 Good afternoon everyone, we have a lot to get through today including modeling, testing in schools, we're also going to hear from Dr. Rebecca Bell, the president of the Vermont Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. First, last week I announced a new Vermont partnership with NIH and Amazon that will allow us to deliver rapid tests directly to the homes of Vermonters. Through this program, we've acquired about a half a million tests, which is about 250,000 kits. Tomorrow, we'll launch the website so that Vermonters can go online and place their order. Households will be able to request no more than two kits, which is four tests, and we fully expect them to go quickly. As I said in the announcement last week, this is a pilot program we've been working on with our federal partners for about a month. This is also in addition to, not in place of, President Biden's initiative to send tests to Americans, which is expected to begin later this month. It's also in addition to the rapid tests that we've devoted to schools. As we also announced last week, childcare programs will now be eligible to implement tests to stay and can sign up and get their tests through the Department of Children and Families. Rapid tests continue to be an important tool, especially given what we've learned about Omicron. While PCS, our tests are still beneficial, they take too long in many instances to prevent further spread due to the speed in which Omicron transmits. That's also why, based on the science and data, and in coordination with the Vermont's top pediatricians and infectious disease experts, the state is changing its guidance for dealing with COVID in schools. The process we've been using with school nurses acting as contact tracers was effective pre Omicron, but it no longer is as effective as it once was. The new approach will get more tests out by treating everyone in a classroom where there's been a positive case as a contact, instead of how they previously defined close contacts. This means everyone in the class would be notified of a positive case, and rapid tests would be distributed to those who have gotten them through Test to Stay. Now, I know on social media some, including some fellow politicians, claim we were reducing testing or doing away with it altogether. This is just not the case, and it's unfortunate they weighed in before having the facts. Again, the change will increase access to testing and increase notifications. As Dr. Levine will describe, Omicron makes this shift essential to supporting school operations and preventing further spread. Finally, as we see what's happening across the country and the northeast, its clear cases will continue to increase for a while. While Vermont leads the nation in vaccinations, and as a result we have one of the lowest hospitalization rates and death rates in the country right now, it's not enough. Please make sure getting a booster is a top priority for you and your family. It's not too late. Anyone 12 and older is eligible. As we said for months, vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and others, but taking additional precautions is also important, like wearing a mask indoors, staying home when sick, and using testing as a tool. With that, I'll turn it over to Secretary French. Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. On Friday, we announced we'd be making a shift in our mitigation strategies for schools, mainly changes to both contact tracing and testing. I thought I'd start off today by explaining some of the background on that decision and its announcement. There were two basic variables behind this decision, an evaluation of school operational capacity and public health considerations. From an operations perspective, we've had some concern for some time about the ability of school staff to sustain contact tracing. These concerns became more acute as we implemented test-to-stay, since nurses are essentially directly in charge of supervising both of those processes in schools. I think, as everyone's aware, Vermont was an early adopter in test-to-stay, which proved to be a very successful strategy at the height of the Delta surge in containing the virus, but also allowing a larger number of students to stay in school. When we opened schools after the holiday, unfortunately, at the beginning of the surge, the new Omicron variant was clear we were going to have to make some adjustments both to contact tracing and testing, since Omicron was spreading so much faster and our processes of contact tracing and test-to-stay had difficulty keeping up. Last week, our decision-making came to a pivotal moment when our public health team concluded that contact tracing and surveillance testing were not going to be as effective against Omicron. We then factored in the operational strain of continuing what we were doing and concluded that we needed to make a shift. I outlined that shift for the first time last week in my regular weekly call with superintendents on Thursday, and on Friday, I previewed our decision with the leadership of all the major education associations, including the school board association, the superintendents association, the principals association, and Vermont NEA. Those conversations led me to publish an advisory email to superintendents, independent school heads, and school district COVID-19 coordinators late in the day on Friday, outlining the shift in policy and stating that more information would be coming out this week. I also met with Vermont NEA leadership and its board of trustees on Saturday morning. They had many questions about the public health rationale for these changes, and I encouraged them to hold their public health questions until this week when Dr. Levine and his team could be available to address them as they had done throughout the pandemic. I wanted to outline the decision making and the communications on this since it has been characterized as abrupt, and to a certain extent I think that is a fair characterization. Omicron is forcing us to move quicker than we might otherwise have wanted, but as I mentioned, both from an operational perspective and a public health perspective, we concluded we needed to make a shift and we needed to make that change sooner rather than later. My announcement on Friday could have contained more specificity, so I thought I would explain exactly what the shift will mean for our schools and our communities, and also provide an update on some of the work we have been doing this week to enact that change. General description of the change is that contact tracing in schools as we knew it will stop in favor of the process the governor described of the response notification to parents that includes recommendations for testing depending on the vaccination status of the students. The antigen testing in schools will shift from what we used to call test-to-stay where schools administered the test on site to an approach where schools will distribute the antigen tests to families and staff for administration at home. Both the response notification and the use of antigen testing will be closely tied to our updated recommendations on quarantine and isolation. A key variable for implementing this new system will be testing supplies. Schools will be receiving deliveries of additional test kits this week. So earlier today we put out an advisory to superintendents and independent school heads and COVID coordinators that they can transition to this new system when they feel they have an adequate supply of tests to do so, which I expect for many schools will be later this week. Our next steps will be to update our guidance documents and related communications tools for schools, such as the letter templates they used to communicate notification of a case. That work is underway. We're working closely with the leadership of the School Nurses Association and other stakeholder groups to develop those tools to maximize their utility to people that work in the schools. So this is an important transition in our response to the pandemic. We've been through several other transitions in the past, so I'm confident we'll be successful. I do appreciate everyone's patience as we work through these moments and the details of implementing the new system. Lastly, I wanted to speak to the issue of school attendance waivers. These waivers pertain to the number of days each year that schools are required to be in session for students. A session day for a school is defined when a majority of its students are present for school instruction. Going remote does not count as a session day. This means schools are either open or closed. If they are closed, more days than the minimum allows, they need to make the days up or get a waiver. The waiver process will begin later this month. The waiver process is outlined in our regulation. It is designed to be implemented in the second half of the school year. The State Board has given me authority to review these waivers again this year. I'll be publishing an expedited waiver process soon for school closures that are related to COVID-19 conditions. I intend to be as flexible as possible with these waivers as I've done so in the last two years of the pandemic. That concludes my update. I'll now turn it over to Dr. Levine. Thanks, Secretary French. I'd like to start out by saying that I know what a difficult time this is. Probably the most disruptive month we will have endured. We're navigating yet another phase of this pandemic, seeing a surge of cases from a much more contagious variant. I've spoken many times up here about how unfortunately the virus is not going away, but will eventually become endemic. Like other respiratory viruses, we'll have enough immunity that it can circulate without huge spikes in cases, hospitalizations, or deaths. We hope this difficult transition period will ultimately help us get to a time when we can live with this virus much more easily. As we've been doing all along in the pandemic, we use data and science to make real-time adjustments in our approach. Omicron is no exception, and its pace makes it even more important to be nimble. And I understand how challenging this has been for our children. The virus has impacted their education, their sports and play, and not any less, the lives and jobs of their parents and that of their teachers and school staff. It is the defining characteristics of the Omicron variant that form the backdrop for why a change in our school guidance makes sense now. The variants highly contagious, it has a shorter incubation period, and so spreads rapidly through the population. The good news is that it does seem to cause less severe outcomes, especially in our youth. That is why we're evolving our contact tracing for schools, to be more expansive in who gets notified when there is a case, so we can move faster to respond. And we're using rapid tests so we can move more quickly to isolate those who need to stay home and reduce the risk of further spread. Our North Star continues to be preserving in-person education for our youth, keeping kids who should be in school. We keep learning from this virus in real-time, building on our experience to date. That is why I'm here to present our updated approach, which builds on data and scientific rationale. And our pediatric colleagues are overwhelmingly in favor of this approach. The speed at which Omicron moves and spreads means that some of our current tools have been rendered less effective. We need to move faster to counter this variant. Our new strategies are designed to be more effective, lessening the burden of work on school personnel. First, contact tracing will evolve from its currently rather slow and labor-intensive nature, somewhat outdated and outpaced by Omicron, to one that still accomplishes the essential task of notifying possible contacts. Once a positive case is identified in a class, all the students in that class are considered contacts. This is a more conservative approach that is faster and more comprehensive. Second, we are continuing the evolution to a more rapid testing system. PCR surveillance testing, while it may still be utilized by schools if they so desire, is too slow to respond to this new variant in the school setting. We believe PCR surveillance testing has lost much of its value. Moving to an antigen testing system at this time of high community transmission will be far more responsive. Schools will be able to distribute test kits to unvaccinated students, so they can test daily for five consecutive days, and if negative, can stay in class. Test kits can also be provided to asymptomatic vaccinated students who do not need to quarantine, but may want to test at day three, four, or five. Test kits can also be provided to vaccinated or unvaccinated staff, and even to students who are identified as close contacts outside of the school. By layering this science-based and simpler approach on all