 Good morning everyone. I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. Today we'll have our usual modeling and health updates, which will include the latest information on the vaccine. As you'll hear in more detail in a few minutes, we're seeing some concerning trends across New England, New York, and Quebec, where we had over 170,000 new cases over the holidays. These numbers alone are troubling, but it's not just the cases because positivity rates in our neighboring states are on the rise as well. While we're seeing something similar, but on a much smaller scale here in Vermont, it's too early to know exactly what our recent cases mean or the impact of the last 10 days. With this in mind, we want to encourage Vermonters to get tested coming out of the holidays. We've been working to build up available testing, and we hope you'll take advantage of it so we can find cases and stop them in their tracks. Like many Vermonters, I was happy to ring in the new year and put 2020 in the rearview mirror. But clearly we still have much more to do as we work to get vaccines distributed to more Vermonters. I know this continues to be hard, but let's remember why we're doing this to save lives. Every day we're seeing more of Vermonters loss to this virus. When I get the report early each morning and I see two, four, five deaths listed, I feel the responsibility squarely on my shoulders and I take each one of them personally. We know from experience from the data and science that those who are older and others with serious underlying chronic conditions are far more vulnerable to serious long term health issues and unfortunately even death from COVID. And that's exactly why our public health strategies are focused on them. They are who we should all be thinking about when deciding whether to wear a mask, physically distance or put social plans on hold. And I know it's been difficult and it's inconvenient, but we're trying to prevent people from pain and suffering and even death by limiting the spread of the virus. This is the thinking that's gone into our plan to prioritize vaccines by age and health conditions. Last summer and into the fall, we went months without a single death as a result of COVID. And new cases were regularly in the single digits. But unfortunately, over the last month, we rarely go a day without someone dying because of this virus. So as we prioritize the distribution of a very limited supply of vaccines were focused on saving lives. This means older Vermonters living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and in their own homes, get the vaccine first, along with those who provide them with direct care. I know we all want to get back to as close to normal as possible. And we also know the vaccine is the best and quickest way to get there. But it's going to take some time to get enough supply from the federal government to get everyone vaccinated. So until that time comes, we're asking you to be patient. With us with each other and with the health measures in place. As well, we're asking you to be compassionate. Our guidance has a proven track record when it comes to mitigating the spread of this virus. But it only works if we continue to follow it. You've been doing this for so long out of empathy for one another and for the more vulnerable members of our communities. So if we stick to what we know works along with the vaccination plan, I'm confident will come out of this pandemic stronger and healthier than any other state in the country. With that, I'll turn it over to Commissioner P check for our modeling update. Thank you, Governor Scott. And good morning, everyone. First, I want to again reiterate the uncertainty that exists with COVID data around the holidays. As we saw with Thanksgiving holidays can impact testing of asymptomatic individuals as they're less likely to seek out a test. Some states may even have fewer testing options available. And some states may have delays in the processing and the reporting of their cases. In addition, as the governor mentioned, uncertainty around our data is one part, but also it's too early to know the full impact of the holidays and those who may have gathered or traveled during this period. We're now 11 days from the Christmas holiday, but we need a little bit more time to understand the potential impact of that event. Plus another 10 days or so to see the full impact from New Year's Eve as well. So we'll need to keep this in mind and avoid making conclusions until the data becomes more certain. This week delivers us another grim milestone as of Sunday over 350,000 Americans have lost their lives to the virus. Americans are also dying more often as we've lost an additional 50,000 citizens in just the last 21 days. The fastest pace the country has experienced to date. Looking at our regional data, we also have some reason for concern. As the governor mentioned, this week, the Northeast is reporting over 175,000 cases, a 20 percent increase in cases from last week and a total that far exceeds any previous week during the pandemic. Further, even though cases went up over the past week, regional testing went down. In fact, since Christmas, since the Christmas holiday testing in the Northeast is down about 14 percent. With cases up and testing down, this has caused the regional positivity rate to increase to over 10 percent, about double the rate that's recommended by the World Health Organization. Similarly, hospitalizations across the region are high and trending higher. The 12,656 individuals that are currently hospitalized in the Northeast represent a 13 percent increase from the Christmas holiday and an 85 percent increase from December 1st. Now looking at travel into Vermont, we now have data through the end of the year, which indicates that out of state travel is down approximately 50 percent compared to last year's holiday period. However, it also shows that this is the highest volume of out of state visitors to Vermont since the pandemic has begun. Today, Vermont will also report its 8,000th case since the start of the pandemic, with the state adding an additional 1000 cases over the past 10 days. And as we start the new year, we are seeing that our case growth has increased over the past week. We were averaging about 83 cases a week ago. That has increased to 106 cases yesterday and 117 cases as of today. Again, those are on a seven day average. But it's important for us not to draw any conclusions until we receive more case data and more reliable information from the region around us. Like our region, Vermont has also seen our seven day test average decline, although not as significantly, and our positivity rate increase over the holiday period. However, our rate remains much lower than the region standing at 2.63 percent. Turning to our regional heat map, you can see that Vermont continues to stand out in the region in terms of low case accounts. However, it's also important to note that our southernmost counties have also seen higher cases in the recent weeks. Turning to our Vermont forecast, you know, due to the uncertainty that we have discussed this week, we're not showing a case trend forecast, but rather a range of outcomes. One trend line assumes there is no holiday related increase in cases and Vermont's trend remains flat. The other trend assumes Vermont experiences an increase in cases connected to the holidays that is consistent with the increase other states experienced after the Thanksgiving holiday. Again, it's too early to know which trajectory we are on, but we will be closely monitoring this over the days and weeks ahead. However, we remain confident that even if Vermont does see an increase in cases from the holidays, that our hospitals will have the necessary resources to tend to everyone who needs care. The two forecasts here assume an increase in cases from the holidays and for both medical surgical beds and for ICU beds, we remain safely under our statewide hospital capacity, even if this holiday forecast comes about. Also, although the past few months certainly have been challenging here in Vermont, it's important for Vermonters to remember that your sacrifices that you're making are still having a really big impact. When we measure our pandemic response across key metrics, Vermont remains in the top one or two states in the country, which is really a continuing testament to the hard work and dedication of Vermonters and their willingness to sacrifice. We're also seeing Vermont stand out on the pace of vaccine administration. New data released yesterday by the CDC ranks Vermont first in the Northeast on doses administered per 100,000 residents and were second in the entire region only behind West Virginia. Turning now to the weekly updates on long term care and K through 12 education, Vermont's long term care facilities saw case totals this week stand at 451. That's down from 513 last week with new cases and long term care facilities staying at a relatively low level. So we certainly want to hope this trend continues. Across northern New England, there were 460 new K through 12 cases with most of those cases coming from New Hampshire and Maine. Vermont only had 10 cases reported, but of course we must remember that most schools have been out of session for the holidays as well. Last regarding flu vaccination, Vermont has now surpassed the number of individuals vaccinated during last year's flu season, and we are at 83% of the way toward our goal for this season. So again, if you haven't done so already, make a plan to stop by your local pharmacy and get your flu shot. And with that, I'll now turn it over to Dr. Levine. Thank you. I hope everybody had a happy and safe start to their New Year. Through the New Year's weekend, our seven day case average was 106 cases. Last evening, though, our lab reported out 165 cases. And sadly, we recorded five more deaths, bringing the total lives lost in our state to 149. It's difficult to draw definitive conclusions yet regarding the holidays. As Christmas and New Year's likely did have an impact on both testing availability and the reporting of results. However, our epi team is beginning to gain knowledge of some holiday gatherings. There are still many more cases that do not have this theme. Any potential spikes would likely appear in the coming week or so. I expect to have a more thorough analysis of this on Friday after several more days of data. But the most important thing I want to impress on people at this