 Good morning everyone. One of the greatest challenges of this pandemic has been that it's a brand new virus One never before seen in humans. So the entire world has had to learn as we go But one thing that's been clear from the beginning. It's most dangerous to those over the age of 65 with chronic conditions Protecting our seniors our parents grandparents and neighbors has been a high priority from the start Which is why one of the very first measures we took was a difficult decision of closing our long-term care facilities and other senior care homes to visitors But this was critical to limiting that the outbreaks in these facilities and Sadly in a few cases we saw how devastating this could be So while we know these steps were necessary and Strict precautions remain essential is also an emotional and social price paid by these residents and their families So my team including the agency of human services Department of disabilities aging and the independent living in the Department of Health But then working to find ways to ease some of these restrictions to allow for much needed social and family connections That are also critical to the health of our seniors Through this careful work They developed a phase-in approach for these facilities and with our trends continuing to move in the right direction We can announce the first step forward today Secretary Smith will share details of this plan as well as hospital visitation in a few minutes But in summary beginning Monday, we allow outdoor visitation the two guests Now I realize this step is small That's meaningful and we'll continue to keep the health and safety of these Romaners the top priority Like everything else will be tracking any changing or concerning trends and over the weeks to come We'll slowly increase visitors and group activities in a way that keeps everyone safe For those over the age of 65. We don't live in a group facility. There's some changes for you as well And secretary Smith will also offer guidance on that front, too Again in a pandemic with no playbook and so many challenges This one stands out among the most difficult to solve There's no doubt this population remains at risk for the most harmful effects of this virus But we also know there are impacts to physical and mental health that come with a lack of connection to families and others That's why we've been so cautious But please know we understand how difficult this has been, which is why we are taking these steps today Also want to take a moment to thank all those who work in these senior care facilities We're working tirelessly to keep your extended extended family safe. I Know you've been working long hours and worried about your own health as well as the health of your family But I also know you've been going above and beyond You give a little extra care and attention to our seniors while their loved ones have been restricted from visiting You made a huge difference for them as well as the entire state. So I thank you for that Now for details on these new visitation policies. I'll turn it over to secretary Smith Thank You governor throughout this pandemic Vermonters have sacrificed many aspects of everyday life to keep us safe Older Vermonters have been especially impacted They have been asked to stay home to protect themselves and others for those who are living in long-term care Residential facilities they have been without visitors since mid-march Because they are a very vulnerable population During this pandemic The decision to shut down visitation was the right one set of challenges We'll be looking at those in the weeks ahead But I will say that Last night We had a new positive in main case that was detected at Marble Valley regional Correctional facility in Rutland This was a new intake who came back from Florida on an extradition order They were symptomatic upon rival DLCs policies Kept him from having any contact with the general population He was quarantine. We have a quarantine policy for new inmates that are coming in He is still quarantined in a negative pressure cell Contact tracing is underway That will continue this will continue to coordinate with the Department of Health and depending on the tracing Will determine whether testing in Whether what kind of testing is involved including facility wide testing but Staff who transported the MA will be tested and Marble Valley has been designated as a COVID positive facility This comes one week After the state completed testing of all inmates and staff at Vermont's six correctional facilities The that we this is just as an aside This will probably be an ongoing issue that we have to deal with and we're going to set in the quarantine presumed why we set the quarantine procedures into place because as The greatest danger right now at the correctional facilities is from the outside Not from the inside that is why the quarantine protocols are in place and DOC has to be recognized at least in my From from my perspective on how quickly they act in these sort of cases and move from And move on these cases when they discovered them again This was an intake That has tested positive and is quarantined and has been quarantined since Returning from Florida. I'll now turn over the podium to dr. Levine who will talk about those Those Vermonters 65 plus and some of the precautions they should be taking Thank you I do want to pick up on that combating social isolation The theme is Physically distance, but socially keep connected Before I get to the over 65, I just want to go over three quick slides as an update on the state and on the So here's our total cases Which have not changed in the day or two and our deaths which continue to not change When we look at this I only care about in this slide in the next one Looking at the visual the numbers don't matter If you look this has been our slope all along for a long time It went up with the outbreak you'll now see we've re-assumed the same slope we were on previously and then here obviously we had a Spike in cases at the time of the outbreak that has persisted and now We're in a very low phase in fact If you look at the last four days of data there have been no additional Cases associated with the outbreak so I don't really have a lot to tell you about with regard to Anything new because cases have not changed We're continuing to follow those who have been contact traced in the pool of those contact traced 13 Went on to become cases There's really no change in the distribution of adults kids 60% 40% approximately still no hospitalizations and deaths and People ask me Every minute not every day Is it boxed in is it over can we move on and While I would like to speak with the utmost of confidence I have to caution everyone that this virus has a 14-day incubation period So from a very technical standpoint We