 I'd like to begin today's briefing by recognizing that tomorrow anniversary of the first case of COVID-19 diagnosed in Chittenden County. It's hard to wrap our minds fully around the extent to which this virus has changed all of our lives over the last year. I encourage everyone to try to pause and reflect on this anniversary in whatever way makes sense for you in the coming days. We've been through so much over the last year and it's worth remembering those we have lost. Recognizing ways this virus has dramatically changed the lives of every one of us and preparing ourselves for the day not too far away when our lives will be able to expand. We hope in where we are right now with the supply of vaccine increasing virtually every day it seems and more and more Berlin-Tonians getting access to this miraculous and lifesaving medicine. I want to thank everyone in the Berlin-Ton community for the great sacrifice, commitment and collaboration that has gotten us through the past year and really kept Berlin-Ton one of the safest cities in the country throughout this incredible period. This pandemic isn't over but we have come a long way and the end is in sight. Now I'd like to welcome Dr. Leffler back on the briefing to review the latest local numbers. First let's take a look at the case counts in Chittenden County. Like the state, I think Olivia is pulling us up here, like the state we're seeing a modest uptick in new cases over the last few days. Our seven day average is now at 36.7 new cases per day down from about 28 cases per day last week. There is some good news within this number and that is that after a sharp increase in cases three weeks ago, case growth at UBM has now returned to a stable level for both the week of 3-1 to 3-7 and the prior week of February 22nd to the 28th, UBM reported 31 students who tested positive each week and so there's been a stabilization there and that's lower than the prior weeks. Over that same two week period, UBM performed a remarkable, truly 31,539 tests for COVID-19 among the UBM community, students, faculty, and staff and that I think is the most visible example of a number of steps UBM took to respond to increasing cases and act to get new positives under control as they had committed to doing as part of their reopening plans. So I do appreciate that and I think it should be noted. Dr. Lefler, what do you make of the latest case numbers, any observations you have about what's happened at UBM and what's going on at the Medical Center? I'll start with saying that, you know, what's happened at UBM, it's happened a couple other times in Vermont. We had a Winooski outbreak early on if people remember, we've had a couple other school outbreaks, nursing outbreaks, but every time we've used science and we've used the ability to track people, quarantine them, ask them to cooperate and got them back under control and so the UBM data reflects exactly what's happened over and over again and it's one of the reasons that Vermont has been able to avoid the high number of deaths that's happened in so many other states. At the Medical Center, we have 10 patients with COVID today, so that's slightly more than it was a couple of days ago, but we've been running between 7 and 10 for the past week. We have two people in the ICU, plenty of ICU and ventilator capacity and, you know, if you look at as recently as late January, we very often had 15 to 25 people in the hospital with COVID, now we're down to 7 to 10 with a slight uptick over the past couple of days, but still markedly better and every day that more and more people get vaccinated decreases the risk of them ending up in the hospital or our ICU. So the progress around vaccination is so encouraging and so important. Let's talk a little more about vaccinations, Dr. Lefler. So as of March 6th, more than 32,000 people in Chittenden County have now received their first dose of the vaccine. About 88% of people 75 and over have now been vaccinated in Chittenden County, which is, from my perspective, a very positive result. 74% of those 70 and over have now been vaccinated and about 44% of those 65 and over. Even better news is that more people are now eligible to make an appointment to receive a vaccine. You can make an appointment to receive the vaccine if you are here in the categories. 65 and older, 55 and older and have certain high risk health conditions, work in public safety or work in schools or childcare centers. Note that those in the education community will receive information about how to register from your schools directly. And next up, starting tomorrow, March 11th at 8.15 a.m., those 16 and older with high risk conditions can make an appointment to be vaccinated. For a detailed list of these conditions and to make an appointment, go to healthvermont.gov slash my vaccine. Yesterday, the state also expanded eligibility to include the entire household of people in Vermont who are eligible and also from a member of a BIPOC community. They're black, indigenous, or a person of color. I'm going to speak a little bit more on my thoughts on that important step a little bit later in the briefing. But before that, Dr. Lefler, what are your reflections on this latest vaccine news? So the news I think is most encouraging is even the most conservative epidemiologists say that, you know, you need to get to 70%. We have good herd immunity. So when you hear the 88% of people over 75 plus of the vaccinated, we're closing in on 70% for people above the age of 70. Vermonters are choosing to be vaccinated. Vermonters are choosing to keep themselves safe, their families safe and their neighbors safe. So that news is incredibly good news for all of us. And as you've said, we keep getting, you know, gradually increased amounts of vaccine. And I think it's going to open up more broadly