 Good morning everyone. Governor Scott is currently on another call with fellow governors and White House officials But he will be joining us shortly. I'm Mike Smith secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services today any Vermont or age 70 and older can receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine Registration opened at 8.15 this morning things are going to be things have been going well But please be patient as call volumes are higher than normal as of 10.05 Some have received the message that all circuits are busy. We're working on this and if possible Please call again our wait times have been on average about five minutes and the maximum hold time has been 25 minutes so far Over 11,000 Vermonters have registered nearly one third of the eligible Vermont population in that age band So to make an appointment you can visit the health department website And we recommend that you visit the health department Website at health vermont gov slash my vaccine Because of the higher call volumes This is probably the most expeditious way to do it But if you can't please call our vaccine call center at 8557 227 878 Just a note for those that have vaccine appointments today with the exception of the clinic at the Champlain Valley Expo all vaccination sites are open However, if you feel uncomfortable driving due to road conditions in your area You can reschedule those who wish to reschedule can do so by calling 8557 227 878 That's 8557 227 878 again I would just urge you to be patient this phone line is also being used today for the first day registration of those that are 70 years old and older and Unlike any other day when getting through would be no problem phones could be busier today Do not worry. We will get you rescheduled For an appointment to be vaccinated. There are plenty of slots the UVMMC clinic at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds has already been rescheduled For appointments throughout the week and an additional Clinic has been scheduled for Saturday and they are calling those people that were scheduled for today with the date change As of today 78,200 Eligible Vermonters have been vaccinated against COVID-19 40,800 Vermonters have received their first dose and 37,000 have received their second dose 33,700 Vermonters age 75 and older have made an appointment for at least their first dose through our community Vaccination program so far 51% of Vermonters in the 75 years old and above age group as well as nearly 850 homebound Vermonters have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine We are now beginning to identify homebound Vermonters that are not easily identified through home health agencies We will continue outreach to hospitals and primary care offices across the state to further Identify homebound community members in the future We will provide a telephone number to call if you are homebound and Qualified to be vaccinated But we are using hospital and primary care offices right now to reach out So if you don't get reached if you don't hear from us in the next few weeks We'll provide a phone number that you can call I believe we have taken a Thoughtful approach to this rollout and we are able to expand opportunities for Vermonters to be vaccinated In proportion to the increased allocation of COVID-19 vaccines again We are currently vaccinating individuals 70 and above as well as those health care workers in group 1a and Homebound Vermonters within the age group as I mentioned last Friday We plan to move through the current phase 3, which is the 70 years old and older that I just talked about Really fairly quickly Be before moving on to phase 4 Vermonters 65 years old and older I will have more details about this in the near future Again, we want to extend our deepest appreciation to the many Partners that have assisted us and continue to support a successful vaccination program across our state Including hospitals long-term care organizations the Vermont National Guard pharmacies home health agencies EMS a Area aging agencies on aging state and local officials multiple state departments and agencies And all Vermonters. I just want to say thank you all now on another completely separate but important subject on Saturday at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Center in Mississippi where we have approximately 180 inmates and incarcerated individual Cecil Vivian age 62 died suddenly Mr. Vivian was serving a 30 year to life Sendance for aggravated sexual assault on-site medical personnel and arriving EMS personnel tried to revive Mr. Vivian an administrative review and medical reviews will be conducted This involves a review of events leading up to the death a full review of medical records and an independent external review of the medical history and Circumstances of the death next of kin have been notified and processes are underway to follow their wishes Cause of the death is being determined. It does not appear to be suspicious More information will be available through the Department of Corrections later on today I will now turn the presentation over to Commissioner P check for his weekly update Thank you very much secretary Smith and good morning everyone As you'll see from today's presentation the favorable COVID-19 trends continue Nationally regionally and also here in Vermont The United States continues to see the rapid decrease in cases this week with the seven-day case rate average falling below 100,000 for the first time in three months You can see when cases were last averaging 100,000 in early November It took us 68 days to climb up that peak to early January However, it has only taken us 32 days to climb down from that peak falling back below 100,000 cases on average again illustrating just how quickly the cases are continuing to fall across the country There are certainly a number of explanations for why cases are falling so rapidly For one where well past the holiday season, which certainly fueled some of the case growth we saw We've also become more acclimated to safely being indoors during the winter time Adherence to public health guidelines may be increasing as well And there's the possibility that either Natural immunity or immunity from vaccination is playing a role But whatever the reason certainly the greatest tool that we have Remains following the public health guidelines to keep our cases our hospitalizations and our deaths as low as possible Further the number of people hospitalized across the country continues to improve down 45 percent since its most recent peak and most thankfully We are finally starting to see improvement in the u.s. Daily death rate with the seven-day average falling 24 percent Since the most recent peak in early January and with national cases forecasted to remain low and continue their decline We should expect to see both case and fatality numbers improve significantly in the weeks ahead Just like the rest of the country the northeast region saw significant improvement this week with 13,000 fewer cases Then compared to last with every state and quebec seen improvement compared to last week This is the first time since november that our regional cases are fewer than 100 000 on a weekly basis And you can see that we're also reporting fewer cases than we did back during the spring peak as well Comparing the regional heat map from back during the peak in january to today We can really see the vast improvement that is occurring in almost every corner of every state in the region And again these improvements that we're seeing around us will certainly have a direct impact on vermont in the weeks and months ahead And finally these regional improvements are expected to continue throughout the month of february and march based on our forecasting This past week in vermont, we reported 814 new cases a decrease of 142 Compared to last week and as you can see that has driven continued improvement in vermont's seven day case trend Where we have continued to see gradual decreases with the average seven day rate coming down over 30 from the most recent peak Although we've only seen gradual improvement in our case rates overall We have seen much more significant improvement in the number of individuals Over 75 in vermont who are contracting Covid 19 And this has obviously been where our vaccination strategy has been placed over the last number of weeks As you can see the seven day average for new cases over 75 has decreased From about 10 cases a day on average a month ago To 3.29 cases on average today representing a 70 decrease in this trend over that period of time Further since we are seeing less cases in this most vulnerable age group We are also fortunately seeing fewer deaths week over week in vermont Additionally when compared to the rest of the northeast on a per capita basis You can see that we are both much lower in our rates our fatality rates Throughout 2021 and you can also see that we've seen significant improvement in our rates From the start of the year to now, which is great also This is a trend that we hope will certainly continue as we vaccinate more and more of our most vulnerable population Regarding case counts and their geographic dispersion across the state It's worth mentioning that we are seeing improvement in both bennington and rutlin counties However, at the same time both franklin and essex counties are now more clearly standing out as having a disproportionately high number of cases Again, everyone in vermont should be vigilant and take the public health guideline seriously But certainly these four counties where cases are more elevated than the rest of the state should certainly Be following the guidance very closely The estimate of