the other mitigation strategies being followed in our schools, like wearing masks indoors and staying home if you're sick, we can keep our schools as safe as possible and keep more children in in-person education, which is the core priority. I acknowledge we are shifting some of the responsibility to homes, but this will actually help parents and caregivers make decisions about illness and likelihood of COVID every day. Families deserve the certainty of knowing their child's status before they leave the house, not when their child gets to the school. And the schools, the states, school nurses who have moved mountains day after day throughout the pandemic will then be able to be present for testing and evaluating students who become ill in the school. Beyond schools, I want to repeat and remind everyone about the quarantine and isolation guidelines, because they're still rather new. The isolation period is the time following your positive test or when your symptoms began. Quarantine, on the other hand, follows your exposure to an infected person when you are a close contact, but may or may not become infected. If you have COVID, the isolation period is now five days, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others. If you meet certain conditions, either you never had symptoms or your symptoms have improved and you feel better and you had no fever for the past 24 hours. We also strongly recommend having two negative antigen tests performed, at least 24 hours apart, beginning no earlier than day four. And of course, remembering to notify your close contacts. You can get all this guidance at healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19 positive. Now for quarantine, certain people do not need to quarantine. You don't need to quarantine if you've had your booster shot, are fully vaccinated, but not yet eligible for your booster shot, or you're fully vaccinated and enrolled in school. But you should wear a mask for 10 days and a test on day five is recommended. All others need to quarantine five days if they have no symptoms and will wear a mask for five more days. We recommend one negative PCR or LAMP test, which is a rapid PCR, on or after day five or two negative antigen tests performed at least 24 hours apart, beginning no earlier than day four. For everyone, if you develop symptoms at any time, get tested, stay home, and away from others while you wait for your result. I'd like to thank everyone who's reported their at-home test results already. You can see on our case dashboard the high numbers of what we call probable cases, which is the category that these positive antigen tests fall into. If you've taken one of these tests, please visit healthremont.gov slash report results so we can better understand COVID activity in this state right now. I also want to emphasize the importance of wearing a mask indoors. While any mask is better than no mask, we do recommend you wear a higher quality mask if you can find one as we face Omicron. Examples of high quality masks are N95 or KN95 masks, which are very good at blocking droplets. If you don't or can't get that type of mask, you can also layer a disposable surgical mask under a cloth mask to increase effectiveness. Just please don't rely on a single-ply cloth mask. Finally, I want to continue making sure Romaners are aware of available therapeutic treatments for COVID-19 because they are so critical to keeping higher risk people out of the hospital. But they need to be used early in the illness, certainly within the first five days. While the federal government tells us that supplies will be limited for several weeks more, some supplies are still available and are coming into the state. If you're at higher risk of severe COVID-19, it's important that you reach out to your healthcare provider as soon as you are positive to ask about therapeutic treatments. These include one monoclonal antibody requiring intravenous infusion, citrovimab, and two oral medications. One of these, Paxlovid, has very high efficacy and has become the drug of choice. You can visit our website healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19-treatment for more information. And keep in mind, these treatments are not needed for those who are not at high risk due to age or underlying illness. I'd like to now hand this over to Dr. Rebecca Bell. I'm really happy to be here today to talk to you all. So thanks for having me. As a warning, I did work last night, and so you will experience what my pediatric residents lovingly refer to as post-call Dr. Bell. So I want to just start by acknowledging that it has been a very challenging few weeks of the pandemic. With the arrival of Omicron variant in Vermont, COVID cases rose exponentially over the winter break causing major disruption to schools and childcare last week. In the healthcare setting, we are feeling the strain of staffing shortages due to infected providers. In the setting of this recent stress and strain, I've been reflecting back to the beginning of the pandemic. Thinking back to March of 2020, when I remember driving to work at the hospital through completely empty streets, hearing about colleagues who had COVID and worrying about them. At the time, the modeling was predicting that we wouldn't have enough ventilators. We were worried about how we would care for patients. We were making plans with colleagues to figure out how to cover each other. Not for if we got sick, but presumably for when we did. We were cleaning surfaces, but not wearing masks. There was so much we didn't know, and we were really scared. There was no community immunity. None at all. There was no infection induced immunity. There was no vaccine induced immunity. We were completely vulnerable. And we had to take extreme measures to keep people safe. And it was the right thing to do. Since that time, we've lost a lot and we've learned a lot. We now have vaccines that are incredibly effective at protecting us from severe disease. We have additional therapeutics. We know to wear masks. Things are different. They're still hard, but we are in a different place now. Despite all of this, we are all tired. In the healthcare setting, we have a staffing crisis. We desperately want our patients to protect themselves with vaccination. Despite more vaccinated folks getting infected and more children getting infected, still our sickest COVID patients in the hospital are adults who are unvaccinated. Caring for critically ill patients is hard, and it's even more difficult when the illness could have been prevented. Schools are under a tremendous amount of strain right now as well. Throughout the pandemic, our schools have remained a place of relative safety with lower transmission rates than the community. And this is thanks to the incredible work of school nurses, educators, and administrators. COVID has put stress on all of our systems, but especially those settings that are undersupported and strange during non-pandemic times. Educators, childcare providers, child health providers are all trying to manage the needs of children and families that generally keep us busy 100 percent of the time. On top of that, we have COVID. Many feel like this is their breaking point. The work done in schools to create line lists and to painstakingly contact trace, which we don't ask other settings to do, was really unsustainable during the Delta surge. And the changing epidemiology around Omicron has made it necessary to adapt our policies so that we can manage this virus without letting it break us. Vermont pediatricians have been working through the pandemic to consider how to mitigate the effects of COVID on children. We meet regularly with members of the health department and the agency of education. We appreciate the opportunity to provide input to these teams. We also meet regularly with the school nurses and the leadership of the Vermont State School Nurse Association. We are grateful for their work and value this collaboration. I'm here today to share pediatrician recommendations for both the K-12 and child care settings. These recommendations of note were discussed even prior to Omicron coming as we knew we're heading towards an endemic phase of this. We recommend that school nurses should continue to have the resources to provide on-site diagnostic testing to symptomatic students and staff with rapid antigen tests or lamp tests. They should continue to have the ability to provide take home antigen or PCR testing to these symptomatic individuals. A note here, school nurses play an important role in public health, always. But much like myself, they are clinicians at heart. Pediatricians rely on the work our school nurse colleagues do. They are skilled clinicians and integral partners in child health teams. They have not been able to do the work they are trained to do and is so desperately needed during this time. They have been put in the role of what many refer to as the COVID enforcer. And this has strained relationships with families and led to school nurse burnout. With regards to other types of testing, such as asymptomatic screening or surveillance testing, testing after close contact, these types of testing should shift from the school setting to the home setting. Students and staff should have ready access to at-home rapid antigen tests regardless of their vaccination status. And these tests could be used as a family sees fit. They could use them for asymptomatic screening if they'd like for testing in symptomatic family members, for testing after a close contact, or for shortening isolation after COVID infection. We agree that given the shortened incubation period of Omicron, both PCR surveillance testing and that line list contact tracing are less impactful and truly not helpful and should be stopped in favor of these other types of testing. For the child care setting, we recommend much the same and we don't want to forget our children in this age group, their families, and the early childhood educators. We support the test for TOTS program where unvaccinated close contacts are provided at home antigen tests so that they may remain in the child care setting if they are asymptomatic and negative. We recommend additional access to at-home rapid antigen testing for children and child care staff for the same indications as the K-12 community. I will note that one major challenge is that take-home antigen tests are not authorized for individuals under the age of two, and that's a challenge that we need to work through. We continue to strongly advocate for universal masking regardless of vaccine rate or vaccination status. And speaking of vaccines, we strongly encourage all eligible to be vaccinated. Vermont has the highest rate of five to 11-year-olds vaccinated in the country, and yet it's only just over half of folks in that age group. Please reach out to your child's medical provider to discuss. You can also check out AEP Vermont's website. We did a series of virtual town halls with families, and they're all recorded and on our website at aapvt.org. I want to take a moment to talk to families with children too young to be vaccinated. I feel you. I'm a mother of a child in that age group who is in full-time child care. This is an age group that frequently gets ill from respiratory viruses. What we are seeing in Vermont in this age group are COVID presentations very similar to other viruses. So when families ask what they should be looking for if their child is infected with COVID, it's very similar as other respiratory viruses. Most children do not need medical care, but please contact your child's medical provider if you're worried, if they're having difficulty breathing, or if they're unable to take adequate fluids as you would normally. I don't want to lose sight of the fact that staying home when sick is incredibly important. I know it's hard. It leads to school absences, missed work, and child care challenges, but this is what helps keep our communities healthy. If you are sick now, you are likely infected with COVID. Even if you, but even if you don't have COVID, you have something. And that virus could make someone very sick. We admit children to the pediatric intensive care unit all the time who are critically ill from respiratory viruses, non-COVID respiratory viruses that cause the common cold in most, but can make infants and medically complex children extremely sick. So as a reminder, all those above six months of age are able to get a flu shot. Please do. It's not too late. And please stay home when sick. As a final note, pediatricians and family medicine providers are very busy right now with COVID, with other respiratory viruses, and with the ongoing youth mental health crisis, as well as staffing shortages. It may take longer than usual to see a provider for non-urgent issues like sports clearance. We understand the frustration and we're working hard to get your children in. We