time is to get tested. Whether you gathered with a single household, whether you broke the rules and saw more people over the holidays, or if you had a potential exposure to someone who has been shown to have COVID, please get tested. There's still time to protect our loved ones and our communities. Remember, this virus spreads easily from person to person, and you can spread the virus even when you don't have any symptoms. Testing is really the only way we have to exercise what we are calling our containment strategy and make that an effective strategy. It's how we make sure that everyone who tests positive can then isolate and identify their close contacts so they can stay home and away from other people. One important note that I'd like to make, the other part of an effective containment strategy is knowing who you were in close contact with. That means, of course, within six feet for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. So if you gathered with people or did not follow protocols, please know that contact tracers don't enforce rules and you're not going to get into trouble. The key is to make sure we have the information that we need to protect for monitors. Testing and tracing can really stop the virus in its tracks, but only when we know who has it. And as you saw in Commissioner Pechak's slides, our region is experiencing further increases and new active cases, though Vermont continues to fare better than the other states. The more we can test now and the more we can then prevent the virus from being transmitted from one unsuspecting Vermont or to another, the more we can reduce the activity of the virus in our state while at the same time providing more and more doses of vaccine to Vermonters over the winter in spring. Starting out at a lower level of virus while vaccination is ramping up is part of an important strategy for returning as nearly as possible to life as it was before COVID-19. The good news is that Vermonters without COVID symptoms can now get tested at more than 15 regular locations throughout the state and more of them are now open every day. Many sites now allow you to take your sample yourself using a short swab in your nose, so it's really very quick, it's easy and it's free. You can register for a test by visiting healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19 testing. You do have to create an account to register and we appreciate your patience with this process. If you do have symptoms of COVID-19, please contact your healthcare provider so they can refer you for testing. If you don't have one you can call 2-1-1. And remember that a test only tells you if you have COVID-19 at the time you were tested, so keep up the basics wearing a mask, keeping at least six feet apart from one another, washing hands, and staying home when you're sick. Now we continue to hear a lot in the news about new variants of COVID-19 virus, most notably one that first emerged in the United Kingdom but has since been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States. Just to summarize, the variant seems to spread more easily and quickly but currently there's no evidence that it causes any more severe illness or greater risk of death. Should it increase in prevalence in the U.S., it will mean we have to redouble our efforts to keep distanced and masked and that more of the population may be impacted and need medical care. Also, it will mean more of the population will need to be vaccinated. Now we have not seen this variant in Vermont yet. I fully expect we will, especially in light of the news of yesterday of a case in Saratoga Springs, New York. We will be regularly sending samples to the CDC to determine their genetic sequence and the first of these were already sent several weeks ago. On the vaccine front are hospitals continue to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers, those who treat or are likely to be exposed to patients with COVID-19 both within and outside of their walls. Vermont is doing very well in getting vaccine into the arms of its healthcare workforce with a quick turnaround from when the vaccine reaches the state. CDC over the weekend had our state ranked seventh in the country for the percentage of doses administered and on our dashboard today we are showing 17,653 doses administered with almost half of our EMS workforce vaccinated and a quarter of the healthcare workers. This week will mark the first group of individuals who are actually getting their second dose and the pharmacy partners continue to vaccinate residents and staff who have patient contact and long-term care facilities at an accelerated pace. Vermont's Vaccine Implementation Advisory Committee has now provided me with its recommendations for the next phase of vaccination and they concur with an initial age banding prioritization to help our major goal of saving lives and reducing severe illness. First individuals age 75 and older then ages 65 to 74 followed by people in a younger age range who have higher risk conditions. We're working with the committee to further define these conditions but as I've said before those conditions will almost certainly include heart diseases emphysema or COPD, chronic kidney disease, cancer and immunosuppressive states like organ donation people. More details will follow at a later press conference as we do not expect we'll get to these groups until later this month at the earliest and of course depending upon federal allocation of vaccine to Vermont. In the meantime though please don't call or write us to get yourself or your loved ones on the list. Please know that experts on the advisory committee, public health and government leaders are doing their utmost to take all the risk ethical and logistical factors into account when making these decisions on how best to allocate the so far limited supplies of vaccine we're receiving. Vermonters will know when it's your turn to step up for the vaccine. One more note about the vaccine in the last few days amid concerns about this new variant and the slow pace of states getting vaccine into people and the news that Great Britain has plans to get one dose of vaccine into its entire population and administered the second dose whenever it can possibly many months later. There's a discussion about doing something similar in the U.S. as well. This came and was precipitated by several well-known academic physicians in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Opponents of such a change however say that the U.S. problem is really one of deployment by an overstressed healthcare workforce and that requires a separate solution. Experts who hold the opposite opinion to not do what Great Britain is doing include Dr. Fauci and the FDA commissioner. I subscribe to that line of reasoning which is essentially that this would be off-label use, a protocol that none of the studies have looked into and which potentially undermines the efficacy of the vaccine since we know little about only one dose as a strategy. For now please remember if you receive the first dose of the vaccine you're not immediately immune or protected. It may take seven or ten days to develop some immune response which may not be overall adequate to fend off the virus completely. You will still need a second shot in three or four weeks depending on which mRNA vaccine you received and then another seven to ten day waiting period to develop full immune response. That's a total of six, seven, eight or more weeks so keep that in mind. One shot and you're not immune that day. And for those who say what about this new more infectious strain well we still have defenses against it if we can just muster the ongoing energy to continue distancing, masking and avoiding crowded indoor spaces. I'll turn it back to the governor. Thank you Dr. Levine. We'll now open it up to questions. We'll start with Calvin. Thanks Governor. So as you know what the legislative session kicks off tomorrow almost certainly going to be defined by pandemic and economic recovery. What are some of your top priorities and what are you looking at maybe policy-wise specifically? Yeah there won't be a lot of surprises but I'd advocate for everyone to tune in on Thursday night to learn more when I'll be addressing Vermont. I've had a meeting with legislative leaders of the pro tem elect as well as the speaker elect and we presume to be speaker and pro tem and very productive meeting and I look forward to working with them. So again there won't be a lot of surprises but we're all focused on the same thing so I thought it was a it was a good first start. And over the weekend we we heard a pretty remarkable call from the president regarding election results in Georgia and at the same time we're also hearing about some republicans in Congress that are planning to vote against certifying president elect Biden. I'm just kind of wondering what your thoughts are and what's happening in Washington right now in the political sphere. You know a very dangerous partisan game that's being played and further dividing Americans which is exactly what we do not need at this point in time. We need to come together. We need to put the election behind us and work toward common goals. So I applaud those especially the leaders in republican leaders in Georgia who have said that this was a fair and just election and they're standing by that through and experiencing a lot of pushback both from the Trump administration but as well as from everyday citizens so you know it's a tough place for them to be but they're doing the right thing and you have to to be honest and transparent and and make sure that there's a fair process in place which they've done so I respect them for that. I just have one last quick follow-up for Dr. Levine. Dr. you mentioned that we have we've administered a little over 17,000 doses administered. I'm wondering what's the total number as of today the total number of vaccines that we've received so far and maybe if you consider putting that on the dashboard as well going forward. If you give me a second I can give you that number because that number is actually on the dashboard. I'm probably going to have to not waste my time up here getting it for you but it's on there but it's important to know as the CDC and others make these calculations as to how well as a state doing. Doses come in at unpredictable times and clinics are scheduled sometimes canceled because doses didn't arrive when they need to arrive and it's a lot more