rate is 3.5 times higher, and the rate of increase among the not fully vaccinated is higher than those that are fully vaccinated as well. So the data continues to clearly show that the cases are being driven by those who are not vaccinated. So as the governor said, a key way to prevent that and stop that and slow it down is to go out and encourage your friends to get vaccinated and to do so yourself if you haven't done so already. And even in those cases that we're seeing, those breakthrough cases that we're seeing, you need to really look at that data on the cumulative level. And when we do that over the last seven months, we see that really just a fraction of Vermonters who are fully vaccinated have resulted in a breakthrough case. Approximately 630 breakthrough cases have been reported in Vermont as of last Friday. And that's compared to the 418,000 Vermonters who are fully vaccinated in our state. Again, 630 breakthrough cases among the 418,000 Vermonters who are fully vaccinated. And those fractions get even smaller when you start to examine breakthrough cases that have led to more severe outcomes, like hospitalizations and deaths. This data continues to send a very clear message, as the governor said, that vaccines provide strong protection from the virus and even stronger protection among the most severe outcomes from COVID-19. And we continue to see those different outcomes in the real world data when we compare states with lower and higher vaccination rates. As you can see on the chart, parts of the country that have low vaccination rates have seen significantly higher cases, significantly higher hospitalizations and deaths than those states that have higher vaccination rates represented on the green line. And again, Vermont is represented here on the blue line having significantly lower cases, lower hospitalizations and lower fatalities than even the other states that are in our peer group in terms of the vaccination rate. So although the cases have gone up, they have stayed low relative to those other places and the hospitalizations most importantly have stayed low relative to those other places about nine times higher in some of the least vaccinated states compared to Vermont. And as the governor mentioned, Vermont continues to have the lowest hospitalization rate in the country. And for those who are in the hospital, again, the large majority of them are among individuals who are not vaccinated. So another reason to step up and do that. And we are seeing that in the data that Vermonters are continuing to step up. 2,825 new Vermonters got vaccinated this week, moving the percent of eligible Vermonters who have started vaccination up to 85.1%. And this represents an increase of about 2% over the last week, but a 39% increase from the middle of July when the Delta variant started to rise across the country. And all this results in Vermont continuing to be a national leader across the board on vaccinations. And just a note on another milestone that Vermont hit this weekend, Vermont now has over 75% of its entire population that has started vaccination being the first state and the only state so far to reach this threshold as well. So at this time, I will turn it over to Secretary Smith. Thank you, Commissioner Petschek and good afternoon, everyone. As usual, I'm going to cover the various walk-in vaccination clinics that will be open at schools and other sites across the state this week. Before that, I want to mention the recent guidance from the CDC regarding booster shots for individuals whose immune systems are compromised. During Dr. Levine's update, he'll provide more detail about this, including who is currently eligible for the booster shots. The bottom line is that at this time, the CDC recommends booster shots for individuals that have moderately or severely compromised immune systems and received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Boosters are not currently recommended for those that receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Individuals should talk to their primary health care providers about whether getting an additional dose is appropriate for them. Many primary care providers are also equipped to give booster shots for those that are eligible. We also expect that the pop-up sites that I'm announcing today will be available to begin providing booster shots for those eligible later this week. You will have to self-attest that you qualify. Additionally, many of the pharmacy chains in the state are providing booster shots for those who have compromised immune systems, including kinnies, Walgreens, CVS, and more. Please contact your pharmacist to find out more about what sort of requirements they will put in place for verification, and go online to the pharmacy website. It is important to note at this point, the CDC does not recommend additional booster shots for populations other than those with compromised immune systems. But, as you may have read in the news this morning, there is consideration underway at the federal level for recommending a wider distribution of booster shots. We have already been planning for this type of event. The federal government anticipates this effort would begin sometime around the middle to late September. We will have more on this in the upcoming weeks. Turning to vaccination rates, as the Governor and Commissioner Pichek mentioned, as of today, we are at 85.1% of eligible Vermonters that have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and over 75% of all eligible Vermonters that are fully vaccinated, around 76%. Over the weekend, we had 107 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, 130 on Saturday, 63 on Sunday, and 61 on Monday. We are transitioning