active cases you can see is declining week over week We now have fewer active cases than when we did during our peak just a number of weeks ago However, the active case counts do still remain very high relative to the summer and relative to last spring So again, just another word of caution and vigilance as we're seeing so much other favorable news Turning now to the vermont forecast for the next six weeks We believe that the gradual decreases that we're seeing And that we have seen over the past week has meant that our forecast will also improve slightly With the slight improvement the forecast Still does anticipate an elevated number of cases throughout the rest of february, but again ultimately The future outcomes that we experience here in vermont are really a factor of the Little things and the big things that we do every day to protect ourselves and our communities On the hospitalization front We are seeing improvement lately in the statewide and regional averages with the number of people in the hospital decreasing And again, this is also true for bennington and ruttland counties as well Regarding our hospitalization forecast, we now Continue to believe that we have sufficient resources to treat all vermonters who would need hospital resources In the weeks ahead Turning to the college restart this week Colleges across vermont reported 61 new cases on campus This is the lowest number of weekly cases since the spring semester began Providing some hope that cases are stabilizing a bit on campus And another good sign for our future Regarding the pace of vaccine administration The most recent data from the cdc ranks vermont number two in the northeast and number 10 in the nation When it comes to the number of people administered the vaccine on a per capita basis Additionally, we are including another regional graph this week That measures the percent of the population for each state that's fully vaccinated So in this case has received both of their shots from fizer or moderna We believe this will be an increasingly important metric to keep our eye on As it both incorporates the effectiveness Of the vaccination program across all of the states And also the willingness of each state's residents to get vaccinated in the first place and follow through on the requirements of vaccination Here vermont currently ranks number seven nationally with over 5.3 of our population fully vaccinated per cvc data So at this time i will um turn the presentation over to dr. Livine Today, we're reporting 53 cases in one death Keep in mind that mondays are usually a fairly low day, especially mondays that are a holiday But we'll accept that good news We continue to report a markedly low Percent positivity rate of 1.7 percent Which indicates not only declining seven-day average case counts, but also ongoing aggressive testing More than 6,000 tests per day were done in the previous week The decline in cases appears to include bennington and ruttland counties as well And as you just saw Franklin still looks to be on the rise in a unique way But admittedly it may be too soon to expect the change yet We very much appreciate the cooperation and aid of public officials in franklin county who have heard our call to action And supported it with their own communications Outbreaks have not been a major feature of this case growth And very few schools are involved However, one of the school outbreaks may have spawned two secondary small outbreaks on farms But the cause driving these cases overall appears to be community transmission Rather than outbreaks as we have seen in the other counties And currently across the state Each case has an average of 3.3 contacts for our contact tracing team to interview The chance for a case to become a contact Sorry, the chance for a contact to become a case is now at 9 percent Lower than I have seen in some time The hospitalization data again seems encouraging With 37 hospitalizations reported today Though 12 patients in the ICU Bennington and southwest vermont medical center continues to see fewer hospitalized COVID-19 patients than they had been over the last several weeks All of this comes against the backdrop of variant strains in the us in fact The country seeing these decreases in statistics at a time when the variant strain is becoming more prevalent in the us And it's expected to become the dominant strain in the country during the month of march according to the cdc Though indications of the variant were found in burlington wastewater Our latest tests for genome sequencing have not yet detected variants among select samples from COVID-19 positive individuals We will have new data specifically more from the burlington area next monday It's clear that we are now in a race a race to continue to suppress the virus by adhering even more strictly to public health guidance Avoiding crowded indoor spaces and multi household gatherings a little longer Keeping our physical distance and masking Even double masking or not in tuck masking As there will be less chance for air leakage and more protection to the wearer and those around you See the cdc website for the data and the techniques which are quite simple The other participant in the race is the vaccine As we've stated and has been reinforced today More vaccine is on the way and we will achieve our vaccination goals for age groupings and high risk conditions on a faster time course We hope when the governor joins us he'll have more news from the federal government In this race Getting people at greatest risk for severe illness or death vaccinated early And suppressing the virus early are both pathways to reducing the impact of the variant strains on our population The rates with which our first priority populations are taking vaccine are nothing short of phenomenal Whether we are talking about residents of long-term care facilities The healthcare workforce or older romaners living in our communities And a new phenomenon is obvious Those who were reluctant to get vaccinated early during their eligibility period, but who are now joining In later in the process This is encouraging I want to piggyback on secretary smith's comments In the first 16 minutes today The health department received more than 7,000 calls from people making appointments to be vaccinated It's understandable that people may experience a long wait time Some are getting off circuits As the circuits are all busy We encourage you to go to the website healthvermont.gov My vaccine to make those appointments We thank callers for their patience Everyone will get scheduled and there are enough appointments for all So what are some of the potential benefits to vaccination? For those in long-term care facilities Whose freedoms and quality of life have been markedly reduced throughout the pandemic and the interest of keeping them safe by preventing outbreaks We are on the threshold of presenting an array of changes in visitation policies communal dining and group activities From an epidemiology standpoint Achieving so-called community immunity or herd immunity Is also important Although that is the one benefit. I would like to emphasize the least as it tells you little about what that means to you yourself But the combination of natural immunity from being infected and may you never have to get immune that way With vaccine mediated immunity Somewhere in the 80% range Leads to a better life for us all and less virus around to be transmitted from person to person Less chance for further mutations and virus That can lead to more concerning virulent strains I described at the last press conference the freedom from quarantine Being fully vaccinated can mean if one comes in a close contact with a covid positive individual More than two weeks out from your final dose and if you have no symptoms The governor will describe what we are considering regarding the impact of vaccination on our travel policy And the complex interplay with many state policies that needs to be resolved to formally enact this And the goal of travel without need to quarantine upon return or entry into the state Certainly the separation from friends and family has been acutely felt by us all Especially when we were trying to protect the most vulnerable around us Consider the opportunity to once again dine engage in direct conversation Enter their homes hug And what about gatherings and gathering size? Starting out small with trusted households and other vaccinated people Moving to dining at restaurants attending movies and concerts graduations and weddings Eventually larger capacity events in sports and music All of this awaits over a period of time Certainly through the spring and summer If we can all just continue on the present course of lowering active cases Through adherence to the usual guidance and making our appointments for vaccine When our group is called Since the governor hasn't yet yet to arrive we will begin the uh questions So secretary smith Seems like there's been a pretty big response in 70 plus so far I mean, what what do you need to see? From from that big banding until you open up the 65 plus Well, there has been a tremendous, you know, we've gone About one third have already registered in the first few hours of the registration Period in that age band What we'll do is make sure that they have the slots. There are slots available for everyone that is in that age band We also ask that those that haven't registered that are in the 75 so 70 plus Please register But I think in the next Week or two, we're going to Be doing some Some evaluation of where we're going to be and probably Open up the next band. Uh, you know, we're at 50 percent of the 75 plus We opened up the 70 plus We've had good