in the near future to get everyone who wants a vaccine dose. That's not that far away. It's in sight. So in fact, President Biden has indicated now that just about two months from now, we would, there should be enough vaccine for every adult to be inoculated. What's your, I've been a little unsure. I don't know if you can add some late Dr. Lechler. Is there a, what is that commitment going to translate to on the ground? Once the vaccine is available, could there still be some lag before that, that every adult has the opportunity to get vaccinated? Or is that a projection on when we should all be able to, you know, really be protected? So I think it's different for different states because there's two parts to it, right? And we've gotten much better at this. The most important part is having enough vaccine. But then you have to have places that are able to safely administer vaccine, store it, take care of it. The good news is that the first two vaccines that we got were complicated to store, complicated to mix up, complicated to dose. But Johnson and Johnson is markedly easier. It's likely that AstraZeneca is going to be an easier vaccine to administer, which means there'll be more opportunity for people to get it in other locations. Maybe I'll get it in your primary care doctor's office, other pharmacies. I could imagine school clinics where people could go in their communities and get it, especially for Johnson and Johnson. So I think in Vermont, I would be very, very surprised if as soon as we have enough vaccine to vaccinate every Vermonter, we don't have the pieces in place to get it done to very quickly roll it out and get, you know, within weeks to a month, everyone who wants a dose will have one. The trick is getting enough doses here. But we, the state has been regularly talking to providers about that has a good distribution system already in place. So I would think in Vermont, you assume we get enough doses for every Vermonter by let's say mid to late May, 15th of June, we should be in great shape, something like that. 15th of June, everyone would have their dose and have 14 days out to get full immunity. Sorry, Dr. Leffler, I think the mayor is trouble shooting some tech issues. Okay. Oh, Mayor, you might be back. I am back. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, that's better. Can you hear me now? Yes, I can. All right. Apologies for that. Good. I think we're gonna let you go here in a second. Dr. Leffler, any, any final thoughts as we hit this one year anniversary? Yeah, I mean, we've talked a lot about this in the past year over and over again, it's truly an amazing accomplishment of modern science to be able to have everyone vaccinated within just a couple of months over a year for a brand new novel pandemic. I do want to comment, though, that we are still occasionally seeing people who show up in our emergency departments or our offices who are avoiding really important healthcare because of fear of the virus. I want people to know that if you're having serious or concerning symptoms or a problem that you're worried about, please seek medical care, get in and see your provider. Make sure you get taken care of. There aren't people who are having avoidable complications from not getting medical care. So if you, if you need to have something checked out, please feel confident and safe. We can care for you in a safe way and help you will not catch COVID with your medical providers. They're vaccinated now. They're safely have amazing good protocols. And sign up to get vaccinated when it's your turn. Excellent. Actually, Dr. Leffler, before we let you go, there is one important additional thing that's happened since the last time we spoke, which is that the CDC came out with some, I think, really welcome new guidance on what Brawlingtonians and Vermonters or Americans can do once they have been vaccinated. Now that we do have those high percentages of our older populations vaccinated, there is new guidance that has come out about what is appropriate. I know this is, you know, something that we were looking for my parents have been vaccinated recently. Can you speak to what this new guidance is? And anything you really want to emphasize about it, it does strike me as a very significant moment that, you know, that this new guidance is now out. So the CDC is basically acknowledging that these vaccines work. They're effective. They prevent you from getting COVID. And in all evidence, to this point shows that they are extremely good at preventing you from spreading COVID that once you've been vaccinated, your risk of giving someone else COVID is remarkably low. And with that knowledge and information from the CDC, they're starting to let vaccinated people gather in small groups, travel some, not have to quarantine after low risk exposures. And so you're starting to see some of the things open up in the world that you'd hope for as you got more people vaccinated. So once again, if you think about enough vaccine in Vermont by the end of May, everyone choosing to get dosed or everyone that is appropriate to get dosed, get to 15 days later when you've gotten good immunity, we will be able to gather vaccinated people will be able to come together in groups, vaccinated people will be able to, if they do come near someone who has COVID, not have to quarantine. I think it'll get us back to having lots of stuff in person that right now we haven't done for a long time. I think it'll be a great news for the fall for our schools and sport or school sports and all those things. And I think over the summer, you'll be able to see us doing more of the things that we like to do. I'm not going to say it's going to be completely normal in the summer. I do think there'll be some situations where people will still be wearing masks. I think there