to reporting these numbers on the website each day, including back to reporting on weekends. I want to remind everyone that vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing the most serious effects of COVID-19, including against the Delta variant. You can walk in and get vaccinated at most local pharmacies, including those in grocery stores. You can also visit pharmacy locations at the UVM Medical Center, as well as at community health centers of Burlington, or urgent care locations at Northwestern Medical Center and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. In addition to those options, here's where you'll find 31 pop-up in school-based clinics this week. Today, at the Fairleigh Community Arts Music Series, that's in Fairleigh, the Hartford Heights School, the Milton Elementary School, the Marshfield Dam Fishing Access, the Johnson Elementary School, tomorrow August 18th, the Oxbow Riverfront Park, that's in Morrisville, the Mansfield Union High School in Jericho, Colchester Middle School, Waterbury Ambulance and Waterbury Center, and 1311 Berry Montpelier Road in Berlin. On Thursday, Essex High School in Essex Junction, the Rutland High School, the Waterbury Farmer's Market, the Berrytown EMS in Eastbury, and Suncommon in Waterbury on Friday, August 20th, the Highland Center for the Arts, that's in Greensboro, Vermont Distillers, that's in West Marlboro, Newport Waterfront Plaza in Newport, Mount Abe Union High School in Bristol, Bellas Falls Union High School in Bellas Falls, and again on 1311 Berry Montpelier Road in Berry. On Saturday, the Bellas Falls Fire Department in Bellas Falls, the Brattleboro Music Center in Retreat Farm, that's a series of music under the stars in Brattleboro, Grand Isle Sheriff's Department in Grand Isle, the Stowe Community Church in Stowe, the Highland Center for the Arts again in Greensboro, and the Orleans, I got more actually, Orleans Fire Department in Orleans, the LaMoyle County Courthouse in Hyde Park, the Waterbury Ambulance and Waterbury Center, and Lawson's Finest Liquids, that's a brewery. I hear that their beer, Sipo Sunshine, is very good. I haven't had it. Sunday, August 22nd, Hyde Park Municipal Office in Hyde Park. Please take advantage of these opportunities to become vaccinated. You can find information on all of these COVID vaccinations, and even the testing sites, multiple testing sites across the state on the Health Department's website, which is healthpermont.gov slash myvaccine. I'll now turn it over to Dr. Levine for a health update. Thanks, Secretary, and good afternoon. I'm going to speak a little bit about the vaccine, the virus, and the new population of people eligible for an additional dose. As we stress so often in the face of this pandemic, we're very fortunate to have such remarkably safe and effective vaccines available to us. And they're still doing an excellent job of protecting us from the most serious effects of COVID-19, even in the face of the Delta virus. But we must also recognize how completely the Delta variant of the virus has changed the game for the U.S. and here in Vermont. We often talk about how transmissible the Delta variant is, but let me put that in perspective. With the rate at which the original coronavirus was able to spread, it was estimated that each person who was infected could be expected to spread it to as many as two, sometimes three others. With the Delta variant, by contrast, the CDC estimates on average each infected person may spread it to five or more people. This means anyone who's unvaccinated, both people who have chosen not to get vaccinated and those who aren't yet eligible in under age 12, are at greater risk of getting and spreading the virus. This is why cases continue to rise, though fortunately we've seen perhaps that pace of rising has slowed a bit. And because the virus is again prevalent in our communities, it also means that all of us, the unvaccinated and the vaccinated alike, have more opportunities to encounter it. Fully vaccinated people are highly protected from serious illness hospitalizations and deaths, but some vaccinated people can still get infected and possibly spread the virus. Remember, Delta is very good at replicating in the nose and the throat. Even though the vaccines produce great antibodies in our bloodstream and protect our lungs from any of the severe effects of the virus, it can still set up shop in our nasal passages and then from there be transmitted to others. But again, putting this in perspective, fortunately the period of time in which this can happen is quite brief because our immune system is prepared to kick in and rapidly mount a response. This is also why for the vaccinated, any symptoms are on the milder side and often more short lived. And the data supports this. Overall, as you saw, 0.15% of Vermont cases of COVID have been in the fully vaccinated. Since late January, 2% of cases, because who else is there to infect in a state where over 450,000 people have been vaccinated? With a total of 18 hospitalizations and eight deaths, the majority of whom were in older and more chronically ill individuals. But if the virus spreads from you to someone who does not have protection from the vaccine or who is vaccinated, but maybe at higher risk because of their weaker immune systems that can't mount a stronger response, the situation does become more serious. That's why even in Vermont, where we have some of the highest vaccination rates in the world, it can still be highly beneficial for the public to have extra protection right now during this Delta surge. So I'm going to review with you information on our healthvermont.gov website to help you protect yourself and others. The webpage first