appreciate your patience as we navigate this all together. Pediatricians always value collaboration with schools and child care. Thank you all so much for the work you do for children and families in Vermont. Good afternoon. I'm Jenny Samuelson, the Interim Secretary of the Agency of Human Services. Today I'll provide you a brief update on COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and hospital readiness. As of today, over 50% of Vermonters age 18 and older are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot. For children in the age range 5 to 11, 48% are now fully vaccinated and up to date. Turning specifically to boosters. Over the past week, boosters have been opened up to children aged 12 to 16. As has been stated several times, for anyone 12 years and older, getting your booster provides you the best protection against a severe case of COVID-19. If you are 12 years and older and it's been at least five months, which is a change, since your completed Pfizer or Moderna series, or two months since your Johnson and Johnson shot, you are now eligible for a booster. We continue to look for opportunities to make it easier for every Vermonter to get vaccinated and boosted. We've expanded the number of clinics in schools by the end of February. More than 80 school clinics will have been offered in 2022 alone. In addition, we're providing both vaccines and boosters at as many as 30 winter events happening across the state. We continue to look for additional opportunities. If you are a business, a civic group or a community organization and would like to host a clinic, please reach out to us. We will come to you. Our goal is to make it easier than ever to get vaccinated. You can request a vaccine booster clinic by signing up online or going to healthvermont.gov and clicking on your community. So whether you're looking to get vaccinated, get a booster or just get tested, please visit healthvermont.gov or you can call 855-722-7878. Now let's turn to testing for our youngest children. As others have mentioned, last week we rolled out Test for Tots. Test for Tots extends the Test to Stay program, which is already offered in K to 12 schools, to students who are 2 to 5 who enrolled in a child care program. If all suit, it allows children and staff who are close contacts to continue to attend their child care program during their quarantine period as long as they test daily and their test results are negative. Under the Tots for Tots program, rapid antigen test kits are being provided to regulated child care programs. When there is a positive case in enrolled child care programs, family and children who have identified as a contact will be able to test their child at home during their quarantine period. With a negative test, that child will continue to be able to attend their child care program that day. At this point, more than 470 Vermont child care programs have already signed up to take part in the Test to Tots program. To participate in Test for Tots, child care programs can register online through the Department of Children and Families website. Roughly 12,000 tests are going out to child care providers this week and we are also distributing nearly 50,000 masks to these programs. Meanwhile, we continue to offer testing for the general public. For the general public, significant testing options are available statewide through the ongoing PCR program as we transition to a more rapid system. We currently have PCR testing locations at 30 sites across the state. In the next week, there are a total of 25,000 testing appointments. Of those, nearly 14,000 are still open for registration. Additional sites and appointments may be added throughout the weeks in areas where there are low testing opportunities. Again, as more rapid test take-home tests become available, we'll get as many of them out to Vermonters as possible and as fast as possible through programs like the Amazon program the Governor have mentioned. Vermonters have done their part in so many times during the pandemic. We're once again, as we enter into this new phase, asking them to do their part. We want to be clear about when it makes sense to get tested in the current environment. Please get a test if you're symptomatic, you're a close contact, you tested positive and are in isolation and would like to end isolation, and lastly, get tested if you plan to visit someone who is vulnerable. Now for testing performance. In the past week, we experienced a delay in our PCR testing reports result system. Over the weekend, we became aware of a significant delay in reporting test results from the public testing sites. This delay caused by a technical glitch in a reporting platform resulted in up to a four or five day delay in reporting for roughly 8,200 test results to people in Vermont. These tests were done on January 6th and January 7th. First off, I want to apologize for the frustration this has caused Vermonters. We have resolved this issue. We expect the remaining people who are experiencing these delays will have their test results by the end of the day. Test turnaround times are now back to the usual two to three days for PCR tests. In addition, because of the glitch, 40,000 lab results were delayed in being reported to the Department of Health between January 7th and January 10th. Of those, approximately 4,375 additional positives were identified. Our data team is working to assign those cases to the dates that they should have been reported. When this work is completed, the public dashboard will be updated. We anticipate the testing dashboard will be updated, and the numbers will be adjusted on Wednesday. Now, turning to hospitals. We are monitoring hospital capacity very closely. We continue to support hospitals with staff through a staffing contract with TLC and FEMA staff in hospitals across the state. To keep hospital beds open for those who need them the most, we continue to work to ensure that there are enough subacute beds to move patients out of hospitals when appropriate. We have opened 127 additional beds and facilities across the state. There are currently 91 beds open, staffed, and ready for admissions. We also continue to work with TLC to expand the pool of staffing available for hospitals and long-term care facilities when they're in need. As all data shows, the best thing that you can do to ensure hospitalizations are kept under control is to get vaccinated and get boosted. Finally, following the information you just heard on the impact of COVID-19 in Vermont, in the nation right now, I want to take this moment to emphasize the importance of every Vermonter having health insurance. Vermonters can enroll in health insurance through Vermont Health Insurance Markets Place, Vermont Health Connect, through January 15th for coverage that begins on February 1st. Our customer support center is offering expanded hours this week. Please visit vermonthealthconnect.gov to see the health and dental plans that are available. And to see the lower costs for health insurance through the state's marketplace. With that, I'll turn it over to Commissioner Pichak. Before turning to the modeling presentation, just to pick up where Secretary Samuelson left off, when it comes to insurance, the federal government last night announced coverage for at-home rapid tests for all of those on commercial coverage. So Vermont issued a rule about four weeks ago that applied to all of the plans that we had jurisdiction over. We estimate about 140,000 Vermonters. This new rule will now apply to all of those who have commercial insurance beyond those which we have jurisdiction over and estimated over another 200,000 or so Vermonters, you know, bringing about 300 and 20 to 340,000 Vermonters now eligible for reimbursement through at-home tests. The rule is very similar to ours. It is a reimbursement mechanism, although the federal government is encouraging plans and issuers to have a no-cost upfront option at pharmacies. Our pharmacy option is now fully implemented. So you can get reimbursed. It's just a matter of how will that work with your particular insurance company and whether they're set up with a pharmacy. So I do encourage Vermonters to check in with their insurance company before going to the pharmacy to ensure that they are online and ready to handle those claims. But this certainly will make a more uniform approach to at-home testing coverage and just another option for Vermonters seeking those important tests. So turning this week to the data, first, again, to pick up Secretary Samuelson left off, we'll have a full slide updated as of probably tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon that we will post on the website that has all of the data that we usually include. So this is a little bit of an abbreviated slide deck, because we don't have all of the granular detail that we normally would have for Tuesday presentation. But starting off on the data that we do have, you can see that for this week, Vermont's cases did continue to increase. You can see that they're up about 70 percent over the last seven days, about 245 percent over the last 14 days. And visually, you can just see the impact that Omicron has had in Vermont. We're under the Delta surge. The cases were increasing, but increasing at a pretty modest pace through November and December. And then that much more dramatic increase that we're seeing here in Vermont, the rest of the region in New England and the country over the last two weeks. Taking New England as a region, there were about 380,000 reported cases in New England this week. If you take the estimates that infectious disease experts are using that for every reported case we have, we have about four or five cases that are not reported due to the transmissibility and the more mild symptoms that come with Omicron, that is an estimated 10 percent of the New England population that has had COVID-19 over the last 10 days based on those numbers. So this gives you a sense of the prevalence of the virus at this moment. And it also gives you a sense of why there's an expectation that this will start to come down at some point into the future, likely the end of January or February for the country, because so many people are being impacted at one time. Looking at the next slide, another reason obviously why the cases are spreading as quickly as they are is the continued development of Omicron across the country and in the region. The CDC now estimates that 96 percent of all cases in New England are Omicron. That's up from in the low 80s last week. So now clearly not just the dominant variant, but basically the only variant that is circulating within the region. And then when we look at that impact that Omicron is having across the country and compare some of the metro areas to the non-metro areas, you can see that the metro areas continue to be higher. They continue to have more disease prevalence. And throughout the entire pandemic, these two measurements have moved at different times with each other, but they've always caught up over time. So we do continue to expect those more suburban and rural areas, much of northern New England, for example, in Vermont, to continue to experience more significant case growth as Omicron continues to spread through these more rural areas. And you can see that happening here this week with the non-metro counties up about 125 percent compared to the 80 percent for the metro counties. And looking at the next slide, you can see the nursing home outbreaks. The active outbreaks did increase this week. We have 10 active outbreaks up from just three last week. So no outbreak that's particularly large at the moment. Our booster uptake is really strong relative to the rest of the country in our nursing home. So that is certainly encouraging, but we want to obviously keep a close eye on that over the next couple of weeks. Now turning to one of the forecast, the ensemble forecast for the country. We mentioned earlier how sort of prevalent this virus has been in the last 10 days in New England. The same is true for much of the rest of the country. You can see that the forecast that the ensemble modelers put out last night shows that cases are expected to continue to increase through the end of January, getting to over a million cases reported a day. But then the good news is that some point there toward the beginning of February, the end of January, there's the possibility that they will start to slow down and come down across the country. Now, of course, want to note that that won't necessarily happen uniformly across the country. Some places have had Omicron earlier than others. Some places have different profiles in terms of demographics or vaccination status. But that certainly is some encouraging news in terms of what the prediction is once we get through the worst of it over the next three to four weeks. And the Vermont model is very similar to the national