still will be some situations where maybe we don't fill some venues like we have for we always did in the past. But I also think that's coming too. We're just going to have to be careful and smart. So I think the CDC is taking a careful proactive approach, letting a little bit more happen, kind of seeing what happens and then going from there. I like their approach and we're trying to do it similarly in the hospital. I'm talking about, you know, when can we like loosen up our visitor policy a little bit? When can we start to have some in person meetings for our learners? Those kind of things. We're having the same conversations right now and then keeping a very close eye on what happens when you do that. Excellent. Good. Well, great. Always great having you here. It's amazing how every week or so this pandemic takes a new shift and a new turn and there's new information to talk through. I really appreciate your commitment to helping the community understand, work its way through this and we'll have you back again soon and looking forward to this. Looking forward to having you back again soon and continuing to make progress here. Take care. Thanks everyone. Thank you, Mayor. So I'd like to return now and say just a little bit more about the expanded eligibility to receive the vaccine. This is something that we really, since vaccinations began, the city has been very focused on equity issues and ensuring that we, as we have tried throughout the rest of the pandemic, ensured that our public health response is a just response. The state announced an important step yesterday that the entire household of people in Vermont who are eligible and are also Black, Indigenous or a person of color can now receive the vaccine even for members of the household who aren't otherwise eligible and we applaud that. It's an important step and I think we'll have some really pragmatic positive impacts immediately from that decision. This is a city, I want to be clear that this is a position, the city, among the things that the city has been advocating for for weeks now to increase access to the vaccine for BIPOC residents who we know nationally and with the state's own data we know there are severe health disparities related to race that we have to take proactive steps to address and this is definitely an important step in that direction. I do want to be clear that from my perspective as we continue this continues to unfold the city of Burlington thinks that we could do even more at this stage to ensure that these disparities are closed and the most vulnerable members of our community have access to the vaccine. My belief is that vaccine eligibility should now be open to all people in Vermont who are Black Indigenous or a person of color at this stage regardless of their age or whether they have other underlying health conditions. It has been shown in this pandemic that just being a member of those groups is a risk factor and that from my perspective should be addressed now. I've shared this position with the state and the city is prepared to back this up and support this effort however we can through outreach and through the setting up something else that we think that should be done is that there should be since we know that there is for a variety of reasons some additional hesitancy to get vaccinated among BIPOC communities we think special clinics should be expanded for all for more BIPOC communities as another way of addressing that that hesitancy and expanding expanding access and vaccination within at-risk communities and that too is something the city is prepared to help with the logistics to make happen. On another matter I related to vaccine eligibility I want to say here I'm continuing to advocate now that there has been an expansion a significant expansion of essential workers to get prioritization and vaccination I am continuing to advocate for essential frontline city workers to be eligible to receive the vaccine we depend on a number of essential workers to keep critical city operations going for example our water plan operators it's no plow drivers and many of these individuals are basically impossible to replace if they do get sick on a short-term and immediate basis and they are critical to city operations and we have made that position clear to the Department of Health and continue to advocate there. All right I'd like to shift topics now to the city's wastewater monitoring program I'd like to share a brief update on the latest results from the city's wastewater monitoring program I'm joined now by Brian Lowe our Chief Innovation Officer and COVID-19 Response Leader Brian what can you share about the most recent results from our wastewater testing and maybe could speak a little to just the confirmation that has now come from the state about what we had found about a month ago about the arrival of the variants. Thanks very much Mayor I'll speak to both those things in turn and Olivia thanks for this slide as you can see here this is a graph we've shown before on a log scale showing these three different color lines the trajectory of RNA viral RNA prevalence at each of the three city wastewater I know it's hard to read over zoom and so the east plant is the red line the green line is our main plant and the blue line is the north plant and you can see it's kind of a mixed bag of news at this point we have a trend line that is is fairly down in the north end our latest sample was a little bit higher but generally downward trend in the north end and then in the east plant kind of rising trend and the same in the main plant a rising trend of viral RNA the main plant is a huge plant covering a significant portion of the town the old north end the downtown the south end hill section and some of the campus so that is a large area and we break that down into