response in the 70 plus. So I think very very shortly you'll see us announce the 65 plus Follow-up about the counties, um, you know, you mentioned dennington and ruttland. They're kind of on decrease Franklin you kind of alluded to sort of why we're seeing cases there. But what what's happening in Essex county? What what's driving cases there? Again, no specific outbreaks We are always cautious when we look at the Essex county data mainly because of the small numbers that we're dealing with and You can affect the impact of the curve with not too many cases Because it depends if you're looking at cases versus rates So I don't want to blow it out of proportion. But of course we're still looking at it with concern They had been a concerning county a number of months ago and things seem to go very nicely there So I think some more of the exact same messaging that we've done You know constantly we're meeting with Community officials public officials in the regions where we see problems So if this trend continues in this direction, that will precipitate another one of those I'm all set for right now. Maybe come back later Uh, good morning. You've kind of touched on this but I I just like you to address some of the frustration that we are starting to hear about those who had appointments canceled You've said that uh, don't worry. There are many uh appointments to be had. Um, but For those who saw their appointments canceled today due to the storm. What do you what do you say? I mean, it's unfortunate, uh, steward. I mean weather does intervene on some cases. Um All vaccination clinics were open except one, uh, Champlain Valley. That's run by uvm mc Um, you know, they made the decision to Uh, to delay and to cancel that appointments All I can say is those will be scheduled within a week rescheduled within a week in order to To accommodate those people A lot of them were second doses as well and I understand the frustration there but, um, one only one clinic has been cancelled It was the decision of the university of vermont medical center to cancel that Um, I you know looking outside. I think the other clinics were, um, were correct in continuing On with the clinics. So the vast majority of clinics are open. There is one that's closed All of those people will be rescheduled Uh, this week and with a special, um, clinic on saturday Okay, uh, and While I have you, so how far out are you making an appointment for the 70 plus people people who call today Get an appointment today. Can how far out is the actual Injection and what is the role of the pharmacies in this? Is it preferable to? You know to try to go through wall greens versus the state side or what's your guidance there? Well, I mean the guidance is that any place that you can get, um, go to that moves it in I I don't have Stuart, I don't have precisely the date that we're going out to but I would assume it's not too far out Given the slots that we have available and getting the group that we have right now And it's a fairly small group about 32,000 Vermonter, so I imagine it's not too far away and plus we'll be opening up 65 and above pretty soon as well Here's my advice. Um, we are in close coordination with kinny's Kenny drugs You have a link on our website where you can go to kinny's kinny drugs in order to look at their available slots Um, wall greens is a federal program that is a little bit more complicated because it doesn't it's not coordinated with us In a way that the kinny drug program is but at nonetheless their website is Coordinated Is on our website and you can link to wall greens from our website Nonetheless, I would I would peruse all all available sites In order to schedule at all appointment. Obviously, we have the most dosage We have the most sort of coverage in in vermont With available clinics, but I urge all Vermonters that are 70 plus To look at all options that are out there right now All right, thank you Good morning secretary smith. I'm hoping you will pass this question on to the governor and his um secretary more Given the focus on child care in vermont particularly during the pandemic I want to make sure you're aware of a situation in weightsfield involving neck of the woods child care center This was a designated remote learning hub site last fall and had the ability to take care of 30 children They've been fully operational and working to expand their programs while also working to install a public water system Which is required by several public water system mandates Fight their best efforts to move quickly to get the water system installed It will occur in june They've been told that their deadline runs out at the end of them this month and they need to reduce programming Cut their numbers and take child care away from local families until the water system is installed Mecca the woods is fully subscribed with a long waiting list Even the state of emergency given that the state of emergency is still in effect Why is this critical facility in our community not being provided more dedicated support from the states? Yeah, I'll uh, thank you for the question. I'll go to as secretary more Um secretary more do you want to take a stab at that? Yes, I'm I'm happy to and Lisa. I'm happy to have uh, our technical program staff follow up with you offline Um, the the neck of the woods child care center had been operating under a temporary license for a period of more than six months at this point Um, and we've been working with them throughout uh to come up with a permanent public water solution That meets some really important health standards And so appreciating very much what you're saying about the the needs for child care This is an area where we've dedicated extra resources at the agency To help these programs navigate Those regulatory processes. Uh, my understanding is we are very close if not there with the neck of the woods child care center But at the same time can't responsibly sacrifice The need to ensure high quality drinking water for for our youngest uh citizens of brahmans as well Thank you for that. I understand that they operated this summer using bottled water Is there no work around to use bottled water and or is there a way to Not count not start counting the six months until the state of emergency end Uh, so bottled water is a temporary solution and and the the challenge here is is one of dueling timelines We don't like to see systems say on bottled water Any longer than absolutely essential in part because it's it's a complicated management system And as I said, believe believe we're very close if not already there with neck of the woods And I'm happy to follow up with you offline with some additional detail Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it and so do the parents and our community I will now turn it over to the podium to Governor scott who will give us an update on his Meetings with other governors and white house officials Thank you to secretary smith And good morning Apologies for my delay again But as was noted, I just got off another call with the national governance association and the white house Regarding covet strategy so more good news First we learned that nationally We could allocation will once again increase this time from 11 million To 13.5 million which is an increase of 2.5 million doses that equates roughly to about 2,500 doses for vermont every single week. So we should be seeing that This next week. So that's that's great news We also received an update on johnson and johnson It's still expected the FDA will grant emergency use authorization by the end of the month But time will tell But if approved j and j will begin distribution immediately Including several million right away and more importantly 100 million of these they've committed to By the end of june. So that is substantial And that would mean a lot for vermont as well if they continue to distribute Per capita as they have been We also heard that the pharmacies and fqhc Will increase their allocation Nationally from I think I mentioned this last week or the week before They had a program that started with 1 million. They're increasing that program to 2 million And that'll begin this week Which is good news. I mean we want more vaccine. We want more to be Distributed But there are a number of concerns by many governors About how this will work out this the pharmacies are out of our control in some respects So that's been a concern. There were a few questions on that at the end And they said that they would get back to us And again with further information, but that looks like that's going to happen at this point They also wanted to for warn us right now immediately About their concerns about logistics and the weather that we're seeing throughout the nation They're working hard to de-ice planes as we speak and make sure the distribution is on track But they said to be prepared. There may be some some cancellations Or at least Some postponements of some of the vaccines into different states. I don't know how that will affect us But stay tuned and they just wanted to give us a heads up on that so again It's good to have this productive conversation with the white house and being in touch And we appreciate that so Next As secretary smith I think discussed today This marks an important milestone for us as we move into phase three Those 70 and over and as a reminder anyone in phase two The 75 and older population if you haven't signed up yet You can still do so and we would like to advocate for you to do so We expect to move through phase three quickly And then open it up to this 65 plus phase and after that phase five Which is uh, which is those with certain health conditions that put them at greater risk