 Good afternoon everyone. I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and we're able to take some time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for as Vermonters and Americans Today we'll talk boosters. Mr. P. Check will go over some data Secretary French will give an education update and we'll of course have a health update from Dr. Levine As we've been saying if you gathered with friends and family outside your household the Thanksgiving We recommend you get tested Because it's been a critical tool in helping to prevent the spread of COVID and Vermont does more testing than any other state Finding cases helps contain them Before they spread to more people and it will continue to be an essential tool for years to come as We move towards the endemic phase of managing COVID As we've said Like last year, it's expected. We'll see an increase of cases across the country and in Vermont after the holiday Once again, this is all the more reason to take common sense precautions first and foremost Get vaccinated and boosted. It's not too late Wear a mask indoors when in public spaces Be smart when getting together with others and stay home if you're sick If you have minor symptoms or something feels off Air on the side of caution get tested and stay home As you may have seen over the weekend. It's been more news of another variant Omnicron which has started circulating around the world As President Biden said yesterday, this may be cause for some concern but not panic Dr. Levine will go into more detail, but it's important to remember There's still a lot. We don't know and it could be a couple of weeks before we get more information Until then we're not going to speculate and I'd urge people to stay focused on the facts and what we do know We'll be watching this closely But we what we do know is that getting your booster will be key and Everyone over 18 is eligible They're already having a huge impact not only reducing severe illness But also in slowing cases amongst those who have gotten them They're the best way to make sure you get maximum protection against this variant and any others that will be inevitably occurred occurring in the future if you get your booster in the next week You'll have the optimum protection amount of protection before Christmas in the new year Vermont now leads the nation in boosters, but we need to do better Same goes for vaccinations of five to 11 year olds or a national leader, but we have more work to do If you get your child vaccinated this week They'll be able to have their second dose by Christmas and the new year making sure they're fully vaccinated by the time They return to school after winter break Doing so will lead to fewer Quarantines and more time in school You can find a clinic near you at health vermont dot gov slash my vaccine With that I'll turn over to Commissioner P check Thank You governor and good afternoon everybody So as we expected, you know both in Vermont in New England and across the country There were reporting delays and anomalies associated with the Thanksgiving holiday So when you look at cases cases nationally regionally in Vermont are down But as we'll explain a little bit here for Vermont's cases and the same is true for the other regions of the country Testing was down and reporting was changed for many of those states that Usually report over the weekend or don't even report over the weekend delayed till Monday So some anomalies in the data you see our cases are down as I said, but as you go to the next slide You'll see that the testing is also down down about 32 percent on the seven-day average again to be expected as Fewer people seek testing on Thanksgiving Day For example and even the weekend of Thanksgiving as they're traveling or have friends or family that are visiting them So that did move our positivity rate up But as I just said, you know those that are likely to seek testing on Thanksgiving and over the Thanksgiving holiday Probably more likely to be symptomatic and have COVID or at least think that they have COVID through an exposure or symptoms similar to COVID symptoms So somewhat to be expected can't draw too much into it at this point But what we can look at is sort of how this patterns versus Thanksgiving Of last year and we do see very similar pattern With cases rising a little bit before the holiday and then plateauing coming down and staying low Through the days following the Thanksgiving holiday again due to reporting and testing anomalies people not getting tested And in some cases reporting being delayed So a very similar pattern to what we saw last year That would indicate to us that we'll see cases start to rise again this week And then the question will be, you know, do they get back to where they were? Or do we see a surge on top of that and that is something we just don't know at this time the only real reliable Jurisdiction that we can point to at the moment in terms of case trends is to Quebec looking at Quebec They did not celebrate obviously American Thanksgiving when we look at their case rates We see that they have been increasing Like much of new england through the last number of months more particularly in november as the weather has gotten colder So again, we do anticipate cases going back to where they were prior to the Thanksgiving holiday once normal testing Resumes in terms of people going and getting testing on a more routine basis Turning to hospitalizations This is where we can find some data that was not interrupted by the Thanksgiving holiday both here in vermont and regionally You see that hospitalizations across the board are up about 12 percent over the last seven days You'll see that still that 71 of those are of individuals not fully vaccinated. So that story hasn't changed You'll see that over the last couple of days We did have hospitalizations in the 80s. So those are higher than obviously we've seen before and that is trending up So as the governor said all the more important to take those preventative measures now For those that aren't boosted critical that you do so and for those who are aren't vaccinated critical to start as well Same on the icu side. You can see the icu numbers have gone up this week They are at 31 in terms of an increase for the week Again 81 of people in the icu are not fully vaccinated So we do know that those who are not fully vaccinated are going to the hospital at a much higher rate And they're spending longer in the hospital on average as well consuming more hospital resources. So critical for those That are not protected to get themselves protected to ensure capacity in our hospitals Looking at the icu metrics. We can see that capacity was down this week about 32 It seems like some of that is related obviously to the increase that we saw in covid patients There was somewhat of a decrease in non-covid patients But there was also seem to be some work short shortage challenges or at least some beds that were offline Alluding, you know Meaning that the the availability number went down this week. So again something to keep a close eye on As we monitor cases following Thanksgiving And again vermont is not alone here We look at the numbers across new england and you can see that hospitalizations are up They're up about 15 percent over the last week and up about 38 percent over the last two weeks So numbers are trending up across the board here in the region And just like vermont the case numbers were interrupted for new england Those are not particularly reliable for this week But the hospitalization numbers were reported through the holiday and through the weekend And gives us a little bit of a better snapshot of where we stand at the moment So looking at booster shots, we see that vermont continues to have strong uptake of the booster We are number one when it comes to the full population across the board The 18 and over population the 50 and older and most importantly at this point the 65 and older population Just under 64 of those who are 65 and older who are fully vaccinated have also gotten their booster On the next slide, you'll see that the rate of that uptake has remained relatively steady and continues to do so Even before the Thanksgiving holiday and afterward And what does that what does that mean and what does it continue to mean for vermonters here? Just look at the next slide You'll see the dramatic difference between those who are not fully vaccinated Those who are fully vaccinated but don't have a booster and those who are fully vaccinated with a booster And looking at the rates in which those populations are going to the hospital for the month of november You can see that those who are fully vaccinated But not boosted they have quite a bit of protection relative to those who are not Vaccinated at all, but when you look at those who are fully vaccinated with a booster They are much less likely to end up in the hospital compared to that not fully vaccinated population That not fully vaccinated population is 13.5 times more likely for the month of november to require hospital care Compared to those who are fully vaccinated and have a booster shot And we're seeing the impact on this in terms of fatalities as well So we're doing a good job in vermont of protecting our most vulnerable and our most vulnerable are doing a good job Of protecting themselves by getting boosted and you can see just looking at the last three months that our cases have continued to go up November in particular just about 10,000 cases for this month But you can see at the same time that the fatality numbers here in vermont have been trending down With the 34 deaths so far in the month of november Possible that there'll be additional deaths recorded in the month of november But it's clear that the fatalities are staying steady even going down While cases continue to go up and pretty significantly up in the month of november So this turns to our forecast where again, we do not anticipate cases to go down over the next four weeks We do anticipate that they will get back to where they were prior to Thanksgiving And then the question of course is what is the impact of Thanksgiving on the cases and then of course on hospitalizations And so on so we'll keep a close eye on that We noticed that with halloween that impact was felt more quickly than it was last year So we'll keep a close eye on the case numbers for the end of this week And into the weekend and early next week Just really quickly looking at campuses, you know testing was down There was a half a week last week for most college campuses just a very few