 Good morning, everyone. I want to start by telling you a little bit more about the mass we're all wearing today. These mass were created by the Mass4 Missions Organization. This group was started by young Vermonters with a goal of distributing over 30,000 mass statewide and encouraging Vermonters to mask up. Thanks to their work, today was declared Vermont Mass Day. After a number of events are taking place this week to stress the importance of mass wearing and getting both mass and information out to Vermonters through the community partners like the Vermont Food Bank, Burlington City Arts, and UVM Medical Center. I want to thank Doug Altschler, recent high school graduate who helped lead this effort. He's one example amongst many of how Vermonters are helping each other out during this pandemic. Another example is the Rossi Family Foundation, which helped us secure KN95 masks when we were in desperate need early in the pandemic and has continued to help the region secure and distribute even more of them over the last few months. Today, the foundation's million mass tour is stopping in White River Junction, working with local roadways to distribute 150,000 mass in Vermont. Again, this foundation, along with the generosity of people like Donna Carpenter of Burton and Trevor Braun and the whole team at Concept 2, are just a few examples of individuals, nonprofits, and businesses who have stepped up throughout this pandemic to help us with supplies or community outreach and so many other good deeds to help Vermonters through this once in a century crisis. I appreciate their work and want to once again emphasize the best way we can all show our appreciation is to stay vigilant and that will help keep the case counts down. Commissioner Pichek will show you our latest data shortly, but it's a reminder that we're not out of the woods yet because as cases continue to rise throughout the region, it's critical Vermonters and our Vermont businesses follow the Health Department guidance, wear a mask, keep our distance, avoid crowds, wash our hands, and stay home and away from others when sick. If we take these simple steps, we'll continue to avoid the increase as other states are seeing, so it's literally still in our hands and it's up to each of us individually to protect ourselves and others. So with that, I'll now turn it over to Commissioner Sherling for an update on our PPE and then to later supplies. Thank you, Governor. Good morning. It's been a little over seven months since the beginning of the pandemic here in Vermont and as we enter fall, it seemed to be an appropriate time to provide a comprehensive update on personal protective equipment and our ventilator strategy. The Medical Countermeasures Warehouse which manages the personal protective equipment for Vermont, the backup supply more accurately was activated in March to provide PPE and important medical resources and support to the overall healthcare community and the emergency response community when resources are constrained and demand continues to remain high as supply lines remain constrained for some items. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. The warehouse is run by the Medical Logistics Branch of the State Emergency Operations Center, the SCOC, and is staffed by the Department of Health, the Agency of Transportation, the Department of Buildings and General Services and the Vermont National Guard. Items are delivered on a statewide basis by the Agency of Transportation and the National Guard and to date the team that makes up this warehouse and the delivery teams have distributed over 3.4 million items of personal protective equipment ranging from nitrile gloves to gallons of hand sanitizer, some of which was decanted and put into containers from 55 gallon drums that were delivered to Vermont by our Urban Search and Rescue Team, procedure masks, KN95 masks and 95 respirators, face shields, latex gloves, Tyvek coveralls, boot covers, reusable and disposable gowns, impermeable gowns and COVID test kits, a variety of types that are assembled at a warehouse nearby by a team from the Department of Public Safety and the Vermont National Guard. In addition to the healthcare and emergency response sectors, the state has also distributed personal protective equipment to childcare centers and including over 300 thermometers and 25,000 face coverings to COVID testing sites, to state agencies for distribution, to constituents that are in need, to schools including 1500 school nurse kits that included gloves, hand sanitizers, procedure masks, cloth face masks, face shields and disposable gowns and schools also received over a quarter of a million KN95 masks. 48,000 items were distributed to mass transit companies to allow this sector to remain in service and open so that they were able to give masks to riders if they did not have them prior to boarding mass transportation. Polling places have received PPE including 300 election kits with approximately 400,000 items ranging from gloves to hand sanitizers to masks to protect poll workers and voters and the Department of Corrections has received over 42,000 items to support their ongoing operations. State-wide, there was an operation to distribute cloth face coverings to all Vermonters. Over 400,000 masks were distributed or face coverings were distributed to 215 municipalities that represents approximately 85% of communities, cities and towns. Emergency medical service organizations also received cloth face coverings as did food distribution sites, the National Guard, colleges, state employees, childcare centers, schools, the Vermont Food Bank and the Department of Corrections. Overall, the strategy is to continue to acquire personal protective equipment to support ongoing operations in anticipation of any additional surges and to support ongoing operations. We're working with a target of 60-day supply and 60-day additional supply. So 60-days on hand and 60-days in reserve is the overall targets. And for many items, we're in good shape on the overall target for others we're approaching the target, the base target of 60-days, but there are areas that remain constrained. In particular, N95 masks, for example, we have 58 days of supply based on the current distribution rate. Surgical gowns remain constrained and probably the area that's most constrained that has the most turnover in product with 5.3 million nitrile gloves on hand, but that only represents a 37-day supply at the current burn rates for the warehouse. Regarding ventilators, you'll recall that at one point we had as many as 450 or so ventilators on order. As a result of new experience with the virus and treatment modalities and the continued constrained supply lines for ventilators, the overall orders have been diminished to roughly 120. About 83 of those ventilators have now arrived. None are in service for COVID patients but are currently in reserve for any surge that may occur, and 45 additional ventilators remain on order. Again, this is an enormous effort by a team made up of a variety of state agencies, the National Guard, and much of it would not be possible without the support of businesses and private citizens that the governor's mentioned, including Burton Concept II, Ted Rossi and the Rossi Foundation and Rossi Lumber. And I wanna in particular give some credit to the University of Vermont Medical Center and their supply chain team led by Charlie Michelli who convenes meetings with all of the hospitals on a regular basis and helps to coordinate and vet the purchase of personal protective equipment to ensure we're getting the right items and the right quantities for all Vermonters to support this effort. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. I'm Mike Pitchack, the commissioner at the Department of Financial Regulation and will be presenting our weekly data presentation. As always, you can follow along at dfr.vermont.gov. It has this week's presentation as well as all of our previous presentations as well. Similarly, we will start with some national data but quickly turn to regional data as we are seeing upticks across the area that we're keeping a close eye on. And then we'll transition back to our Vermont data, talk a little bit about flu specific data and information that we have to date, I think which will be interesting and useful and provide also an updated forecast for the weeks ahead. So starting with the national data, you'll see the national map. Certainly, there's still some areas of great concern across the country, particularly North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, other places in the Midwest and even in the South. Generally, the United States continues to trend between 40,000 and 45,000 cases a day. This week, we're up 6% compared to two weeks ago. So again, those cases are trending up slowly. And even if they're not trending up, they are staying at a stable level that's still quite high when you consider the totality of the pandemic and where cases had been in March and, sorry, in May and June. Looking at the more regional data, you can see that in each one of our census blocks, the cases are going up. They're not quite as significant as previous points, but they are all going up, again indicating that there is new disease counts and spread throughout the entire country. And again, as we turn now to our regional specific data, you can really see that highlighted here where we saw a 48% increase in cases week over week, close to 8,000 more cases this week than last week. And we've mentioned this in the past, but we include Quebec in this total, but even removing the Quebec numbers is a 46% increase this week, just from New England and New York. So definitely an increase that we're seeing. Quebec, Massachusetts, and New York, particularly New York City are accounting for a lot of that increased case count in our region. Again, you can look at this now visually week over week. You can see that we are trending up. We look at the most recent week of 24,000 cases up from about 16,000 last week. It was a more mild increase the last few, last six or seven weeks. And you can see that this week really did jump more significantly. But to go back all the way to the beginning of the pandemic, when you see the week over week count, you can put that into a little bit of a perspective. You can see both how high it was in March and April and then how quickly the case counts went up in March and April. So this is a much more gradual increase, but nonetheless something to keep a close eye on in the region. Turning now to our Vermont specific data, did wanna just highlight the numbers from September since there are a few things to pull out here. First, we had very low case count, 132 cases. That's considerably less than we had in August, July, and June. So September is a very good month. Fortunately, we didn't have a single fatality from COVID in the month of September. We didn't even have anybody in the ICU in the month of September, which is pretty remarkable as well. When we go down to the next slide though, just something else to pull out from the data. When you look at the age breakdown of the last few months and you look at those that are zero to nine and 10 to 19, you look at that particular grouping. We actually saw a decrease in cases among that age group when schools reopened in September. Of course, they didn't open until September 8th, but there was a reduction of about 41% since August and 58% since July. So even though schools K through 12 did reopen, K through 12 age children were back in school, a reduction among that age group. So again, positive news for our school reopening. Turning now to the weekly update, you see that we obviously did have an increase in our cases, 72 cases this week, largely driven by the outbreak in Addison County. We still, however, maintain the lowest seven day infection rate in the country, obviously the lowest infection rate from the beginning of the pandemic and have one of the lowest positivity rates depending on how you calculate it, either the lowest in the country or one of the lowest. So the numbers still look very strong. And as you'll see from our forecast in a minute, we still are anticipating rather low case counts throughout the month of October and into November. Just talking really quickly on the restart metrics, again, the four, syndromic surveillance, growth rate, positivity rate and ICU capacity. They're all trending favorably. The syndromic surveillance continues to be very low. Our growth rate obviously ticked up with the cases from yesterday, but nothing of concern. It's not a sustained type of growth that would be concerning. Positivity rate over the last seven days, rather still 0.44. So a very low positivity rate overall. And then the ICU, we fluctuate there, but certainly enough capacity in our hospital system to take care of anyone at this point that is ill with COVID. Mentioning that forecast on the next slide, you'll see that increase in our actual cases. Obviously that jumps up from the numbers from yesterday. But prior to that outbreak, we were relatively on track for our forecast. It's still anticipating a mild increase as we move more into October, November, accounting for increased mobility from parents, anyone in higher education, just generally the society being more mobile. So that's something that we'll keep a close eye on, but nothing certainly that's concerning at this time. Speaking now, just high level about the Vermont flu data. This is something we'll present on each week, since we're getting into that period of time where it's really critical for folks to get their flu shot as the flu will start circulating more in a more intense way in the not too distant future. And we'll have some data on that that shows when it really hits the United States and Vermont. But generally, the flu will generally peak somewhere between December and February, but it will start circulating more intensely anytime in October and November. So all the more reason to really focus on getting your flu shot anytime you can, but certainly over the next few weeks. Looking at the next slide, it really shows the issue here. You can see this is based on a quarterly hospital inpatient discharge for influenza count, but you can see quite clearly that in that first quarter that's January to March, that the number of inpatient discharges with diagnosed with influenza significantly increases and puts a strain on the hospital capacity. So anything that we can do to get those numbers down so that there is more hospital availability for anyone that might need COVID treatment, particularly when national forecasts and you see cases in the region going up and ticking up, you wanna make sure that there's enough hospital capacity to treat everyone with the flu, but also anyone with COVID as well. So getting a flu shot will really help contribute to that cause. The data