allow two incubation periods to go by before we call something over however Right now we would settle for just one incubation period just to further solidify the fact that it is boxed in contained and We're not getting increases in cases, but with four days that is impossible to say from a scientific standpoint if you will so moving on to Over 65 So obviously the theme here is we're continuing to restart and reopen Vermont and reconnect Connecting with families connecting with friends And it is not an uncommon question In our state for people to ask us at the health department Look, I'm over 65 What does this mean for me and everybody is Appropriately still concerned about COVID not wanting to contract it and knowing that The more severe cases occur and also we're old But again to be older doesn't necessarily imply you are in poor health It only states that age is a risk factor We know that our immune response becomes weaker as We age in addition Often by age 65 people have begun to accumulate some chronic diseases They may be less They may be more immunocompromised because of some of those diseases So we have to realize if a person considers themselves vulnerable They're probably accurate. They may not be Super vulnerable, but just age alone does make you more vulnerable But even the CDC does acknowledge that you can begin to restart yourself if you will We've talked previously on Friday's usually about CDC phases And there's phase one phase two phase three and we're entering phase three here in Vermont Which is low controlled transmission. That's the best you can do in the three phases In phase one and phase two the guidelines say for the vulnerable Shelter in place in phase three it now says Practice social distancing We all want to connect with others We know that social isolation can lead to poorer health So we want to help people be armed with information and make wise choices on their own and Measure and manage the risks versus the benefits So point number one be aware of your surroundings Obviously choose outdoor settings more than indoor settings One thing we've learned about the virus is that in a closed space There is aerosolized virus produced by simple acts like talking and laughing Never mind by coughing or sneezing even by singing and shouting and That was aerosolized drops unlike the larger droplets can hang out in the air for a bit of time sometimes for hours Clearly in an outdoor setting that's much less meaningful than being confined in a room So it's best if you're in a room to make those contacts griefer than they would be outsourced This will become even more important in the fall and the winter And of course we begin to move activities into the indoor settings When indoors pay attention to the size of the space that you're in How much crowding there may be How many people are there? Are the people there actually doing things to prevent you from getting COVID? Are they wearing facial coverings? Are they actually keeping a distance as we know with this virus the actions of those around us? Make a critical difference. So you have to ask yourself. Are you comfortable in this setting? And so much of what I'm going to say is science-based, but it's common sense Next point choose activities that don't require close contact So minimize close contacts while talking or doing anything that requires exertion shouting singing things of that sort Everybody knows this weekend is father's day So yes, this will be a great time to visit with your grandchildren But being COVID aware make sure you keep your distance But just being in the same location with them even if you're not hugging them is a lot different than staying at home And not actually having the opportunity to see them up front Keep your social circles small That again gets down to that concept of trusted households So choose a few other trusted households that are also taking health and safety precautions And then lastly What about traveling if you're considering traveling beyond our state to visit friends or family? Most authorities are saying maybe you want to think twice And knowing what our data in Vermont looks like and the data we show every Friday Clearly there are preferred locations and less preferred locations that you'd want to travel to We're seeing enough viral spread around the country and some of it within the driving range of Vermont To conclude that traveling best will present a significant added risk if you want to get very scientific and considering travel Think about all the things that we talk about on Fridays in terms of what is the data for active cases in that location? What is the trend in that location? Increasing cases down slope in places What is the syndromic surveillance data on a lot of people reporting COVID-like symptoms? We give you up give you that freely on our own Informative sessions here on our website. You should be able to find the same in many other states So we're all looking forward to a time when COVID is not a primary concern Our time has not yet come We all know that we're in this for the long run with COVID until we have the right treatments and vaccines So we have to continue to be cautious Staying home Is probably too cautious for most who are over 65 they can begin to get out as I've said But at the same time staying close to home may be the safest Thank you Governor earlier this week the Chamber of Commerce businesses for social responsibility They sent a letter to the program and the speaker Asking them to release the full two hundred billion dollars for business savings money I wish I'm wondering if you could just comment on the mounting concerns from Yeah, we we've been hearing for quite some time over the last few weeks about the growing concern They have over the economy and just trying to survive, which is why we wanted to expedite this It was a total of as you recall four hundred million dollars two phases Three hundred ten million in the first phase ninety million the second phase And trying to get this money out just as quick as possible as I talked about last week trying to encourage The legislature to move forward on this and we're appreciative of them taking this first step But it was really in some respects only seventy million out of the Three hundred that we requested now it can be done in phases We're willing to work with them on this But really getting this money out the door is critical to the survival of many many businesses throughout Vermont And it's part of the crumbling nature of our economic foundation That I'm so concerned about because the ripple effect of this over the next For six months for the next 12 months and beyond that in years is Essential that we fix it now In trying to make this investment in those businesses that are just really fragile right now because the jobs come along with