number of tests Reported positive with 17 cases across campus Looking at the long-term care facilities. You can see that the number of outbreaks stands at 17 with 219 cases associated with an outbreak. This is up from last week But like we said last week appears to be Primarily in the staff rather than the residents the resident numbers have stayed pretty steady in terms of Their case growth, which is certainly a good sign And then closing out looking at the vaccine numbers So vaccination we continue to do quite well Near the top or at the top with all of these Important metrics that we've been following and then the most recent metric the five to 11 year old population based on CDC data You can see vermont is the national leader really head and shoulders above any other state at this point So really want to thank parents and caregivers for Going out and getting their five to 11 year olds vaccinated and protected We want to obviously improve on that but really really a good start and really critical Because that age group continues to have about double the case rate of all the other age groups when you look at The most recent data so really critical to get that age group vaccinated in particular And with that i'll now turn it over to a secretary french Thank you. Commissioner peachek. Good. Good afternoon Our school's in back in session this week after a well-deserved Thanksgiving break It's also nice to see the first snow of the year. It makes recess a lot of fun Secretary smith will provide an update on the vaccination efforts including a five through 11 vaccination But I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that's involved in that effort Prior to Thanksgiving, I visited a five through one five through 11 vaccination clinic at the champlain elementary school in the burlington school district With the u.s secretary of education miguel cardona Um The work of the health department staff the health district employees Ems staff school employees and the many volunteers that were involved made a real strong impression on both of us Secretary cardona remarked and walked away with a real vivid understanding of what makes vermont schools in our community so special I particularly want to thank the parents and the students who accepted our presence and the presence of our media And our staff that toured the clinics with us We certainly appreciated the patience and the gracious way the families allowed us to participate in that important moment Coming back from Thanksgiving our schools continue to expand their response testing including test to stay I wanted to provide some updated numbers on test to stay Currently we have 43 school districts or over 70 percent of our school districts Enrolled in test to stay and that number has been increasing steadily each week Um when I say enrolled these districts are either implementing test to stay or awaiting the arrival of their test kiss Which I've been ordered and should be delivered this week We also have 24 independent schools enrolled in test to stay As of the 23rd last week, uh, we had 112 schools conducting antigen tests under test to stay That was approximately 9 000 tests, uh, which equates to saving over 9 000 in-person instructional days Parental consents required to participate in any of our response testing programs including test to stay As of yesterday, we had 17 000 parental consent forms submitted in the system I am consistently hearing that test to stay is going very well and districts are pleased with the amount of instruction that they're saving For example, yesterday, I heard from the Caldonia central supervisory in the Danville area They had some cases in their schools coming off the Thanksgiving break They worked hard over the weekend to implement test to stay Monday the first day back from the vacation Among Cabot Danville and Waterford schools. They had 46 students participate in test to stay yesterday Waterford had 29 of the 46 students and they were able to test all of them With the antigen tests in 50 50 minutes All the students tested negative, uh, which meant they were able to be in school yesterday as opposed to being quarantine Um, I understand these students also tested negative again this morning We'll continue to work with districts to expand test to stay One of the supports we put together at the state level is access to a temporary staffing contract We're using federal funds to leverage a state contract with a company called ata services Which handles temp, uh, contracts, uh, to hire Part-time on-site staff to help districts with implementing tests to stay and other aspects of the testing and vaccination program We developed a job description for the temp positions in cooperation with the state school nurses association These temp staff will be available to assist with a variety of activities related to COVID-19 testing including our vaccination program as well Ata partnered with us to identify how many initial hires each district would need Based on a variety of factors including total enrollment geography A number of schools and regional positivity rates Ata spent the week of the 22nd recruiting for these positions and they report they have 60 candidates available They pre-screen resumes and then send the qualified candidates to the districts for interviewing As of yesterday 21 staff have been sent to 16 separate districts for that interview process We're also working on plans to expand test to stay to pre-k programs Uh, this work includes securing additional testing supplies as well as working through the logistical considerations that are unique to this younger student population We'll have more news on that soon We are encouraging school districts to conduct more testing after the Thanksgiving holiday We sent out over 2,500 pcr take-home test kits and more on the way this week to support the additional needs for testing Lastly, I wanted to provide an update on our student vaccination incentive program. We talked about earlier this fall We do expect to launch this program later this week Under this program schools can qualify for a grant award when they achieve a high vaccination rate among their student body We designed this program which is funded through federal COVID dollars To not only encourage student vaccination, but also to involve students more directly in the use of these grant funds at the school level We wanted to wait to launch this program until 5 through 11 vaccination was fully up and running so the elementary schools could participate as well Again, we'll have more information on this program later in the week That concludes my update. I'll now turn it over to secretary smith Thank you, secretary french. Good afternoon everyone. I'll start with an update on vaccines for children age 5 to 11 And booster shots and then I'll provide an update on hospital capacity and COVID testing over the Thanksgiving holiday As of today 19,358 children ages 5 to 11 have received their first dose of COVID vaccine Or they have made an appointment to get their shot That's just over 44 percent of all vermont children ages 5 to 11 years old As we prepare for the winter holiday season You still have time to get your child vaccinated before you gather with family and friends to celebrate You can make an appointment for your child at healthvermont.gov Slash kids vaccine. That's healthvermont.gov slash kids vaccine or by contacting your local pharmacy Or doctor's office. You can also call 855-722-7878 That's the call center for making an appointment for a vaccine If you are a parent or guardian guardian and you have questions about vaccines The vermont chapter of the american academy of pediatrics are hosting Several online forums through december 20th. It's a great time to have a doctor Answer your questions. All events are held from 7 to 8 p.m. Via zoom And there is one scheduled for this evening. Please visit the website at AAPVT.org for the complete schedule In terms of booster doses approximately 158,000 people have received a booster dose and we continue as Commissioner peachek had mentioned to lead the nation in this category We are already seeing the impact of lower case counts among those 65 and older as boosters increase in that age group Now everyone 18 and older is eligible Again, if you have time to protect yourself Make the time to protect yourself family and friends by getting a booster before the holidays Please get your booster Moving on to hospital capacity. The teams are working to bring additional Sub-acute and icu beds online so far as I mentioned last week an additional 47 sub-acute beds have been identified And 13 of those beds Are expected to be available this week. We do have vacancies in beds that we've already put online We have 26 beds that are available As of this morning That's out of the 80 beds that we helped bring online recently In terms of icu beds one additional bed is available at southwestern vermont medical center the university of vermont Medical center will also add five additional icu beds And we will continue to work with central vermont medical center and northwestern medical center to bring additional beds online We will continue to evaluate the need and the ability to bring more beds online as needed Now I want to let you know how things went With the two new testing technologies that I miss I mentioned last week the self-administered PCR test and the lamp rapid results test The self-administered test went smoothly and you can expect to see more appointments For that type of test to become available over the next few weeks Offering the self-administered test allows us to scale up quickly Adding more appointments and taking walk-ins in critical areas around the state Now for the lamp test As you know, we deployed this technology on wednesday for two reasons The national labs were shut down for a few days over the holidays And labs weren't available and number two as part of our future strategy on testing and contact tracing We expect to be transitioning to a more rapid testing and self-administered or take home option for tests Overall things went well And we were able to offer testing appointments throughout the state a total of 1130 tests were processed On wednesday we heard from many vermoners that were very pleased to have the results in time for their holiday travel plans We have spoken with the majority of people that were tested on wednesday And we have learned a lot from the collective experiences and that's what we were trying to do With this rollout to see what people thought of Of the technology And like I said overall