accurate to think of the doses that arrived within a given week and then you finish that week to figure out a numerator and a denominator that would make sense. The number of doses that come in this week we'd hate to put our number that we've already vaccinated on top of that if they all came in on Monday and Tuesday because nobody nobody would have had a chance to yet deploy those doses so we're clearly over 50% of the doses that have arrived prior to this week. We'll get one. We're working on the number. Craig go ahead Secretary Smith. Yes the the vaccine shift and that's the that's the number that you want to use because vaccine allocated means could be the second dose could mean vaccines that haven't even been shipped. What Dr. Levine was talking about is vaccines shift. Vaccines shift are 33.9 thousand but as Dr. Levine said we're just getting 3,900 of those vaccines this week so you can't you can't you know you can't practically use those so the number is 30,000 versus 17,653. So 30,000 in the state 17,000 in the arms of Vermonters. Yes 17,653 yes Governor. Okay Steve. Actually it's probably for Dr. Levine but given the news yesterday about the Syracuse breakout we did get a couple of folks right into us and wondering how Vermonters are going to find out whether or not that strain either A is in in Vermont or B some of the details on the strain you've given that already really but how will Vermonters know that it's in Vermont where it is and what should they do to the Saratoga not Syracuse. Oh I said Syracuse. Well they'll get it too at some point. Unfortunately that's probably true. So we do send a sampling of our specimens to the CDC every couple of weeks and now they believe they're doing that country-wide so everyone's going to have their strains examined in that way so when CDC tells us we'll obviously tell the state very immediately. I'm also aware that the UVM Medical Center has been doing some of this genomic sequencing work as well. I don't have insight into anything that they found at this point in time but obviously if they found the strain we would have heard from them. But I want to know from them a little more about exactly how much surveillance they're doing on that. So our team is our lab team is reaching out to them to get an understanding of that as well. Very good thank you. All set. Moving to the phones we'll start with Tom from the Vermont standard. Hi everyone and good morning. Although the data is still coming in as has been indicated earlier there does seem to be some correlation between the significant spike in out-of-state travel during the holidays and through the opening of ski season and I'm wondering if the state plans to step up compliance checks that ski areas and other tourist attractions and a corollary to that. Is there any more that can be done to confirm out-of-state compliance with quarantine requirements other than taking people at their word? Again Tom what we're doing is using our contact tracing and using the data and science to determine what steps we need to take next and there is nothing conclusive at this point in time that is directly related to the ski areas and so forth. So while we're concerned we're monitoring the situation very difficult in some respects to step up enforcement but we're you know we have to we have to acknowledge that we've asked the ski areas to do this for us and so far that they've done their part and there are very rigid guidelines that come along with that. So again we're monitoring the situation but we have not determined that there's a direct correlation between the number of cases in the ski areas with increased activity. All right thank you and then second question presumably for Secretary Smith will vaccinations that assisted living and residential care facilities commence next week as was initially planned and similar to a question I asked a week or two ago is there a list available from the department on disabilities and aging as to where and when those vaccinations will take place? Yes we've actually already started with assisted living and res care and I will Tom I thought we got you a list but I will double check and make sure that you get that list. Yeah the list I got was for the long-term care skilled nursing facility but it did include residential care and assisted living. Yeah let me let me see if I can get a list for you but assisted assisted living and residential care has already started. Oh excellent thank you thank you very much that's it for me. Thank you. Joe the Barton Chronicle. Um I suspect this question is for Secretary Smith um at the last briefing and that was last year so it may not apply anymore um you were concerned that um so no predictability about the supply of vaccines coming into the state has there been some resolution to this problem do you now have some confidence that the amount delivered will be what is either promised or at least what you're expecting? Predictability is in the eyes of the beholder I think and that's the that's what we're having a problem with here we've been given some numbers uh we'll see if those numbers hold true they're not what we still expected they're about a thousand short a week from what we had expected they're more than what we got this week which was 3,900 uh for Pfizer which goes directly it's skimmed off the top and goes directly to the pharmacy program for long-term care but 3,900 of Moderna as well um we have been told we're going to get 4,800 or so for next week but we haven't confirmed that yet and uh I think we'll just have to see I'm sorry to be so vague but this is this is how it is um no I was asking so if it's vague that's that's what I wanted to know um I know with the Pfizer there was some um additional vaccine in vials which helped make up for some shortfall is that the case with the Moderna as well I'll I'll leave that to Dr. Levine in terms of what we're finding we are finding in the Pfizer there are some uh vials that have some extra doses but um I don't know how prevalent that is uh but Dr. Levine yeah I'm not aware of the same situation occurring for the Moderna only for the Pfizer okay thank you very much Joe if I could add in terms of the confidence uh confidence will come in time with follow-through um so if we're promised something and they follow through and they consistently do this over time then we'll have more confidence but at this point in time we're just going week to week hate some kind of um interruption um as the administrations change I I personally don't believe there'll be an interruption I believe that we have people within the communities the the businesses the the entities that are distributing the vaccines as well as in the CDC and the FDA that are doing their job their career bureaucrats that are there and uh and doing their their job just as they would this week as they would next week and the following week so I don't expect any interruption good morning governor uh I think this might be for Dr. Levine I'm I'm wondering how many tests or what percentage of tests are being sent from the CDC for analysis it seems like uh you alluded that there may not be all that many that that are actually sent to try to identify a secondary strain yeah it's in the range of about 20 tests every couple weeks so we're talking maybe 1 percent yeah it's a small it's a small percent but that's what we've been directed to submit so I believe they probably have limitations getting tests from every state and I would assume that's only the positive test that you're oh yeah definitely um I think this is for the governor uh governor it sounds like this new strain it's only a matter of time before it makes its way to Vermont are you expecting that uh given that it seems to start a lot easier through youthful people than the uh than the original strain that it would change your decision to have in-person schools and and uh to begin winter sports in earnest later this month we'll uh we'll make that determination along the way we are watching other states and seeing what how prevalent that is and and what this new strain actually does produce and the effects of it and then we'll make a determination at that point but we have not reached any conclusion at this point okay thank you I might have one third question but I'll hold off till the end thank you good morning you can hear me okay we can uh the numbers that you just gave about vaccines received and injected my math indicates you have about 58 percent have been administered is that good enough is are you satisfied with that number it's never good enough we hope to get better as time goes on and uh and we'll uh we will I believe um we'll we'll get as many out as possible but we're we're doing better than most states at this point but but again um is our challenge our opportunity is always to do something better and faster so we'll we'll get we'll get better i'm confident of that would you support making criminal the diversion of vaccine to people who are not you know yet eligible as Governor Cuomo suggested yesterday's you know as like cutting the line so to speak yeah we haven't we haven't talked about that at all at this point okay just one of the thing there there's a kind of a somewhat alarming story in the Times Argus this morning about um Vermont, Vermont are arrested by ATF and you know accused plotting um real conspiracy theorist uh who felt that vaccinations by the government were sort of a plot to control people um did you hear about the cases that alarm you at all um I have not heard of the case are you talking about locally or some nationally yes yes yes locally uh I have not yeah again in Aaron Luke's yeah I have not heard about the case but obviously that is concerning okay thanks Wilson, D.A.P. Hi good morning everybody um Stuart stole my thunder on the question I was going to ask so I will um ask the variant of it nationally there's been some criticism I've seen that the vaccination programs aren't rolling out as fast as possible and I just did the quick math on my calculator here you know with 625,000 people in Vermont to do them in six months uh would be about 3,500 vaccinations a day and I know we're not going to vaccinate everybody and how quickly we can end this is a bit of a moving target but what do you expect or first are you do you buy that this isn't moving uh this isn't getting going fast enough and um once it gets going how big or how many cases or doses a day do you think can be administered and what's your target on the