it It's not just the businesses. It's about the jobs people associated That are that are employed by these businesses because if they don't survive Then we have this systemic Unemployment a gap that we'll see in the future and leading to a lot of other issues in terms of our societal issues over the next couple of years and Legislatures plans Yeah, we haven't seen there was a the initial Package they passed last week as 350 that was the 70 million plus 23 million they had added for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board So it was a total of 293 million out of the 300 But we haven't I haven't seen that yet Hasn't made it over to us to take a look at I would anticipate that we would that I would sign it Based on what I know about it, but we haven't seen any of the details and we haven't seen along with the Elections law bill that hasn't arrived yet either And then Yeah, again Identify this and highlight it this last week Because we're getting more and more calls from the hospitality industry in its entirety Not just restaurants, but hotels and B&B's and so forth that that are in trouble And so what we need to do is just to focus on this Get beyond the political rhetoric and let's just focus on how do we help these? Entities these businesses this sector and the again the people the jobs that go along with it Because it's critical that we face this and and really get the money out the door just as quick as possible So then we can show up this economic foundation that I said as I said before is crumbling and fractured I'm sure there been complaints. I'm not aware of them individually Maybe commissioner Shirley or secretary curly maybe on the line and could briefly talk to us about that But I'm not personally aware of the magnitude of those complaints Mr. Shirley or secretary curly Yes, I am on the line, but I couldn't hear the entire question. It was just about In terms of New York had seen 25,000 complaints over the last week In terms of the businesses not adhering to guidelines and wondering whether Vermont has seen an optic in the number of complaints We have not that I'm aware of and I think the total number of complaints we've seen numbers in the low hundreds Since March, thank you Yeah, this is secretary curly just follow up work. You know anything you get some tips here and there where both suggested maybe there's each situation we've been able to do provides an education and Both start more than willing to apply So that's a couple things might want a clarification on the policy for You that said that you're gonna put it in place effective Monday Yeah, technically we're striving for Monday knowing that that's maybe how long it would take But obviously with Father's Day being Sunday I think what they're trying to do is get it in place before that which would be great news for all of us So I look forward to that and I'm sure they'll attain it if they have that goal We'll be able to do that, but I was just trying to be on the safe side And as far as it's kind of on the political side, we're talking about that money and You had expressed what you expressed last week Legislature must be feeling a little bit of pressure there because this morning on a dog show The speaker of the house was was the guest and she was kind of pushing it back into your court saying It took two months from the time that the money the check got here in the state before you brought your plan forward And we're trying to push out what we can when we can etc etc So I guess we're playing tests. Yeah Well, you know, I want to rise about that obviously When it pass Congress passed it and by the time they got guidance to us was weeks later So I would I would say we probably had four weeks to do our work depending on the guidance that came forward But again, I want to rise about that. We should you know utilize our energy and focus on on the virus itself and combating that as well as Fighting this economic challenge that we have together. So If they want to prove me wrong in some respects They should just pass some bills and get the money rolling and that would prove me prove me wrong. So I'm fully Willing to accept that if they can get that done. I'd be more than happy the other excuse that Well, the other point that she was making was that during your work on the bill on the administration's work on the plan that They didn't have any sort of our presentation Make it a little bit easier once it got to Well, we've included legislators on this as well. So many of them were fully aware of this But again, let's just focus on getting it done. Let's get the money out the door Let's get it in the hands of those who are going to provide the jobs and opportunities and and trying to survive During this and then thrive later because the the healthier we are and the healthier We can keep those businesses entities those jobs now The better off we're going to be six months from the room from now one year from now two years from now What we do today is critical to the future Everybody reporting But you can have it anyway, we're hearing all this relatively speaking good news here The numbers are down, you know, this is about the virus itself But how long do you think that the state and In its entirety in the health department and all of you will be on this I wish I could come up with a better way of saying that but on the warm footing you are now as you respond to Do you anticipate that Yeah, I Yeah, I certainly hope so Wilson nothing would make me happier Then you get to a point where we didn't have the state of emergency where we didn't have to have This unwinding where we are going back to somewhat normalcy and I you know every day We get closer to that when I I'm seeing the numbers and I I think I've described Every morning I go and write on a piece of paper What the positivity rates are in other states surrounding us what the death rates are a number of people tested and so forth And I keep track of things like that in comparison to where we were even a week ago two weeks ago is incredible the numbers are coming down drastically in New York and As well as in Boston and the Boston area in Massachusetts in general That's good news for us because New Jersey will follow Connecticut will follow Rhode Island will follow and Pretty soon we'll be able to open up all of the Northeast which is essential to us in terms of tourism And that's again why it's so essential Where we're you know, we can see light at the end of the tunnel We can see where we're going to be able to have more people coming to visit our state in a safe way But we have to again from an economic standpoint We have to make sure that we have businesses here that have been able to survive this And so that's why it's essential that we get this money out the door and in the hands of those just to hold on Just