points out, and I'll repeat, Vermont's high vaccination rates mean the vast majority of Ramoners are protected from the virus, which also keeps the virus from spreading to others. If you are unvaccinated, you should wear a mask in public indoor settings. If you are not fully vaccinated, wearing a mask helps protect you and the people around you from getting or spreading COVID-19. A mask helps contain your respiratory droplets and can keep them from reaching others. COVID can spread even if a person does not have any symptoms. Now, if you are vaccinated, remember it is still possible to get and transmit the virus, so follow the prevention steps. Wash your hands regularly, stay home if you feel sick, and get tested if you have any symptoms. Consider wearing a mask indoors as an extra layer of protection if you have a weakened immune system or are around someone who does, you have children who can't be vaccinated, you're traveling to a place with higher transmission and lower vaccination rates, you just feel more comfortable wearing one. I want to undermine this last point. The Governor and I and the whole team have noticed many Ramoners already adopting this behavior change. Wearing a mask, even if you are fully vaccinated, is completely reasonable. Taking the simple action minimizes safety, sorry, maximizes safety and allows some personal control over your own situation. For those who have not chosen to do so, please be accepting and non-judgmental toward those who do, because you really don't know their medical status or their personal reasons for wearing a mask. Just understand that you are actually safer because of what they're doing. And remember, the power of vaccination is that it still effectively reduces the number of people the virus can come into contact with and infect, but it doesn't eliminate it 100%. It just makes masking a truly backup strategy, much different than in the states where vaccination rate is very low, and masking becomes the primary mitigation strategy. Remember too, you may be required to wear a mask in some settings, even if you're fully vaccinated. For now, everyone should wear a mask in healthcare settings and long-term care facilities. Everyone is required to wear a mask on public transportation, even if you're fully vaccinated. And for schools, child care, summer camps, and other school programs, the Health Department recommends that unvaccinated people two years and older wear masks when inside the summer. The bottom line is that masks are a simple, effective way to add a protective layer between where the virus is and where it wants to go. Many businesses are already recommending or requiring masks to protect employees and the public. And Vermonters certainly have experience with masks by now. Many of you probably still carry one around with you in case you or your child needs one. Store your face mask with your keys, phone, or wallet, so it's easier to remember. Keep an extra in your coat pocket, bag, or car just in case, as you may be going to an establishment that requires you to wear one. Now I want to summarize the new vaccine guidance for those who have disorders of their immune system. Last Friday, the CDC and their advisory committee on immunization practices recommended that people whose immune systems are moderately to severely compromised receive an additional dose of messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine at least four weeks after an initial two-dose series. With the Delta variant surging and COVID increasing significantly across the U.S., an additional dose could help prevent serious and possibly life-threatening COVID in immunocompromised people. This isn't really considered to be a booster. It's really meant to provide opportunity for those in the immunocompromised group to mount an official, sufficient initial immune response so that third dose is really just helping them complete a series. The eligible population is estimated to be approximately 3% of the U.S. adult population, and they include some very focused groups, people who've had active treatment for solid tumor or hematologic cancers, people who've had a solid organ transplant and are taking immunosuppressive therapy, CAR T-cell or hematopoietic stem cell transplant within two years of transportation taking immunosuppressive therapy, people born with a primary immunodeficiency state, people with advanced or untreated HIV infection, fortunately quite rare these days as most people have identified and gotten their infection under treatment. And then the group of people who have active treatment with steroids, if they're on prednisone, more than 20 milligrams a day, or a host of other immune-modulating or biologic agents that can be immunosuppressive. You may still ask yourself, am I in any of these groups? So it's very important that if you have questions about your own status, you talk to your own health care provider about your medical condition or treatments and whether an additional dose of vaccine is appropriate for you. It's important to note that there are people not included in this list that are very important to remember. An additional dose is only recommended if you have moderate or severe immunocompromise. It's not recommended you take an additional dose if you're in any other population. This population includes all of those people we used to call high-risk conditions when we were ramping up our vaccine strategy. So conditions like heart disease, obesity, diabetes are not included in the current new guidance. As you heard from Secretary Smith, though, we are getting signals from the Biden administration that planning is underway in the next one to two months regarding boosters for the entire adult, broader population. That