component parts about once a week to see if we can see any other trends underway there and what I would say here is that while you have a fairly high set of readings in the east side of the city and a rising trend the old north end of the city is the area that has a little bit of a rising trend currently in terms of the prevalence of viral RNA the south end of the city is also kind of on a similar trajectory to the new north end generally down and so the main plant trend line is up and that risk is concentrated primarily in the the downtown and old north end of the city in terms of your question there mayor I think it was you know obviously disheartening to hear that the variant has been officially identified in Vermont not surprising but also you know in a way a helpful validation of this surveillance effort here to corroborate these findings great thank you for that report Brian anything else you'd like to add before we move on no nothing nothing further from me thank you okay why you stick around in case there are questions about about the wastewater thank you again for the leadership you've played along with along with our water resources team in getting this capacity stood up it is striking the just the additional this the speed with which we were able to get that information because of this effort and it's much appreciated and I think has helped Burlingtonians be aware of the risks that are out there and been a factor as for the city to continue to navigate its well through navigate its way well through these hopefully final final weeks and months of the of the pandemic here thank you mayor okay last topic we want to welcome back on to the briefing Tracy Schamburger and Aaron Rockel from age well we talked before about the really high uptake of the vaccine from our senior communities and one of the reasons a big reason that there has been some such success and so much work is still underway so those numbers are going to go even higher in the weeks to come is that there have been many organizations families and individuals who have have been focused on it on achieving this and and really a leader amongst that effort has been age well since seniors started becoming eligible to receive the vaccine age well has gone to great lengths to make sure that all older residents in Burlington in the surrounding area had the information they needed to access this vaccine age well has done this by taking calls to its helpline that we've talked about and helped publicize on past briefings and through those help helplines they've gotten help to older adults with transportation or mobility challenges either by getting them transportation or in some cases to actually get vaccinations to take place in the home and they have proactively called thousands of remoders now to make sure that they know they're eligible and to see what questions they have Tracy and Aaron I want to really thank you for this rigorous granular work that that you've been doing my sense is this has really helped push those numbers in these very high risk groups up and we wanted to have you come back and share any additional thoughts that you have anything that we can do and the community can do right now to to continue helping you get the word out and succeed in these efforts Thank you very much Mayor Weinberger it's so nice to be here first of all I want to thank the City of Burlington because you've been incredibly supportive in helping us share information also translate information many of the communities and people that we serve as as been part of this discussion English is not their first language and so sharing that information in mailers and spreading the word is incredibly valuable and I'm so thrilled to see the number of older Vermonters who have been vaccinated you have no idea how happy that makes us so as many of you probably know age well as one of five of the agencies on aging throughout the state of Vermont we serve older Vermonters 60 and above and those with under 60 with a with a disability we're extremely fortunate that we have such strong community partners like the City of Burlington since the beginning of COVID we've worked very collaboratively with our partners to make sure that everyone who's eligible knows that they have support and services and resources available to them at age well the vaccine has been our primary focus obviously lately but in addition to that you know we we spend a tremendous amount of work and effort in making sure that older Vermonters are not food insecure through our meals on wheels program and also through our care and service coordination team who provides resources and wraparound services to make sure that people know what's available to them to be able to support them at home in addition we have a huge volunteer team many of those volunteers in the Burlington community and I just have to give a little shout out to them because they are spending many many hours calling people to check in on them because our biggest concern is always social isolation many people are feeling disconnected and particularly older Vermonters so my colleague Aaron is going to give you an update on what we've been doing to support the community in regard to access to the vaccine Aaron is our director of care and service coordination and oversees that very large team so I'm going to turn it over to her thanks Tracy so I'll just give a brief update and I think you captured some of the things that we've been doing to reach out to older adults in our service area the helpline certainly is a main point of access to all of our services but beyond that it's not just the way to get connected to age well services it's also the way to get you know information about anything or connected to other services in the community just for reference we receive anywhere between 