from the Department of Health shows to date. We are ahead compared to where we were last year in terms of how many Vermonters have gotten the vaccine. We're up about 21%. So 35,949 individuals have gotten their flu shot compared to just over 29,000 last year, but we are significantly away from our goal. Now obviously we'll get closed in the next four to six weeks, but the Department of Health has set that goal of 325,000 Vermonters vaccinated. It's a 20% increase compared to last year in terms of the number of people vaccinated. We're on pace to meet it, but we certainly need Vermonters to go out and get their flu shot and contribute to this cause to make sure that our hospital capacity stays free and clear for those that need treatment throughout the rest of the fall and into the winter. You can see by age on the next slide, there are certain age groups that have done really well compared to last year. Those that are younger under 18 years old are up significantly about 50% compared to last year. Those that are more middle age and older are also up compared to last year. Those that are in their young 20s and to young 30s, they're down a little bit from last year. And of course, even if you might not have a significant impact from the flu, you certainly can spread the virus to others that might. So it's important really for everyone to get vaccinated. So just a reminder for those that maybe aren't thinking the flu is gonna impact them that significantly. It can always impact someone that you care for and love, just like we've seen with COVID-19. So skipping ahead to the higher education and K through 12 data, you'll see Vermont stays pretty stable here with four cases. You can see New Hampshire and Maine, they are experiencing significantly more cases than us, but relatively mild compared to the rest of the country. 85 cases in New Hampshire, 45 cases in Maine impacting a number of schools in both of those states. The higher ed data stayed pretty stable for us here in Vermont. Approximately another 10,000 tests, another four students tested positive this week, bringing the total number of tests just under 100,000 for all higher ed institutions in Vermont and 51 people, students impacted with COVID-19. Finally, updating on the travel map, you'll see here that there are some counties in our bordering communities that have improved, others that have gone the other direction. Generally though, as you saw with that regional data, with cases going up, the number of individuals allowed to come in without a quarantine has gone down to 2.9 million. That is the lowest number since we released the travel map, again, indicating that those increases in the region. You see that Washington County and Essex County in New York have flipped back to green, so they have had improvement there, but other counties in Southern Vermont like Rensselaer County and Franklin County, Massachusetts, flipped back to yellow. So just be mindful if you live in those communities, Brattleboro or Bennington, about traveling across borders. And last, you just see here that highlight on the last page where some places have increased, some places have gotten better. The places that have increased largely in the capital region in New York and then Western Massachusetts, but we are seeing cases grow throughout the region as well. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Levine. Good morning. On Monday, we saw a spike in the number of positive tests and yesterday afternoon at a separate briefing, Agriculture Secretary Tevitz and I reported an outbreak of COVID-19 among apple pickers at Champlain Orchards and Shoram. We learned of the first case last week when one of the guest workers tested positive and our epi team quickly began to interview close contacts and provide public health guidance and work closely with the owner of the orchards and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to implement isolation and quarantine. Because the risk was a risk of spread among the farm workers, we decided to offer testing to all of them over the weekend. Of 101 people tested, 27 workers had positive results. For those of you who follow these numbers closely, you may recognize that we noted 26 yesterday. The 27th was from the same batch of labs that was sent over the weekend that just was delayed in getting a result back. I'll also comment that for the entire state yesterday, there were four new cases, none of which were in Addison County. Contact tracing has been completed and at this time, the outbreak is contained to the site. And as I said yesterday, I wanna emphasize once again, there is no known risk to the public. There's also no risk in eating apples or any other products that were grown or produced by the orchards. And if you've been apple picking in the past couple of weeks or visited the farm stand, you're not at risk either. We thank the owner who's complying with all of our public health recommendations and for working with us to put measures in place to keep anyone who may be contagious from coming into contact with other workers at the orchards. The orchard owners and state agencies are working to make sure these workers have what they need, food, shelter and other things to quarantine and isolate safely. Now, in light of the most recent national events, I hardly need remind Vermonters of the nature of the virus. It spreads quickly and easily, especially among groups of people who by necessity, like our guest laborers, live close together. People do not get sick because they are from a certain place or they are of a certain ethnicity or nationality. They get sick if they're exposed to the virus. But the virus spreads just as well among those who you would expect to be the most protected, but who don't take basic precautions wearing a mask, keeping a distance, avoiding crowds. Testing is detection, it is not prevention. It's vital that Vermonters know the facts about COVID, learn from trusted sources who will tell you the truth even as we learn more about the virus. Do not be distracted or swayed by so much chaos and political theater at the top. COVID-19 spreads because it is a highly contagious virus that is in the air we all breathe. As the weather turns and we spend more time inside together, taking COVID safety precautions is more important than ever. I'd like to now comment on another mechanism for spread. In the past few weeks, it was reported that the CDC had put up and quickly taken down a statement on its website, referring to so-called airborne transmission of COVID-19. Well, as of yesterday, it was up again. I've mentioned this phenomenon a number of times and I wanted just to recap it at this time. Airborne transmission, sometimes called aerosolization, is not novel. It's an important way that infections like tuberculosis, measles and chickenpox are spread. As opposed to the large respiratory droplets, we commonly say are the major mode of transmission of COVID-19. Airborne transmission means infections spread by exposure to the small droplets and particles that can linger in the air for minutes or sometimes hours. To get infected this way, you can be further than six feet away from the infected person and even get infected when the person no longer is in the room. This form of transmission has been thought to occur within enclosed spaces that did not have adequate ventilation where the infected person was breathing heavily. For example, in the literature, there are