if they contract COVID-19 As you know, the vast majority of remuners Who have Have succumbed to COVID-19 have been over 65. So by prioritizing this population We'll save lives, which is our top priority and we believe this will get us back to normal faster And with the added vaccine supply on the horizon, it won't be long before we're open to the general population In the meantime, I want to as always I encourage remuners to not let up Meaning follow the health guidance wear a mask keep your distance and avoid crowds Our tens our trends are moving in the right direction But the smarter we are The faster we'll see our hospitalizations And deaths drop and we can open up our schools to in-person instruction Which we know is critical to the well-being of our kids And we'll be able to once again turn the spigot in other areas as well On that note as we mentioned last week the cdc recently came out with new quarantine guidance for those who've been fully vaccinated We've been reviewing their recommendations and are working to update our state guidance to reflect these changes Including what it means for vaccinated remuners when they they're a close contact or traveling We expect to have further details on friday But there's still many details that we're trying to work out And we know there will be a lot of what ifs That will come as a result. So I want to be clear This will be very narrow at first But we hope to announce changes at friday's briefing that will allow more mobility for remuners But so stay tuned for that and with that we'll get back to questions Thanks, Rebecca Governor Cuomo has apparently been caught for taking or not reporting accurate death numbers And making them more favorable to him There are calls for his demi award to be revoked Canceling his book tour and beaching him Wondering your thoughts on that and having remuners know That our state numbers are in fact accurate. What do you have for independent backup? for your numbers to to confirm Yeah, that's a A bit more complicated in new york, I believe But we've been trying to be transparent in vermont and listening the deaths as they come I might have to ask Commissioner levine if he has anything more on that if there's anything different that we're doing But but I believe The health department is reporting the deaths just the same way we have from the beginning There's no attempt to to I guess Be less than transparent on that. So I don't know if there's anything else you can add dr. Levine Yeah, we've been very transparent uh all along throughout this. We also closely coordinate with our sister department in the agency of human services dale Who have regulatory uh province over all of the long-term care facilities? And having a greater awareness as well of everything that goes on there We closely coordinate all of our outbreak management with them closely coordinate Our statistics with them and with the knowledge that They can help support facilities when staffing becomes an issue as well. So Uh, I think we have checks and balances built in And frankly I can say we have we've had no reason to hide any uh any numbers There was no motivation, you know from political or health standpoints to to do such Okay, thank you Secretary Smith or maybe governor scott You frequently talk about how important it is or how improper it is for People to cut the line and for hospitals and others to allow co-workers friends to slip into the line Get shots when they're non-essentials and not entitled when you talk about investigating cases Wondering what you have found in all these various investigations and reports that you've received Anybody going to be prosecuted? Any hospital or outlets being punished in any way are there any real ramifications for cutting the line? and uh I'm just we continue to get reports on misconduct. I just got alerted to a major group Employed at a large hospital getting vaccine shots None of these employees even deal with medical patients As a matter of fact their office is not even on the hospital campus, but yet the hospital management Wink wink nod nod said that these employees are essential and needed to Have shots even though they're not even close to serving patients Um, you know, are there any rules or ethical standards that hospital management has to follow in blonde or Are there no ramifications for them turning a blind eye? What's the attorney general doing about this, you know? Yeah, again From the very beginning. First of all, we want everyone to be vaccinated as soon as possible. That's the only way We're going to get through this We uh, we had expectations in the beginning as to who should receive the vaccinations we had came up with this banning approach For the second phase The first phase 1a was a little bit out of our control. We tried to make sure that we Place guidance so that they understood what our expectations were but it wasn't as clear To some apparently as it should have been So we've since then come up with more clear guidance I think secretary smith has spoken to them directly And uh, and I would be surprised if that was still happening Although, you know, once you once you administer the first shot And we need to make sure that they get the second shot even if it wasn't You know from our standpoint appropriate For them to to be there. We want to make sure that they get that second shot So that we take care of that so Secretary smith anything to add Just like we um wherever we heard of instances like that we stepped in We have issued three what are called health alert notifications That talk about the guidance in 1a But it all comes down to people following the guidance that we issued In that 1a category. We also have sent out Various new guidance to make sure that people clearly Understand And we have urged from the podium as we have urged People that are quarantining That are coming into our state to quarantine That you know, you can you can game at the system You really can't We urge you not to And please don't because you're taking a shot away from somebody that Really needs it as we said 90 percent of our deaths have happened at 65 and older And we want to make sure that those 65 and older have those shots available to them so We believe education And re-education and re re-education is the best way to go and hopefully Everybody has gotten the message now Uh, given all the uh emphasis that we've put on the guidance But isn't there a big difference between the hospital Turning a blind eye knowing that nothing's going to happen to them And maybe Joe six-pack trying to cut the line. I mean We understand maybe some residents want to cut the line But when the hospital should be following this thing and they're not in this latest case It was reported to me yesterday. I mean it just Seems like the state's not doing anything. Yeah, I I would contend that the bulk of uh, people that have been getting vaccinated Um Have been qualified To get vaccinated under 1a. I'm I'm not You know, I'm not naive. There are probably some people that have gotten vaccinated for two reasons one They have cut the line or two that at the end of the day there was extra dosage And instead of wasting that dosage, they use that uh to vaccinate people that were available Those two areas are are Are permissible and I don't want to I don't want to send out the message that you will be prosecuted For making sure that you get vaccine into somebody's arms if you have extra dosage at the end of the day I think it's it's important that we don't waste dosage But I understand what you're saying mike. Did some people cut the line? Yes. Did some did some people may have facilitated that Maybe and um, but I'm confident that we're starting to crack down on that in a way That's meaningful now Okay Maybe we'll follow up offline then with you. Thanks This is a question that is actually kind of related to what you were just talking about secretary smith It's a email from a viewer that we wanted to ask you about They say they were at the pharmacy in wall greens in st. Albans Standing next to an older gentleman and the pharmacist asked him if he wanted to receive a covid 19 vaccine because they had extras He declined said he already got his first dose And then at this point the person behind them asked if they could have the vaccine The pharmacist said no because he's not allowed to give them to anybody over 75 He didn't want to lose his job And this person says they even offered as far as to come at the end of the day and meet them back by the dumpster Obviously that didn't happen But I was wondering if you could comment on these situations I know you sort of just did there But these situations where people are kind of having to decide whether to throw out the vaccine or give it to somebody Fearing their own employment Obviously the state doesn't have control over sort of who gets hired and fired at wall greens But i'm just wondering if you could sort of talk about that a little more I'll let secretary smith answer but but again I want to reiterate what I said before about my concern and other governor's concerns about Increasing this program doubling the size of the program where they get an extra million doses this next week Uh, it takes things out of our control You know, we have single patrol now because we're doing it by age banding Ever since 1a we've gone to phase two. We'll go into phase three four and we know who's getting those Those shots those vaccinations We're not as clear in some respects as to who it is In some of the private facilities. So again, we want to have partnerships We we utilize them and we're thankful for that But but the way we're doing it now With our age banding is working Thanks for the question. I