people thought it went very well, but there were a few challenges Nearly a hundred people waited until friday to get their results Software issues caused complications with trying to register Miners Although eventually that was a there was a workaround to fix that issue In addition at two locations a few people were told that they needed a cell phone to use the new testing tools This was inaccurate. We are working to have vendor the vendor provide better training on the new site technology To those working At these sites in at least three sites Learning the new technology caused wait times up to an hour for a brief period of time During the day all in all like I said It was a success and as soon as the supply Chains improves for rapid tests vermoners can expect us to more fully develop And deploy this technology in the meantime vermon still leads the nation In the availability in testing per capita I also want to mention that there was an issue with some Test results processed at uvm medical center last wednesday due to a lab error A total of 25 tests were affected 16 negative results should have been positive Eight positive results should have been negative negative and one positive result should have been inconclusive All individuals have been contacted and uvm mc is putting processes in place To prevent the error from ever happening in the future Lastly, I want to repeat some points I made about contact tracing and testing a couple of weeks ago Because we are in a transition on how we're going to do both I have already mentioned the transition to a more rapid testing platform So let me concentrate on contact tracing During the pandemic we have learned a lot and we constantly are adopting our approaches As we encounter different circumstances This evolution includes educating the public on how to respond to a positive test We began doing this on the health department's website several months ago And now we're asking people to reach out immediately to their contacts Following a positive test result instead of waiting for the department of health to contact them This will significantly speed up the notification of contacts If vermonters need guidance the department of health website provides detailed instructions to learn more go to healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19 positive for more information about what to do If you test positive for COVID-19 I want to I want to emphasize this contact tracing will continue According to the cdc only a few states engage in contact tracing to the same extent as vermont And vermont is considered a leader in this effort We still have the equivalent of 156 full-time people who are dedicated to contact tracing But their efforts will Their efforts will be prioritized With outbreaks and vulnerable populations Please remember if you have a positive test result contact your health care provider to get advice on how to care for yourself And to see if monoclonal antibodies are a treatment option for you Isolate immediately and then reach out to your close contacts if you have any questions We are just we're always just a phone call away at 855 722 787 a As always, thank you for doing your part now. I'll turn it over to dr. Levine for a health update Thank you. I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving and kept your gatherings safe As you know COVID transmission is still high right now, which means you could have the virus and not know it So please remember you can still lower the risk of any potential spread of COVID-19 By getting tested five to seven days after your gathering Which means anytime in the next several days Testing is the only way to know if you have the virus and is key to protecting one another Especially those who are at higher risk of serious illness We've been talking more about the use of at-home tests, which are typically rapid antigen tests I want to remind you that if you use this and do test positive You should treat it as any other positive test That means and this is on cue from secretary Smith's comments a moment ago Isolate yourself at home and away from others And reach out to your close contacts How do you know who's a close contact? It's pretty easy First you determine your infectious period This will be 48 hours before your symptoms began Or if you don't have any symptoms 48 hours before the day you got tested Then Recall where you were Who you were with during that time period If any of those people Were within six feet of you for a total of 15 minutes or more Over a 24-hour period They are your close contacts Then reach out to let them know you've tested positive for COVID We also asked that you report your result to the health department at healthvermont.gov slash COVID-19 positive Where you will find a link to the Vermont COVID-19 self-test result reporting form This helps us understand how many Vermonters are being tested and how the virus is spreading in our communities And don't forget If you are at higher risk Please talk to your health care provider about monoclonal antibody treatment as soon as you test positive Higher risk means 65 or older or certain medical conditions Remember The treatment works best in the first five days When you're most likely to have mild to moderate symptoms And at that time can reduce your chance of being hospitalized by 70 This is especially important now with our case levels remaining where they are and our hospitalization Numbers remaining where they are I also want to specifically refer to some of commissioner p-checks data regarding the hospitals Because slightly less than half of the hospital stays right now in vermont are in southwestern vermont And ruttland and bennington areas So anyone testing positive in those areas With mild or moderate symptoms Should question With their health care provider if they are eligible for monoclonal antibodies and potentially avoid a hospitalization And i'm really happy to report that we're seeing all of our hospitals Ordering more doses of monoclonal antibodies And Deploying more of those doses as well We've doubled the number of doses ordered in the last several weeks And in terms of doses used If you go back to the beginning of september we use the total of 17 doses across the state In the last week, this has increased to almost 225 doses We're actively working Through the health care system Through fema And our ems partners to supplement hospital capacity To continue administering doses at long-term care facilities And Hopefully in the very near future organizing mobile units as well These are all essential components of our strategy because even as we learn more about the oral medications in the pipeline The monoclonal antibodies remain our most effective treatment currently for covet 19 For people at higher risk Now obviously the biggest news of the past week has been the identification of the new variant named omicron We've already seen several mutations and variants of the virus that causes covet 19 This is expected of viruses as we've said in the past It's why we have new flu vaccines each year to deal with the predominant strains Many variants emerge many variants disappear Some can persist and some can become the most common variant like delta has done Now omicron does have some features that are concerning Namely that it appears to be more infectious though. That's still being determined And it's already shown up as we all know in several countries around the world Including on our continent canada However, there's still plenty that is unknown Including whether omicron will affect the severity of illness And how effective the current vaccines are against it There have been no identified cases associated with the omicron variant in vermont to date We continue to obtain genomic sequencing information on SARS-CoV-2 specimens And obviously will report any detection of this variant in vermont Now while scientists are learning more about this new variant and this will take several weeks We can ramp up our own defenses against the virus that is already spreading at high levels and we can do it right now This means of course getting vaccinated including younger kids age five and older I'm really heartened by the data that says we're leading the nation In that age group and we are getting more and more effective Uh at getting first doses into all of those children at any site that they so choose Whether it's at a school-based clinic a community clinic pharmacy pediatrician office, what have you I asked those parents who may still be waiting or sitting on the fence and not ready to plunge ahead with the vaccine To go to one of those forums that you heard discussed They're on the aap vermont website Have your concerns and questions answered And try to more rapidly make that decision Because still on a day to day basis, we're seeing 20 percent of all of the cases of covid in vermont occurring in this age group It also means get your booster shot for those In the age 18 and older category To get your booster. You only have to be 18 or older And two months since your j and j or six months since your messenger RNA vaccine physo-romodernum And you can get any type of vaccine for your booster As you've seen we're doing incredibly well with boosters, but we must do better With delta still active and with the threat of a potential new variant getting a booster should be front of mind right now Being fully vaccinated and having your booster Should in fact be your primary strategy for avoiding a serious outcome This is important for anyone of any age Especially if you're over 65 And you may have noticed yesterday the cdc has begun to change its messaging Not to confuse the population further with Are you in the should group or the may group for getting a booster? Everyone should get a booster who qualifies by their age and the number of months since their last vaccine If you need more reasons to get a booster It's free. It's easy It boosts your own antibody levels to give you more protection, especially against severe illness and hospitalization Even if you should become infected having had a booster will probably limit the severity of your symptoms And by protecting yourself You protect those around you including family community and those who are more vulnerable And the more vermoners that are protected the less burden on our health care system Which means people who need hospital care for whatever reason can get it Timing is everything and it being fresh in your mind is everything if you get that booster today It will be fully effective in two weeks more than enough time in