a little bit longer because help is on the way and the help is having more business more tourism and so forth in a Safe manner, but it's it's good news and a lot of respects across the Northeast Which is again essential to us because we count on tourism in the hospitality sector Counts on that as well. Okay. Thank you very much Wondering There's an update by implementing screening or mandatory masks There's a general public down to eat the bloomers state office building at Rutland for those people that are passing through and just wondering what are the Levels at every other state office building across Vermont was a bloomer building the only one where no monitoring was Undertaken and Are there other state employees and members of the public in jeopardy going And other things facilities and other counties because there's no screening or monitoring Yeah, I'm wondering secretary Yeah, secretary young are you on the line? I think we had a little bit of discussion About this very subject of the last couple of days. Do you have anything to offer on this? Thank You Devonary. Yes, Mike. You know in general might be state office buildings Do have the reading? questions At the entrances and so anybody who's entering the building is expected to Pre-train themselves. We also have Statial mask Signs that say that they are encouraged by visiting public But we also have some direct contact services within mostly our agencies of human services and our Department of Motor Vehicles where the public are asked to wear Statial masks when interacting or having some direct contract contact that is not physically consistent with state employees to wear now we Define that to the public and they do not have one available The eight of them are building them an interesting building is one we recently acquired as a state and it is Public businesses within the building and off of the lobby that is Used as a travel corridor from the transit center I'd ask the Department of Buildings and then all services to take a look at Travel area to determine whether there is delay to divert traffic around the building Instead of through the building. So we're looking at that but in terms of Visitors who stay offices who require services and require direct contact We are providing them with a facial covering for those appointments. Thank you very much WCAX Hi, sorry about that I'm looking at this long-term care guidance memo and it's dated June 12th. That's last Friday Why are we just caring about this now? I mean families have been waiting to ask for answers to this since mid-March So why keep them waiting longer if the guidance was issued five days ago? I'm not sure that the guidance was issued five days ago. We may have been putting it into place Since then but all that Secretary Smith answered that Cat, I'm presuming you're looking at a draft memo that we were sending out to the to the community to the long-term care community looking for Some sort of feedback on that the the guidance that we're going to be issued is going to be effective June 9th 19th As you know, we go through a fairly extensive process when we go through these various Guidelines as I mentioned we we connected with the long-term care Community out there and getting the feedback. We had Dale. We had the Department of Health involved and Just just to go on when you're looking at hospital visitation We talked to emergency and emergency room docs as well as the Vermont Hospital Association so what you're looking at is probably a draft because the the current guidelines are And are not effective until they were supposed to be Monday And I if this is my fault, I forgot To mention it to the governor. We're trying to bring those up until For effective the 19th for Father's Day Okay, that's the link that was sent out this morning by the Governor's team, so it is gauged June 12th all on the actual memo that I'm reading In any case moving on from that You know facility that already having visitors and already making plans to have residents do things like dining or activities together So are they not in compliance and who's enforcing compliance? Yeah, they are not in compliance if they are congregate dining together This is different than other areas because this is a regulated industry and we will We will if somebody reports it we will investigate Whether they're in compliance with the regulations Thank you I Think the first for you governor, you said last week I think to a question from my Donnie you Quote I fear my racing days are over. Did you mean just for this year or for good? No, no Yeah, let me clarify that Until the state of emergency is over And that's not just the piece of paper. It's whether you know, are we at a point where we can go back to some sort of normal I can't foresee racing when I have a lot on my plate as you might expect between this Pandemic as well as the budgetary issues as well as the economic issues and so forth Just a lot going on. So I don't want to divert any attention to anything else about that and for me It's every day and every night and I I work diligently on this. I take this responsibility And put it squarely on my shoulders And take it seriously. So I can't I can't do that and do other things as well So hopefully we'll get back again to where I can Go back up and race at some point. No, we'll we'll have to wait and see this job comes first All right, it seems like the citizens of Vermont might cut you a little slack on that but anyway, I'll move on This may be for commissioner Harrington. Do we know an update on the US GIS? Job cuts and are there any other government sector jobs? You're aware of That may be seeing some cuts in the near future Yes, hello, Michael Aaron's in commissioner department of labor We did have a conversation with US GIS. I think it's been reported Both in Vermont across the country that they're expecting Furloughs for a large portion of the entire US GIS staff nationally in our conversation Local team out of the Vermont office Did not have numbers yet or an idea of how broad that scope would be and what the impact would be here in Vermont We are setting up an interagency team to work with them So that when they become aware of what that impact is going to be That we can help assist in getting information out to impacted employees But they themselves did not know locally what that How how broad a scope the potential furloughs would be? So from that perspective, we do expect that there will be impacted staff here in Vermont employees And at this time, we don't know exactly what that looks like as of yet and say if your other question about other governmental agencies federal and not that I'm aware of Okay, thank you and last quick question here. I understand AOT Spent three point nine million dollars from the token relief fund money Just in the last two