reports of singing or exercising, like an acquire practice or an aerobic class in a closed studio without windows. Now, nothing I've said should change the way you try to prevent yourself from contracting COVID-19 because large droplet transmission is still the number one way and the major way you could get the virus. So the six foot spacing and the masking are still terribly important. What also becomes important, especially in winter is avoiding crowded and or poorly ventilated spaces as good ventilation reduces exposure to all particles of any size and at all distances. And avoiding crowded spaces, of course, minimizes the type of close contact that is primarily responsible for the spread of this virus. I'll turn it back to the governor now. Thank you, Commissioner Levine. We'll now open up for questions. Calvin? Thank you, Governor, so far. Yeah, I think for across the night, you're a veto on an Act 250 bill. I wonder if you can explain the reason, I mean, along the way that concerns, I wonder if you can explain your reasoning that maybe the executive board or that came out along with it. We went into this a couple of years ago working with environmental groups, with legislators in the administration to try and find common ground for Act 250 improvements, modernization. It's 50 years old. So it was time. We've heard a lot of complaints about Act 250 and the process and so forth. So we found a lot of those areas of common interests and went forward with that, moved through the house and with many of those intact. But when it came through the Senate, and I, you know, in defense of the Senate and the legislature in general, COVID has changed a lot of aspects. There's not as much interaction. It's all remotely done. And when the bill was finalized, it really only had one or two components, one being force fragmentation. This is a big policy initiative, probably the largest in 50 years. This adds to some of the burden, although there are benefits as well. The other initiative that was important to me from the very beginning was a permanent solution to recreation trails for review under Act 250. An exemption to that. What ended up happening was a about a 14 month delay. There wasn't a permanent solution. And all as we really got in the end, everything else that we had worked on together was not included. And there was just force fragmentation and a band aid for maybe one particular recreation association, trail over association that would have been beneficial. And then again, it was just 14 months. So it wasn't a permanent solution. So in the end, I thought it was better to just start again in January and bring some of those other areas of common interest back into the fold and get back to work. And while I hear this, they say that the issues on January will still be on the table. I'm just wondering if the administration will have the appetite to tackle Act 250 reform in January, especially seeing how we don't know whether we'll be at the state house or whether it'll be on Zoom. I'm just wondering where the political rule is there. From my standpoint, if I'm still in office, I can guarantee our administration will be at the table trying to move forward in a good faith effort for Act 250 improvements, modernization, and trying to work together to resolve some of those issues and get a much broader perspective, much better package passed. And I just have one last question for Dr. Levine about the outbreak in Addison County. Among the migrant farmer communities, I'm just wondering what sort of outreach that the public health event is doing for either this specific incident or maybe others as well. When you say outreach, exactly, what are you referring to? Well, outreach as an education and trying to educate into many people that were on the needs of the program with sort of other sales and around the world virus. Yeah, good question. So obviously our team, both from health and agriculture, were on site over the weekend, providing plenty of education to all of the workers, not just the ones who turned COVID positive and providing a lot of advice regarding the isolation and quarantine procedure and how to cohort people so that those who did not have a positive test would not be at risk hopefully of getting a positive test, making sure that the communities that are all together there are not intersecting in ways that would allow virus to spread from one to another. We're very fortunate. These workers have been often coming here for years. So I think they are almost part of the community that they're in. They have a great deal of trust and faith and those they work with and work for, which I think is always a positive sign as well. And there's a lot of activity surrounding should there be need for healthcare and providing the appropriate connections that would be needed. Ross? Thank you very much. Dr. Levine, sorry, I should have grabbed you before you stepped away. Just a quick one clarification. Is that one new case now of the 27, are all 27 micro-farmer members of that community? Yes, and it's from the same group that were brought here together as a large group in the middle of September. Thank you. And Governor, you mentioned last week that you'd be mulling over S54 for cannabis this weekend. Curious of what that reflection brought out and if there's any update you can give us on maybe where you're leaning for a thinking decision? Well, obviously I have until tomorrow to come to a conclusion on that and still weighing all the options and moving in that direction. Again, weighing what they've done again in good faith. They did move forward in a lot of areas that I had concerns about. It still isn't exactly what I'd like to see and there are some shortcomings. So again, I'll be reflecting on that over the next 24 hours and then coming to a conclusion tomorrow. Thank you. Steve? Governor, with the executive order, can you give us just a little bit of an executive summary, if you will, of what you have in the Act 250 legislation you provided the executive order to kind of bridge the gap until the legislative decision? Yeah, the executive order will basically take the place of what was in the legislation for help of this so-called Band-Aid over the next few months for the trail associations and address their concerns. So we feel the executive order will supplement that until we can come to a more permanent solution with legislation in January, hopefully. And on the political side, are you planning any sort of public events or anything like that as far as the campaign goes? Nothing at this point, no. Mike Donahue, the Islander? Thank you, Rebecca. Governor, first maybe just a quick update. State police, again, denied information about a couple of public traffic tickets due to some reckless teen drivers on Marron Highway, which obviously we're seeing a large increase in Highway Capsules here. And the denial was currently based by the legal counsel, Rose Mary Brickhouse, who conflicts with the ruling year-former, Public Safety Commissioner, Tom Anderson, former U.S. Attorney at issue. I'm just wondering when the public can expect getting back to a little more transparent Vermont and compulsive Vermont drivers accountable for their actions on public highway. Yeah, thank you, Micah. And I'm not up to speed at this point as to where we are in the process. We've had a lot going on, obviously, over the last month or so, but possibly Commissioner Shirling could bring us up to date. But