front of the holidays Visit health vermont.gov slash my vaccine to find a location near you Finally an FDA advisory committee is meeting today as we speak to discuss recommendations Regarding a pill to treat covid called malnew pure of ear Merck is the company that makes the drug It has said that its data showed the pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death Among high-risk covid patients by 30 percent Now I realize this is less than the original estimate of 50 percent But it is still much greater than having no effect This treatment still has great potential to make treatment easier and reduce the burden on our health care system And we'll await the FDA review of all of the data And see what we can say at the next press conference regarding that Governor Thank you. Dr. Levine. We'll now open it up to questions A few weeks ago you had mentioned that Once we hit 80 cases for 80 hospitalizations That would put a um a significant strength on our hospital capacity Uh at at the time today as you've seen we're at 84 hospitalized at 22 in the icu As has that changed your your thinking at all about whether we should be taking further steps In in addition to vaccines well again, we are taking a lot of steps. Um when you look at the number Of uh testing programs we have available today that we you know have increased Since then The number of beds available have increased as well Secretary Smith and his team have been working to provide More capacity so that's helped the mental health Patients that we can ascend to the VA clinic has helped everything that we've been doing has helped in that regard We're still focused on the hospitalizations That still is a key For us a metric for us to keep watching But we have built out capacity when you look at the entire capacity of the health care system We have about a thousand hospital beds available um, so out of that You know on a typical we have maybe Six percent today, maybe eight percent of those are covid beds. Um, we still have to watch The other what's driving the other cases as well some have Have speculated that because of all the conditions we placed on people over the last year and a half We prevented a lot of care from happening And this pent up demand is what's driving that That 90 percent of capacity in the health care system. So we still have to pay attention to that But again, here's the measures we're trying. I mean, I we need to continue to push boosters They seem to be the most effective of everything if you've been vaccinated get your booster If you haven't been vaccinated get vaccinated if you have been somewhere when you Have been around others or feel Ill in any way Get tested It's free. It's easy. We do a lot of it and that will help prevent the spread again, uh, as instead of uh, Many have focused on whether it's a mask mandate or wearing masks I'm asking people to wear your mask when indoors That's especially when you're in public spaces Having the continued Um debate about whether it should be mandated or whether it should be utilized is just Making the problem worse from my standpoint. It's dividing people even further. It's hardening people further From my standpoint, we know masks can be effective if you're wearing them And forcing people to wear them has not proven to be Effective in in many places across the the country. So again, it's not as though we're not doing anything We're doing a lot and and I think that Opening up the hospital capacity Is something that there's been beneficial and we'll continue to do that. We'll continue to watch these numbers We believe as well. Again, this is speculation on our part Everything you're seeing today Is really two hospitals and it's bennington county and brotland county. That's where we're seeing Uh, the the most increase the rest of the hospitals are actually doing pretty well and the numbers are very low We don't know how many of the cases at this point because of reporting reporting data How many of those cases are out of state? Um from new york in particular But we're trying to get that data Right now and and that makes a difference as well so again, I just want to Make sure that we report on the right things the things that we can do to protect ourselves Get get vaccinated first and foremost get vaccinated And if you're vaccinated get your booster And test continue to test stay home when you're sick And where you mask when you're indoors in public spaces Anything you want to add Going off of that we are hearing from Some folks at uvm med that they are preparing for a surge capacity with this new variant Canceling some procedures, you know, like you said the icubank capacity Can remont handle another surge in cases even before this opacron variant spreads is that something that the system is even prepared to handle depending upon how transmissible again, we believe so We we appreciate the uvm medical center taking this approach. We're trying to build out capacity as well and Just pay attention to the numbers once again. We have about a hundred I think about a hundred hundred and five icubeds so At this point in time today about 20 of those are covet related the rest they're Other illnesses and and accidents and so forth and disease And the the number of beds we have available Is about a thousand so out of that You know about eight eight percent or less are covet related So again preying up the capacity there doing all we can individually will be helpful Secretary Smith You know, I think the governor really laid it out nicely in that we are seeing We are seeing issues with with hospitalizations that are coming from Non-covid although there are as the governor said a small percentage of covet cases that are driving this the hospitals have been Very good at working with us to increase capacity. For example, we have We have as I mentioned, we have opened up 80 subacute beds With the help of the state working with long-term care facilities and rehabilitation facilities Those are people that are in the hospital Need care but not hospital care So um 80 patients have been moved out of there We plan to move another chunk of patients out of there as well this morning the hospitals are reporting 91 of those hot those type of patients that are in those hospitals the bulk of them are at uvm Some of them can't be moved because there's other treatment issues that have to be in in In play here, but a lot of them can be and that's what we're doing So one we're The strategy is to de-camp as many people out of the hospital as possible to make room for you know any other Incidents that that we have number two is to make sure people don't go into the hospital. That's why we've been pushing vaccines That's why we've been pushing boosters. That's why we've been pushing monoclonal antibodies as a treatment So that's the second part of the strategy make sure that people don't go into the hospitals And thirdly is to expand capacity particularly icu capacity and we've been talking about this for about a month now But but expanding icu capacity out there uvm is moving in that direction Um, we're you know each individual hospitals is going to have to sort of make the decision At this point what what procedures they can They can perform in what procedures they can't perform as the hospital senses Moves up and down depending on what is happening But I I can't say enough about how the hospitals have been really good partners with the state in making sure that we Meet those three objectives make sure you don't go into the hospital with monoclonal antibodies and vaccines Two is decamp as many people out of the hospital that don't need to be there Or can find care in other locations and number and number three is building capacity and that's what we're doing right now Can I just I just want to add one one more thing again the monoclonal treatment, which I didn't mention before And dr. Levine mentioned this as well So if you have underlying conditions, you know who you are if you have underlying conditions And you don't feel well get tested and if you test positive Immediately immediately get a hold of your provider to see if the monoclonal treatment is suitable for you Because that will keep you out of the hospital Um, there were a high percentage who will keep you out of the hospital So, uh, we want to continue to push that sorry That's part of what I was going to ask about dr. Levine I said multiple times that residents should reach out to their doctors for monoclonal antibodies to see if it's right Is this something that doctors aren't prescribing? Are they hesitant to do it? We've heard from readers who aren't comfortable bringing a treatment to their doctor They think that their doctor is someone they trust shouldn't the doctor already be aware of this kind of treatment Why would they need to bring it to the doctor? I will I will admit Very early in the pandemic There was a lot of unfamiliarity with the treatment And not all doctors were on board but frankly Early in the pandemic, I wasn't on board either because when you looked at the NIH decisions and other infectious disease guideline setting Bodies the data wasn't there Well, the data is more than there now So it's very robust data And it it's evidence-based it works So I think doctors are more familiar with that now because of that The problem if I could put that in quotes is that We have a free state-run testing system If you go get a test and I'm your doctor I may not know your result when you know your result And I may not even know that you've gone to get a test And I don't even know if you got a test because you were sick or Because you've been into somebody who was sick and just wanted to have some peace of mind or what So we want that connection to be made early and quick And the best way for that to happen Because the doctor generally didn't order your test. You ordered your test Is to make sure that you get a result and you immediately have a connection Because if you know that you're in that group where your symptoms are mild It's in the first couple of days of illness And you may be at risk of serious illness based on your age or your other medical conditions We just want you to connect so quickly That seamlessly Your doctor can then order the treatment. It is a treatment. So Unlike the vaccines that we're doing all around the state It's a treatment. So that means somebody who has a degree has to order it And we just want you to be connected quickly We were told to act as if it's already here. Is that the same case with omicron? Should we just act as if it's already here? Well, you know the