weeks yourself But I couldn't really find online what that was spent on you fill that in governor Yeah, I'm not aware of What they spent that on the last two weeks Over the last three months There's been a number of areas whether it's been assisting the Labor Department in terms of unemployment of putting people there on the phones as well as Accounting vehicles coming into the state. I'm just not sure of What what that was spent on but we certainly can I can have secretary of plan I'll get back to you and give you some details Secretary and I can just provide a little more there The three point nine million as you mentioned I believe is and so the getting of the state of emergency and the work that they have done Responding to the the pandemic in many ways the process is such that They put their request in against the coronavirus release money In one document, so the three point nine million dollars is one document representing all of their Extensive I would have been to date Okay, was that in total secretary young was that in total with the FEMA dollars as well or is it just with No, that's yeah, there was there is additional There are additional expenses incurred by The trans that will be put in to FEMA for reimbursement with a FEMA application I am guessing at this point of my memory and the total is five or six million Greg we can I can have secretary fling reach out to you Okay, appreciate it. Thank you governor Joe the Barton Chronicle I think this is a question for dr. Will be a Still there Joe, I could answer that one Joe. Yeah, he's still there Joe If you could try calling back in all right Joe, we'll come back to you at the end Okay, I Have seen that the American Red Cross is I'm telling potential donors that they are going to do serology screening on our donations and informed donors of their Whether they have antibodies in their blood or not and given what you said both about the likelihood of all negatives and positives and also the percentage of people you expect to see with antibodies is there a real purpose to this and Is there any chance of the data being useful in Tracking the virus in ways that we haven't been able to do before That's a great question I'm going to hedge on it a little because I don't represent the Red Cross nor do I know all about their intentions Oh, I've heard of what you said that they are going to be doing them. I don't know if that's every state Nationwide or or not, but let's presume it was and it involved Vermont Part of the motivation for that and my dad is that The Red Cross isn't serious trouble right now in terms of trying to Maintain the amount of blood donations that it would traditionally want to see for blood banks Because in this COVID era people have not been coming out to do such activities like donating blood so perhaps this is a bit of a Incentive if you will as well forgetting about the motivation To really answer your question. I want to know what test platform they're using To actually do the test because as I alluded to on Monday there there are Preferred platforms that have better test characteristics and accuracy Number two, I want to know how they're communicating the result to the donor Because just from what you said you appreciate the fact that In a low prevalence setting Positive result may mean something different than it would mean in a high prevalence setting And if it's a negative result also considerations given to is it a true negative or false negative result? But I'd like to know those things and I certainly would not mind seeing what kind of data they get to reflect on the prevalence in a somewhat random population of remoders This population would be a bit skewed because they're selected There's a selection bias because there are people who are donating blood They may have certain characteristics about them that make them more health conscious make their more COVID Aversive and their behaviors, etc. But still it would be an interesting data point to look at for sure That we would want to scrutinize I would just to add to your question in New York City It's believed that one in five New York City residents might test positive on antibody testing and they've done Many thousands to check that out That's way more than most places in the United States We all know what New York City is just coming out of think with this But most of the United States it would be well under 10% and Many locations I forgot it would be well under 5% So this would be interesting information that we would have to just use it to advise I know at one point there was some suggestion that Plasma Donors you know for people who have had I assume serious cases of COVID might be useful in the treatment of others Is there any indication that that actually is the case and might that be another reason for the Red Cross screening? Yeah, so good question the literature on Use of antibody rich plasma for treatment of viral infections as it's Ups and down so to speak across many viruses There's been some recent material published in the Journal of the American Medical Association regarding COVID from foreign countries and Did not turn out to be as promising as would have been liked But there were lots of special things about the population they looked at and the way the study was done To make that not the final word on this So it's an evolving science Could be part of the Red Cross's motivation for sure But it's really a little bit unclear We're certainly interested in that so if a person wanted to know their antibody status and Ahead of time knew they could contribute their plasma as Part of a study that would help determine if seriously ill COVID patients could benefit from plasma infusions I think that would be a very valid Approach to be taken. Thank you very much Chris Mays. Glad to go our reformer Good morning. I was just wondering if you could tell the number If you have a good number It's the long-term facilities will be affected by the decision We call the end of the patient and if you have an approximate number of Resident that will Yeah, we'll we'll go to the phone. I think commissioner hot Monica hot. Are you on and can you give us that information? Yes, governor. Thank you. I am on the line. It's about 204 long-term care facilities that includes all of our nursing homes our residential care Assisted living residences. There are different variations of long-term care, but we are including all of them in the guidance I can't give you Actual numbers, but it's between three and four thousand room owners that are residences Residents of those facilities across the state Out of the 55 deaths, I can't give you the precise number But we have it as part of a series we published on our website But it's in the 50% range Different take 5% either way. Thank you Hi Governor you mentioned a few weeks ago