model showing again that cases are expected to get higher through the next three or four weeks. But then at the end of January toward the beginning of February, showing some slowing signs there as the impact will have been felt at that point. So we get to the next slide. We'll look at hospitalizations. You can see that on the hospitalization front, overall hospitalizations, the seven-day average did surpass the height of the Delta peak. So these are the most hospitalizations on a seven-day average that we have experienced over the last week. It's a 34 percent increase. The majority of patients still among the unvaccinated. Today's number is 64 percent over the last seven days, 55 percent. So that's the overall hospitalization number. But again, one point of good news in our data is looking at our ICU numbers. When you look at that case, the ICUs have remained flat this week. There has been no increase in our ICU numbers. Over the last seven days, about 63 percent of those in the ICU are among the unvaccinated. For today, that number is 80 percent. So again, continues to be those unvaccinated in the hospital, particularly those needing the most critical care. And that's what our data is clearly showing and continuing to show. Also, jurisdictions that have had really high booster uptake have seemed to be able to keep the most severe illness like ICUs and deaths under control, even though cases have spread as rapidly as they have. So Vermont being one of the highest-boosted states in the country, that's something hopefully that will mean good news for us here in our state. We're about 14 days out from cases rising as dramatically as they have. That's when other jurisdictions started to see their ICUs be impacted. So I want to keep a close eye on that over the next week to two weeks. But at the moment, good news in terms of the severity of illness that Vermonters are experiencing. And again, largely attributable to the high booster uptake that we're seeing in Vermont. Looking at the availability slide, so the increase in hospitalizations and other staffing shortages and other issues that hospitals are facing has impacted the availability over the last two weeks. You can see on the hospital side those coming down 58 beds available as of today. It's impacted the ICU side as well, although not as much as you can see. And there are 11 ICU beds available statewide as of today. On the fatality slide, you can see that there are seven fatalities for the month of January recorded so far for this month and new year. It brings the total to 487 fatalities for the entire pandemic. Vermont continues to be the lowest per capita in terms of the number of deaths throughout the entire pandemic. So again, something for us to appreciate, again, largely attributable to Vermonters doing all of the things that we've been asking them, masking, testing, getting vaccinated, and getting boosted. So another fatality slide, looking at the differences between those that are fully vaccinated and boosted compared to those who are not fully vaccinated over the last six weeks. You can see that this is held really steady. We've been showing this now for four or five weeks. That difference is 24 times. So 24 times more likely to die from COVID-19 if you are not fully vaccinated compared to somebody who is fully vaccinated and boosted. And that data has been pretty clear through the Delta wave and into the Omicron wave as well. And again, you can see here why that difference is so stark and why we're able to keep our most severe illness under control at the moment is because of how high our booster uptake has been. We've added another 11,500 Vermonters to our booster ranks in the past week, which is great. You can see where we stand in terms of the percentage of our population having a booster shot, but there's still about 200,000 Vermonters who are eligible for a booster shot who have not yet gotten it. So that is really a critical step for those that have gotten your full dosage to go and get the booster shot to get the full protection. And then finally, just an update on the 5 to 11 vaccination status. You can see we continue to make progress there at 58.6% in terms of those 5 to 11 that have started vaccination and 47.4% in terms of those who are now fully vaccinated. So again, nation leading, we'd like to see that higher, of course, and certainly encourage parents to take advantage of that as a means of keeping schools open and kids in school as well. So with that, I'll now turn it back over to the governor for questions. Thank you, Commissioner Impeachak. We'll now open it up to questions. Starting with folks in the room. I have some questions about the NIH and Amazon project. I happened to notice on the test kit that I have at my home that it says it's supposed to be stored between 35.6 degrees and 86 degrees. Of course, Vermont is far from having temperatures of 35.6 degrees. Any concerns then about a project that would be sending test kits into mailboxes at this time of year or on front porches where it's quite cold? I may refer to Dr. Levine with this. I wasn't aware of that, but Dr. Levine may have an answer. Yeah, we've reached out to the companies actually about this and the FDA. And apparently there is a concern about temperature for prolonged periods of time. We're trying to get a better handle on what that means exactly prolonged and how much work they have done to understand it. They've tried to give us an indication that this is not something we should be overly concerned about, but you're not the first that's asked, and that's why we're pursuing that pathway. And how will this program be advertised in Vermont? When's the link going to be coming out? What's the channel going to be, etc.? Yeah, as I said in my remarks, it'll start, it'll open up tomorrow. So you'll be able to sign up to get your tests and then they'll be shipped. Secretary Hamilton. The link will be available tomorrow at approximately 10 a.m. in order for folks to begin to start to order. And where should people look for that link? There'll be a link, an available link from the Department of Health's website. As we enter this next stage of the pandemic here, there's going to be more responsibility on families to step up and help mitigate the virus with students. What happens if a parent just decides to not test their kid because they maybe can't take time off of work? They send their kid to school without a test? What happens then? Yeah, I mean these are some of the risks that we're taking on a regular basis. This is like going from pandemic to endemic because we in the past when we've had the flu and cold and so forth, this is something that we experience. So going back to some form of self-responsibility is important, but we certainly want to advocate. We want to be able to have the tests available for those who are willing to test their kids. But it seems to be the most effective tool we have and the most effective way to do this as well. And so I would probably ask Dr. Bell if she wants to comment. Well, I think it's important to remember that the school setting in particular has been a more controlled and rigid place for this type of thing. And so we've been able to keep school transmission low compared to the community because we have no control about what happens in the community. And so I know there are folks who are concerned about families maybe not following guidelines, but that is already happening. And so what we know about our close contacts that happen in school, we have no idea what kind of close contacts are happening outside of the school. And what we've always been relying on this entire pandemic is that that we're all as a community honest with each other, right? So yes, there may be students who are unvaccinated in the school who are told they have a close contact and they don't test. But there are also students who have lots of contact outside of the school. They're exposed and it takes many layers for them to even know. So they need to be informed by their friend or family member or contact that they even were a close contact. And then they would have to then find a way to test themselves. So there's obviously for good reason a lot of focus on the schools, but we forget about all the stuff that's happening in the community that we don't know about. And I think again, encouraging folks to be honest and transparent about symptoms, whatever they are, you know, I have symptoms today, let's let's not let's not do that thing we were planning to do. I think that kind of that's what we're trying to encourage. And in speaking with schools and child care programs, I mean, one of the biggest strains this pandemic has been on relationships and on trust. And people worried about what other folks are doing and how that might affect them. And we're at a place right now where we have a lot of people vaccinated. We have great vaccines. And trying to encourage folks to try to refocus energy on themselves and what they can do. And and try to repair relationships and trust. I think that's a hard. It's been a hard thing for school nurses. It's been a hard thing for for families and educators. So that's what I would encourage. I learned about it like most from others and read about it and heard about it through the media. But I think it's encouraging good news that we've seen some forward progress. The the devil is always in the details and haven't seen any of the details yet. My concerns are still the same that we have something that's viable that that we can that's sustainable in the future. Regardless of whether we have all this federal money or not that we have to make sure that we're we're doing this and making those structural changes so that we can have a sustainable for the future. So I look forward to hearing all the details. It has a long ways to go. This is a conceptual deal that leadership that appears in a committee of some representation has maybe agreed to but now has to be put in bill form and then go through the committee process through the Senate through the House. And then if everything is tied together and passed then it comes to me for signature. So again this has a long ways to go. But but I want to reiterate that I'm encouraged to see that there's some progress because it's it's essential because it's it's it's a it's a billion it's billion dollar problem we have on our hands and we need to to take some action. Would you support there is about 200 million dollars in one time funds put towards pensions right now. Would you support that concept of putting that much money toward it right now? You know again we'll have to see the details of that. I'm not interested in just throwing hundreds of millions of dollars in anything. It's not sustainable and it doesn't fix the structural problems. So again it depends and and I don't know what the figure is. I hadn't heard I'd heard 100 million plus but maybe it's 200 million. I just don't know at this point we there was money set aside 100 million set aside for this. So it's in with within the realm of possibility but we obviously I'll be coming out with my budget next week. Suffice it to say I didn't know about this so I haven't included that. So there'll have to be decisions made about what we'll do without at that point in time because it has to come from somewhere. Commissioner Peachett. Yeah thank you very much governor and thank you Devin. So yeah I think to reiterate the governor's point it's an encouraging sign. You know everybody that showed up to the task force willing to you know roll up their sleeves come up with the best ideas that they could to try to make the pensions and the health care side of the equation sustainable. So you know obviously teachers and state employees and staff have been through a lot during the pandemic. This conversation has been certainly another thing weighing on them. It will be good to get the conversation and the action you know complete and over with. There's a lot of a lot of ways to go as the governor said you know the legislature I think needs to take a good look at the proposal look at the financials make sure that it makes sense to them do more due diligence. We were about six weeks late on giving the report and we really just needed to get this proposal to the legislature for its consideration you know and that I think is what we did yesterday. So there's things in there that again I think move the ball forward. There's you know contribution increases that the unions have agreed to so that certainly is you know something to point to and a sacrifice that is being made on that hand. But you need to look at the whole picture as the governor said look at what the impact is on the pension side what the impact is on the healthcare side and then where does the money come to fund that and those are some of the critical questions that still have to be developed. I'm hearing about fake testing sites pop up around the