I mean, your own commissioners, Tom Anderson, at one point. I mean, well-respected former U.S. Attorney in Vermont, it's given your office a legal opinion and state police a legal opinion that said traffic tickets are public record. Yeah, again. People wonder. I can only, if Tom Anderson was here today as commissioner, I believe he would have come to the same conclusion after someone brought this fact up and would have wanted more research done in order to make sure that we present in fairness to those involved in any instance like this, there are opportunities. So we wanna make sure we're on solid ground. We have every intent in going back to the way we were if that's legal to do so. But again, to take this time, I think it's important to make sure that we're on solid legal footing. Just one follow-up on the, there was sort of an answer on what outreach has been done or what state to the actual orchard itself down there in short. But I'm wondering what the state has done for other apple orchards and other seasonal employers that make use of, through use of how to save employees, you know, about proper quarantining, whether it would undertake, properly undertake it. And Dr. Levine mentioned is no risk, no known risk to stop at that orchard. Couple of people keep asking me about apples that somebody may have sneezed on, dribbled on by infected workers. So they can be no spread whatsoever to somebody who then picks up those apples. Yeah, those apples from my understanding are disinfected before being released to the public. But I'll let Dr. Levine answer that. The governor was correct with that. In addition, when you review the, now the world's literature on transmission of COVID, there were really no evidence that transmission can occur by food, by eating food. With regard to your previous question, as to our knowledge, this is the last group of workers that have arrived and will arrive this season. Doesn't mean that all the rest are going home. Many stay for other activities that they're employed for over the course of the next couple of months. So this is really the first outbreak we've had in the group of guest workers. So we'll learn from this experience, obviously, but there's nothing to translate into the other groups because no one else will be arriving. Just to clarify, I did not only mean people eating the food, but oftentimes, much like in the grocery store, people pick up fruit to try to check the firmness and other things. So that is, I think, some of the concern that people could touch an object of that. Yeah. I mean, some of the other people may have done not in eating the apples, but touching them. Understood. And we don't have the impression that will be a concern at this orchard at this time. Any other orchards? I believe all orchards will be included under that. All right, we're going to go to Wilson at the AP. Hi, everybody. Before on the orchard, I'm curious, the first case that popped up last week, if they arrived on the report was on the mid-September, was it the 14th? That was more than 14 days ago. Do you think that person picked up assuming it's a him, picked up his infection here, or did he bring it with him? And I see there's, I heard a report that one of the apple pickers is hospitalized. Is that true? And then finally, with the 26 or 27 pineapple pickers, no secretaries have, is this paper to bring in the apple crop? Doesn't like one. Okay, I think your third question, I think we got most of that. And we'll probably ask Secretary Tebbets or Deputy Secretary Eastman to address that, but Dr. Levine can take the first two. Thank you. So you're correct. This group came to the country in mid-September and it was at the very tail end of the quarantine period that the index case became symptomatic. So we don't believe this was acquired within Vermont. It came with the person. You also should realize Addison County has had very low numbers of cases historically during this pandemic. Your other question is, yes, I can attest to the fact that there is one individual who was hospitalized. Not absolutely certain they're still hospitalized, but I know they were initially hospitalized. Thank you on that. And we'll go to the phone, either Deputy Secretary Eastman or Secretary Tebbets. Thank you, Governor. Deputy Secretary Eastman. If I understood the question correctly, it was, is the crop at risk of being harvested? And the answer to that question is no. So if I misunderstood the question, please correct me. No, that was my direction. So questions exactly, were there enough people to get to the office, and if there are any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you all. Kat, WCAX? Question for a viewer who wanted to know what's going to happen to all the Vermont public testing sites that are currently held outside when the weather turns colder in the winter? We've already made some arrangements and brought some of them inside anticipating the cold weather that will arrive or has arrived already. But I'll let Secretary Smith answer that more directly or Commissioner Levine or both. The governor's absolutely correct. We're going to start bringing those facilities inside. For example, the state office building in Rutland, there's a very, very big lobby. We're going to have testing inside that state office building, as well as other locations throughout the state where we have district offices throughout the state. So that's the plan right now. Did I get everything? That's the plan, Kat. Okay, follow-up question then that I had to that, which was, are these sites going to be continuing in the same frequency as they've had during the summer, which is kind of a higher travel peak time? We're going to have the same frequency, I believe in terms of the testing sites. So you shouldn't see a change too much at all in terms of testing sites and frequency. There may be a little bit of change. I mean, for example, in Essex, we have some spots that we may not be able to use in the wintertime, but I think you'll see that we won't ramp down our testing capabilities at all. The site in Essex, is that like the Fairground site? What sites are those? Well, there's Alliance Church, for example. Tomorrow, I'll give a plug. Tomorrow, there is a pop-up site at the Alliance Church in Essex on Old Stage Road. And last question, are these sites going to test for flu as we headed to flu season as well, so when someone gets out of COVID test, are they also going to get a flu test? Probably not. I'll let Dr. Levine talk about where flu vaccinations are best achieved. Probably not at the COVID sites. Not vaccination flu tests. So like if somebody presents with symptoms and they're going to one of these pop-up sites, are they going to be tested for flu as well? Yeah, so, you know, our preference is that these pop-up sites are generally not used for symptomatic both, that they connect with the healthcare system and get directed appropriately for a testing site. But having said that, we know that there are times that symptomatic people do show up. And we certainly try to make accommodations for that and keep them segregated from people who are there because they're asymptomatic. So because of the lack of focus on symptomatic people, I don't think that testing for flu will come up much at the pop-ups themselves, but it will come up consistently through those winter months when people present with respiratory symptoms. And we're awaiting the hopeful arrival of a test