will include all of these other high-risk conditions, obviously, and most likely be ramped out in a very sequential way with people who earlier on got the vaccine, like high-risk health care workers, long-term care facility residents, and the oldest of Americans, and then proceed in that fashion. If you want to get your third shot because you do fit one of the groups I mentioned earlier, you can get that from your own clinician if they're employed in the vaccine program. And indeed, over 260 practices across the state are part of our program, and over 130 of them are currently administering vaccines. You can get them from the pharmacy chains or from the pop-up sites later this week. And as you heard, we'll be using a self-adastation model at the pharmacies and state vaccination administration sites. You will not have to have documentation of your health status. Keep in mind that the current CDC expectation is that the additional dose should be the same vaccine product as the initial two-dose messenger RNA series. If you got Pfizer, you should be getting your third dose as Pfizer. If you got Moderna, your third dose as Moderna. And if you received J&J as a single dose, this announcement actually does not pertain to you. They do not have enough data at this time to determine whether immunocompromised people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also have an improved antibody response following an additional dose of the same vaccine. So you'll have to stay tuned on that one because the data is being collected currently. And with that, I'll turn it back to the government. Thank you, Dr. Levine. We'll now open it up to questions. New Hampshire Governor Sununu, he's saying that we're going to see a spike in November and December, and he's phrasing this that could be as bad as anything we've ever seen. I'm wondering why we're predicting our statewide and regional caseload to decline, but Governor Sununu is saying it's going to increase. I have no idea. We'll have to wait and see. It could spike, I suppose, when we get indoors. We talked about this a lot throughout the summer that that's when I was expecting that we'd see an increase. I wasn't expecting it right now. I thought it'd be more as we moved inside in November and December. Maybe that's what he's seeing as well. Dr. Levine? I also won't speak for another governor, but if I could try to read between the lines, I think he and others are anticipating this surge is going to come down as we've outlined in the projections and as other countries have taught us, but we have been very steadfast in saying we're most concerned about the fall and winter when people are going to be indoors again in Vermont and congregating together that if the vaccination rate is not sufficient, they will be more susceptible. If you don't mind answering another question about the boosters, for those not included in the immunocompromised category, if for some reason they were to show up to a pharmacy wanting to get the third dose, would they be rejected or would they still get that third dose? Well, they would be asked to self attest that they have one of the conditions on the list and it's a pretty fine list of conditions. And if they said yes, the pharmacist isn't going to go in a great detail or with them about their whole medical history, so they would get it. But again, I've told people what conditions don't apply and I hope they would respect that because really it's going to be probably just a matter of one to two months before the population would be eligible for the broader boosters across the whole population. And we have great data that says that for everybody who's gotten vaccinated since we started, which is only eight months ago, you should have good levels of antibodies still. So this is an anticipation of the future, but not necessarily based on a science that says we've all run out of antibody and we need a booster right away. So I wouldn't want them to feel that they have to rush into the pharmacy for that. Dr. DeLeven, what does our contact tracing infrastructure look like right now? And how many people do we have making calls and whatnot? I can't give you an official number because it's increasing every day. We more go by the number of cases that we could actually do contact tracing on. So we have a contract with a firm that has been working with us for many months now. They've increased their workforce. And within our health department, we begin to redeploy people who had previously been involved in contact tracing to that. I don't have a number to give you, though, right about off the top of my head. I wouldn't want to be inaccurate. A.M. Trace. I just had one more question for Dr. Levine talking about some recently released data from the Department of Health. Black adult Vermonters from March 5th, 2020, through August 11th, 2021. 937 positive cases per 10,000 people compared to 359 cases per 10,000 people who are white and non-Hispanic. Just your reaction to the study and what it says about any disparities in the state? One thing that we've noticed and have been humble about and great observers of throughout the pandemic has been the disparity in who gets COVID. And so we've been very transparent about that. There are fundamental issues of health equity that explain that. We're talking now generations and possibly even centuries of historical injustice that have a great explanation for some of the fundamental differences in why cases are higher in the BIPOC as it's called population than in the white non-Hispanic population. I wouldn't expect most of those factors to have changed in a period of several months when they've been going on for generations, though they're being addressed