1500 and 2000 calls on average to our helpline every month and we've seen that fluctuate at various points throughout the pandemic in response to either changing you know guidelines and requirements and restrictions early on and now of course with each wave of new vaccine rollout so you know we interact with individuals who may be on one of those services that Tracy mentioned or several of those services and then also really anybody in the community 60 plus or anybody who's calling about somebody who's 60 plus through our helpline so we've done a few different things our care and service coordination team as Tracy mentioned is quite large in general we're working with between 800 and 1000 older adults through that program who have a dedicated care and service coordinator or case manager so we've been actually doing direct outreach calls to each of those individuals as they become eligible to make sure that they know that they're eligible and also that they understand the process of how to access registration or transportation or if they do need an in-home vaccine we've also been contacting clients who are receiving meals on wheels or volunteer services and also somebody some clients who may have contacted our helpline in the past but not be actively receiving one of our services I think Tracy mentioned previously that we sent out a recorded phone message that was recorded by one of our staff to over 2000 older adults just recently to just give them a quick you know direct to their phone update hey you know we've got we understand that you're now eligible here's the process for registering you know contact us if you need more assistance and I think as Tracy said as well we've really been focused on helping clients who may have restrictions to leave their home either they've got a medical condition that makes it very difficult to leave the home they're lacking transportation to get to a vaccination clinic or any number of other barriers and we're assisting those both through those individuals both through the direct outreach calls that we're making to clients who are actively receiving our services and then also through the helpline so we've been working very closely with UVM Home Health and Hospice and Garnet Transport Medicine excuse me who are actually administering the vaccines in the homes for those who are not able to leave their homes we're really trying to work with transportation providers as well to get anyone who is able to leave but doesn't have access to reliable transportation to get to a clinic so I believe as of today we've connected about 130 older adults in our service area to in-home vaccinations with one of those two partners and we've certainly helped hundreds of other clients with access to transportation to get to those clinics so the work is ongoing but very important and I think the interesting thing is that we're finding that many of the clients who we're talking to or many of the older adults who we're talking to who feel that they're unable to leave their home to get a vaccine have not taken any steps up until our call to register a vaccine because they didn't think that they would be able to receive one so we see that as a really important part of the outreach that we're doing both at age well and in strong collaboration with our community partners and Tracy I know things have shifted a little bit if you want to just talk about what we're doing going forward sure sure so as of Monday we know that the Vermont Department of Health has developed a call center and I think it's important that people know if you're homebound or if you think you're homebound you can always call the helpline at age well to find out you know how you can get the services but if you are homebound and you need to reach the Vermont Department of Health to be able to get scheduled to get a vaccine at home there is a phone number for that and I can provide it here but it would be also great to put it on the city the city site the resource and recovery site and that number for the VDH is 833-722-0860 and age well will be moving forward referring people who are homebound to the VDH so that they can get an in-home vaccination however we continue at age well to refer our helpline as a no wrong door and I love that because basically that means that our team is available to anyone for any reason whether you're 60 or you're a family member or someone in the community who's concerned about someone or you have a disability and we want to make sure people are connected to this proper services so if you're questioning you're not quite sure just call the helpline and I continue to promote the helpline everywhere I can I know that it's probably on the city site but that number for the helpline is 1-800-642-5119 this is a statewide helpline so even if you're listening and you're not in the Addison Chittenden Grand Isle or Franklin County area it doesn't matter you can still call the helpline and wherever the call originates from will connect you to your closest agency on aging in Burlington area and Chittenden County that would be age well but the process has been going along quite smoothly we have not seen any hiccups or wait lists we seem to be able to manage everything that's been coming in so we're not expecting any change and all I can say is we're here and we're happy to help as always Tracy Erin that's a great report it is really heartwarming to know that you're able to provide that kind of direct support I think at one earlier stage when we had you on you were getting some sense that people some people weren't signing up because they wanted they didn't want to be kind of selfish about it they didn't want you know they wanted others to go first has that shifted? Are you hearing in these calls now is there any kind of theme to why people still haven't