that actually can use one specimen and test for both diseases concurrently. But even if that were not available, there are still the traditional flu swab tests that we could use and that clinicians would use for symptomatic people. Okay, thank you. Andrew, Caledonia record. Before Andrew, before you ask the question, I just wanna make it clear, our goal is to continue to test over 1,000 people a day. That's something that we put into place in the summer and we'll continue to do that. But in anticipation of the cold of weather, we've tried to reach out to our partners, some of the FQHCs as well as the private pharmacies and so forth to build out our capacity. So that's exactly why we're doing that. So we'll continue to seek out other locations and other partners to make sure that we continue with this testing because it's so essential as we try and contemplate what's happening in Vermont. Okay, Andrew, Caledonian record. Yeah, thank you. Good morning, everyone. This is for Dr. Levine. I see the kingdom is the only region of the state that hasn't had any new cases in the last two weeks. In fact, it's been some September 11th for Caledonia County, September 10th for Orleans and August 7th for Aztec County. Can you draw any conclusions about the prevalence of the virus in the kingdom given that? And with the talk about testing here just barely, is the kingdom keeping pace with testing to know if that's an accurate reflection of the virus situation here? The early part of what you were saying was that there were no cases. Is that what you'd said? Good. Yeah, yeah, only region of the state that's coming up with zero cases on the health side data for the last two weeks. And it's been actually much longer than that. Yeah, and it does have a lower rate over the course of the pandemic as well. So, you know, what we've been telling people, because it is true when you look at the national experience is rurality, being more rural, is not necessarily protective when it comes to COVID. And most of the surge activity that occurred in the south and the west was not huge metropolitan areas in the summertime. It was actually suburban and rural areas. And what we're seeing happening now in the Midwest is somewhat mirroring that as well. So I'd like to say that it's so rural in the parts of the state you're talking about that that's why their counts are low, but that really isn't backed up by the national data anyways. How about if I tell you that they are the most compliant part of the state with regard to adherence to all of the things the governor and I say every week. Do you have any data to support that? I don't have any data to support that at all. So again, you know, certainly we know that during the course of the summer and fall, we have plenty of visitors to those portions of the state. The leap keeping is no better, worse than anywhere else. So, and there's often lots of other sports that people are going up there for. So I don't really have a great explanation for you, except, you know, we could just come up with a list of theories. All right, well, I'll talk it up through a commission that would be in speculates and we're doing a better job than everyone else. Thank you. Lisa, the Valley reporter. Good morning. I believe this question is for Commissioner Smith. Some of the schools including ours are contemplating a return to five days a week and we're curious what will happen to the many child care events stood up throughout the day. Will they continue to receive support from the state? Will those workers be kept employed in preparation or in case of a surge later in the winter? Secretary Smith. Thanks, Lisa. As you know, we, on these childcare hubs, what we do pay for is sort of the start-up cost of these hubs. We try to make sure that the start-up costs are taken care of so that the focus can be on the operational costs and obviously the operational costs are between those who run it and the parents who bring them. We're trying to remain as flexible as possible. I think a couple of weeks ago, we had Vermont After School that talked about this, that trying to remain as flexible as possible in case there is a surge or in case there is something that happens where we have to return in a specific vicinity to less than five days a week. So we're starting to stay flexible right now. We have enough funding until the end of December to remain that flexible, so we'll just see how it goes. I don't have a specific answer for you right now. We're just trying to remain as flexible as possible. Does that flexibility include somehow keeping the staff on payroll? We'll have to see. Obviously, we don't have that situation now. We could move that staff to other hubs that may need staff. We'll just have to see. I can't give you a specific answer right now. Thank you. Guy Page. Good morning, Governor. Some Republicans in Grand Island County have run an ad in the island of a local newspaper saying that under the Global Warming Solutions Act, the 23-person climate council could impose carbon pricing at the gap pump without legislation. Do you share that concern? Well, as you know, Guy, I had my concerns with the Global Warming Solutions Act. That's why I vetoed it from a constitutional standpoint. I still have those very same concerns. 23-person council that is unaccountable, in some respects, can impose almost anything from our perspective. But again, I don't know about the particulars. I haven't seen the ad, but I have my concerns about it. That's why I vetoed it. In respect to some sort of carbon pricing, I mean, I'm not holding you accountable for what's in the ad, but do you think that carbon pricing is something that could be imposed by this council? Well, again, I think they have a lot of latitude. The legislature advocated their power, gave it to this 23-person council, so they could do almost anything. Okay, thank you. Nation-wide, they're spending a growing number of police officer retirement since June, a lot of it happened to do stemming from the George Floyd situation. Have you been evaluating the rate of police officer retirement in Vermont? And is there a greater rate than the usual? I'm going to refer that question to Commissioner Shirley. Good morning, thanks for the question. We have begun to sort of scan the landscape to see the impact of current events, but at this point it's too early to tell whether they're having an impact on retention and attrition. Eric, the Times-Argus. Yes, the president appears to be recovering from his bout with the virus, but he has sent out tweets talking about how COVID is nothing to be afraid of. Don't let it dominate your life. A tweet that has since been flagged by Twitter talks about how the flu sometimes kills over 100,000 people. We don't close down the country for that. We just have to learn to live with it like we do with COVID. Does all of this undermine your efforts to try to get a hold of the virus? Thank you, Eric. I continue to be concerned about the president's lack of leadership, particularly in this area of mask wearing, which has been scientifically proven to prevent the spread of this deadly disease. It's one of the reasons we've been so successful here in Vermont, not the only reason, but we've been compliant. We've taken those prevention guidelines to heart and the Vermonters have done the right thing. And I think that until there's a vaccine that is safe to distribute, it's really the only thing we have to fight this. So I'm