nation. I wanted to know if that was a concern here. Maybe you could tell I don't know if the testing sites fake like fake testing sites scams COVID scams people thinking it's a testing site but then getting scammed. I had not heard of that I don't believe it's happening in Vermont but I may ask others the way in if they've heard anything. Nothing that we've heard of thus far but obviously we'll be keeping an eye out for that to be sure that people are getting what they need. So yeah I mean we're trying to not only have all the testing sites that we have available throughout the state with PCR tests but in lab tests but but also the antigen tests that we're trying to distribute directly to them so that they can test themselves. So we'll continue to keep an eye out for that though. It also means boosted? Yeah I think that is an ongoing conversation and I'll probably ask either Dr. Gelso or Dr. Levine talk about this further but but I think if we could go back I don't know as we would have used the the term fully vaccinated in the beginning because it's really about keeping current right. We want to make sure that you're having all the the vaccines the third dose the booster dose everything you possibly can to keep up so that would mean literally fully vaccinated but that term has been fully vaccinated was two doses of Moderna two doses of Pfizer one dose of of J&J and that's just not the case at this point but I would say that they're struggling with trying to transition to what that means for everyone. Thank you Governor and I think from a individual person standpoint I prefer that people think about what qualifies them to be fully protected and up to date on their vaccine. Those are the terms that have more meaning to an individual fully protected and up to date and clearly an Omicron if you want to be fully protected and up to date and the time has passed for when you could get a booster and you haven't gotten a booster you're not fully protected up to date until you get your booster. CDC has not formally changed the definition at this point in time. On the projected case slide it looks like over the next few weeks we could the state could expect a seven-day increase between 3,000 and 5,000 cases based on that innermost confidence ban which would be totally a record for here in Vermont. Yes this slide here what is the concern there that I mean that could close schools people out of work I mean I know we're in this surge but that would be an incredible increase. Again that is a concern I'm concerned about the labor force and how what the effect will be especially on health care workers and essential services that that is one concern but our main concern throughout has been hospitalizations and deaths so we'll continue to watch that metric and be sure that we're managing that so far so good in that regard but but we'll do we're taking all kinds of precautions taking steps to be sure that we can provide the care that people need in the in the event that they become ill some not with COVID by the way I mean when we watch the hospitalizations it's interesting because we saw I think most of you have seen that New York for instance has given us data that it says that 37 percent of those who are in the hospital are in not for COVID but have COVID while they're there so we're we're trying to gather some information on that to see where we stand but regardless once they're in the hospital and they have COVID it is a higher level of trying to segregate and so forth and protect everyone else so it does impact health care and the hospitals but but again my concern is making sure that we provide for those essential services that we need to get through this hump so to speak Dr Bell Dr Levine anything you want to add to that just one sentence again lots of people are going to get Omicron many are talking now in terms of not if but when it doesn't mean though you're going to become deathly ill and I want everyone to pay a lot of attention to Dr to a commissioner p-check slide regarding the risk to those who are unvaccinated versus those who are vaccinated and boosted you very very very slim chance of being hospitalized or having a severe outcome even if you have a reasonable chance of getting Omicron if you've been vaccinated and boosted so I think that's really important for everyone to pay attention to the other part of that is that yes there will be impacts on the workforce hopefully not all at once because as we've said there is more cases now than we tell you about because a lot of those aren't reported a lot of those aren't even tested people are having mild symptoms and getting by just fine even though we don't know the numbers so a big number doesn't mean a big number of people who are very seriously ill and that have major impacts either and dr bell is going to make a comment as well I just want to watch he's coming up to the podium thank her for her supportive comments today especially in light of her call schedule I just want to add for the pediatric hospitalizations that what we're seeing is even a higher percentage of truly incidental COVID cases and the New York data data that Governor Scott just referenced that statewide I think in New York City it's even higher I think about 50% are the hospitals felt like were truly incidental and that may be reflective of a more vaccinated population or a younger population so we expect that as children come to the hospital for their regular care either scheduled or unexpected that many will test positive when they come in and so we're prepared with the extra isolation requirements that we need for these patients we also expect that there will be children who come in because of COVID so I right now we feel really prepared for all that and if I'm for Secretary Friendship I may on the shift in school testing one of the concerns from the NEA was that staff wouldn't have as much access to testing that you know staff want to be able to be tested they want you know regular access to that so will they still be able to access tests when they want to or will it be harder for them to get the rapid test that the students get yeah we've heard that concern and you know a lot of what we've been working on and Secretary Samuelson and her team in particular is on supply you know a lot of a lot of the decision-making is predicated on supply so again we anticipated making this move in the broader context of deploying more antigen tests in society as a whole as we said the initiative with Amazon I think is part of that but we are aware of that concern and I think right now we're we've got some modeling in terms of supply that I think staff will find tests readily available at school but the supply is something we're going to be monitoring very closely and that's we'll see how this evolves do we know how many antigen tests will be deployed this week uh secretary samuelson do you want to how many are going out this week we're still working on that number it depends on it depends on how many are ordered by the schools themselves phones now and just to know we have a hard stop at two o'clock and we have a longer than usual remote queue today so asking folks to try to limit to one or two and if we have time at the end for follow-ups just shoot me a text we can come back around to you or of course we can pitch you the answers offline afterward so we'll start with Lisa Rathke associate press thanks I just had a quick question about the um the results the delay and the test result and was that a a technical glitch in in terms of the state system or was that something with the lab it wasn't clear on that yeah from what I understand it may have been a little bit of a combination although more so on the it side sector Quinn is on the line maybe he could explain that from the it sector sure thanks for the question yeah it was a state system where we collect results in the database we had a collision of information that caused a database to stop us stop responding is that because it's so many results or it was more of a timing issue around two different processes trying to grab the same file at the same exact time we put a process in place to notify us immediately if it happens again to ensure that we don't delay results okay and then just one quick question about the contract tracing outside of schools just for the general public I know people are supposed to notify with their closed contacts it says on the health department website that the health department is doing contact tracing for people at higher risk um they're just wondering how's that how is that how are you knowing who's at a higher risk and how to know if notify them I might refer to Dr. Kelso if she's on the line yes I'm happy to take that one we have information on lab reports that come in that indicate someone's age and race and ethnicity and some other limited information and we're able to use that information to prioritize which cases we're reaching out to okay so you're talking about the people who have actually been tested and are at higher risk not reaching out to people who have not been notified yet who have not been tested that's correct we we can only reach out to people for whom we have a positive result okay um okay thank you Chris Roy Newport Daily Express Chris Roy all right we move to Greg Lamero the county courier good afternoon governor um I want to start with two weeks ago Secretary Smith said before his retirement he would follow up on the status of a internal investigation on DCS looking into a teacher from Georgia Vermont who was arrested for sexually assaulting a student it appears that he was quite busy preparing for his retirement and that probably fell through the cracks so I'm hoping I can get an answer on that if not on the line here maybe off the line in the next day or two let me ask Secretary Samuelson if she has any answer I'm sorry it's ongoing the investigation is currently still ongoing um and so we can provide you with information as as it becomes available um yeah I appreciate that it seems like it's uh been what about 45 days so uh just thought we might hear something uh but moving on governor with the drastic change in uh in the way schools are now not going to be contact tracing it kind of seems like such a drastic change coupled with a drastic increase in cases is an indicator that that your administration was at least caught off guard if not had a cut would be danced down so I'm wondering at what point did your administration start talking about not contact tracing and and how far that goes back or or was this a very very quick response to what you were seeing yeah I might uh I might question the characteristic of drastic and uh and also getting uh being surprised by this um you know nothing about this uh pandemic has been textbook for for instance we we have been nimble and reacting to what we're seeing on the ground relying on the data the science throughout the last almost two years now we did the same with this omicron many were we didn't have any information on this and how quickly it transmitted the incubation period and so forth and so on nor did we understand how mild it was until it got here so we again as we've done throughout the pandemic we made decisions based on the data based on what we're seeing based on trying to make things work better more efficiently not to burden of the the schools nurses in particular would be in contact tracers this was a much more logical approach and and actually will save uh the um the workload on some of the uh of those in the schools uh and provide for a more effective process so that we put more tests out and we get uh we get it contained better in a faster way what we were doing before just wasn't making any sense uh with this new variant which hit us very quickly at the whole world country and world very quickly dr levine dr bell secretary french first yeah hi gregg yeah i would i would agree that i don't necessarily agree with the characterization and um you know i'd point out from an operational standpoint we've been uh looking at um the viability of contact tracing for some time going back to october i can remember what i was talking about testing and contact tracing sort of being competing resources but certainly as the governor mentioned as we've we've come to realize the impact of amicron and evaluating those processes relative to the speed of amicron uh that that compels us to take take action but the other point i would just point out which really makes me take issue with some of your characterization is that this is happening everywhere in the world right now you know it's it's happening in europe it's happening uh in asia it's certainly happening across our country and i think schools and managing schools in the face of amicron is often referred to in the media as being one of the most challenging public health challenges at the moment so um i don't i don't agree with your characterization as