signed up if they haven't that you've detected or do you think the word is really getting out and we're getting this done I think there's always that theme with you know vaccinations and then also with many of the services that are available even outside of the pandemic we hear that about meals on wheels and access to food benefits you know vermonters are fiercely independent as we know and also very community minded and so I think there's always that sense of I don't want to take something away from somebody else what's been really helpful I think with encouraging older vermonters to register when they're eligible is just reminding them that that is actually what they can do for their community at this time is registering as soon as they're eligible and making sure that they're moving forward with that process and I think that's people have been very receptive to that great great are you able also since I know one of the other issues that you really help people battle and have throughout this pandemic is isolation are you able to help get some of that guidance that we were talking about with Dr. Leffler earlier sense that probably everyone that could benefit from that doesn't realize yet the kind of CDC recommended you know what is now okay and is that you do you get that do you help get that information out to the people you're working with is that something you can do we do yeah so we've been staying very closely connected to older vermonters throughout the whole course of the pandemic and while a lot of our conversations have been around vaccine eligibility we're pretty constantly keeping folks up to date about any changes in requirements whether that's increasing or lessening restrictions based on you know where they may be so we our care and service team makes at least monthly calls and for many older vermonters who are connected to a case manager or care and service coordinator it's even more often than that and so at that point they may be getting updates from their contact at age well about those changing restrictions and we certainly get a lot of calls on the helpline just wanting to speak to somebody who has an update and we're providing that information there as well great well awesome really great update it's impressive the number of calls that you get 1500 to 2000 calls a month is a lot it's a great update thank you why don't you guys stick around maybe we have a few members in the media they're with us and we'll go see if there are any questions that maybe for you guys so Olivia do we have any questions yes we do and reminder for members of the media you can get in the question queue just by sending me an email so the first question is from Carolyn at NBC5 and one second Carolyn you should be able to enable your microphone can you hear me yes perfect hi thanks for taking my question you answered a little bit about it when you were talking about the BIPOC community and being able to now get a vaccine if you're in an eligible household but specifically in Burlington you know either educationally or at clinics what are you doing to kind of try to limit some of the barriers of that community might be seeing when trying to get a vaccine thanks Carolyn we've been very concerned about this from the start of the vaccination efforts in December and January one of the important things that we advocated for that has been in place basically from the start of the community vaccinations is having walkable sites in Burlington and Winooski that people can sign up for to try to lessen that transportation barrier from communities that you know are in walkable communities and households that might not have a car we have been working very hard with just as you've been hearing from age well about how the city's been working with the age well and other senior providers to get information out to all of our seniors and individuals living in nursing homes we've had a kind of a parallel effort very much focused on strong communication with our immigrant communities and our BIPOC communities we have set up during the pandemic a program called the trusted community voices program as well as a separate team called the rapid response team and we use those two teams to get information out and get feedback and information back from our BIPOC communities and it is from that information that is one of the reasons we have been advocating for these special clinics to serve the both immigrant limited English proficiency communities as well as sort of broader BIPOC communities that because of historic injustice and a variety of other factors have some additional hesitancy when it's coming to vaccination we know that from the certainly from the national data that vaccinations in BIPOC communities is lagging behind that of white communities and so we've been trying to combat that through good communication and through advocacy for these additional clinics which have been started to a certain degree in which we think there should be more of going forward do you want to add anything to that Brian? Sure thank you mayor you know in addition to what the mayor said there's also a group led by the Winooski town manager Jesse Baker that meets three times a week with different organizations primarily focused on those with limited English proficiency in the community and so sometimes that overlaps with Black indigenous and people of color sometimes it does not there is also an internal city communications team focused on Black indigenous and persons of color communication out to different groups around in and around Burlington to make sure that information is shared through non-traditional channels as well and that people have access to information to make their own own and informed decision that group has done some work as well to help identify additional potential sites for