percent of the population to be vaccinated yeah again I'll I'll let Dr. Levine answer some of that or most of that but from my perspective first of all let's uh let's put this in perspective we're a lot further ahead today than we were a month ago and we are you know at the mercy in some respects of the supply coming in it's uh we can only distribute what we have so when we receive more we will ramp up our efforts and make sure that we get the shots into the arms of Vermonters who want them as well we said all along this is going to take a little bit of time that's why everyone has to be patient and as Dr. Levine had said in his opening remarks it's not instantaneous you know it's going to take six to ten weeks or six to eight weeks I believe you said to for it to be truly effective so we have to continue to be vigilant along the way and make sure we're taking all the precautions we've taken over the last nine to ten months we can't let our guard down at this point just because we're starting to roll out the vaccinations so we also hope and we're seeing AstraZeneca is it has been approved in in the UK Johnson and Johnson believes by the end of January that they may be be approved in some some way as more and more of these entities the more supply we have of safe vaccines the more we'll be able to distribute so it's hard to come up with a timeline at this point but but from our standpoint we will ramp up our efforts to distribute the vaccines as quick as we receive them and and it would be helpful if we knew what that supply chain looked like and how much we were going to get each week on a consistent basis so that we could ramp up our efforts and continue to consistently give the vaccinations Dr. Levine yeah thank you governor the you know the national rate right now is probably 20 to 25 percent of the vaccine getting into people so we've definitely more than doubled that a lot of criticism has been leveraged nationally at the fact that the strategy for the first phase relied on the health care system completely and the health care system as we know not so much in Vermont but elsewhere is really stressed right now they're stressed in terms of capacity issues they're stressed in terms of workforce issues not to give excuses but that is the criticism that's being directed nationally I think here in Vermont you know we we have a long-standing vaccination immunization program that has been very successful and immunization efforts in the past and has worked well with health care partners in the past to make them as well prepared as possible when vaccine comes into the state we have already in the health care workforce made good inroads I think on vaccinating that that aspect of priority group 1a and we're successful at actually hastening that process early on when the vaccine first arrived and then a little bit out of our control we thought is the federal pharmacy partnership with the long-term care facility vaccine effort but even there we've been able to be very aggressive as a state and set expectations that were higher than those that were contracted for in that federal pharmacy partnership and as you heard from secretary smith we're actually starting assisted livings already this week which was not on any timeline when this all began so it is possible to rev the system up if you will as you've heard from myself and secretary smith before part of the future as we get out of phase 1a and into more general groups certainly includes the health care system as an important partner includes the pharmacies as important partners but then begins to really build on our success in the testing enterprise and in the sites we've set up around the state to be able to have larger numbers of people and larger amounts of throughput to meet those populations who will be much more if I could use the word simply defined whether it be by age or another criteria so that it won't be as complex and undertaking as going into long-term care facilities or finding all the health care workers who satisfy certain criteria as it is in this first phase so I think you'll see things really increasing in a in a throughput level if you will at that point in time I don't know if secretary smith has anything you'd like to add to that no commissioner I think Dr. Levine I think you said it all I mean we're close to 60 percent as you said we're one of the top in the nation in terms of making sure that we get vaccine into the arms of people but with the uncertainty of the supply line it is it's uncertainty all the way so far I'm pretty proud of what the state has been able to do given the supply line and we will continue to do that and you're absolutely right as soon as we get out of phase one a and into the community vaccination program that we all plan for that age band I think you'll see the pace pick up a lot quicker as well okay great thank you Mike Donahue yeah I wonder thanks Rebecca good morning um maybe for commissioner shirling and uh following up on the new story that Stuart mentioned from last night about the arrest on the chitin county in chitin county made by epf on the guy who apparently obtained firearms from two gun dealers and made threats to interfere with vaccine distribution what what does your police intelligence or just police reports show about how many other threats there have been made about distribution of the vaccine uh is this a a one only or have there been other threats out there too that you're aware of good morning at least for two more minutes uh thanks for the question mike we are up to speed on the atf arrest and we're tracking information inbound on that suspect for several days prior to the federal government's intervention relative to other threats we don't generally discuss threat posture and inbound intelligence but I can say with sort of broad a broad descriptor that this is not a widespread repetitive type of thing that we're seeing happen okay good uh my second question uh i'm not sure who this goes to but uh since last week i've been flooded with follow-up emails called in text from the general public shock that the state responds to boot state police and local police and firefighters out of the receiving line for covid vaccines and this comes from all over the state at least seven counties said that police are police and firefighters are on the front lines of emergency calls including motor vehicle crashes artifacts suicide attempts other emergencies one of them mentioned how the police now have to go to these hotels that the state have set up this temporary home for the homeless and a lot of these are not wearing masks police are often the first ones to arrive with the figulators now i'm told the ski patrols so at least two ski resorts have already received their vaccine shots and i actually received a photo of one ski patrol getting their shots at the russian medical center and somebody asked will swimming lifeguard be put ahead of police and firefighters and another asked seem to hit it on the head by asking is there any hope that these public employees that Vermont taxpayers have invested large sums of money to properly train to make sure they don't get infected or infect their families and co-workers i know the governor said they were going to re-examine it is there any update on where police and fire stand yeah i'm not sure for we're ready to answer that at this point but uh secretary smith or commissioner charlie let me take it mike we are examining it right now i think they'll be we're looking at sort of the the the issue of first responders including those issues that you just mentioned in terms of coming to medical events so i would i would think within the next seven days we should have a resolution on what that definition looks like and uh and moving forward on vaccination with the population that's within that definition of first responders the the the one thing that you had mentioned with the ski patrol troubles me and we'll look into that okay there's a couple of different places that they've gotten and i do realize that they are out on the mountain and they do offer some for a date but not as probably as much as state troopers on the road yeah and some of those might fall under ems as well mike they may be dual-purposed and and if they're under the or the emt's or ems they would be vaccinated under 1a the commissioner charlie i thought he started to say something to uh i didn't but uh i we just observed the same thing the governor did some of the ski patrol services may have or be affiliated with ems licenses which is why they may be in the line at this point and as secretary smith indicated it's something we are taking a hard look at i think we we will have a resolution and not too distant future we are fully aware for those first responders listening that it is an integrated model and for a lot that all the responders are handling medical calls assisting with trauma assisting with transport so we're well aware of that apparently there was a meeting that was called last week for fire chiefs and police chiefs but they all got approximately i think an hour and a half notice of a conference call to discuss this thing uh is that really realistic when a lot of the volunteer fire chiefs have full-time jobs to expect them to jump on a call with about 90 minutes notice no it's uh it's not a good observation mike we also followed up actually prior to that meeting that popped up on a rather quick timeline as you indicated we followed up with an email to all the agency had the first responder organizations statewide so they all should be in the loop either via teleconference or via email thank you very much questioner Peter Herschfield vpr uh governor another vaccine prioritization question for you you you've said in the past that vermonters of color will be prioritized um it's been unclear exactly how uh in the statements to date about age banding and chronic conditions haven't made any mention of people of color um can you talk any more precisely at this point about how the vaccine prioritization process acknowledged the heightened concerns we're looking at that with the advice with the advisory group and uh and i believe dr veen has more maybe to offer on that that that has not uh disappeared as a key part of the strategy and a key part of our our priorities um we're just in the midst of working out exactly how that will look uh in our scheme that we plotted out um again much of the work that needs to be done in this area is education communication