vermont uh being slow to this or not being quick enough um you know we're working our best way through it as we have with all other challenges in the pandemic and we've been very successful i would say in all those pivots that we've had to navigate i know dr kelso has something as well thank you just to back up what the governor said about us continually watching the data and making decisions based on the data we at the health department participated in a publication with cdc evaluating contact tracing effectiveness um many months ago we've recently re-looked at some of that data um in the context of the delta surge to see again is contact tracing effective and timely um and is it the best tool and given our close look at the data and given that amicron spreads so much more quickly and has a shorter incubation period you know this has been based on the science every step of the way dr bill okay uh hold on i just wanted to add from the pediatric pediatric id standpoint this is something that we've been talking about in our circles actually since school opened in the fall um and really um what was the level of the type of contact tracing that was being done in schools during the fall during delta was actually really really hard um and so this this was an ongoing plan and recommendation that we had from our standpoint and um there was there was also this recommendation to stop contact tracing once you got to a certain vaccination standpoint so some schools had had reached there there was also changes that we made in the fall really looking at what do we even consider to be a close contact based on what other states were doing and what other studies were showing and so that has been modified as well so there's been a lot of modifications to how we think about a close contact and really with delta there was a lot of contact that was happening certainly with omicron i think we should all sort of assume that we're a close contact all the time and then just a last reminder that there's a lot of focus on schools and close contact and contact tracing in schools but not elsewhere and so um every we should all assume that everywhere we go throughout the community that we have a potential exposure and that we are a potential close contact and sort of behave and act accordingly okay thank you Mike Donahue the islander right we'll try to be salubis the value reporter good afternoon it sounds like families associated with a school community will have access to antigen tests and potentially lamp tests what about people with no ties to a school i heard someone in the room ask a question but it wasn't completely audible and she asked about whether antigen tests and lamp tests would be available at testing sites for the general public will such tests be available to the general public who do not have a school association well the antigen tests the n a i h test program that i just announced that's going to be open tomorrow is for the general public you can order those online up to two kits per household and we have only have a finite number of them 250 000 kits so this is the start i mean we have other programs and we're pulling every lever we can and as well the president biden has announced that there will be a test being available to be sent directly to to vermonters or to households throughout the country in the in the coming weeks so we have other programs and initiatives we're working on and in hopes that we'll be building up that supply so that people can have access to those tests which you think is essential as we get through this this surge so absent the n i h amazon program which opens tomorrow people without a tie to the school can't necessarily get take home tests for themselves is that correct until more tests are available am i understanding that correctly it seems like people in schools or in a school community have a distinct advantage over those who are not in the school community yeah i mean i just want to remind everyone i might ask secretary samuelson to to weigh in because we we do have tests number of tests coming in and that we are going to be distributing those in the the coming weeks when they are coming in but don't don't give up on your pharmacists either they continue to get tests in test kits in and i know that they're in a short supply but they are building their stock and so that they're going to be available on a first come first serve basis and some of those pharmacies secretary samuelson as the governor mentioned the availability for the general public is primarily through pharmacies or you can order online at this point in time vermont is subject to the same supply chain issues that we're experiencing nationally and we are continuing to diversify the test platforms that are coming into the state and we'll keep you informed as those open up and more opportunities exist but right now the best options are through the n i h program ordering online or going to your local pharmacist thank you for that and then i want to follow up if i may with something some of the scott mentioned two weeks ago if you were asked a question about whether the state would be providing high quality k and 95 and 94 maps to the public and i heard someone mentioned today that there may be maps distributed in daycare centers is there any update on that yeah i may refer uh to let's see yeah commissioner shirling hers yeah commissioner shirling you could repeat the question that would be helpful will there be um high quality k and 95 and 94 masks made available to the public in vermont i believe i heard earlier in the press conference a reference made to such masks being distributed to daycares yeah great question we are working on a map distribution sort of enhancement to what has happened in the past that does include a mass beyond a cloth map and procedure and surgical masks which have been distributed previously at the moment that is focused on some areas of of higher need but we do anticipate that there may be maps of that type available at various locations like testing sites vaccination sites and human services field offices and that's in the coming weeks that's correct uh the emergency management team has been working on that uh over the last couple of weeks great thank you very much that's it for me planers seven days hi yeah i'm just wondering if the state is confident that there will be enough of these rapid tests for everyone who wants them through the school programs um we are confident over the the coming weeks that we have enough um and we've uh we've been managing our supply and we think we have enough but we continue to work every single day to acquire more tests so that because we don't know the duration of this and and how long we're all need the the number tests that are needed today so we're doing the best we can with the the supply we have and have coming in and we are acquiring a number a number of tests from different vendors different programs to to make sure that we have what we need for the schools in particular and for the long-term care facilities and do we have a rough ball part of what that so if we're thinking over the next few weeks how many we have set aside right now do you have any idea i mean i'm sure that's a moving target but um yeah i mean we have some in route as well so i i don't have that number we've we've talked about that a number of times making sure that we have enough uh to get through uh the next uh next uh few weeks but do you have anything to add to that okay that's just all i can tell you at this point we'll we'll try and update you when we see more hitting the ground but but we feel confident that we have enough to get through the next few weeks great thank you and then just one other question about the n95 mask it sounds like commissioner shelling was talking about some initiatives to get them out to the public i know some people in schools have been clamoring for better access to those i'm wondering how schools might rank on that priority list sounds like some are being sent to child care centers or are any being sent to schools as well yeah commissioner shelling thank governor i would actually defer the school mask questions the secretary french says he's got that uh level of detail um secretary french yeah thanks so far we haven't seen uh that request coming in at the state level to the agency of education um my impression is that districts are largely taking care of ppe kind of requests at the local level um you know they they have 90 of the federal relief dollars and ppe is certainly an acceptable use of those dollars uh so i think those issues are being addressed at the local level so if they're if that doesn't remain true then we'll certainly do our part to step in but a combination of the funding being available and i think there's ready access to the supply my impression is that's being addressed at the local level right now thanks and if i may it's uh mike shelling again just a couple of of notes that our math distribution will be in part things like k95 but also a large swath of sort of procedure and surgical math that will help people enhance the layers that they can make with their masking but uh equally important of note is that we have not heard or seen any uh shortages at this point in the supply chain so folks do have uh sort of wide availability for n95 can 95 and other math um both online local hardware stores um they're sort of ubiquitously available so uh in the event that one of our our distribution uh sites once they're up or a distance away it may be just as easy to go to the corner uh hardware store to erin tanko vt digger first off hopefully a quick question um just how many people are hospitalized today for COVID-19 and is that the record number i believe it's 91 but uh but it is not a record have we hit the record for one day hospitalizations or only for the seven day average well we must have hit it at some point um otherwise it wouldn't be a record uh commissioner p check yeah thank you governor so uh yesterday so today we had 91 as the governor said yesterday we had 101 uh so 101 uh back down to 91 i think the day before the 101 it was in the low 90s as well okay thank you uh just kind of wanted that point of clarification and um i also have a question about the um school data the the um kind of the least uh data for the department of health um um what is going to change about how you guys collect that data because of the switch to antigen testing very french yeah as we've i think we flagged earlier that uh that data is likely to change right now um you know we've released sort of the core of what we're planning to do in terms of policy and we have a lot of work to do to refine um our related guidance documents and so forth but uh i would expect uh you know schools let's say um aren't going to be necessarily the administrators of that testing information like they were before that uh we'll we'll lose control of that data uh in exchange for having more broadly distributed tests in the public so that's going to be the trade-off but we haven't finalized our approach yet to the reporting and do you do you still have no plans to um collect any data on closures or a number schools that report to the remote because of covid issue actually we are going to stand up a collection that went out this morning for school closures um if you heard my piece on the waiver of going remote doesn't necessarily count towards being schools being open but we we have identified a need particularly in the amicron surge to have a better understanding of school closure so we're commissioning a simple form for schools to submit that data to us this morning why don't remote day accounts for closure for kind of the waiver process i mean it's still better than forcing the schools to close entirely right not necessarily i mean there's the problem is we don't have a standard of definition of quality of what remote learning looks like um and as we saw last year that varied considerably around the state um you know you can imagine remote learning if you're a high school student taking chemistry it might look totally different than an elementary student in first grade so you know part of it is we don't have a good definition but our other interest is is i think everyone's learned around the world and around the country is that it's an inferior approach to learning and as much as we're concerned with the immediate situation with amicron i think we're equally concerned with accumulative effects of students being out of school as a result of covid and that that accumulative effect is really weighing heavily i think on our policy and we want to make sure that we keep kids in school as best we can okay thank you Lexi BPR can you out here ma'am we can okay i just wanted to follow up and clarify do we know what percentages schools or districts have had to close because of staffing shortages or positive covid cases since coming back from winter