really appreciate it We do send out guidance on minimizing vaccine doses Minimizing vaccine ways at the end of day doses And that applies to all Facilities including the federal pharmacy Uh As well now we don't have as much control over that as we do with other facilities, but each facility has to sort of um Have guidelines that That sort of correspond to our guidelines and we have those guidelines right now that we send out to these various Entities and its priorities prioritization for using multi dose vials on site one Is that if you have somebody on your list that you can call in that's in this case now 70 and above that you can call in on your list And bring that person In That's the that's the next priority Other priorities are other prior phases of vermont eligibility for example healthcare workers Or first responders with direct patient care and staff and residents of long-term care facilities And again vermoners 75 and older and 70 and older now and then in If if that fails Then the next plan phase of eligibility is the next phase if it happens to be 65 Or 70 um and now it's 65 that next phase is the next uh phase that you go to and then lastly And only lastly Would you go to somebody that isn't in the qualified Eligibility, but everybody's been instructed do not waste any Dosage of the vaccine So if that has to go into an arm of somebody that is not qualified that is better than wasting the dosage of the vaccine Thank you. Thank you rebecca. Good afternoon governor Um, we're hearing from people who are trying to sign up 70 plus age group Hearing the same concerns that we heard several weeks ago in the 75 clutch Attempting to sign up telephone lines have flooded To the point that people are are just being disconnected not even being caught on cold It's just the same system that was rolled out for the 75 plus And and why haven't some of these basic issues like Having a shared email address been fixed I'll let secretary smith the answer but but again, I just want to Say again what what I heard this morning We knew you know, there is pent up demand a lot of people wanting to make sure they make their their appointments We've already signed up in a matter of two or three hours We signed up 10,000 people about a third of the population with this within this age band I think that's doing pretty well It looks like if we keep this pace up We'll have everyone signed up within the age band within a couple days So I don't think that that's a failure. I think that that and I know there's some frustration I know people are waiting But when this clears up We'll we'll have signed up a number of people my I would predict over the next couple of days secretary smith In one hour, we had signed up 7,000 people in just before I came in here. We had signed up 11,000 people We this is moving quite rapidly at quite a clip in terms of signups for this We have 32,000 people in this age group We're over one third done in the first few hours of this signup period. I would call that a success And we have two avenues in which you can sign up you can sign up online And again, you will you can hit the A button to sign up if you are signing up two people or you can call in Typically what we find is when we have a large volume and we have over 300 call takers Online taking calls Typically when we find the first few hours It is going to be jammed and then we find that it subsides quite substantially in the afternoon hours or the next day but certainly You know Something's going right because we're we we've gone through almost one third of our population already In terms of signups and I figure by the end of the day will be at least halfway through it so You know I This is a major call volume coming in major online volume coming in but people are getting signed up It's a state trying to take care of the issues like sharing of an email address or You know telephone lines just being sub blocked that they can't even take calls put it put on hold Yeah, I mean we've been following the wait times as I said as of 10.05 the wait times We had circuit issues that we're meeting with the Um with the carrier about it's not the state it's the carrier on this one about but Nonetheless, if you call back the wait times have been fairly minimal Getting through second of all we have urged people to use the website and thirdly We have added that button that I talk about in terms of the ability to press that button and and add a partner In the same household on that You know okay, I'm I'm told that button wasn't working, but obviously I'm under 70 so it wasn't me personally um, moving on We're still looking for the list of outbreaks, but I'm I'm told that at least around The franklin county area. There's a number of cases that are are being attributed to funeral services Uh in the activities around those types of events Uh looking to see if this is true and also You know with some state looking at any uh guidelines added guidelines to Uh protect people that are are trying to mourn I'll uh ask dr. Levine to take that question Yeah, first off, uh, we're not aware of a major outbreak related to funeral recently There have been a number over uh many months But not recently And uh with regard to protection Regarding a funeral The guidance really doesn't change from what we tell people to do every day With one exception and that's of course There has to be adherence to guidance regarding if it's an indoor facility the size Of the crowd that would be permitted in Regarding the capacity of that facility and the size of the place to accommodate the number of people But otherwise obviously People in mourning can gather in family units who are all exposed to one another every day of the week And seat together, but they should still be Physically distanced from other family units And everyone should be masked Those things really go without saying no matter what the circumstance Even at a funeral Look forward to uh getting that list without uh outbreak. Thank you for your time Hi We're getting reports that a growing number of students on uvm's campus are in quarantine right now after being potentially exposed to covid I'm wondering what percentage of the new cases in the colleges that we saw last week are at uvm and are any of the samples That are being tested for the variance from uvm students given that their campus is in burlington Yeah, you heard earlier that commissioner p check had in the range of 60 students in the course of a week across all campuses And um, I can't give you the exact number of uvm, but it's a smaller proportion of that I do know that Student cases have spanned The general campus as well as the uh one or two of the athletic teams as well In terms of the variant cases We have sent some from burlington Um, and we're getting uh results on them next week We have also sent From norwich None of them have turned positive for the genome sequencing So they've all been the standard if you will uh COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus Just to clarify when you say you have sent some from burlington Do you mean from uvm or just burlington generally? Burlington generally, but I believe they include uvm as well The thing about uvm is it's not showing a One of the criteria we use for how we select and prioritize genome sequencing samples, which would be A outbreak out of control which would be um A transmission pattern that seemed different than normal In terms of an accelerated transmission pattern or in terms of a symptom complex that would be unexpected So it hasn't met those criteria Obviously, we added in a final criteria last week, which was if wastewater sampling had shown any uh Positives so for that reason alone that would qualify Got it second question And I'm not sure how much you're going to be able to follow up on this today, but I'm going to ask anyway You briefly mentioned long-term care or facility guidance changes on the way Can you preview for families who are really eager for that what that might look like? Yeah, I think we're going to actually preview that much more thoroughly on friday So I'd ask if you could respectfully wait until that time But the things I mentioned in my opening comments are all being Uh considered obviously it's really trying to return Residents of those facilities to a lifestyle. They were accustomed to pre-pandemic Thank you to Levine spoke about um The lack of a um Influenza outbreak that would normally be occurring at this time of year um Is that something that has been delayed? um might it still be coming or um Are there reasons that it might not be happening That are related to precautions that are being taken for other things Or was the vaccination program just that good? I think uh dr. Levine obviously will answer that but I think you hit the nail on the head in some respects We have increased vaccination to for the flu this year, which is good news As well the masking the washing of hands the social distancing and so forth and so on All leads us to better performance in that area 100% due to the increased vaccination vermonis had a great rate this year and should continue at every year No, it's a little bit tongue-in-cheek But we did have a great rate this year Still could be greater And it's not too late because part of your question was is it going to be delayed? You know usually the peak is a little beyond where we are now But it's hard to have a peak when you don't have almost any disease activity We're seeing it very sporadically in vermont At the friday press conference. I showed the slide of syndromic surveillance Which is how many people are presenting to urgent care or emergency settings? With appropriate symptoms of flu or covet and it was very very very