appropriate messaging appropriate interpretation uh service availability because um related to the issues that uh make the bipoc population or priority group and relate to some of the historic injustices that have occurred those considerations are first and foremost and really important to deal with um we are also recognizing that sometimes use of the word prioritization is actually not going to have the desired effect uh because again due to historical issues involving specifically black populations uh with our healthcare system uh prioritization maybe looked at in a negative light so obviously that isn't the goal of a vaccination program that you want to get to those at highest risk so it's really important for us to get these other considerations with communication interpretation messaging education uh taking care of appropriately and we'll be working with the advisory group we'll be working with our health equity team as part of the health department we'll be working with um the governor's appointee to racial justice equity susanna davis and others uh who are most directly impacted by this to make sure that we get it right so more to come on that we have I don't want to use the word luxury of time because we're talking in a more time pressured way about vaccination but the reality is we won't be getting to these other phases uh till certainly late this month at the earliest and again depending on federal allocations so can I take that to mean commissioner that that it may not be the case that people of color would have an opportunity to get the vaccine more quickly than uh similarly situated non-person of color in the state no I wouldn't I wouldn't take that message away at all um I would take the message that there probably won't be um the next priority group would be only people of color um as as the as the way that we navigate these waters that I've just talked about but that does not mean that they would not be uh a high priority within groups by any means is that clear thank you it is thank you Lisa the valley reporter thank you as I understood what secretary Smith and dr levine said vermont is getting vaccines regularly and has been able to get those into the arms of people who are eligible is there any disconnect between what's been delivered and administered and 100 percent distribution given what dr levine just pointed out about the national medical system being overstressed right now would the state consider using vermont national guard medics to get more vaccines into people's arms if necessary yeah lisa we'll be using a number of different platforms and number of different strategies as we move forward so we are considering all of that um in every way we possibly can to make sure we do this in an expeditious way to get shots in the arms of vermonters and get the vaccine distributed as best we can but we need some consistency we need to have some faith in the supply chain before we set up any of these new strategies but we are we are going to be utilizing all different types of platforms in the uh in the coming months great and thank you by the way for local emergency management folks getting vaccinated in the last two weeks made us all feel a lot better oh great um my next question is for doctor or for commissioner p-chat here the town-by-town covid map the actual map that shows the cases per in the last two weeks versus the list of towns which shows cumulative cases that map in both instances shows no cases for some towns notably those without that are without a post office we know that there are cases in those towns like dexbury and spayston but then we see that there are towns like middle sex also without a post office that shows up as having a specific number of cases both cumulatively and in the past two weeks our readers would like to know if there's a way to know actual and current case counts in towns without post offices well you know thank you for the question we'll look into that data i think it is maintained by the vermont department of health and it all depends on what address is put down when someone seeks a test and if they're getting the test by mail then they're probably putting a post office box but maybe there's other data available that can put where that individual resides just a point though i mean when we're looking at our cases and our trends and our forecasting you know the county level is about as specific as we go because even if you're in one town you know and there's no cases and the next town has a lot of cases there's a lot of travel back and forth between those towns anywhere in vermont so i think we worry about a false impression that there's safety when cases are low or there's no cases listed in a town because as we've been saying for nine or ten months the virus is really everywhere thank you yeah that's what our readers are also concerned about they would like to know why does it look like spayston is a safe haven when spayston is bordered by more town warren and gladefield Lisa are you all set or is that a uh yes thank you i feel like this question has been asked a lot but not fully answered at this press briefing expect that if it was a federal supply problem as you've been saying that we would then see a higher percentage of our vaccines already distributed and for us to say to the feds hey look you know we ran through those and we're really ready for more so can you explain to the public exactly why we have 30 000 doses and only 17 000 have been administered oh there's a bit of a lag in terms of when we receive them so when we report on one day we might have received let's say 8 000 of these of these vaccines in a day or two before certainly not enough time to to get the vaccinations out to to people in need so there's a natural kind of lag time and and a built up reserve in some respects as we move forward so again hard to hard to contemplate that but but as long as we continue to to not lose ground and continue to increase the the percentage as we move forward we'll be moving in the in the right direction i think you can utilize that for almost anything we do in terms of production you never get to complete 100 unless you're out and we don't want to run out so then what are we doing to speed up the lag time as you mentioned there between getting the shots in and getting them out to the health care workers who need them well i think i think it's been described i mean when we go to a different system that's under more of our control i think you'll see a natural progression and you'll see an increase in the in the rate of vaccinations given but at this point in time just getting started again i mean this is new in terms of a a mass vaccination process and not knowing how much we're getting in so we're only what five weeks into this maybe you know so i think we're doing as was said i think we're doing pretty well but we can do better and we're going to do better we just need to make sure that we have a consistent supply and that we can count on and then we'll be able to set set up the the platforms and the strategies to distribute the the vaccinations but until we have that consistency it's a little difficult to do and having it all under our control which it is not at this point in time because of the contract that the federal government had with some of the pharmacies and they and they're reporting coming back to and they're reporting as well as there's a three day lag in the reporting of the of the pharmacies back to the federal government so we don't have up-to-date data from them either so again once we move forward we'll have more up-to-date data and we'll be able to distribute i think further i was coming back to a quote that i heard several of you say during the fall which was that vermont would be ready for the vaccine before the vaccine was ready for us and i kind of have to question whether we're as ready as we could have been if we have this lag time and if we didn't foresee some of these issues with the federal government distribution system i mean never month ahead of this oh again okay yeah well again i would i would argue cat we're doing we're one of the best in the nation so we must be doing something right so i i i'm failing to see i guess your logic in this but we can we can debate this in the future but we're we're going to get better but i doubt we'll get to a hundred percent which is what you're advocating for without running out and that's not something we want to do so there's a natural lag time in every production cycle uh secretary smith yeah governor you hit it on on the head here i i mean let's put this in context we're we're one of the leaders in the nation in terms of what we're doing and how we're doing it no one could have predicted we were promised a lot of things at the federal government and no one could have predicted how this would have rolled out from the federal government to sort of say can you predict from the federal government what you were promised and what you actually got i i think is a little disingenuous so the the the aspect here is the fact is we are one of the best in the nation and rolling this out there is some lag time in the reporting aspect of it we probably are higher than 17 000 but there is lag time in the in the reporting and the way that the the distribution happens from the federal government is getting it out once we receive it that there is a lag as well so you know the i i you know i go back to look what we're doing in comparison to everybody else in the nation and and vermont is certainly at at the top of the heap here and cat uh did dr levine here i just want to give two simple examples to illustrate what we're talking about let's say today tuesday 1500 doses are provided to one of the three pharmacies who are doing long-term care facilities they already have wednesday thursday and friday schedules in all the long-term care facilities that will exhaust that 1500 doses however none of them have been given out as of today and if you ask tomorrow it still won't be a majority of the 1500 but by the end of the week all 1500 will have been given out same thing with the hospital if we send the uvm medical center 1500 doses which will actually go directly to them from the federal government if we design it that way they have clinics scheduled today wednesday thursday friday for portions of their healthcare workforce who are already prescheduled and portions of the workforce outside of their employment who are already scheduled who will