robustly. There's also factors regarding the professional careers of members of the population that you mentioned who are having greater infection rates. They generally have more public facing positions. They generally have to take public transportation to those positions. Those have put them at increased risk. One thing I'd like to point out, though, because we have one factor that has been under our control and that we have really worked hard on and succeeded with, is to correct the disparity in vaccination rate. I would hate to think that that extent of new cases was purely because of lack of access to vaccine. When we began the pandemic, the disparity between the vaccination rate of the BIPOC population and the white non-Hispanic population was in the 14 to 15 percent range. Today, it is 2.9 percent. Yes, it is still different, but it has markedly narrowed that gap. There have been a lot of efforts to do that, both including better education, communication, interpretation when needed for many of our new American populations. It's included actually utilizing our partners in communities who are advocating for these populations and know them well and have the same lived experience and want to team with us and partner with us to be able to better provide the vaccine and the establishment of neighborhood clinics that are run by many of our advocacy groups who are very trusted within the community that we can partner with. So I don't want people to lose track of that, that one of the factors we have a little bit under our control and have an opportunity to change is that vaccination rate. And I think it will be hard-pressed to find a state that has been able to do that to that extent. Thank you. What is going through your head when you see the situation unfolding right now in Afghanistan? You know, I think it was the right decision to make in terms of ending this almost 20-year war that didn't appear to be winnable. And it's always the how, though, how to end it. I have a difference of opinion on the how. I think that we're seeing that in real time at this point. I think we have a moral obligation to make sure that we protect those who helped protect us for those 20 years that were living in that country. And we probably should have stayed a little bit longer to make sure they got out first. But all in all, again, I agree with the concept that was first started by President Trump and then followed through by President Biden to end this war. But again, it's horrific what we're seeing as those who are desperate to get out of the country and maybe for good reason. Back in the spring, you sent a letter to the federal government requesting more refugees. Did you ever receive a response to that letter? We did receive a response, more of a thank you for your letter type of response. And they would keep that in mind. We did reach out again in the last two or three days to make sure that they knew that we were here and ready, willing, and able. So we've reached out to them again. It's up to the State Department. We hope that that will be the case. And it appears that there may be a need in the very near future. So again, we're ready, willing, and able to help those who are coming from war-torn countries. Here's the situation in Afghanistan. What's your message to the Blue Star and Gold Star families here in Vermont who gave a lot more than just money? We suffered a lot as a country individually with their service men and women. I think I believe we lost about 2,500 over the last almost 20 years. And that wasn't the end of the casualties. Many were hurt. And there is much in terms of mental health that has developed as a result. And my message to them is it wasn't in vain that we have a great deal of respect for them, those who step up to help protect us and do for their country what they have accomplished. So again, I know that many of them as well are concerned about those they left behind, those relationships they encountered along the way with those from Afghanistan. So they're concerned about those who are there now and want to make sure that they get out as well. I've heard some grumblings from some veterans that perhaps the United States will back out on them. I would be, I'm sure there are fears, but there are those of us who are in positions to make sure that doesn't happen. Thanks, Rebecca. Can you hear me okay? We can. So I assume that the mass rule for just two to three weeks in school is because you expect to see the cases go down, is that right? That's correct. And we we want them to be as well. I just want them to have the time to assess their situation in their individual schools to see how many are vaccinated, fully vaccinated or not. So it takes a little time to do that. Okay. And with cases rising when children in other parts of the country is there, would Vermont consider going back at all to or allowing some hybrid and remote learning? I might refer to Secretary French. I wouldn't say the data backs that up, but Secretary French. Yes, good afternoon. Yeah, I mean, certainly we're not going to see hybrid learning like we saw last year under the state of emergency, which was necessary due to the very, you know, challenging conditions. I would say that outside of the state of emergency, we do have, we fall back on our regular regulations, which do permit some online learning and so forth. So there is some flexibility built built into the current regulations, but it's not what we saw last year. Last year, I think it was more like full school or whole grade hybrid learning. What we'll see more this year is, you know, cases popping up in schools and kids staying home sick or what have you in districts perhaps using remote learning technology to keep kids