reality is it's in canada. It's in many countries in europe So it'd be hard for me to imagine. They're not being somebody in the united states Who doesn't have it. I won't save her bond But somebody in the united states I think that reality is what's part of a pandemic But again, we're not here to create fear and panic. We're just here to be reality based and say It's showing up in many many places in the world. So inevitably it may show up here And hopefully if it is it'll be diagnosed quickly contained and that will take care of things But we should just understand that Even if it is here, we don't know enough about Impacts of it to be, you know intimidated and panicked about that We just have to be realistic and say it's here. We're going to learn more about it and do the right things Right now today those right things are get your booster and get vaccinated This variant makes you in comparison to previous strains Well, you know some early data from South Africa where Physicians themselves who were treating the patients commented that there was more mild to moderate illness And that some people had a presentation with just very significant fatigue Nobody was presenting with loss of taste or smell This is very early though, and I would be very cautious about that information But that's what they were saying It would be wonderful if that prophecy You know fulfills itself and Anybody who got this variant would have a mild case and that would be the end of it But we'll have to wait and see I'm going to be very balanced in what I have to say we need to wait and see You know the reality is There are several types of immunity And we don't know the impact of these mutations on all of the types of immunity that we have That the vaccines actually provide us with by the way So I think it'd be premature to say anything more But you know lots of countries around the world don't even have access to their first shot So I'm wondering what what role should the Merck Hill Receive approval or whatever Hill what role will technologies like that and also like rapid testing and like lamp testing What will that play on the global global scale? Yeah, well everything you raise is important. I've been standing here For a long time Saying the thing I fear the most about the pandemic Is the fact that we have a country nevermind the world. We have a country with very Different vaccination rates depending on the region of the country you're in And most of them other than the northeast aren't achieving the highest vaccination rates to really help us with this pandemic Now we go to the rest of the world and we clearly have countries who have had Two three percent of their population vaccinated Particularly in Africa and even countries that are doing well in Africa like South Africa It's less than 40 percent. So there's clearly an equity issue in Getting the vaccine in a timely way And having it go worldwide if you want to end a pandemic you can't have a significant part of the population Not having had any chance to get immunized against something that we know we can immunize you against When it comes to the rapid testing, I think that's a little less of an issue in terms of equity I don't have good data on that. So I'm I'm going to be a little cautious there As you'll see in this country, we're just getting now to the point where we're talking about More widespread use of rapid tests that you could have at home and do it yourself Europe has been there for quite some time and we're just not there yet So I would suspect other continents are less there as well When it comes to the new pill That's that's a whole different issue. It's a treatment So you would think it could be equitably provided around the world I've already heard that Some of the companies that are making some of the pills that are going to be reviewed down the line Actually have considered that and are putting into play plans that would involve different costs and distribution systems, etc So I you know equity is a delicate topic It's it's never going to be a problem We can solve in one fell swoop with one intervention during a pandemic But to see progress being made, I think we need to give credit where credit's due So when that starts to happen, we should certainly credit people with doing the right things But it's really it's a it's a real challenge to say the least Thanks, Rebecca I'm wondering if Dr. Levine could tell us anything more about the outbreak at the crescent manner nursing home and rehab in Bennington Looks like there's 71 cases there Yes, let me begin by saying not to reduce the Importance of it, but it really does appear this outbreak is the exception not the rule When you looked at the commissioner p check slide earlier, you saw a number of long-term care facilities None of them had a number 70 associated with them. So this is A little bit different than what we've been seeing. This is a little bit more similar to Way early in the pandemic when we did have much larger outbreaks at facilities We are seeing most of the facilities being Very protected by the vaccines and boosters that have been provided to date And as commissioner p check has alluded to some of them are actually having more staff Positive cases than resident positive cases nonetheless This one is a particularly Significant one and I don't want to reduce the importance of it by any means It's really our highest current case count for an outbreak with I believe it's up to 73 cases now in two deaths I mentioned monoclonal antibodies earlier on And monoclonal antibodies actually have been deployed at that facility For both treatment and for what we call post exposure prophylaxis meaning Trying to prevent a case occurring in somebody who may have been identified as a contact But isn't a positive case There's been a lot of staffing support provided to the facility When they needed it most earlier on in the pandemic because you can imagine when staff become ill That has a tremendous impact on their ability to deliver the care that they do We continue to meet with our outbreak response team Regularly with the facility Just to make sure that the testing schedule that's appropriate is in place and everyone Gets appropriately tended to if you will Whether it's getting the test at the right time having the staff that are needed to care for the patients Or following of infection control and prevention kind of guidelines Unfortunately You mentioned a facility that is in a part of the state that I talked about earlier That has had an increase in cases. So we're seeing the facility reflect the community if you will Which is so true so often in this out in this Delta part of the outbreak but also throughout the pandemic Where the community transmission is higher it shows up in places that We don't want it to but inevitably it can find its way in Were there any other specific things you wanted to hear about? No, thank you. That's that should do it. I also have a question for the governor I'm wondering governor. Do you think your message about Asking people to wear masks indoors is getting out there It appears in some places that mask wearing has gone gone down Actually, I see more people wearing masks Than I have been quite some time. So I think the message is getting out, but it's not getting out enough So that's why I'm asking Everyone I'm asking the media to try and encourage the use of masks and not focus on the The division between making it mandated and and not It really should be an issue of This would help this would help in a lot of situations So if you could if you could report on the beneficial use of of masks while indoors In public places that would be helpful Thank you. Good afternoon governor Several times in the past year. I've brought up concerns of a lack of Resources and manpower with the Vermont state police in north northwestern Vermont As you probably know on sunday evening State police were called to a double homicide just off route two in alberg just A few hundred feet from a major state highway It took vsp almost a half an hour to get there and that was just the first trooper Border patrol got there first, but that took more than 20 minutes I'm wondering are you still do you still stand by your previous statements that The st. Albans barracks has enough troopers You can never have enough troopers as you know as we've been reporting We have workforce shortages throughout Vermont throughout the country and We are you know feeling the pressures within the vsp as well But I would say Uh, I think it was it was at 10 o'clock p.m That this occurred was that on a sunday? Was that a sunday night or saturday night? And I believe it was right in the middle of a eight-hour shift Six to two yeah right around there again 10 p.m. On a sunday night In a very broad area I think is challenging. There's no doubt about it, but I might ask Commissioner shirling to comment if he's on the line I am governor and it was it was a saturday night Call 10 p.m saturday The it's greg you you've identified a challenge that we've got statewide whether you're in a municipality or For the 200 plus towns that get covered from the state police As the governor has indicated we've got staffing in in every sector staffing challenges in every sector and law enforcement Certainly is not immune from that. I would submit. It's probably worse In public safety generally and in law enforcement in particular than many sectors are facing right now. So Uh staffing is a challenge, but that said I I don't know that we can put that time frame issue on staffing exclusively it really is more about the the sheer surface area that the state police cover day to day and 30 minutes is not ideal, but is not unheard of even in the case of a major event It sometimes takes that long Just based on even if we were fully staffed It's just a it's just a resource issue. There there are times when you may wait more than an hour Typically not with a major crime, but You know vermontra's unfortunately have to wait a while for law enforcement in many areas of the state Yeah, but not often, you know a few hundred feet from a major state highway Uh, well, I have to do some analysis to to sort of give you that more granular view, but You know, it's uh, this is a challenge. Um, and it's not one It is it is exacerbated significantly by The uh, the staffing challenges that we face But it is a challenge that has been in play for the 30 years that I've been watching public safety in vermont And I would follow up with that staffing challenge. Sorry governor I was just going to say, um, it's not as though