that you were going to talk to the or hear from the retailers from the survey they did about Whether they thought the state should mandate mass wearing and I know that there is still a debate raging At least on social media about whether people should be wearing math and whether they should have to wear math And I was wondering if you expect at any time to make any sort of determination on this On whether the state would mandate mass for example in stores Yeah, I think and what I said was before we take another turn of the specket Well, we increase the numbers which we anticipate doing and the not too distant future That we would be reaching out to the Roses and retailers for them to do some polling amongst their members to see Whether they thought it was necessary or not, but I have not I personally have not reached out to them of late I know that they did some polling But I'd like to get some up-to-date polling before we do that But again before we make any other decisions about increasing the percentage of people Allowed into these retail establishments We'll be doing that You'll be asking the retailers to do more polling. Yeah, I would like to get to determine that's what I Probably didn't communicate as well as I should have Before again before we turn the spicket another turn Opening up more retail to probably 50% I wanted to get you know an on-the-ground Response to whether we should we shouldn't get their input and to have them pull their members So I think they did it early. I'd like to have it done, you know in real time as we move closer Have you heard from any of your constituents on this issue particularly retailers or Yeah, I think we get responses on both sides of this as you might imagine it is controversial Hi, I'm not gonna hear me. I can't great kind of Jumping off of this question of animal Question, I'm curious about if you've considered any expansions of crowd sizes You know in the summer people like to gather there's probably a lot of folks that have weddings planned and I'm just curious if you thought about Increasing that maximum crowd size or how you might determine whether it's safe to do that. Yes. That's an ongoing Discussion that we're having internally We anticipate that we will be increasing The number and probably around the same time that we've opened everything else up as well to that 50% Threshold and because we know that those who are planning weddings or wanting to have their weddings and so forth Count on on this. So we will be I'm I'm assuming in the next week or two We'll be announcing some sort of increase in capacity or sizing of those outdoor gatherings Okay, so it's essentially safe to say that the 25 person gathering is not expected to last For the entire summer. That's correct. If we continue to see we're moving in the right direction So I would anticipate that that will be increased though not to a distant future Okay, great. Thank you Avery WCAX Hello Governor there's been any discussion about what will happen with Amtrak return to remind it travels typically to a lot of How fast do you see New York? What is the discussion among state leaders and Amtrak around that? You know, I have not personally had any discussions about the Amtrak although I've thought about that and I was going to reach out to our secretary of Transportation to see what they're hearing, but I I don't I don't know what the expectations are and But I can get back to you on that or have him give back to you on that I just haven't heard when they intend to open that back up and I do have concerns at this point in time I'm traveling from you know those those hot spots like New York City and what that could mean as we Bring people into into Vermont. So That's the challenge we face again as we see more and more good news in terms of the numbers and so forth and What we're looking at in terms of opening up different counties throughout the Northeast Hopefully we'll get there and we'll be able to open up those counties before Amtrak makes any sudden and big moves Thank you Liam BPR I was wondering with the sort of easing up and opening of the visitation at long-term care facilities What sort of planning and preparation has been done around? responding to potential new infections that might crop up or kind of preventing them from happening because you know as we sort of talked about already You know 51% of the deaths in Vermont were at long-term care facilities And a lot of those were at two facilities and you know, we've been really great reporting about how quickly those Outbreaks spread and quickly sort of things became overwhelmed at the facilities and so Have you been taking lessons from what's happened and tried to cause by any specific? Guidance to these facilities try to prevent that from happening again as you reopen Yeah, great question, Liam, and it's something that is a Priority for us to make sure that we're doing it in a safe manner and I'll let Dr. Fisher-Ludin talk about that Thanks for the question Liam the The success we've had across the state with nursing homes Is really quite impressive. I know we tend to dwell on the Unfortunate circumstances of the two nursing homes, which was very early on in the COVID experience if you will, but the reality is as Commissioner Hutt referred to there were many many facilities many thousands waters Who have done very well? So some of the lessons learned and one of the most aggressive policies were implemented has to do with new admissions You heard secretary Smith talk about a new admission to the correctional facility earlier Who fortunately was identified essentially at the time of arrival and was appropriately quarantined Same logic in the same procedures and policies go across all of our facilities in the state now we basically if you're coming from a hospital to a Rehabilitation facility or a nursing home facility You have a test before you leave the hospital Whether you know the result of the test or not you actually get quarantined upon arrival at the facility Because we know that that's such a potent way of introducing infection into a vulnerable population So having just that part of the policy in place is critical We combine that with an even more aggressive testing policy of the individual who's the new admission over a period of time with instructions about the caregivers and making sure that they're Not in a common flow of the entire facility and if there is any outbreak in a facility We don't just test the whole facility We test the whole facility on a sequential schedule over a 10 to 14-day period Again enabling us to cohort patients and cohort staff in appropriate ways so that a limited infection in a facility Won't become a widespread Outbreak in that facility. So all of that is ongoing and happening as we speak We are also working as the secretary Implied