break it's not very french uh no i don't have a percent or a number for you it's been a pretty dynamic situation um i do think is i think you highlighted staffing issues are really going to become the prominent cause of school closures here in the coming week um and we're starting to see that play out certainly as amicron makes a bigger impact on schools but we don't have a quantifiable number at this point okay thank you guys page from our daily chronicle hello governor december 62 covid deaths are broken down into three categories not fully vaccinated fully vaccinated but not lucid fully vaccinated and lucid but there's no listing of deaths of unvaccinated the markets okay you provide this and if not why not commissioner peachy so thanks for the question guys so i don't have it by december but i do have it for the last six weeks that's sort of the time frame that we've been looking at um so during the last six week time period we had 39 in total deaths among those not fully vaccinated 26 among those uh fully vaccinated but not boosted and then four among those fully vaccinated and boosted by our um calculations so again 39 um for those not fully vaccinated 26 for those fully vaccinated but not boosted and then four uh deaths among those fully vaccinated and boosted So again, when we come up with those percentages, at this point, about 250,000 Vermonters are fully vaccinated and boosted, you know, there's probably somewhere around 200,000 Vermonters who are fully vaccinated but not boosted and then a much smaller number of those that are, you know, not fully vaccinated yet. So that's sort of the breakdown in terms of the last six weeks. Well, I guess what I'm looking for is the number of unvaccinated Vermonters who have died over the last six weeks. Yeah, no, it's a, you know, so, so no, you're saying no vaccine at all. I'm sorry. No, no vaccine doses at all. So when that's what I'm looking for yet, right, who died who have had no vaccine doses at all. So, you know, again, the way we look at it is, is those three categories will take a look at, at whether we can parse that out even more. You know, obviously, a shot of the vaccine provides some protection rather than, than no shots of the vaccine. But still, as we've seen throughout the pandemic and even more recently in Delta, not just fully vaccinated, but boosted is really what you need to be fully protected. So having a single dose or having no doses, you know, there was a difference, but at this point, it's, you know, it's not anywhere near the difference between being fully vaccinated and being boosted on top of that. But we'll see if we can break that down more. That would be very helpful. Thank you. Well, and this is Dr. Levine. While I can't give you the exact numbers, we know throughout the pandemic that the number of people who only got one dose and was still waiting for second dose were in the single digit percents, a very small number generally. And that number shrinks over time. So I would anticipate most of the people in the not fully vaccinated category are truly unvaccinated. And even if a small percentage of them don't fit that profile, most of them are going to fit that profile. And if you think about it as a rate, because the number of unvaccinated in the state is the smallest number out of 600 plus thousand people, the rate of death in that group is much, much higher, which was illustrated on the slide with the 24 times the risk of death. I guess it would help if there were actual numbers of unvaccinated so we could we could make that judgment. Well, we'll take a look. I'm not sure if we can get that or not. But when I see I see the deaths, I see numerous numerous folks that are not vaccinated. Scott, on a separate matter, are you a commission for Sherling concerned that the qualified immunity legislation becomes law, significant numbers of remote police that retire or take jobs in other states that do not pose that legal threat to their livelihood? Yeah. I know Commissioner Sherling is concerned. I'll let him answer. Thanks, Governor. Thanks for the question. Yes, we are gravely concerned about the impact of that potential legislation or working with a variety of partners and stakeholders to craft a cogent and comprehensive assessment to the legislature of the potential impacts and downsides of proceeding in that fashion. We are of course very much supportive of ongoing modernization of law enforcement operations. And we think there's a variety of things that have been done recently that are potentially impactful that we need to see how things play out with those initiatives. And meanwhile, we've got other initiatives that are in motion as well. So we're not opposed because we are averse to change and modernization. Just don't think this is the right way to go. Thank you. Pam Davis, the Vermont Journal. Thank you. I have three questions. First of all, what is the impact of the vaccine, whether it has the impact of the whole population of the Vermont? But one of the things I'm concerned about is the older population, say from 70 to 100, the Omicron variant is supposed to be much less virulent and much less damaging to most people. But I'd like to know from Dr. Levine what his feeling is about whether there is the extent to which the Omicron is more dangerous to the older, is it significantly more dangerous to older people? That's a great question. And that's something that, you know, it's been in the state for a few weeks. So it's going to be hard for me to give you the full assessment, even around the world assessment. Never mind the question you're asking. But I think we should make the assumption that any variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a person who has either age or other underlying medical conditions as their reason for being at higher risk would still be at higher risk. The one thing we're finding in a more research setting is that it does not seem to be as impactful on the lung tissue itself, more on the upper airways and the bronchi as well, but not on the actual parenchyma of the lung, which is really, says a lot because all the previous variants and certainly Delta cause significant amounts of pneumonia in the higher risk group, which then leads to a lot of the other complications that make that group not fair as well. So we'll have to, we'll have to see over time. We, you know, we know we see deaths two to three weeks down the road from when people become a case, if not longer. And so many of the deaths that we've been seeing most recently, I would guess would be Delta variant deaths and not Omicron. So that's about the best I can do for you right now. Thank you for that. I understand that this is no high state yet, but I was interested in your sense of the position about what that was like. I know it's a likely question. My next question in the light of that is my next question to the governor. I've brought this up once before and I'd like to ask you again, given the question, given the likelihood that the 70 to 100 cohort is much more at risk. If you look at the actual data, I think this data is correct, that the first wave, that the first wave of deaths was in May of 2020, very low, 18. But then it went in the second wave, which was February of 21, it went to 42. But the way in, I'm not sure if my paycheck would confirm this exactly, but the rate in last December a month ago was 50 so that in other words, the death rate has been going up steadily, leaving us and that gets aside from who's really got it, whether it's home morbidity, it's better if you're dead, you're dead. And so my question is, given that the actual rate of death are higher now than they have ever been before, whether you consider that, whether you reconsider your feeling that we don't need any vaccine mandate. I still think it's a personal choice. Obviously, I truly believe vaccinations are the answer and something that I was struck with in the delta. I'll use the delta wave. And that's where we saw the most deaths was the younger age of the deaths. That's something that was struck with almost on a daily basis when I'd see the results, the deaths and some of the information surrounding the deaths. But the age bothered me immensely. Any death is tragic. But when you see them in the in the forties and fifties unvaccinated that really made me pause. But again, you know, we're at this point in time, we we want to leave it to people to make the right decisions. Thankfully, for monitors for the large part had made the right decisions. I think following through is really important. And if there's one thing that we can, if I could get across to people is if you have the opportunity to get up to date, as Dr Levine might say, what's what's your term up to date fully protected up to date do so. I mean, the boost series have been very, very effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. And so if you can get fully protected, it's not too late. And you can and it's a wide range now of people who can be protected by vaccines. So we've come along ways, but but we can't we can't give up now and we can't let our guard down because while we hope this last this next the Omicron is the last variant to come along. Reality is it isn't. There will be other variants. But if it affects a large proportion of the country in the world, it may stem the tide a little bit and and maybe we'll be able to move into that endemic stage. But but again, get vaccinated, get fully vaccinated, get up to date with your vaccinations. And if you haven't been vaccinated yet, it's not too late to start. People that can fit that are not the victims here are not the people that all people that didn't get vaccinated. What they are is that all people are much more likely to be infected and possibly killed by people who aren't vaccinated and who aren't interested in and not interested in it at all. So it's if somebody is over 70 and is not vaccinated fully, that that just means that they're not very interested. But the fact is that if every single one of them was a lot of them would die because 30 year old roles or 20 year olds or 18 year olds won't do it. And I don't think that there's any way that that's the only thing that I can see that God state government would do in order to protect all people 40 or 50,000 for models. Okay, is to force people to get this other people to get vaccinated, not a personal choice, but people who are old. Yeah, I think, uh, Ham, you make a great point. But if you look at the vaccination rates across the country and the amount of the political nature, the overtones of the pandemic and being so polarizing in some respects, if we weren't if we didn't do this as a country, uh, and our borders are open, we we we welcome people in to visit our beautiful state. I'm not sure that that would protect everyone at that point. Um, we still would have that issue because we're very mobile throughout the country. Yes, you get in December of last year, okay, as a highest that we've ever had in Vermont for any or any phase of the pandemic. Hi, and they and I just don't you said, and last time we talked about, no, I'm sorry, I'm arguing on it. But the last time we talked about, you said it was not your style and that you prefer the character, but the people over 70 day there are no character. There isn't a character inside. Well, again, I think our approach has worked him in some respects. And while we have, I'm not sure that having a vaccine mandate would have prevented all the deaths either. I think that it's we have those. It's it's effective, but it's not 100% effective. So there are going to be breakthrough cases, regardless of how many people get vaccinated. So it's just the reality of the pandemic and the virus and the nature of the virus. So again, we'll have to move on and and I'm sure that we'll have this debate on a different day. Thank you. Joseph Brescher, the Barton Chronicle. Hi, Governor. You know, I was wondering, given that the immunizations for the childhood diseases, MMR and chicken pox is over 90%. I was wondering what Dr. Bell and Dr. Levine are hearing back from people who are, you know, just do the math or getting their kids vaccinated that are not themselves getting vaccinated for COVID. I think it's the other way around as well. It seems as though a number of parents and adults that are vaccinated that aren't getting their kids. I mean, that's based on what we're seeing with the percentages. That's probably typically the case. But Dr. Bell. Yeah, that's a great question. And you're correct that we have a great vaccination rate in Vermont for childhood immunizations, which means that there are definitely parents who are vaccinating their children with other vaccines and still have not yet for the for the COVID vaccine. So it really varies when we talk to families. It's sort of all over the place in terms of for those families. Of course, they're the families that don't vaccinate at