All of the troopers are sitting in the barracks either waiting for a call to come in they're out patrolling out in the highways out in let's say richford or enosburg And that is quite a distance from swanton or alberg, so You know, it depends on their positioning correct, uh, this may be for the uh, uh Public safety commissioner, um Do you know how many people how many troopers were taken off the roadways? Uh that day or that evening? To provide security for the world cup Uh, world cup event would not be related or any special event. I should say more broadly Wouldn't be related to general road coverage. That would be something that uh is an extra duty job. So it's hired Uh Off-duty folks are hired. Um, and I don't know what that compliment Would be I can find out But it's unrelated to general staff and Okay, but if you can't fill all the shifts as it is um, it might be an added burden to to ask people to cover an event and uh over time at their own barracks Well, uh over time for coverage would take priority over special details. So those would be things that would be covered first But I can have I'm sure there's more granularity than I can provide In terms of that answer. So if you'd like more, I can have someone from the sb command staff reach out Sure, appreciate that. Uh governor one last question here and this comes from our uh media partners at northwest public access They want to know about the possibility of relaxing open meeting laws As it was done in the in the grand swing of the pandemic Many boards, you know a year ago were allowed to to meet with no public access Just digital access Now boards are required to have A public area for people to meet Uh, even if even if the entirety of a board is going to meet digitally um I guess they're asking This is creating a logistical problem for many boards and Is there anything at your level that that you can do to relax some of those rules still have public meetings still have You know a record of what's going on but relax some of those regulations until the more recent COVID numbers subside without a Without a state of emergency. I'm not sure that we could do anything about that As the executive branch at this point But the legislature is coming back into session soon I'd be happy to discuss this with the secretary of state as well And uh and then work together to try and find a solution that will work for all vermont All right, we're gonna need to move to the next Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you governor Good afternoon We're hearing a lot of concerns from people in our community who cannot leave their jobs to get a pcr test or lamp test Or even a take-home pcr test. They're wondering how they can get tested If they or their kids become symptomatic or receive notice that they've been exposed um And they're also wondering if there are a way to access rapid at-home tests if they can afford to buy them Or order them online Is there a plan I think I asked this last week and was told about the lamp test But is there a plan to provide? Rapid at-home antigen tests to people through community outlets We are working on an initiative that has been reported in new hampshire That caught our attention. So we reached out to new hampshire to see what they did to provide these The vast number of tests available through amazon So we're we're exploring that there are Some some obstacles in the way, but but that's where we're heading and hopefully We'll have some news on that in the days ahead because we know as Dr. Levine has said all of us have said this is the way of the future We need to have tests available at home antigen tests or rapid tests are our Instrumental in determining whether you're positive or not and preventing spread. So again secretary smith Thank you lisa for the question. We've been working with the white house to talk about bringing in additional Rapid tests antigen tests in particular with the white house the governor is also just mentioned We're also talking with a model that new hampshire is doing with NIH and amazon and looking at bringing in Rapid tests the supply chain has been the issue As we as we have been looking out there But the white house has been working with us to try to find out how to Bring in the appropriate number of test kits Antigen test kits into here. I mean we we've asked for 250 250,000 to help with both long-term care with school testing And with general public testing, but that would only last us You know a matter of a month. Maybe We need we need a really good Supply chain in order to keep that keep that going and what's encouraging is what the governor had mentioned And also the white house has been very encouraging in trying to help us out find those antigen tests So I know I said stay tuned last week We're still working as quickly as we can on getting these antigen tests into vermont And speaking of PCR testing I know that there's some people in businesses in our community that are working with your office in the vermont agency of health About creating PCR and I believe lamp testing opportunities for people in the mad river valley And I'm wondering if you have an update on those efforts as well as a potential timeline Your way ahead of me on that one. Um, I I know that I had asked if we could look into Providing additional testing in the mad river valley. I didn't realize they were that far ahead so thank you very much for Telling me that they they have started the initiation I had said last week after Thanksgiving We would start looking at that and I'm glad to hear from you that we have started To look at that and well the the conversations have started to interrupt the conversations have started and there are local EMS who are willing to Administer the same type of a program that was held here last weekend where testing was available Saturdays and Sundays throughout from december until may And there's efforts available. Go ahead. Yeah. No, we're we're definitely looking at that and as you can surmise where I was pretty interested in in doing that when you asked the question Thank you for that and I Will keep pestering you about the um distribution of rapid at-home antigen tests for those who can't afford to buy them If you can find 250,000 tests on a bi-weekly basis, I would Just tell me where to go and I'll I'll hunt them down I will do that. Where's New Hampshire getting theirs? Or amazon getting theirs and NIH in some regards and that was what the governor is saying Trying to part and do the same sort of partnership there Great. Thank you for your time I don't want to give you the impression that amazon is the provider. It is through different manufacturers and they're the shipper So they would distribute the test. I think that's what they're doing in New Hampshire But we're trying to run down all those details and see if it would be Useful for us to get in the same program Great. Thank you. I appreciate that information Okay, um today the former health commissioner for vermont dr. Harry chen came out with a Commentary saying that vermont needs a mass mandate Does it concern you that you're out of step with a kind of former state leader? I have a lot of respect for Dr. Chen And did a lot of good work in vermont and served in the house when I was in the senate but Again from my standpoint having a mass mandate doesn't make it so it doesn't make People wear a mass the people who want to wear mass are wearing them now Providing a more controversy with a mass mandate hardens both sides I'm asking people to wear mass when indoors in public spaces It is effective when you're wearing them But I'm making forcing people with a mass mandate Doesn't necessarily make it so there's no magic wand To provide for that you can you can look at other states To see what they're doing or not doing and it's proving That we're beyond this that it's not effective to have a mandate They just can't get people force people to wear them that are unwilling So we just have a difference of opinion on that what we do share In a common goal. I think dr. Chen would probably agree Is that we want people to wear mass when they're indoors. So let's focus on the area where we agree And not keep focusing on the controversial mass mandate You could be very Erin you could be very helpful in this regard Dr. Levine I mean, I've I've put Your recommendation put an indoor mask on in pretty much every press conference story. I've written But sorry, I was just wondering if dr. Levine had any thoughts about the fact that he's now kind of in conflict with this predecessor Oh god god forbid we're in conflict No way Number one. I do believe in mass number two I do believe the literature and mass mandates which predates delta showed that mass mandates were effective However, I also understand and I've talked to current health commissioners in all of the states that have Had a mask mandate during delta Which is less than two hands. It's a half a dozen plus the district of columbia And their first comment is it's very different now compliance is very challenging And they've been not only compliance issues, but I won't use the word violence But certainly a lot of dissension where people are in people's faces about the masks because they're mandated So it's a real challenging time. I think delta is a different virus in a sense. It's very transmissible I'm not so sure if we could do an assessment of mass mandates in the delta era It would show all the same data that was predating the delta era and clearly The main factor is the population is in a different place So we're trying to have the population Work with us on doing the right thing, which is to wear a mask indoors But at the same time the population Not just vermonts, but elsewhere as well As trying to move on from the pandemic in many ways and regard something like masks as a reminder of a Era that they thought they had left and could move on from so I think the way we do it is really the thing that's being questioned Not the fact that we all believe people should be wearing masks And I would just want to add one thing because I do think most vermonters and even most people in general Under estimate when the mask is most effective And yes, we do want you to wear it in public places We do believe that when you walk into the supermarket, it's a good thing to wear it But I would submit if you did a risk assessment You would find that if you had four families over to your house That was a much more dangerous environment for you to be in Than a casual person walking through the supermarket checking out in less than five minutes and