connected. But the emphasis this year is going to be on in person because we know that works far better than the remote. Okay, thank you. And keep in mind those who can't be vaccinated, those under 12 will have to be fully masked until such time as they can be vaccinated. We'll go to Ann Wallace Allen. Seven days. Hi. My question is sort of like Lisa's, except it's about businesses. It seems like you guys are sort of relying on our very high vaccination rate to keep us safe. And so as we can see today, you haven't instituted any new rules about masking and things like that. I'm just wondering as we go into the fall, do you expect any business restrictions to come back? Or do you think that our high vaccination rate is just going to keep things okay? I think what we're seeing is that that is exactly the case. The over 85% vaccination rate that we have here in this state is much different than we see in other states. Now, if I was the governor of another state that had half that rate and saw that their hospitals were filling up and being overwhelmed, I might look at this differently. But we're not in that state. We're, you know, we did the right thing from the very beginning, thanks to Vermonters stepping up. And so in doing so, we put a layer of protection in place that others don't have. So I wouldn't expect that we see anything different. But again, we've relied on the data to guide us. And if we see that there's some situation that warrants us putting restrictions in place, we'll do so. But we don't see that. And I don't anticipate that going into the fall. Thanks. My other question is about this company MTX that is going to use some of the curate facility in Waterbury. I think that they were the company that helped the Department of Labor send out all of those checks at the beginning of 2020 or throughout 2020. And I'm just wondering, I know they got a $6 million veggie grant from the state to lease that space and start working there. And I was just wondering, maybe this is a question for Commissioner Harrington. Were they that company that worked for the DOL? Are they still working for the DOL? And like, how did it work out that that was a company that ended up moving to Vermont? They ended up, I believe they've helped us out in creating software for different entities, but they have been a vendor for the state. Mr. Harrington, I'm not sure if they're the ones that built the PUA system or not, but I believe so. Yeah, so thank you, Governor, for a little clarification. They are the vendor that the state uses. One of multiple vendors the state uses for a variety of projects, specifically to the Department of Labor. They helped stand up the PUA system which was built on a Salesforce platform. And I know that they have helped other state agencies and departments in the Salesforce area. So they're then choosing to set up a physical location in Vermont isn't necessarily directly related to the work they did for the Department of Labor. But for us, they were the ones who built the PUA system on the Salesforce platform. We continue to contract with them for technical support and services, specific to the Salesforce platform that we use. All righty, thank you. Thanks, Rebecca. Governor, we've had hundreds of millions of dollars coming in for infrastructure and housing and broadband and wars on the way, apparently. But we have workforce and supply chain problems here and across the nation. Are you concerned at all that these projects might be severely held up and not provide the economic stimulus that we've been hoping for? Well, I think they will provide the economic stimulus because there's so much coming in. And as we've seen over the last year in terms of our state budget with the surplus is tremendous, the surpluses that we've experienced that just injecting money into the economy has helped us put us in a great position at this point. But it's not sustainable. I mean, we can't keep pouring money in, although again, with all the money that we believe will be coming in and giving us the flexibility, that's one thing that I'd ask the president to do for us. It appears that we're going to have, if this next infrastructure bill comes out that was passed by the Senate and is agreed to by the House, this will give us flexibility over the next five to 10 years. So it's not as everything has to happen at once, but I am concerned about inflation. I am concerned about the supply chain. And that's why the flexibility is necessary in order to accomplish what we want to accomplish. But I think, again, I think that's what we've seen thus far. I think we'll be able to be able to handle this. So there aren't any concerns about the clock running out like in the original stimulus plan. No, that's what's the beauty with this new infrastructure plan is it really is over the next five to 10 years. So these funds would have to be committed during a certain period of time. But it's not like the first, the CARES Act and some of the ARPA money, the CARES Act in particular, had to be spent by a certain time. As you remember, it was like 1231, I believe of 20, to make sure that we committed those funds. And with a clock on us like that, it did put us in a tough position. But this has more flexibility. All right, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Governor, going to sound like a broken record, but I was curious. I know the White House is very, very occupied with the issues in Afghanistan. But have you heard anything back from your letter regarding the Canadian border? Nothing, Tom. Again, with everything in Afghanistan and other things they're dealing with at this point, I think they've just put it off to the side for now. But it's still an issue for us. And we want to make sure that we get the border open back up so that we can welcome the Canadian friends to the north, the opportunity to come visit. Very good. That's all they have. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. This question is for Secretary French. With schools going back in the next couple of weeks, have school districts been submitting plans related to social, emotional and behavioral health of students in particular, you know, as a result of COVID? Hi, thanks for the question. No, we haven't required plans, but we are in the process of standing up a data collection so that we can have a better understanding of those needs. Again, just underscores the importance of getting back the full in person. But we are interested in gathering some information from the local level as to what are the patterns of needs from students, not only in social, emotional areas, but also academic areas. Wonderful. Thank you. Yes, this is Ed. This is my question for the Commissioners to show. Yeah, we just got, we got the first part, but when you went into what the question was, we lost you. Okay, hopefully I'm back. You are. My question, my question is for Commissioner Sherling. There's been recent incidences in the town of Barton involving several people who are having illegal salvage yard dumping any freeze and other fluids on the ground. When people are calling dispatch to have the state police come up and check it out or check out vehicles that are out on the main road and blocking traffic, the dispatchers are not passing the calls along to the state police. At least that's what the people are alleging that they say that the state police don't have an involvement with it. They're finding it rather frustrating. Can you tell me what people have to do if they have, if they see vehicles that are parked on the road blocking both ways or are dumping any freeze on the ground? At what point does the dispatcher make the decision to pass the call forward? This might be a question for Secretary Moore as well. Okay. Thanks, Governor. And thanks for the question. Once a couple of weeks, I felt a little neglected. I appreciate being called on. I was just made aware of this situation this morning with an email from some town officials. And we've, as the governor indicated, looped in the agency of natural resources and the barracks commander in that area will be coordinating with them to ascertain what state resources can be brought to bear to try to remedy the situation. In terms of what folks should report, we certainly would encourage people to document what you're seeing, whether that's a call to dispatch or keeping a log of issues. And we'll have sort of a response methodology mapped out here in the next day or so in terms of point-to-point sector folks in town that know where to route that information. Okay. Very good. And this is Secretary Moore. I would just add that we have had our compliance staff onsite multiple times in response to complaints. The violation we're pursuing is that the landowner is operating without a permit. We have not observed fluid dumping as has been alleged, but we are actively engaged in coordinating with Commissioner Charling. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Good afternoon, Governor. Thank you, Rebecca. Governor, earlier this year, you announced the state allocation of $250 million for housing projects. Last week, the U.S. Census published data indicating the Vermont has the occupancy rate in its housing units of 81.3 percent, meaning that roughly 18.7 percent of Vermont housing units are vacant. And that comes out to be a little over 60,000 housing units. Governor, I'm wondering if you can clarify where maybe there's a lack of information why the state of Vermont would be dumping $250 million into a set of projects where at least the way person looking at this information would seem to think that we have plenty of housing at least in some parts of the state. Yeah, I haven't seen those statistics, but maybe you could point this in the right direction as to where you get that. I would just add decent affordable housing is important to make sure that we highlight maybe making sure that we have that decent affordable housing for the workforce in places they need it. And so there may be housing available, empty houses and so forth, but that doesn't mean it's in where it should be and it doesn't mean it's acceptable and affordable. So without having all of that data, it'd be tough for me to answer, but we have put programs into place and we haven't spent the 250 million. That was my proposal. But that wasn't that wasn't entirely fulfilled. We're trying to first move forward on on housing for the homeless first. And so a lot of that money has been directed there so that we don't have to expend general fund dollars for that in the future. And so we'll see where that goes from here. But the other is we put programs into place to fix up some of the dilapidated housing that is there, giving landlords some help and encouragement in doing so so that it does become decent and inhabitable. But if you send me where that information is, we'll take a look and I'll get our housing folks to maybe respond to you. Currently I've actually just sent that to Rebecca and I think that's it for me today. I'll let you have a look. All right. Thank you. Hello, Governor. In the face of the growing number of breakthrough cases, you and Commissioner Levine and my colleagues in the press have been discussing extra protection in the form of continued masking, booster shots. Why not also explicitly support the use of preventive treatments like ivermectin? Yeah, that's above my pay grade, Dr. Levine. ivermectin is getting a lot of social media