all. It's a very small portion of the population. But then for this, this portion that, you know, we're really interested in are the parents. Oftentimes they've been vaccinated themselves. They get their children vaccinated with with their childhood immunizations, but they're still hesitant on the COVID vaccine. And I think part of that is it still for some it still feels new. One thing that I have found to be helpful is just talking about the millions and millions of children across the country who have received this vaccine. And, you know, every week we add to that. And I think that comfort in numbers can be really helpful. And so there are parents now who are listening who have have been vaccinated themselves. They haven't vaccinated their child yet. And they will start to feel more comfortable just seeing those numbers. There's a lot of just fear and anxiety of the unknown and the relatively low risk of severe disease in children. And so so some people are waiting. But I'm hopeful that more and more parents will vaccinate their children. I do remind folks of especially in this age group, there is a very, very rare entity that can happen after COVID infection called multi system inflammatory syndrome in children. And that happens a few weeks after COVID infection. And that can be really serious. So it's definitely worth protecting children against that even if they have a mild COVID infection, they're still at risk for for Missy. And this is where having good conversations with your child's health care provider. These are folks that really want to have individual conversations. And that's what we're doing in our pediatric practices and our family medicine practices is really giving a personal recommendation. We recommend every child in Vermont who's eligible to get vaccinated. We recommend that they do so. For Commissioner P check, I was wondering with the self reporting, you know, human nature being what it is. The self reporting is not going to be as reliable as far as total case counts is concerned, you know, with the rapid antigen test should be we've been looking more at hospitalizations and ICU stays and deaths versus just total case counts going forward. Yes, I do think Tim, you need to look at all the data, you know, together at this point, you know, on the case counts, you know, I mentioned that four to five times number. So that was being that's attributable to the fact that there are milder cases that people might think are cold or they might have no symptoms at all. So there are more, you know, more cases out there because of that under Delta and previous variants, we were estimating that was closer to two or 2.4 in terms of that difference. So there's that, then there's the antigen test piece, you know, as well. Obviously, we want people to report those, you know, when you look at our PCR testing, it is back up over 10,000 per day. So that's what we were averaging, you know, prior to the holidays and, you know, before at home tests were as widely available. So there's still good insight there on the case data. But of course, you know, we want to look at all of the data in total to sort of get a full picture of what's going on. So we think you'd be doing just some statistical analysis going forward like you were mentioning that the multiplier Yeah, we've been doing that throughout the pandemic, you know, trying to, you know, it's the difference between the infection rate and the reported rates. So what's the implied infection rate? What's the case reported rate? So we've been doing that, you know, throughout and we'll continue to do that. Certainly it might become even more critical as we move forward. All right, great. Thank you. All right, we have five to go. We're a little bit over time. So I'm going to ask that we try to get through these as fast as possible. It's like a lightning round. Have a yes or no answer. Any follow-ups you can direct to me and I can make sure we get you the answers. Ed Barber, Newport Daily Express. Thank you, Ed. We said what are very roundabout. Good afternoon. Thanks, Jason. Hello, Governor. I'll be quick. Just trying to hop up with Dr. Bill said it sounds like to sum up the best chance that we have for kids to have a somewhat normal next few months of school moving ahead are good math, lots of tests and vaccines. It sounds like Secretary French covered the math question and you're doing your best with getting as many tests as possible. So I'm wondering if now that we have kids from kindergarten through 12th grade that can get vaccines and from 12 and up as of last week, they can get boosted. What's the likelihood that we might see a better push coming forward now, maybe from the National Guard or others to try to get more vaccine clinics out there to get as many kids vaccinated and boosted as possible? Given what Dr. Levine keeps saying about boosters being really important? Yeah, obviously, we want to make sure we have the vaccines available for people who want them. And I think we've done that thus far. It isn't as though the vaccine clinics have been overrun. But there has been an uptick anecdotally over the last week or so. So that's a good sign. But we will continue to add resources to get vaccines to those who want them. But but at this point in time, I'm not seeing that we have a problem with the vaccination clinics or the number of them. Unless Dr. Levine or Secretary Samuelson has any other information. The only the only addition is, you know, there are abundant school clinics over the next month. A school near you will have one. And that's a great easy place for a K through 12 person to access vaccine. Then they're not being overrun. So won't be long waiting lines or anything. And Dr. Levine, family members could also get vaccines at those clinics as well, right? Yes, they're meant to be for the community, but conveniently located at the school. Okay, thank you very much. Tom Davis, come to us for my Davis move to Angela Gregor Caledonian record. Thank you. Lighting around so I guess while Dr. Bell is available, I'll ask questions to her. Folks earlier about children too young to get vaccinated. You give us a bit more about how COVID presents itself in these young kids, the potential prevalence of long COVID. And how worried should families be? You know, should they accept that infection is inevitable? Or should they be moving heaven and earth that I will avoid? You know, like a two year old getting Yeah, great question. So it's really presenting a lot like other respiratory viral infections. And I can start with infants what we see are what we see when when infants get other viral infections in terms of just kind of feeling unwell. Sometimes they get a fever. They're not drinking well. They might need to come to the hospital for IV fluids and also to monitor to make sure they're they don't have another type of infection like a serious bacterial infection. So that might be one reason why an infant might get admitted with COVID. Another once you get to the toddler age, you know, we are seeing more as Dr. Levine mentioned upper airway effects rather than lower airway. So with viruses like respiratory syncytial virus, those affect the lower airways and cause really, really severe disease in infants and in medically complex children. We haven't seen that COVID can cause that we haven't really seen that in Vermont, the you know, the lower airway like the pneumonia, the bronchiolitis, we haven't seen that at this point. And so that's generally what the combo of that is generally what we're seeing. We also see some vomiting and some dehydration as well. And really, it can look when people say COVID can look like anything it really can and children it just is is is runs the gamut here. I would say to families that to think about really to think about what you would do with your family as a precaution heading into a respiratory viral viral season. So we're heading into RSV season flu season. What would you normally do in those circumstances? And that depends on the health condition of your child that we can depend on the age of your child as you know, if you had an infant, I don't think that families again, I don't I'm not telling families they need to pull their kids out of childcare at all. I think if you're the type of family that that has to do that anyway to avoid flu and RSV, then that then in that case, yes, but otherwise, I think really just getting ready for a lot of disruption. I think that's really the biggest thing. There's a ton of disruption right now because children are getting sick, parents are getting sick, childcare providers. There's are already strained and stressed. So for those families, I really of this age group, I really think be prepared for a lot of disruption and it's very, very hard. There's a lot of missed work. There's a lot of scrambling to figure out childcare and I think that's really the big struggle for families in this age group right now. Okay, thank you. Not a question, but a quick comment for Secretary French during this conference was messaged by a public school staff member that's looking for clarification on how testing kits will be available to staff members. They were concerned about using testing to help protect vulnerable family members. Yeah, I think I heard your question of staff member who's concerned or wants to know more information about access to kits at school. Yeah, they're just looking for more information as soon as it becomes available. Yeah, we're have that out. As I mentioned, we had to announce the sort of the core direction of where we're going, but we have a lot of work to do to roll out the specific guidance documents and we're working very hard on that right now. So I would just encourage that person to stay tuned and we'll have that information out shortly. Thank you all. Mike True North reports. Hello, can you hear me okay? We can. Okay, great. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Mike Bloski with True North reports. I have a question about the VAERS, the vaccine adverse effects reporting system with the federal government. The most recent VAERS data from on shows more than 1800 adverse reactions from COVID, including 11 deaths and 30 victims who have become disabled. Whatever Vermont doctors in the health department doing to report and investigate these cases. And that can be for you or for Dr. Levine. Yeah, we've answered this question a number of times. But bottom line is, first, I'll thank Vermonters, who actually have put information in the system and Vermont physicians who put information in the system. Because that's what it's meant to be an early warning system, anything that could be even remotely connected to the vaccine goes into the system, and then it gets checked out. The Vermont Department of Health, nor Vermont clinical community does not investigate every one of those. They report those and they go to the CDC and federal authorities where further investigation is undertaken and looked at in the context of what's being reported by all 50 states and territories as a big compendium. So we're not investigating every single event that a Vermont clinician puts into the system. And thank you. And my next question is on a separate but related issue. New York's governor said Friday that 43% of their states COVID hospitalizations were actually not for COVID. There were folks who came into their hospitals for different medical emergencies unrelated to COVID. And then I suppose they got tested or or whatever and it became a COVID hospitalization. But is it your estimation that about half of a month COVID hospitalizations may also be initially unrelated to COVID as they come in? Yeah, I would. And we've heard people have lines out of New Jersey, by the way, I might ask. Yeah, I would not want to give a percentage today based on my guess about that. But the bottom line is we're actually looking into exactly what you're referring to, which is trying to get a better handle on understanding who is admitted because of COVID, who is admitted and then you find out they have COVID because they got a test in the emergency room on the way up to the floor. Keep in mind, it's not always black and white. There are many people who are very complex medically. Those are the kind of people that end up in the hospital generally anyways. And COVID could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, even though it wasn't mainly their reason for admission, it was the compensation about one of the rather medical problems. So it's not always super straightforward, but we're trying to get a glimpse into that in Vermont now. I shouldn't think that Vermont would be dramatically different than elsewhere. So numbers are being reported from elsewhere in the country. We would probably be in line with those. Okay, well, thank you for your time. Okay. That's it. Thank you all very much for tuning in. And we'll see you again in about two weeks. Thank you.