low So we certainly don't even see a lot of people presenting with symptoms who are testing negative for the flu They're not even presenting with the symptoms so Based on australia's experience Which was to not really have much of a flu season and certainly not a huge peak We would hope that the northern hemisphere can replicate that And as the governor and you have both stated so many of the habits that we've had to adopt as part of our daily living Are really working in our favor when it comes to All respiratory viruses including the flu Thank you. Hi, everybody Another long-term care facility question I noticed that uh, previously in commissioner pocheck's slides he included a Slide about The cases in the long-term care facilities and I didn't see that one and It is really good news that we're talking about here. Um, and You're getting ready to talk about opening them up in some way shape or form And does that mean that things are going really well? I'd say the simply answer is yes But uh, let the commissioner p check elaborate Yeah, thank you very much for the question. So if you go on the online version of our full presentation We do have the weekly outbreak slide wilson. I think the Number of outbreaks was four this week down from five last week So the number of outbreaks continued to um decrease the Size of the outbreaks are relatively small compared to what we experienced before But if you also remember from last week's presentation We talked about the decline overall in cases in long-term care facilities. So those Have come down quite a bit since december And then we're also obviously seeing a decrease in the cases generally over age six over age 75 as well But many of those individuals are in long-term care facilities Creating that pretty significant decrease in cases So it is good news Yes, for sure. And you know and we've pointed out that the fatality rates have decreased You know over this period of time as well. Those are our most vulnerable vermonters and you know as we protect them We expect those fatality rates to continue to stay low Okay, great on that one and then another one for the governor Things that are rather optimistic here of this morning, which is really nice Um, but thinking about going forward, you know after covet Do you think you might find some way to continue giving us reporters from across the state access to you the way you have been doing What for 11 months now? I mean as somebody who used to crowd into those youth conferences, you know 15 people in the uh In your office in the state house for 45 minutes, which were pretty curt You know, you did what you had to and then everyone went on but now everybody is getting access to the top people in government Have you given any thought to how you might continue that if at all once covet is over? Yeah, first of all looking forward to covet being over number one Number two, we have considered that and I think I've remarked in some of these media briefings before But one of the silver linings that we found Is the access and hearing from all parts of the state Wilson you you remember. I mean it wasn't as though We we made sure that only a certain number of people came in To the press briefings But it typically were the ones that were in the Montpelier area in the central Vermont area that came to the press briefings And I think what we found is we're hearing from all parts of the state now And we're having access and questions and and we're getting to know what The people in those those communities are thinking so I I would expect I'm not committing to this but I would expect in the future That we'll do something similar to this maybe not as long maybe not multiple days, but Certainly, we want to make sure that we continue To to you know reach out to those other parts that feel as though they're left behind and they don't have A voice and and we don't know what they're thinking and we're not reacting to what they're thinking either So we want to be able to bridge that gap Okay, great. Thank you One that's of size of size that would allow me to name it would be enus Burke How many how many cases are there in enus Burke? I believe the website will show a dozen cases. I meant like attributed directly to the outbreak But that's still which no um And with some with these outbreaks, you know, obviously you said that school transmission is not a many driver of cases This this particular instance seems to make the deal a little different than that or an exception to that rule If there are any reasons that you guys are investigating as to why could have happened Something different about particular instance Yeah, so Our outbreak prevention and response team is always involved in all of these and Work with the superintendents and other school officials to help mitigate the situation I'm going to stand by what I've been saying all along which is In franklin county. There's a larger amount of community transmission of virus occurring Which makes it show up in all facets of life whether it would be in a health care facility in a workplace in a school And That's what this reflects. I don't want to blow it out of proportion Because it's really the same phenomenon that's occurring Yeah, and just a quick second question Mike has been giving the numbers of You know people within specific groups that have been vaccinated throughout this but that's still not presented on a partner's health website Do you guys have any plans to kind of give a Update to the dashboard so that people can kind of evaluate Like progress that for moms is making all these different age bands Yeah, there is there is a part of that vaccine website that actually allows you to see sex breakdown age breakdown racial breakdown Of all the people who've been vaccinated So I think what you're asking is is there unless I'm misinterpreting your question It's it's similar that is true. But I mean for example, um the race by age and sex You know have 75 plus and then 60 to 74 so I couldn't evaluate the progress of specifically 70 and older age bands, for example Ah, okay. It also only gives the percent vaccinated not percent registered, which would also be nice to have but You know, I understand that some of it reporting would be complicated No, and I can understand where you're coming from because obviously somebody in the 60 to 74 group right now Would have been vaccinated at the long-term care facility. They're living in Anyone from today onward Could have been vaccinated as part of the 70 to 74 age band So, uh, what you're asking for is to have us break that down into several categories 70 to 74 65 to 69 right Yeah, essentially. Yes I can bring that back and we can see if we are actually already doing it or and We just haven't been able to show you the way to access it or if we need to provide more. We'll get back to you Okay, thank you Hi, um, I had a question about the the potential authorization of the johnson and johnson vaccine and You know, if and when that happens how the state will look at distributing that that third vaccine Along with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine obviously the johnson and johnson one is only one dose and Some of the preliminary data indicates. I think it's about 66 percent effective compared to the higher effectiveness of Moderna and Pfizer So i'm just wondering if You know, how this data is going to take into account data about its effectiveness and how it's distributed or if they'll recommend that to other Into different groups just sort of sort of some of the logistics around that potential vaccine Yeah, Liam we're working out those details as we speak We've been talking about it for quite some time, but we don't know exactly when and how much and so forth So we're getting more details as I mentioned earlier from the white house and the administration So and knowing that it's it could be coming soon We're again working on these as as we speak um I will also you know, I know And dr. Levine can certainly elaborate much better than I can but We talk a lot about I mean, I've heard you say this 65 percent But it's you know 95 percent. I believe 95 effective In terms of protecting you from hospitalization or death So that's a pretty high percentage and much higher than even the flu vaccines and so forth So I think people should keep that in mind a single dose and and we don't know yet I don't believe on the effectiveness on some of the variants. So that could change as well So we'll learn more as the and I'm sure the FDA is going to be asking all these questions as well So we'll get more of the details as they Contemplate whether to authorize this emergency use or not Dr. Levine Yeah, I think you pretty much nailed it governor I think the 65 or 66 was a worldwide experience and when they broke it down to us It was in the 72 or 74 range But the governor's correct that it depends what outcome measure you're hanging your hat on If the outcome measure is just did you get any symptom of covet? If you were in the vaccine group, that's the number that you've been hearing But if you really ask about the Outcome measure that most vaccines are measured against and certainly the flu shot We live and die by this every year is Will it prevent you from getting major symptomatic illness that could put you in the hospital or cost Cost you your life or who knows what other bad outcome? And all of the vaccines are compared on that Including AstraZeneca, which hasn't yet made it to approval in this country And they all measure pretty equally across the board at a much higher rate than the 72 percent For preventing that serious outcome So Again, we're not trying to spin this in any way It's just what are the outcomes that really