utilize all of those doses over the next four days but if you look at a statistic right now it'll look like none of those doses have been used and as each day goes by only a quarter of them will have been used so it may look like we're behind but this is the reality of how you schedule administration of a treatment like this in real time and then as secretary smith pointed out especially what the long-term care facilities by virtue of the contract they're under with cdc there is a natural lag time in their reporting that can go as long as 72 hours although we've really worked with them to compress that as much as possible so it gets closer to the 24-hour reporting time so that they may have actually delivered doses and we just don't have them in our immunization registry yet because they haven't reported them through that a long-winded answer but i think it's important for everyone to understand the process that this goes through it is and actually that was very helpful dr. Levine because that gives us a sense of okay well there are the clinics scheduled on those days so those vaccines are slated to go out on those days and that's why you have to schedule three or four days out so i appreciate that thank you. Erin bt digger to see resort cases could you explain how the state performs contact tracing in instances where maybe you consider comes from out of state um infects uh uh you know another person in vermont and then leaves town um is is the health department able to follow up with those attestators and find out maybe who else stays exposed or uh how does how does that work again i'll let dr. Levine speak to the contact tracing procedure but but they do contact people out of state and trace those those cases as far as they can dr. Levine yeah so uh as the governor said we do talk to people who are out of state we also automatically if we have a result on a massachusetts resident who uh tests positive in vermont the massachusetts department of health is aware of that positive test and we've allowed them to then get involved with the contact tracing as well i think your question's alluding to the fact that there may be people visiting ski resorts who will at at some point test positive so we are aware of them does not mean though and i want to say this specifically that at this point in time that we've detected transmission occurring uh within those sites okay it can be someone who arrived here from another state tested positive because they developed symptoms and wanted to seek care uh and then went back home it doesn't necessarily mean that they um were a transmission mechanism to infect a whole bunch of people at the sites and especially because the sites are all using very good protocols to make sure that uh all the distancing and masking et cetera requirements are adhered to okay well then do you have any particular explanation as to how stillington dover and both also increases in their cases over the past couple of weeks as the season started yeah i know i saw your uh your article about that and our our epi team is looking into that further but prior to this we have not actually noted that um there were transmissions occurring within those areas so again you know we do have areas of the state that become hot at one point and not another and other states that cool off other parts of the state that cool off just like we're seeing more cases in some of our southern counties right now than we were previously and we're seeing less cases in washington and orange county than we had previously so there is some element of peaks and troughs within individual areas as well okay um i also have a question um ohio and number of other states have noted uh high percentage of long-term care staff refusing to get the covid vaccine do you have the number of altered care staff that has consent to receive the vaccine so far or alternatively how many have used or turned down the vaccine so far yeah that is something i really want to know and i don't have that number yet i think it's early in the game yet to know if somebody's a true person who says no or a person who they just haven't been there at the right time with regards to shifts or what have you so we are interested in that information as well i hope that ohio's data isn't uh generalizable to other states um i certainly believe based on our informal surveys of health care workers in vermont uh that 70 to 80 percent uh uptake of the vaccine should be expected but we'll get you information like that when we when we actually have it at the right point in time i think it's still a little early yet after only a few weeks to to know for sure who has absolutely said they don't want it versus uh just hasn't gotten it yet if you come back and you realize that you know only 40 percent of long-term care staff have been vaccinated are there any like thoughts about planning some sort of way to come back with them or or a way to try to change people's minds about getting the vaccine yeah i would i would i would be shocked if it was it was very low um you know in terms of people taking the vaccine but obviously education would be important uh we could not mandate the vaccine as i said before because it's under an emergency use authorization it's not an FDA approved uh treatment it's only got the EUA so states can't actually mandate the use of it but at the same time uh i'm sure there are other avenues we could go down that are far less coercive and far more educational for those employees you know by and large people who work in long-term care facilities are very dedicated to the population they serve we all know they don't get paid extraordinary salaries and they stay there and do a lot of hard work uh and then when there's an outbreak they actually work even longer and harder so i find it hard to believe they wouldn't want to protect both themselves and those they care for uh at a higher rate than 40 or 50 percent for sure but we'll we'll let you know as we find out more okay thank you very much tim from our business magazine hi governor uh as you know the federal direct payments uh have come into a lot of people especially the direct deposit and i the number i think we were talking about is vermont to get about 350 million dollars total does that sound a reasonable estimate i i that does sound right as i recall you know it's going to get ballpark anyway and i'm wondering what you're what you hope vermonters will do with that money yeah well i think they have to determine that on their own obviously we all have to prioritize and what comes first taking care of their families making sure that they you know put uh put food on the table and have a roof over their heads and so forth and so on and then go from there i know that many will turn around and spend it actually on on things that they either need or want and that's totally up to them it's their money to to to spend as they see fit is there any idea you know that they're going to restart or have restarted the pua in the in the regular ui extra payments is it any any idea of how much money that will bring into the state or is that is that too uh amorphous i think it's about 300 a person and and how many how many it's like 18 i don't know i was yeah i i'm not yeah i'm not sure the exact the exact number but i think it is probably um 10 to 20 000 people is what i'm guessing uh maybe uh commissioner herrington would have a better range than that thank you governor um i'd have to pull up the most recent uh data for people filing uh to know that so i'm happy to do that and follow up okay you can you can throw that over and also there's a question of whether the new guidelines would allow you to use the the trust fund more discretionary way is that is that part of the new planner now i'm i'm not aware um of flexibility within the trust fund yeah i did and you're in and governor i would i would agree with that um to my knowledge there is no flexibility uh in the bill that allows vermont to use its trust fund dollars in in a different way um and i did look was just looking at the the total number of individuals that receive benefits uh as of december 12th if that number were to stay the same it's about uh 31 000 if you combine all the programs together um so there was as of that week roughly 8600 people in pua um it was the last one of the last groups um receiving extended benefits uh there was about 9 800 people in peuc and about 11 900 i do believe we've got some some additional numbers as well um that i can pull but that you know anybody who files for benefits in any of those programs would be eligible uh to receive the the 300 dollars if they are eligible to receive the underlying benefit all right thank you Michael appreciate and for you seven days hi there um i wanted to follow up on the vaccinations in assisted living and residential care facilities um do those vaccinations fall under the pharmacy program or are those uh are those uh things that the state is running yeah i believe it's under the pharmacies but secretary smith yeah that's correct governor they're under the federal pharmacy program okay um and as far as how how the vaccinations in the state so far have um broken down i know the sort of ballpark goal was um kind of half that to kind of split the vaccinations 50 50 um as as we're kind of rolling them out between health care workers and um and the long-term care facilities um how how is that kind of playing out um and and uh are are we sort of at at the goals for um for kind of getting those two groups vaccinated at the same time secretary smith maybe you can work backwards and and give a date i mean we're hopeful that uh by mid january we'll have all the long-term care facilities done and um maybe i think to be it by the end of january maybe all the assisted living is that correct first dose that's correct governor at the we're hoping and we're working with the pharmacies right now to try to speed up the schedule to have the long-term care facilities that includes assisted living the skill assisted living in residential care we have we anticipate the skilled nursing facilities will be done this week actually um 30 to 31 are already done we have 37 in the state we have anticipate to have those finished this week and we hope to have the residential uh care and the assisted living facilities done by mid uh mid january we anticipate that the rest of the vaccination program uh will conclude at the end of january that includes all health care workers all ems we've done