attention. Fortunately, it's also been getting a lot of attention from the standpoint of the scientific community. It's been one of those things if I could use the word polarizing with advocates on either side. There have been a lot of recent studies as well as meta-analyses and reviews and not seeing a lot of convincing information that says that a population-wide basis we should be having people take ivermectin. Certainly not the vaccinated people. If the unvaccinated feel that that is the way they'd like to approach the pandemic, I would say that's fine for them, but I wouldn't think that the data would support that being as efficacious as vaccination, nor perhaps as safe. So, I would just reserve judgment on ivermectin as a panacea for this pandemic, as it's often being viewed. Yes, thank you very much. I know you're running out of time, so just a quick one today, probably for Secretary French. Will you be producing the same weekly report noting how many cases were identified on campus this year as you did last school year? Thanks for the question. We haven't decided yet. We are in the process of standing up a pretty significant and voluntary surveillance testing program, but we haven't discussed the reporting aspects yet, but certainly I think our intention is to have a really good understanding of what the trends are in our communities and in our schools. How quickly do you expect those surveillance testing to get started? As I mentioned last week, we expect to have those up and running for the start of school. Okay, thanks. Thank you, Rebecca. I wanted to see if we could get a little bit more information about the booster shots, and when you say that these will be available at pop-up sites later this week, we want to be able to tell people exactly when they'll be able to make these appointments for. Do you know which day those are going to be available? And then also in terms of self attestation of whether somebody has a condition, are there any other things that people might be prepared for in case pharmacies are requiring something beyond just that? Do you have any idea of what that might be and what these patients should be preparing for? Secretary Smith. Yeah, Michael, we'll have a specific day when we will let you know when the pop-ups will be available. I've seen the self attestation in terms of what you have to do. It's basically what it says I certify that I have one of these conditions that Dr. Levine had talked about. In terms of pharmacies, we're still gathering what certain pharmacies are going to require. Most of them, it seems to be, will be self-attesting as I mentioned. There may be a few that require a doctor's note or certification, or I don't know what to call a prescription, or something along that line. That's why I urge people to go on to the website of the individual pharmacy to look and see what type of documentation they're going to be requiring. But for ours, it will be self-attesting to the fact that you have these conditions that Dr. Levine had pointed out. I'll give you an exact date probably in the next 24 hours. Thank you. I had one additional question. I'm wondering if any of the current hospitalizations are pediatric hospitalizations, and whether going forward the Health Department could commit to releasing specific data on pediatric hospitalization? We continue throughout this latest Delta variant surge to have zero pediatric hospitalizations. Is that something that the department will be able to report more frequently than in every other week data summary? I don't want to commit to yes, but it doesn't seem like it would be a huge leap. But again, we're dealing with the number zero right now, so I wouldn't expect it to change dramatically. Let's start six to unmute. We'll go to Leora, BT Digger. Hi. So earlier on in the pandemic, you guys have released sort of more regularly outbreak data and case data in long-term care facilities by name. And now that data is no longer sort of released as regularly, what's happening there? And also, are you guys going to commit to releasing this more often now as Delta is sort of taking over? Thank you for the question. It came at a time that Commissioner Pechak and I were off to the side just discussing what you asked for because we felt that there would be some clamor for more information on the facilities. So we'll be prepared at next week's conference to begin to show that table we used to show regarding cases. I can tell you that there are a number, but not a large number, of long-term care facilities that do have active cases in some of their residents, some of whom were vaccinated. They have not had any of the experience that we had to talk about earlier in the pandemic with wide-scale outbreaks and significant impact on the health of the population. With the hospitalization data that you said for children, is that every, like all the children in Vermont, like any transfers from other states, there are zero children with COVID-19 in Vermont in hospitals? So that's zero children hospitalized for COVID in any hospital in Vermont. Thank you. I just want to remind, just as a reflection on the comment made about the variant taking over, I just want to remind everyone where we were back in January and February, we had over 60 in the hospital at one time for a couple of weeks. And since then, it was March, April, May, we had hospitalizations in the mid-20s to 30. So this, then we went down from there, and admittedly we're going, we're back and we're leveling off, but it isn't exceeding what we had before. So I wouldn't say this is taking over, but it is something that we're monitoring and watching, and we'll react accordingly. All right. Thank you very much. We'll see you again next Tuesday.