leaving the store So I would like people to think about Where they may not be wearing masks right now, but where the Exposure risk might actually be higher than they might have anticipated Even with people they trust and are good friends with and all of that Because it's a time of high virus community transmission So I would just want people to think even more expansively about where they should wear the mask In a voluntary way, but in a way that is working for them in their lives And that they're evaluating their risk and understanding that this is a time to put a mask on Okay, that's all Thank you Just to take a breath from covid for a moment governor It's been discussed in your conferences before With everyone in the in vermont worried about public safety and with the lack of Enough troopers because we don't have enough employees for them Have how do you've done or are you able to access any research that would show the opportunity to make a larger force by Removing the tax on Military who have retired on their retirement benefits So maybe more of them would move to vermont and maybe take up a job in law enforcement yeah, we haven't done the analysis, but But this is something that I've been promoting for the last five years and I think it is a barrier or one of Less than 10 states is still taxes military pensions so Again, those who are retiring from the military would be beneficial to the state in so many ways from a workforce standpoint, they're in there some of them are in their 40s and and still able and ready willing and able to work And we certainly need to increase in all areas all sectors Of our economy we need more workers and certainly it with the military background in some cases That could be in law enforcement. So, um, yeah, we think it's beneficial. It could be helpful one It's not the total answer. We need more people to move here But but that would be helpful to us in in many regards Do you think if you had hard evidence? through some study With the armed forces in retirement that that might sway the legislature to take this issue up um I think it's hard to prove because there's so few states that uh that have uh continued attacks the military or the military pensions so all the other states 40 some odd states Have removed the tax so They're benefiting at this point in time and I think it's it's again anecdotally speaking to Many who retire from the military and and i'm sure you have spoken to a few yourself They they pay attention to that they they watch that and if there's a Attacks where it's you know a disadvantage to move to a state and retire in a state That takes more money away from you out of your pocket You tend not to want to settle there. There are 40 some odd other states that have Are much more attractive Well, yes, Danic totally I've spoken to a large number of native remoders who Elected not to return home to their home state after serving just for that specific reason But I appreciate that one last question I know it's early on but have you received many recommendations for people doing acts of kindness during the holiday season? Not at this point, but While you give us the opportunity, we'd love to hear from people We need a little bit of hope out there. We need there are a lot of good things happening in our state and across the country But they uh, they don't get reported on and they don't get highlighted. So We are asking everyone if they if they have someone Who uh, who has done something good? It could be very small. Please let us know We want to recognize that we want to promote that We and we hope We hope that this will promote and enhance Again the acts of kindness that are happening every day That people don't have an opportunity to read about because of all the other controversy around the world and in covid in particular. So Thank you for that for bringing it up and just asking people to Submit if they know someone who's done a good deed. Let us know Okay, no more questions for me. Thanks very much. Thank you Chris Roy Newport Daily Express Newport Daily Express will go to Tim Vermont business magazine Hi governor, I was wondering what your take is on the economic effects of omicron Already, there's a stock market's been hit For concerns about it and there's also concerns about increasing inflation as the supply chain could get bogged down I'm just wondering what your take is on it and what the effect in vermont might be Well time will tell and from our standpoint Again, I don't want to speculate Want to get the real information the facts and the truth about this new variant and What it affects might be But I think there were some news organizations early on last week That wanted to create more controversy and And and and I think that the markets are hyper sensitive right now and reacted Because they heard bad news and they heard That there may not be you know, the vaccines might not Be effective against it when nobody really knew that and it's just unfortunate When the news gets out Just to create controversy And does does harm and I think they did some harm to the economy in doing so but That's why we want to continue to just Let's get the facts Before we jump to any conclusions And I think that that's something that we've tried to do over the last year and a half and we need to continue to do And then we'll react accordingly based on the information that we receive All right, great. Thank you Good afternoon. I have a question for secretary french We've heard from a local parent who's wondering why the age cutoff for test today is five and older And their family feels because the preschoolers can't be vaccinated yet testing is their only tool Yeah, thanks We are working on extending uh test to stay down to the four-year-old population and also for child care We started with the the five through twelve population because we have the logistical apparatus basically to implement test this day through the school system But it is something we're interested in expanding as you know throughout the press conference today I think people have acknowledged that You know Expanding testing is going to be the way for the future and it's we need to get that out to the point of Use as best we can but we're definitely thinking of expanding debris k All right, do you have any timeline on that? Uh, it's something we're working on actively this week. Uh, as I mentioned in my comments, there's two variables I think one is the supply But we're feeling comfortable about that the second piece is just the logistics of You know supporting that testing approach in with that younger population. So we're working on it actively. So hopefully have some news on that soon All right, thanks a lot. Yep Hey, sorry for the delay. Um Dr. Levine, uh, you've said previously that um, a five percent uh, percent positivity rate is One of the thresholds that ramon should be concerned about If and when it passes it I'm wondering how concerns are about the 4.7 number on the dashboard today and what if anything Vermont does in terms of its uh approach to cobit if we exceed that five percent threshold Yeah, what I've mentioned before is that five percent was a cdc sort of set level For different levels of transmission and implications of that um You know vermont has never been to that level except one very brief instant in the very early part of the pandemic when We had no resources to do anything with anything at that time So I I think the recent increase We have to watch with a little bit of caution because uh I'm hoping that that will come down because there'll be More people taking advantage of testing than did during the holiday period And the proportion of people who are symptomatic may have been higher during that time accessing testing And that's what that increased rate is showing as opposed to giving us a real snapshot as to what the entire population is experiencing with regard to cobit So we'll have to watch and see as we have more of that non-symptomatic testing whether it be People who had gathered whether it be people who were closed contacts Or other mechanisms in surveillance testing To see if that number comes down Obviously, you know, we're at a time in the region where there's a continuing surge and as you saw on the slides It's not sparing anyone in new england at this point in time So the region is experiencing that same increase. So we're a little bit victims of that phenomena in itself as well Again, you know, as we discussed with with masks and all of that There are only so many tools in the toolbox So when you ask for some implications about what will we do this next thing There aren't that many next things really when it comes to the pandemic management um, and it's really um Next things would be on the level of very very stringent kinds of restrictions on people's lives Which a five percent positivity rate would not be the prime Force that would generate that I think commissioner p check wants to add something so Thank you, dr. Levine and thanks peter. I just wanted to put a Example for dr. Levine's point that he made on Thanksgiving Day itself this year You know about a thousand tests were conducted and we had about a hundred positive results So a 10 positivity rate It just shows you that you're not going to go get tested on Thanksgiving unless you think you've been exposed or have symptoms Similarly over the weekend, you know, people were traveling people had friends and family You know at their home potentially And we saw just you know much less testing happening through the holiday weekend as well So I think just much more likely you're going to get a test again if you had symptoms Or have an exposure relative to a normal period of time Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. Um, I guess likely for secretary smith or perhaps dr. Levine It's been a month now since five to 11 vaccines were approved And we're starting to see a growing disparity in vaccination rates between counties In that age bracket with 18 percent in Essex county 21 percent in orleans Going up to 54 percent of five to 11 year olds in shitton and Is this a reflection of access and perhaps school clinic scheduling? Or do you think patterns of uptake are beginning to reveal themselves? I think so this is secretary french. Um, I still think it's a bit early To see what those patterns are. I think I foreshadowed. I expect we will see Patterns along those lines after the first of the year And I think it will be increasingly a focus of our policies and supports for school districts in particular Because I think those districts that are able