a third um closing in on 40 percent of ems so far so we are well along um in terms of where we are with uh uh into this program i think we're about um governor if i could just take a moment i we are uh within about a quarter of the way through 1a in total and i if i remember correctly i i think wall greens and kinneys have been particularly receptive to uh increasing the rate in vaccinations is that right they've been extremely helpful wall greens and kinneys have been extremely helpful in accelerating the time schedule and has has there been any kind of additional need to transfer um transfer shipments that the state is getting over into that pharmacy program i know there were some kind of there was some shuffling early on yeah if it goes below 3,900 on our annual um in our weekly allocation we're going to have to shuffle we're going to have to bring uh more over to the um long-term care program but right now we're we're able to hold our own um thank you jolly local 22 hi can you hear me okay we can um i wanted to know i know it was mentioned after phase 1a um the state will move to the age band uh program but could you clarify where group 1b fits in i know back teams uh i was mentioned last week um back teams were going to meet to go over those in group 1b yeah we're we're not using yeah we're not using the 1b we're we're just using 1a and then we're going to the age banding so oh i see okay um oh yeah no just just totally uh disregard 1b okay gotcha thank you new port daily express yeah my my uh question asking of just uh backing up to it was Mike Donahue talking about law enforcement uh governor on the 9th of this month is a national law enforcement appreciation day and um they have been kind of the um hidden webliners up there who have to respond to all kinds of uh uh scenes and parts of people who don't want to face math is there something you'd like to say um out of respect to our law enforcement and the appreciation day yeah and we'll obviously be putting something out on social media in that regard um i have a great deal of respect for anyone on the front lines and responds to emergencies and running towards danger instead of a way so uh we have a lot to be grateful for for that community in particular so we um we work we have a lot of work to do uh in that area but uh under the leadership of commissioner shirling uh we look forward to providing uh for them and uh in providing vermonas uh the protection they deserve um and public safety is is one of our number our highest priority uh in this uh and we rely on them and others to provide during this pandemic uh the the the basic needs of uh of public health and um public safety with uh mr shirling like to respond as well i think the governor uh encapsulated most of it um there are uh there's first responders all over uh vermont and law enforcement and elsewhere um who have done uh yeoman's work over the last 10 months much of it uh in the background as it usually is and uh now as you observed in just a few days we'll have an opportunity uh to recognize that publicly um but they should know uh on a day-to-day basis that uh whether it's within public safety or the administration or vermonas by and large um really appreciate uh what they do on a day-to-day basis uh both during the pandemic and beyond great thank you very much boston berlington free press hi uh i believe my questions are best directed for the governor and or uh secretary more and my first question actually has to do with the status of wrestling as i've heard in the past couple weeks uh multiple coaches have reached out and they're concerned that their sport's been dismissed out of hand and that their uh proposed compromises or tweaks to decrease the risks associated with their sport have been hand-waved hand-waved as well they note that while their competition is high contact it's also short duration most matches last less than three minutes and you know masking is easily achievable is there any possibility to revisit the current ban on wrestling or and to allow it to you know go forth in some form this winter um i don't know if secretary more is on today i am governor okay is that something you can answer i sure i'm i'm happy to speak to that um one of one of the challenges is obviously the the level of risk um posed by the very close contact that wrestlers find themselves in um currently our athletic youth and or school-based and recreational are limited to no contact practice sessions um and in corresponding with with many of the um the members of the rock community that are involved in wrestling have encouraged them not to see uh the directive as an all-or-nothing proposition but rather to look for opportunities for wrestlers to pursue coach-led practice sessions that can be focused on individual skills building strength and conditioning etc um we understand that that everyone is anticipating that we ultimately be able to move to to more traditional expanded practices for many sports as well as ultimately resume um inter-scholastic and interest squad competitions and we are continuing to look at different options that may allow wrestling to proceed um but it is really a challenging set of circumstances giving given the extreme close proximity um that wrestlers find themselves in and engaging in a match thank you and my second question has to do with basketball where i've also heard from coaches recently concerned about the way the guidelines are structured for what they can do uh with hours limited now after school they fear there isn't enough time and space to allow everyone to practice and their concerns that these limitations on participants uh could end up negating the intended boost to students mental health particularly you know if in a few weeks if you know they're able to compete and cuts have to be made and they're premature in any way to accommodate everyone and they just want to know what could be done to address this if there could be some easing of restrictions to allow everybody you know the same chance to practice sure i'm happy to speak to that as well uh this this is a slow restart after what was about a six week pause in athletics and i i think it's important to view it in that context we're looking to make sure that we can can resume athletic activities in a way that that doesn't increase the transmission of the covid virus and so felt very strongly that early on it was important to have a no contact approach that includes limits on the number of people in a particular venue or facility at at one time currently limited to 25 our hope is that that as we've seen so far there haven't been cases attributed to this resumption of athletic activities we look at that data very carefully and look forward to being able to resume those expanded or more traditional practices and there will be another bit of time that that will need to pass between the resumption of traditional practices where athletes may be coming into contact with each other incidentally before we proceed to full-blown games and so i i think there will be time for all of those pieces to sort themselves out great thank you very much on an interesting note i did observe that vermont was one of the leaders in terms of probably the only state who required mass to be worn by those playing sports youth sports and others and i saw that boston university yesterday had their first game women's basketball and they required mass for their participants and today is the men's game and they're requiring mass for their participants so i think this is going to be part of the future at least in the short term but i'm very proud of the fact that vermont has led the way once again yes thank you good afternoon you've outlined concerns that you have with the vaccine supply line does that translate in any way to uncertainty over receiving the second doses which people are due to start getting in the next few days i don't believe that's in question they were set aside in reserve so i don't believe that there's any question that we will be getting those second doses dr levine anything no dr levine is shaking his head yes there there will be no disruption in the second dose okay thank you for that you also governor and dr levine at the start of the conference urged people to get tested i'm wondering um what's our current capacity for testing and how much are we actually utilizing at this point yeah and aside from the uh the disruption that commissioner pcak alluded to is there a sense that you have that asymptomatic people may be reluctant to get tested perhaps over the disruption that that would result if they came back to the positive yeah i i don't believe that we were increasing testing for dramatically over the last couple of months and vermonters were willing i think it's just the the holiday week or a holiday period that slowed people down from getting tested we just wanted to remind everyone that we do have the capacity and we want to want people to to get tested so that if we find there is a covet in a community that we can stop the spread as fast as possible that's part of the answer until the vaccine is administered maybe secretary smith could give us the numbers in terms of what how many we can do now in a week governor we can do quite a bit that right the last seven days we did 29 000 but we've been averaging between 30 and 33 000 over a seven day period for quite some time and we probably can do 38 39 000 as we move forward our highest i believe was 40 000 that was including college kids when they were here but we have the capacity through um up to 19 locations many of which as the doctor has said 15 are open considerable hours a number of days a week full time so it we have the capacity if people want to get tested we have the capacity to test thank you very much uh governor i have a question about the uh home schooling first of all can you hear me well we can thank you um i got a call from a home schooler who said that uh her child she home schools for the first time this year and she's counted in the adm uh because he was in the school year last year at the beginning of the school year and the state is telling schools to rely on that number for revenues uh the school is receiving 18 000 even though her kid is one of i guess six kids in the district who don't have uh they also uh don't have any access at all due to the school because of covid so here the school is essentially getting money for them they don't have any access to the school i've given that should maybe