earlier on other policies regarding long-term care Which will help them open up their facilities a little more in terms of the things that they might desire to do with visitations or people in congregate settings in those facilities and that will involve a more aggressive Maintenance, if you will routine testing regime for both the staff and the residents at specified intervals Yeah, it sounds like at some point you're going to be rolling out more testing or more routine testing for patients and People have a silly that sounds like to me like that's the most New thing of this the other thing you describe one there were already like is that correct? Not back in March, but certainly We've we've been sort of innovators on the Testing of a mission and quarantining on a mission and we've partnered with CDC Just in the last maybe month or five weeks or so on that so that's fairly new Great, thank you And governor the quick question for you Mayor or Weinberger in Wellington this week is expected to declare racism of public health emergency Have you considered a statewide declaration similar to that? Is that something you think you might do? At this point in time, I think we're We are I think dealing with this in real time. We're dealing with it appropriately And we could consider something in the future, but at this point time we're focusing on What we've been doing and seeing that through Thank you Aaron BT digger last week I asked about the You know the people being monitored and I told that The people on that website are people who have registered through error alerts Now we've had to about 700 people being monitored Presumably Is that about what the state expected and I was just wondering just in general You know, if you're noticing a truck that people actually really coming into the state or Going elsewhere and then coming back increasing because of the new Rules about those visits and but that you know is showing you guys Philippine So thank you for the question the precise number that I had earlier in the week was 779 So close close to 800 Which you may have actually reached already for all I know so Sarah alert began as really our attempt to make sure that someone who was identified through contact tracing would have a tool at their disposal That would allow them to easily monitor their own symptoms Really without even having to think about it And they can quickly connect through that tool with the health department and get any guidance they need And likewise the health department could provide guidance to them in general That's been expanded to the pool of people who like contact trace people need to be quarantined so they may be coming into the state from a hotter area and are under a quarantine advisory and They should have the same opportunity to be able to monitor symptoms connect with the health department Get the education and information that they need in a readily available way so the bottom line is that I'm not sure we knew what that number would be Based on the number of people who may have returned to Vermont in March or April or May versus now How many are still returning to Vermont? How many are now traveling into Vermont as tourists or for other purposes? I expect that number is going to increase and increase Until as the governor puts it the rest of the region looks like Vermont in terms of active cases per million people Governor getting back to the urgency You would see it this morning about 195 million getting out the businesses That was the government for obviously the legislatures more than a hundred million short on that They plan to go out and breeze that just a couple of weeks I guess there's some temper I guess it is there could be a lot of empty storefront between now and then Can you and would you consider? jumping over them just taking the CRF money and distributing yourself You know as tempting as that might be no, I think we have to continue to work together and work towards trying to to I think It's still time to for them to act I believe they're they're going to be working until the end of the month There are a number of provisions working their way through the legislature at this time and And it just takes them to to act upon that and to pass more of the money through so that we can get them In the hands of those who need it. I Would say that the part of My concern from last week Was that this somewhat hoarding of money to keep in hopes that the federal guidance would change So they could utilize that for our budget deficits, which I think is short-sighted as I stated before I just believe Fundamentally we need to fix the the fractured foundation economic foundation that we have right now that we can see and These businesses who provide jobs to a number hundreds and thousands of promoters are at risk right now I mean we see 50,000 people on unemployment right now We need them to get back to work and we need to make sure that we're protecting these businesses So that they're ready and enable when a lot of these restrictions are removed. So again my concern is we need to get the 300 at least the 300 million dollars of the first phase of the package was 310 million The second phase of the package was 90 million that could wait until they get back if necessary But really the 300 million is needed right now and I believe you probably heard From as many people as I have about the need that's out there Yeah, they keep asking me for some reason governor. So that's why I asked you. Thank you. Yeah I Page Governor you said it Your eventual decision to end the state of emergency will be data-driven Can you provide more specific detail about what that data inside and outside your lawns would need to look like? And do you think the state of emergency will be over by Labor Day? Well first of all, I certainly hope the state of emergency is over by Labor Day But I don't control the virus And it has a mind of its own So we'll do the best we can but if everything keeps moving in the direction we're seeing today I have no reason to believe that the state of emergency wouldn't be over by then It's just a question of unwinding it in a safe manner So that we get to a point where everything is open to some capacity and beyond, you know almost back to normal Now there's going to be some pullovers I'm sure that mass gatherings that we saw previously like at fairs and so forth Probably won't be able to happen even then But will we get back to a hundred percent retail? Will we get back to some something close to a hundred percent and With the amount of distancing that we need in some of the bars and restaurants and hospitality Sector Initiatives I hope so So when we get to a point where most of the northeast and most of the nation gets Northeast in particular and we see the border open back up. I mean they just Decided I think