to achieve a higher student vaccination rate are going to have more stability in their operations than those that don't But my impression right now is I think it's a bit early to understand those patterns So is it just a question then of of scheduling more clinics and making Vaccine doses more available and in that instance then It doesn't come down to morality No, I guess from my perspective, you know, we do handle the logistics on this that there are still a lot of clinics that haven't been held yet So I think it's just too early So if for whatever reason there might be schools that haven't even had their first clinic yet or Regions that haven't had those or they're on the calendar per se, but they just haven't happened yet So I think we just need to be patient and let the logistics sort of unfold Okay. Thank you very much I think I would just make one additional point and that is That I would think there'd be a very high ability to predict A five-year-old getting vaccinated based on the vaccination status of the parent So as you know, we do have disparities in our counties overall with regard to vaccination rates of the adult population So I wouldn't be surprised if the children of adults who chose to get vaccinated were vaccinated And the children of adults who chose not to get vaccinated might not be vaccinated I don't know that for a fact because we haven't surveyed that specifically But I think there'd be a fair amount of predictability about that And in that sense, some of the county data may just mirror the general county data for all people of all ages in that county Uh, hi, so I was wondering If most of our census right now in hospitals is not COVID-19 patients But it's really sort of makes sense to to um push on monoclonal antibodies Like if that enough for us to weather What's coming with the flu season and everything else for capacity Yeah, the monoclonal treatment Is an effective tool that we have but as dr. Levine has said There is a bit of a disconnect between Let's say someone who doesn't even get tested Who just gets sick Doesn't get tested doesn't notify their provider and just ends up in the emergency room When that happens, it's too late That's why we're trying to communicate that if you're if you test if you if you don't if you have underlying conditions Especially if you have underlying conditions And you don't feel well get tested immediately get tested And as soon as you find out get a hold of your provider so that they can Set up this monoclonal treatment which can keep you out of the hospital. So that's the There's a number of steps in the way if we could get to them immediately That would be beneficial and You know, maybe we'll have to talk about how How we can do that from a testing standpoint, but I'm just not sure how we can Follow-up question maybe similar but not Like related. I wanted to know at what point I know that other states have Uh made use of uh fema personnel for their hospital capacity to alleviate shortages Are we at that point yet and if not when would that point be? Yeah, I mean we have reached out to check with fema to see what's What's possible and uh to say that fema is stretched thin Because this is a nationwide problem. There's just a workforce shortage Um secretary smith can you answer the rest of that? Yeah, we we have reached out um in to fema for some prioritized Uh personnel the the the first one would be to help in administering um monoclonal antibodies and having teams up that would be Um would be available for that the second one would be If we design something that isn't really in vermont yet Especially at critical care facilities is if we design something called a step-down unit That's in between sort of med surge beds and and icu beds and had the ability To um have that step-down capability. What would that take in terms of personnel? Uh looking at various options So we have been in contact with them on a multitude of things But those are the two top priorities that we've been sort of discussing with them And as the governor said, they're pretty stretched. Um, I think what we're going to have to do is figure this out ourselves and or um with Very very modest If you know on the monoclonal in particular probably Very modest intervention or not even intervention help From fema. I think we're like most other states out here. We we need to We need to self administer how we're looking at Various options here Thank you Belief what we've heard from fema as well is that other states are much worse off than we are so They uh, they have to prioritize Hello governor, um Really appreciate all that good information on the monoclonal antibodies I did have a Very well-known doctor asked me yesterday Is the state keeping track of the success rate Of the monoclonal anybody treatments. How how is it working? Is it working well and are there any real numbers for studies on this? Yeah, I'm not sure less Dr. Levina about that, but but we believe it is working We continue to see improvement in that area. So it's an effective treatment so the The way you uh, judge success is the important criteria here and I think the most important indicator would be Are you preventing hospitalizations in the people who you gave antibody to? So it's a little difficult to prove the thesis because if they don't end up in the hospital Were they not going to end up there anyways or Did they not end up in the hospital because you gave them the monoclonal antibodies? anecdotally Because I I have weekly calls with Hospitals around the state To find out if they're seeing people Admitted who were on monoclonal antibodies and there are very very few Uh in that category That's about all I have to go on right now in terms of data. I don't have any more firm data to give you but that That's at least a very positive sign if you will Do you expect to be uh collecting that kind of information? Yes Just don't have it for you right now. Okay, good. Okay Thank you. Uh governor, uh You asked uh Calvin culler last week to to ask the uh the senate leaders What other what other measures? What would they have in mind? What other possible measures would they have to control? COVID-19 and since then Boy in australia in europe We're seeing uh things like the forced removal to quarantine camps of positive COVID-19 cases Very aggressive measures. Is that anything that? I almost feel funny asking this, but is that anything that you can imagine Happening in vermont? I mean is that is that one of the things that could possibly be on the table? No, I can't I can't imagine that being on the table. Well, I shouldn't say that I don't know What others think but from my perspective I don't that that wouldn't be on the table from my perspective Thank you Yeah, hello there You mentioned that the hospital surge Well, we're seeing is in ruttland and bennington counties I didn't I don't think I heard mention of any plans in the works to increase ICU capacity in those counties Can you tell me more about whether those hospitals currently have? ICU beds and What plan if any is in place to manage that situation southwestern vermont? Yeah, we've been working with them for the last several several weeks secretary smith Yeah, Derek. It's actually been More than a month. We've been working with them on on this sort of thing We went out and asked them what they need most in terms of you know in freeing up capacity within their um their institutions and and they said Moving subacute patients out of their their The hospitals into other care facilities and we've been doing that as I've mentioned we did 80 already We're planning, you know to do 47 here More a lot of them In the first 80 tranche, there was a ruttland facility that we used Um In terms of making sure that there was a long-term care rehab facility in ruttland this second Wave we will have a ruttland rehab facility as well available rehab and long-term care rehab facility Available down in that region. We are working with bennington There is a there is a long-term care rehab facility right near the hospital there We're working with them to open up some beds in terms of icu capacity. We have worked with With southwestern to open up two additional and as I reported one is already open Two additional icu beds in that area and we continue to work with ruttland Because they they said the emphasis was on moving patients out of the hospital into the subacute locations that we have and and freeing up Patients so that they could move them out of the icu's so We've been working closely with both ruttland and southwest but Yes, I let me explain subacute because my boss just told me to do it. So let me Let me explain what subacute means Subacute our patients that are in the hospital But really don't need to be at a hospital level of care But they need care so when people are In a hospital what was happening was people were being Stuck in a hospital. There was just no place to move them We as a state helped financially Bring bring in staffing. There was no staffing at these long-term care rehab facilities to accommodate this we helped those long-term care and staffing facilities and rehabilitation facilities to Bring in staffing to To accommodate moving These patients out and freeing up beds in the hospital. We continue to do that We will continue to do that in bennington We will continue to do that in ruttland And we will continue to do it up in the chitlin county area where there's beds available Thanks, and and can you clarify? Are there any open icu beds and in hospitals in those counties right now? there are There There are open icu beds in At the university of vermont At ruttland if i'm reading this right um I don't see Southwestern, I don't see an open icu bed Today, but these things fluctuate every day. I mean it can it can go up and down depending on the day Okay, and one other question. I'm hearing some folks are seeing long wait times to book booster appointments through the health department's website I'm trying to I'd like to understand if that's anecdotal or if you're seeing Wait time saw on that front Derek. I haven't heard of any Incidences, but let let me check into it just to make sure Yeah, and you know we we are We are experiencing some wait times with walk ins But let me just let me just check for you on that. Okay Yeah, thanks. I I heard one person saying they couldn't book an appointment until after christmas, which sounded quite a ways away Compared to where we had them. Yeah, I that would be hard for me to believe but let me look Okay, thank you. Okay. Thank you very much and we'll see you again next week