additional clinics as the mayor mentioned that have been passed on to the Department of Health and as the mayor noted the city is ready to support those clinics through registration outreach and that kind of back-end administrative staffing support if needed and just a quick follow-up to that if I can right now as it is if somebody does have that language barrier and needs a translator or something like that how is the city able to provide that kind of service there Oh, go ahead Mayor Saving Well the Burlington-Wanewski sites community sites have from the start routinely whatever those sites are open they have translators there that's in addition to these special language limited English proficiency clinics so it's been a real focus in those settings on having translators are there translators at other sites as well Brian? Yes, there are translators or interpreters at every test site in Burlington and in Wanewski but beyond that there's a multilingual task force where a number of organizations have done just really incredible work that's USCRI, Vermont, AALV, LEND and a number of other organizations have supported the Department of Health provide translations provide interpretation help share information about these test sites, vaccine clinics, eligibility through a variety of channels in different languages and the city also has relatively recently started a newsletter that's translated into seven different languages each month that tries to highlight kind of the most salient information and make sure that's shared through all our channels as well Thank you so much Thank you, Carolyn Great, the next question is from Katya at VT Digger Katya you should be able to enable your microphone Hey there, can you guys hear me? Yes, we can Katya, go ahead Wonderful, so I would just love some a little bit more clarity on what you mean by these specialized clinics I know you've had some for limited English proficiency in particular or are they for or I just like what is your vision for these clinics and then like do some of them exist or if not like how are you sort of advocating for them on a state level? Yeah, that all makes sense So there have been for some weeks now additional clinics for limited English proficiency clinics and Brian why don't you speak to on any detail that we can share there about this? Sure, the state and the number of the partners that I referenced before have really worked to provide these additional clinics because the registration process is cumbersome and confusing particularly if English isn't your first language and there's been real concern about the disparity opening up nationally and also in state data about kind of vaccination rates for Black, Indigenous and people of color in in Vermont and so the limited English proficiency clinics run at least twice a week one in Burlington, one in Manuski and have now for I think six or seven weeks I'm not certain of that exact time frame but I believe it would be early February the very end of January is when they started what the mayor is saying is in addition to those the city is ready to support and has been advocating for additional clinics for BIPOC Vermonters who may not be in refugee or immigrant populations Black, Indigenous and people of color in Vermont who meet the current eligibility criteria and will be able to bring their household along with them as an additional clinic beyond what the state spoke to yesterday and I think, Mayor, I don't want to speak for you but I think it's even further than that in terms of removing eligibility criteria or restrictions That's right The feedback we've gotten from BIPOC communities is that there it would be helpful to spreading the word and breaking down some of the hesitancy that BIPOC communities have had about vaccinations for there to be these specialized clinics in locations that these communities frequent and trust and that would involve leaders from these communities This is that's our vision of how we could help reach some of these harder to reach populations and then beyond that Yes, I do think given the extreme racial disparities that we have seen from the very beginning of this pandemic my perspective is we should just open up vaccinations at this point now that we have reached the point that we can offer it to anyone with a basically a health risk factor I think race has proven to be a risk factor in this pandemic and we should just open it up to adults, people over 16 that are from these at risk communities and put them at the front of the line with these other individuals who have health risk factors at this point and it's something we've we've been advocating for for some time and it's a further step that I continue to think at this point we should take Okay, thank you about this that's all I have appreciate the answer Great, thank you Katya All right and it looks like that is all the questions we have for today Great, thank you everyone for tuning in Tracy and Erin it's really great to have you here I really feel Chinden County so fortunate to have Agewell operating here and just really thankful for the ways you've stepped up and innovated during this pandemic and it was it's great to just to know that those services have been able to provide that kind of specialized help to hundreds of hundreds of Chinden County residents already and that you're standing by and I love your no wrong door policy there Tracy and let's I hope we can continue to help get the word out that anyone who has questions about how to serve the seniors during this pandemic know that they should go to go ahead and recall that Agewell hotline so thank you for your service thanks for being here with us today Brian, thank you for being on again we will be back in touch again soon stay safe thank you for having us we appreciate it take care take care bye bye