the state be revisiting that whole idea of of no no money for home schoolers of you know providing some help for them in some way uh secretary smith do you want to try and answer that secretary french yeah yeah secretary smith i don't think that i don't think we want you to answer that no thank you governor i was sitting here saying how am i going to answer that this is secretary french i was looking forward to now i happened to take a whack at that a couple things um i mean you raised some good points first thing is in our system money doesn't follow the child so when we start talking about county students and districts receiving dollars for student that isn't actually that um they say accumulate students which then certainly impacts their tax rate but there's no dollars being generated in that regard um you know what you described certainly could have happened firstly uh we count students in a census period at the beginning of the school year so if a student was attending school for the first 30 days essentially and then went through they would be captured in the district town in the beginning of the year well of course this year something different happened in that um the general assembly enacted essentially a cap on adm levels so uh levels you know due to the uncertainties as a result of covid uh pandemic um adm levels were frozen for districts so a lot going on in that uh the questions you raised about the larger policy conversations i guess are good ones that um a lot of complexity involved in the actual calculation um but it still does sort of seem like a unique situation uh and maybe there should be some reach out to the home school some way to help them out in this is there any anything really the agency can do to be helping the home school yeah we do try to act as a resource but you know part of i would say traditionally the idea of home schooling is that when one would independently educate students um we do have a long-standing policy initiative in the state that requires school districts to have policies around home study which requires them to describe to what extent they allow home study students to participate in school sponsored activities but yeah it's covid's brought a lot of new questions to the table around flexibility and enrollment and i think um it'll be interesting uh certainly pursue with the general assembly any provisions to home study as a result of what we've learned through our covid experience okay thank you a free wcox my question is probably for Governor Scott or Dr Levine there was an op-ed at the Boston Globe a few days ago urging um states and hospitals that were experiencing a lot of activity to call on retired nurses and medical students to help with vaccine distribution is that something vermont has discussed yeah we've considered a lot of different approaches and we built up a medical reserve early on um so we are contemplating utilizing something of that nature but maybe commissioner levine can answer further even without the op-ed which i have not read um as the governor said through the medical reserve core and just through brainstorming uh those issues have come up under consideration it's a fairly low risk enterprise for the person who is administering the vaccine um you know uh somewhat akin to our testing situations uh where as long as everybody's abiding by the proper guidance it's a very safe enterprise uh so it's on the drawing board i wouldn't say it's uh fully fleshed out and developed at this point in time but you're corrected you know as we get into these larger facilities that are going to vaccinate larger numbers of people uh you do want to have adequate throughput so uh the more the more staff you have the better right thank you hi can you hear me we can uh great thanks uh one for the governor and one for the doctor if i may uh governor in the beginning you you'd mentioned um you read the daily death rates and stuff uh and i was wondering um before the pandemic if you had you know subscribed to a daily paper and and like read the obituaries in a daily paper before this all started um i wouldn't say i would do that on a daily basis but yes i i would say that i do look through obituaries to see who i might recognize and and so forth so the answer is yes well what would the uh what would the covid only uh death rate percentage being between six and sixteen percent as i know is see we're in a pandemic right now and a pelvic health emergency where people are dying every day because of this virus and i want to know how many are dying and how do we prevent that from happening in the future that's my only point but but yeah if your point is i get that people die every day i understand that but not from the pandemic not from this virus and that's what i you know that's what they i get sent to me on a daily basis and i pay attention to but i do look at other obituaries well obviously there's a lot of comorbidities and there's like been old ukrainian saying that you know if you live next to the cemetery you can't cry for everyone uh and i realized that every death it is a horrible thing but they're the average age being what it is and and when the comorbidities being what they are uh it's it's horrible but uh hopefully we we've turned the corner on this i think well in terms of the death rate um it continues to rise so um we haven't turned the corner on that yet but we're all hopeful yeah okay great um one for the doctor if i may um dr labine um the earlier some someone had mentioned um the people in ohio uh refusing the vaccinations and i had read that uh in l.a county uh l.a county alone 20 to 40 percent of the medical frontline workers uh were offered the vaccine and refused it and in some neighboring counties uh up to 50 percent uh were refusal rate um you know do you have any explanation for this or we think with this might be just like the the younger workers that would be refusing the uh acceptance you know that's a really good question if we look at vax what the term that is used nowadays is vaccine hesitancy and if we look at vaccine hesitancy over the long term it's never at rates like you're describing it's in you know 10 20 percent range perhaps um depending on the vaccine sometimes but overall so what would make a covid vaccine less appealing to someone who might not have even been vaccine hesitant and now is adding their name to that list um clearly uh this has been a strange time we're in not just because it's a pandemic but because of lots of disinformation misinformation being uh provided often on social media but also because of misinformation coming down from the top levels of the government and um giving things names like operation warp speed uh for some of us that's kind of like cool uh and we like star trek and we think wow you know we're really putting a lot of time and energy and effort into this uh to make sure that we're going at a pandemic pace but for others it might be less comforting and it might make them think oh we've cut corners so the usual research that goes into vaccine isn't going into these vaccines well that's completely untrue or the production and the quality controls on these vaccines aren't going to be like the traditional vaccines because it's at warp speed well that is not true either um or the research that it's based on is so new that we shouldn't trust it because um you know what's this mrna business i've never heard of that and uh how can that be a viable way of vaccinating the population um well it turns out though it seems new it's actually been around for quite a while and it's been researched uh a longer time than people would think not at warp speed necessarily so i think there are a lot of what preconceptions that make people uh a little less comfortable at the times we're in and i think the best we can do in the public health enterprise and in the uh the government policy enterprise across states and across the federal government is to respond on a point by point basis to the concerns people have and allow them to be more comfortable with something that they may have started out uncomfortable with with the same hesitancy you think apply to uh apply to testing where you know some segments of the population might think that you know if you give them if you give people uh access to uh to nasal swabs and testing that that they would compile uh a d you know a complete dna database on everyone they're testing yeah those kinds of concerns go a little beyond and i'm not sure i can even respond to those but i understand where you're coming from because we're in times when people uh read a lot on the internet and get fed a lot of information and some of it's highly credible and some of it's less credible and prisoners too i had a question from a viewer uh about prisoner uh the vermont prisoners getting um uh i don't know what do you call it first in line uh do we have that big of an elderly prisoner population that they would uh that they would uh be like first in line for um for vaccine and would this apply to our state prisoners also yeah so actually we haven't uh filled out the entire scheme uh and incorporated prisoners there but to more directly respond you would be absolutely uh maybe astonished at the age of prisoners as well though there is a stereotype of someone perhaps younger um there's actually been uh parts of our prison system have actually had uh more of a geriatric uh component to them trying to attend to the special needs of prisoners as they age especially though obviously these are those who have been in the system for a long time usually um so that is a uh a more contemporary concern that there are prisoners who may actually um be older and because of their um prior lives may not have the most exotic not have the most um wonderful uh health index right now and have some chronic diseases um precipitated by earlier but lifestyle behaviors so um we we certainly still care about them as well it sounds like maybe steve is equating 1b he's still looking at 1b because no longer right so you know we've gotten rid of the 1b part of our vocabulary and we're really doing an age banding and other conditions um stratification here so um more to come on all of that as we uh become more definite about each one thank you for the questions well great be great thank you all very much okay well thank you very much for tuning in um i'll see some of you on thursday night it's seven o'clock and there will be a media briefing on uh coronavirus on friday thank you