matter and why would you get a vaccine in the first place? To protect you so that's that's sort of the bottom line in that regard We'll of course Be able to message that far more effectively when It actually goes through the approval process and makes it to the finish line And we hear the exact parameters that the FDA and then the cdc are operating Under as well with regard to special features of this vaccine in either direction Where it may be more or less effective Whether it has to do with serious disease whether it has to do with a special subpopulation Whether that be racially determined or age determined Whether it has to do with a subpopulation of chronic diseases or whether it has to do with the variant strains So more more questions than answers But you know February 26th and 7th are not very far away. So we should have them very soon Thank you. And then a question for Mike Smith at the beginning of the press conference You mentioned that an inmate in Mississippi has died and I expect that doc will have more information later, but I'm wondering you know as as head of the Asian case human services Which oversees doc we've now seen Several deaths of Vermont inmates over the last few months. I know there were two in december at least and one was At also at Tallahatchie. And so are you concerned about just the You know, even though there have been several now, are you concerned about that? And are there any sort of overarching trends that you're seeing that need to be addressed? Thanks for the question Liam The the second death that you're talking about was in december And my understanding the autopsy report has come in. It was due to a heart condition Um, this one we don't know yet. We will do the investigation Um, there will be continued investigation on that So far not a trend Um, but every death is a concern of mine, especially in a facility And I'll wait to see the internal investigation on this plus we have several external investigations that have to happen on this Before making a final determination But right now it does not look like this death is suspicious But I will hold judgment until I see the final reports on this Thank you. That's all for me Tell us how the banks and financial institutions are rolling this out and how that's going Hi, yes, this is a very early. I apologize. I don't have Good solid numbers for you for the take-up on the ppp and the ideal right now Commissioner Pechek may have that but uh, I'm more than happy to connect with you after the press conference and get you those numbers A question for the sba, but I can get that for you Um, maybe I'll have uh, commissioner Pechek way in Hi, tim. Thank you. Um, very much for the question Um, on the bank and the credit union side, you know, the banks and the credit unions similarly engaged in this round of the PPP rollout and um, did so very aggressively, you know, the quite a few loans were Written in the early part of the program's rollout And vermont again was ranking pretty high on a per capita basis in terms of the number of loans that were Issued as of a couple of weeks ago The cd the uh, sorry not the cdc, but the sba did release an update Just a week ago on the new data and it showed that Over 3,500 loans had been taken out from vermont businesses Totally in over 300 million dollars in this most recent round So if you add that 300 million to the 1.2 billion from the last round, that's over 1.5 billion now Overall for vermont businesses. So pretty pretty effective rollout from our banks and our credit unions and a pretty good uptake from our businesses Do you know how much um Money is available. I mean there is it still possible for a business to To go to a bank or another institution and get a PPP or EIDL Yeah, so at least for the PPP program, certainly there is still availability and um, and the timeline is still open You have until march 31st. So if businesses are out there Wondering if this is going to be a program that will work for them Certainly reach out to their bank or credit union to get more information and again They have about six more weeks to do so All right, great. Thank you If I could just go back to johnson johnson for just a minute and i'm not trying to sell the product at all, but Uh, you know I'm sure johnson, I would not be surprised and I don't have any insight on this But I wouldn't be surprised if johnson johnson is is working on Possibly a boost or a second vaccination or something to bring up the efficacy But but as well, I mean we have to think about again If it prevents you from hospitalization and dying and gives you more mobility in a shorter period of time Those are pretty good selling features of itself So we'll see what happens with the FDA and what the approval process is and what it looks like At the end of the month, but again, I think this is good news for us to get back to some semblance of normal My question is for secretary french In light of the new cdc school reopening guidelines Does the state plan to follow those pretty closely or how do you plan to implement those? We've talked with uh, Rutland city schools and they mentioned that they won't be able to have enough distance for And physical distance for the students to bring them all back in the classroom if they follow those guidelines Yeah, I think, you know, firstly, it's uh It was useful to have the new guides to organize the way it is. I mean, it's probably long overdue in that regard and I will know it also, uh the u.s. Department of Education issued companions companion guides to help uh districts would implement it But I think, you know, we're we're making the observation that the guidance is really directed at those places in the country that have never reopened Um, and I think it'll probably be very useful for them in my regard. I think many aspects of it Reaffirmed the steps we've been implementing it for a long and certainly our schools. I think have gained a lot of experience In doing so So I don't I don't think the guidance will have an immediate impact on our our guidance per se I think for a stay where we are I think part of that is the fact that we feel pretty comfortable that we understand The conditions of our communities relative to the transition of the virus and that's that Function of our high level of testing and of course our surveillance testing in school itself So I think we're pretty confident. We have a good handle on the conditions that Our schools have demonstrated the ability to implement the strategies that we have in place. So we feel pretty comfortable with the guidance that we have And governor quick question for you not related to school that said johnson and johnson shot is approved. Would you get it? It's offered to you Um, sure That's it. Thanks. Thanks Hi, it was something. Um, we might be able to get a little more insight into the Planning going on currently for the phase that's gonna follow the chronic condition phase specifically, I'm just interested in the conversations that are being had about Um, who's going to be next and what criteria is being considered? Or for example teachers and childcare providers being Um, just uh considered. Can you just give a little insight into that discussion right now? Yeah, again, everything's on the table. We want to get through the age banding as we keep talking about this is about Taking care of those most vulnerable to death. So that's 65 and over and then we're going to contemplate from there Certainly with the johnson johnson coming on board the increased number of vaccines supply be becoming more available This could change our strategy, but everything's on the table at this point and we'll we'll continue to contemplate this Over the next two to three weeks, but we're not Ready at this point to discuss anything about what our thoughts are Yeah, and then another question for you governor is the National guards still down in dc and do you think that it's time for them to come home if they are or How are you feeling about that? Yeah, they are still there and as to whether it's time for them to come home We'll await guidance from the those in washington We want to help we want to help those in need and we agreed And as well did the guard wanted to go the guard men and women So we're we're there until they tell us that they don't need us anymore Got it and then one last quick one. Can we get an update on wasted doses? Do we have a figure? For how many we're out right now secretary smith. I don't have that Collin i don't have that information, but i'll get it to you. How's that? That works. Thanks Governor today a third of texas is still blacked out for lack of enough backup power generation to replace the wind power That failed when the turbines froze Three winners ago new england came within a similar blackout Within hours of a similar blackout You've endorsed a new england power grid plan to build more offshore wind Given this wake-up call from texas. Are you concerned about the future reliability of new england power during emergencies as the grid Realize more on wind You know, i'm concerned about our capacity as we move forward. We're moving forward with electrification In terms of what as we reduce our need for and and usage of carbon emitting fuels So we have to look at the grid and its entirety and we need a broader portfolio We can't just count on one source We want to make sure that we have we have a substantial amount of power coming in from canada Due to hydro, which I think is a good thing But but we need to balance that out and we need to to utilize More offshore wind if it's available as well as solar As well as some still nuclear So again, you know, we want to broaden the portfolio so that we aren't depending