the last a few days that the border the Canadian border would remain closed So for another month So we're into July 21st at that time. We'll know a lot more By mid july at the end of this state of emergency In regards to how long it's going to last From there, but for right now, it's all you know, somewhat good news and again when we see The mass massachusetts, uh, new york new york city in boston in particular And we see new jersey and connecticut start to Get healthier Then it gives me I guess some optimism that we're going to be able to get through this in The next couple of uh, the next couple of months Okay, thank you. Um, also, I'm curious you you'd mentioned the mass gatherings Anywhere thought about maybe asking people attending these rallies to perhaps have the temperature taken If their names so that they they can be traced. It's necessary You know sort of a precautionary not I'd say no, but More precautionary measures Yeah, I mean it would be best If we could know who they are in some respects, but I don't know who would do that to be honest with you guy There's so many And again from what we've seen thus far We haven't we haven't had anything linked back to the protest was tells us a couple of things which is good news so What we've asked them is to protect themselves and others Make sure that you're wearing some facial covering as well as trying to keep as distance as possible Don't don't congregate For a long period of time and just be smart about this exercising your Your constitutional right is important, but it's also important to protect others. So just keep you know common sense of mind as you as you engage in these Some of these gatherings Thank you Courtney local 22 Hi, I'm Harry. You can So just a kind of follow-up question Regarding group gatherings We have a viewer that concerns about a funeral service that they have been holding off and they're wondering, you know If it has been talked about to increase that size and specifically They're wondering if 50 people would be allowed by July Had a funeral service their services like that at this point in time If you have a It depends on the size if you have it in a church, let's say If you have a a gathering in a church, we've allowed for 25 percent capacity Inside a church. So depending on on what's allowable from a fires safety standard They could have Maybe even more if you had a church that make health, let's say, you know 500 people Then you could have 125 people there in space space the park and and making sure that you Protect yourself and others, but So I would say again, we're trying to anticipate What's going to happen in the future? The size of gatherings is going to be a topic of discussion And we have those almost on a daily basis So hopefully there was some good news on that that front as soon but In terms of funerals if they're in churches, I would say that you could have that service Thank you Ed Newport Daily Express Thanks, Ed Maria Washington Post Hi everyone, thank you so much for having this call I appreciated that presentation on crying and just going to follow up on This the different methods you're monitoring governor. I do wonder I still I'm not sure How bad it would have to get for you to Stop kind of You know opening up this state or to kind of retreat. I mean wouldn't use and I'll break But by the numbers it's kind of similar to your peak In early age goal, of course, we know a lot more now. Your other numbers look good But I'm just wondering what the pleasure thinking is, you know, how how What would you turn you what would make you want to So Again, you know, we've come a long ways in terms of the contact tracing And testing and so forth increase our capacity on both fronts We're able to surround things better Which is a great news for us. We've learned a lot So we could handle more outbreaks simultaneously But if for me personally and I rely on Dr. Kelso our epidemiologist as well as Dr. Levine Our commissioner of health to guide us in when should we be concerned My personal concern would be if we had So many that we were in a geographic dispersed way throughout Vermont And we weren't able to contact trace And we weren't able to contain this That would give me concern So we're not again we proved in the news here or at least I believe we have That that we can handle something of this magnitude and we'll continue to build on that success and and build our capacity at the same time Great. Thank you very much. And it's just um, if there's anything in here based on your sgis and we'll send the out for those In a standing request for that information, please. Thank you. We'll do All right, they call that Steve N.K. TV Hello, can you hear me? Okay Um, thank you. Um, so we'll we'll come for the doctor and then the governor if I may Dr. Levine He said that One has to be careful when one looks at data all the time Um, did you worry that looking at it at all this data? I have a Heisenberg effect or or might bias your your decision-making in any way I'll agree with What you said I said that you have to be careful when you look at data and my example of that is Literally within a 48 hour period On the maps of disease activity in the country We went from having the highest rate of increase in cases greater than 50 looking like the sky had fallen to That's a bright red color to a bright green color meaning We were one of the only states that had a greater than 50 decrease in the number of cases and looked like the best picture possible So depending on what day you look at that you would come up with a conclusion That wouldn't be truly reflective of the experiences here on the ground One thing that's reassuring to me and it should be reassuring to everyone is We're not continually inventing new types of data to look at or new ways of looking at the same data We're being very consistent So if we're consistent and we say that we have maybe a threshold Of four or five percent in our percent positive tests That's the way we're looking at it every day And when we're down below two percent and even down below one percent like we have been recently That would be a real change if it was suddenly five percent or ten percent So, you know, we're not we're looking at same data and in the same way And that goes for pretty much everything that we're doing Obviously there are some things we may not have measured before And now we have the opportunity to measure them or the ability to measure that and then we'll start looking at them in a methodical way too But I think the word methodical is the key here if you're methodical and you're consistent You don't run into trouble It's only when you try to Present perhaps a rosier picture of something than what the data really shows that you could run into trouble And there are plenty of examples of that In the evening news