on one source And I think that that's that's working for us thus far and we'll continue To uh to pay attention to that Thank you Also next saturday will be the second anniversary of chinese council general's fun things visit with you and other state officials in montpellier At that time he invited vermont to participate in the what he called the belt and road construction Is a 70 nation initiative led by china Is vermont participating in the belt and road initiative and and in general how would you describe Our trade relationship with the with the prc Since that meeting well again as you probably know a guy even before I was governor when I was lieutenant governor I met with many consulates and trade reps all the time from different countries And uh just as a courtesy and we did at this point, you know I've met with officials from israel and canada and great britain uh japan taiwan south korea The netherlands mexico france. I mean all throughout the world And these are typically just meet and greets courtesy Calls and we talk, you know about some of what they could do for us what we could do for them We want to continue to to make them make us more economically viable and make sure that we are able to outsource what we do so well And and and particularly with canada, you know, there are number one trading partner. So they're important to us But from that meeting I I don't I just don't recall that we're involved in anything As a as a result of that but but i'll i'll check i'm not just not aware that we're part of that initiative But i'll i'll check for you Thank you. Uh, yes. Thank you. Good afternoon Um, governor and perhaps secretary smith. I'm wondering how quickly is the state able to plug in Uh, additional doses into the appointment on the administration pipeline For instance the 2,500 new doses you just learned about on the call this morning Will will the state be able to add 2,500 additional appointments next week? Or is there a delay in how quickly we're able to utilize those? Again, that is the beauty of what we're doing with the age banding and so forth and having different phases You know, I've seen other states who have committed to opening up the the spectrum To a broader group of people And uh, so they're scheduling months in advance So based on supply that they either are forecasting or they they are getting today So, uh, that's a finite amount. So what we are doing is able to Be more nimble. We're able to open up based on The the amount of vaccine we're seeing so in this case for instance if we receive 2,500 more next week I'm sure we can add appointments within, you know, we're going to get through this next band In about three weeks. So If we can if we can bolster that and add more along the way, we'll do it And then we can we'll be able to forecast from there the next band now the On the call as I I'm just remembering now But on the call they did talk about the white house talked about giving us maybe a little bit more down the road maybe Contemplating four weeks and just forecasting a little bit what they're seeing So that we don't do this on a week-to-week basis. So again good news for us And and the strategy we're using today is working and I believe we'll get through this faster Without the confusion that we're seeing in other states and the cancellations that we're seeing in other states when I see on On the news that a certain state has had to cancel Their their vaccinations for the week due to a lack of supply You know from my standpoint, that's just poor planning on their part When we know that there's uh, they've committed to the supply we have and again We're keeping that tight within within a few weeks and then we can change that For the next band. So again, I think we have an efficient process that's working for us And we'll continue to to monitor and make it better as we go Thank you And governor and perhaps for secretary french shifting years of it Media event yesterday with local school officials and some legislators Advocating for the adoption of the new equalized pupil waiting standards I just looking for your take on the issue age 54 and the phased in approach to some of the study recommendations secretary french Yeah, I think I saw the coverage of that event The waiting studies the implications of it are fairly complex. So I think you know the I'll say the devil's details, but A big part of the detail has to do with implementation and its overall design. So Certainly look forward to working with the general assembly Understanding the complexities of the report and how to situate its findings in a practical way to implement it But I think there's a lot still that needs to be done on that and that it is it is not a simple process by any means Do you agree with the premise that That the rural students english learners Students who are economically challenged Are disadvantaged by the current formula Yes Once again, it's a fairly complex study and certainly One of the findings of the study is that the waiting methodology That we currently use Firstly doesn't have any real basis in an empirical model Essentially there they were arbitrarily derived um and in the study as part of the Charge to the authors was to Come up with a different waiting system and they've they've done that based on some empirical evaluation Of economic situation in the state and the region nationally But also particularly for rural states of some acknowledgement of the sparsity of our communities and of relative low population density So I think you know, there's there's a common Um I think the stake in understanding that the weights the weights don't necessarily Translate into more money for schools. They definitely translate into an incentive. But once again, it's it's a very complex Study, uh, definitely worthy of understanding fully and definitely worthy of figuring out Its implications for implementation Uh, I guess finally then but uh, do you agree that a change to our current system needs to be made? Yes, I think, you know, that is that is sort of the overarching Conclusion one could draw from the weighting study Once again, it's uh, basically pointing to the existing weights for sort of arbitrarily derived Um, and it is pointing us to use a more rational or empirically derived model So that's that's a conclusion. I think that's uh hard not to acknowledge and it's one Once again, I think that will require a more analysis on implementation Okay, thanks everyone Yes, the associated press put out a piece last night talking about the n95 masks What they've found is there's plenty of supply in these respirators so much so that some companies are now exporting them Um, but states are still dealing with shortages because of a breakdown in the federal level in terms of communication Um, is the state having any issues with n95s? Are they are you guys getting as many as you want? Are there any rationing going on? I I believe Eric that we have an inventory this sufficient, but I might Ask commissioner shirling if he's on If he could comment on that Hi, I'm governor. Uh, thanks for the question that that is accurate. We have 489 thousand n95 masks in the uh in the state's warehouse Um, distribution has slowed uh out of the warehouse Um, in large part because uh supply through normal channels and health care facilities Has been bolstered in in recent weeks. So what that represents is uh at our Worst case scenario peak burn rate, uh, we have over 100 days of supply of n95s And uh, is there any guidance from the state in terms of when a n95 has been used? I know pre pandemic Uh, it was like a single use one mask per patient now because of supply issues Sometimes people wear one all day or multiple days. Is there any guidance for how long an n95 should be worn at this time? There is the health department publishes that guidance and I'd have to cross check but I do not believe we are Currently in conservation measures for that particular piece of PPE Okay, thank you. And by question, um I was a uh A local business That has chosen not to comply with the guidelines What does our person in the community have to do to be safe? Are there any repercussions for a company ignoring A department of health and CDC Yes, um Ed there are repercussions if We want to first provide guidance and outreach and make sure that they understand what our guidelines are But if they just refuse as we saw In ruttland for instance with the gym in ruttland There are repercussions and the attorney general was involved in that one And the attorney general will be involved further, but again, maybe either commissioner schirling or Secretary curly one of the two I'm happy to uh to start governor. It's commissioner schirling. If If there's a business that is public facing, um, that there are indications as a non-compliance We would ask that they report that to local law enforcement Same would actually go For businesses that are more inward facing Manufacturing floors things of that nature, but in that case we would also want to Ensure that the department of labor and other regulatory entities were involved on that educational front that the governor described The appropriate response would not be to contact Our department of health who would be to contact the State police or other law enforcement are our primary advice. We do get a daily report that comes from various state agencies where things may get reported, but the health department has enough going on with Coordinating the medical response to covet that our preferences that you report that's law enforcement Perfect. Thank you very much gentlemen and ladies Thank you Ed And that's and that's it. Um, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you again on Friday