very extremely proud of Vermont for the way they've handled this, Vermonters. But I'm concerned about this division that we're seeing, this political division due to this mask policy in particular and how dangerous that really is because wearing a mask is altruistic and it's something that I believe is necessary to prevent the spread. Do you have concerns about potentially having any outbreaks here because people have decided to listen to what the president is saying compared to what you or the doctor is saying? I am concerned about the spread every single day. I wake up and I read the reports and wait with a bit of breath as to what I'm going to find. So it's a concern I think we all share. You never know what's going to happen because of what's surrounding us. We identified this early on. There was a lot of frustration from many in the state because our low rate of transmission, low case counts here in Vermont and people couldn't understand why we were continuing to close down businesses and so forth and put these restrictions into place. But it was because of what we're seeing around us. We're seeing it today. Mr. Pichek showed it on the map. There's continuing case increases in this region, in Canada and Quebec, but also in the New England and Northeast with New York. So I continue to be concerned because again, we're part of this region. We're not here on an island and we've seen what's happened to other states who have let the guard down, I believe. I mean, you'd look at Wyoming, Montana, Hawaii and so forth and their rates have climbed significantly since they were the lowest on the list at one point in time. And now we enjoy that position and I hope that Vermont will stay vigilant because it's really beneficial to not just themselves but their parents and grandparents and their friends and neighbors. I mean, this is something that we can prevent as I said before, this is literally in our hands. And if we do the right things, we follow the guidelines and continue to take those simple steps. We won't have anything to worry about, but we have to again rely on our neighbors to do the same thing. So again, I'm concerned about the president's position on this and as I said, the lack of leadership. Greg, good time, any courier? Good afternoon, sir. I'll just say a quick follow-up on Eric's question. You mentioned that math has been either success or Vermont. Do you wish that you would impose the math mandate sooner than the pandemic? No, and why I say that is because we were watching the data and we were watching the science. And again, we were doing all the right things, so a lot of compliance without the mandate. And but then we saw, as you might recall, what was happening on the East Coast. There was a rebound in the number of cases coming right up the East Coast, affecting Virginia and Ohio and then Maryland. And it was coming our way. And so to prevent, to try and provide another line of defense, we thought it was necessary at that point. And we gave them the flexibility enough time to implement. But I don't believe we had low case numbers before, but we've been able to maintain that even seeing others throughout the country with huge outbreaks and increased case counts. So we have been able to avoid that, but I think we put the math policy in place at the exact right time. Thanks for that clarification. Moving on, I'm wondering what oversight the state has, either oversight or enforcement the state has on your travel policy for federal employees. I'm told that there's a number of employees from USCIS and TSA out of Burlington that have traveled, whether it be for personal or business reasons, during this pandemic, and some of them very recently. And when they return to work there, or when they return to Vermont, their home, you will return to work. The pandemic was not a reason to stay home for a week or two or however long they need to. I'm wondering what sort of oversight or enforcement state has on that sort of issue. Well, again, I would assume that they're being classified as essential employees. And so there is, there's some latitude provided for those essential employees. And as I've said numerous times, our travel policy, our quarantine policy is not perfect. We're hoping that most will adhere to it because we think it's helpful in what we've done thus far and what we need to do in the future. So again, admittedly, it's not perfect and we don't have control over every sector. But by and large, I think people are following the policy. What sexual employees exempt from the travel policy? I believe some are exempt, but I don't know if Secretary Curley is on the line to give us a further explanation of that exemption, but I believe some are exempt. Yes, I'm here. So if employees, if people are traveling for work-related purposes, then they would be exempt. But if they're traveling for personal reasons and coming back and not quarantining or having a part of a quarantine movement test, a negative test, then they would be in violation of the state trust-based travel policy. Employers do have the ability to deny a leave request if an employee is planning to go to a county that is not qualifying for a quarantine-free travel. So we have to continue to ask people to be very diligent and to only travel if they absolutely cannot do that work remotely. And even if they're traveling for work purposes, which is exempt, we're asking folks to be very thoughtful and cautious about what they're doing while they're traveling to other areas and coming back. Okay, and a quick follow-up to that, and I'll let you guys know there's many other people waiting. The state of Vermont has had a couple days for state employees with the current events, whether it be civil unrest or the wildfires. Are we sending any Vermont employees out of state? And I guess what's the policy when they come back here if they do travel? I'm not aware of any we've sent. We are always open to any requests to assist our neighbors and other states, but I'm not aware of any that we have followed up on or we have been able to commit to. Thank you, Governor, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Erin, BT Digger. Looking at the data announced on the department's health page today, I noticed that there are some circumstances in how the data is reported compared to yesterday, like the cases removed, the new cases removed from Monday when they were first reported to Sunday. And the number of total tests performed statewide actually fell compared to yesterday. Based on the screens that I've saved and tracking that other people have done. This isn't the first time that I've noticed the data kind of retroactively changing, but it's not longer or noted anywhere in the system. So it can be kind of difficult to understand when the data has changed and why. Have you considered introducing some sort of transparency to that? Do you mean? And do you know specifically if you haven't noticed specifically why the data change in the particular case that would be helpful? Yeah, I'm not aware. I'm not aware of why the information changes in terms of transparency. We provide that information to the best of our ability on a daily basis in its public facing. So I think that's fairly transparent. I think what you're getting at is maybe an explanation as to why it might have changed in a footnote of some sort. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, it really, it relies on people like me kids who are watching the data constantly to see these kind of changes. And I still have to contact the Department of Health if I wanted an explanation of what the changes are or even if I'm trying to calculate how many tests there have been in a day. I don't really know that. Which will it be? So most of the data is pretty much real time data. So there are times that when our data team looks at the data or gets new information in, they either change the day, they may have to actually reconcile the data with other data. There may be a duplication of cases that they weren't aware of because there are so many tests being done. And they have to make sure that one positive is reported once and not more than one time. I'm not sure about the changes you just referred to in the last day. I'd have to look into that with the data team. It's not unusual for us in our evening reports to find out that a case that had been reported a previous day was either removed or moved to a different date or sometimes a case was added because this is all happening real time and people are analyzing this pretty much around the clock. Obviously we'll have to connect with you to get to the actual specifics of the changes that you just observed in the last day because I'm not aware of the rationale behind them. But clearly you mentioned the word transparency and that's what we're being is very transparent by making sure that we have as much accurate information up to date as possible. Yeah, one of the reasons I asked about this is one of the previous times the test numbers have dropped, asked about it and turned out that antibody tests have been included in data and were changed now. So just to clarify, antibody tests are still not included in this data, correct? That's correct. Yeah, that was a number of months ago and that has not changed in any way since then. Ex-unit tests are also not included in this, it's only TPR test. That's right. Joe, the Barton Chronicle. It's falling and that suggests that something else may start falling soon. And I'm curious as to whether any progress has been made in putting together rules to make sure that the ski season can be held safely and that ski areas and other hospitality connected with that can go forward on some basis. Yeah, Joe, that's our goal, obviously, to allow for ski season to continue with hospitality following suit in as safe a manner as possible. We have a team working on just that right now where continuing to work with our partners to provide for something that utilizes common sense, but then again, provides for the safety of those involved. So we're still, again, we're probably two or three weeks away from providing that guidance, but we know it's almost here. And speaking of two to three weeks away, I was wondering whether there's any progress that's been made in putting together guidance for adult hair centers? I believe we talked about that on Tuesday. Secretary Smith. Joe, thanks for the follow-up. This is Mike Smith. We did release adult day as I was pretty sure. We did release adult day reopening guidance effective 92820 the most vulnerable of the participants might not be coming back immediately as they would present a too big of a risk in this guidance. Also, we'll continue some form of telehealth as we reopen physically. Each program within the guidance needs to create their own reopening plan, addressing their own facility and programs. Those need to be submitted to Dale for review. And just to give you a sense of the guidance itself, it talks about physical space, water, climate control, a number of participants per square foot, face coverings where and how to use them, how to handle drop off and pickups of participants, daily health screenings, cleaning and disaffection, the strategies for physical distancing in a congregate, setting and how to handle personal care for participants, food preparation and service transportation. And we make notes of all available resources. We have posted these guidance. This is gonna be a tricky opening because some of these individuals are vulnerable and we just gotta make sure that we do it right as we reopen the adult day centers. But the guidance is out, Joe. Thank you very much. Tim, Vermont Business Magazine. Hi, Devin, I'm kind of following up on those. Given the efficacy of treatment now and Vermont's low positivity rates on one hand, on the other hand, the increasing cases in the region and across the country, are you more or less confident now to hold out the economy more times because of another term? Yeah, I'm still concerned. Obviously rely on that data and the science and those numbers that are provided to us on a weekly basis about the mobility issues revolving around the transmission we're seeing in the country and the increases. We rely on traffic from our neighbors, whether it be from New York and New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and so forth. So when their numbers start to go up, it does give me pause. And so we wanna do this in a safe manner. We've seen the numbers go up and down. We're hopeful. I know the other governors in those states are doing all they can to prevent the rise. So we'll hopefully see those numbers retreat and very soon and then we can open up again, try and open up the economy in a safe manner. But if you follow the travel guidance, you should be fine. And again, we welcome anyone from those counties that have those low positivity rates. And as far as the nursing homes are concerned, it's a little bit different from, you know, telling the care home situation. Obviously, as you well know, there's a lot of concern about families and residents. There's been obviously the mental health and physical health impairment, I think it's pretty fair to say, but the residents have been in the nursing home for so long and not being able to get out. Is there any movement toward relaxing that, again, giving the efficacy of the treatment and the low positivity rate here? Yeah, we have- We're listening to the guidelines. But we actually have, and I think Secretary Smith has talked about this, but I'll bring him up to talk about it again. Tim, we had set up a sort of a three-phase, move through three-phase proposal to open up the those long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities for visitation, including indoor visitation when you get to the third phase. We have revised those guidelines based upon some CMS guidance around visitation, CMS's Center for Medicaid and Medicare service around some of their guidance around visitation. And we're just about ready to release those guidance, which will allow indoor visitation on a more regular basis, based upon sort of the way that we do it here, based upon the county infection rate and also sort of testing ability and testing in order to make sure if there's any sort of COVID positive cases in there. So Vermont in every county in the whole state is under sort of their threshold for that. So we're gonna be moving to new guidance that will allow some indoor visitation along with rigorous testing in for four staff in those nursing homes. And then if there is a positive for the entire skilled nursing facility in Vermont. So stay tuned on those guidelines, getting ready to be released very, very shortly. So very shortly within a week, Mike, or? Yeah, I would say within days. Okay, all right, great. Well, everyone will appreciate that, thank you. Yep. All right, NBC five. Thanks, Rebecca. And I'm going back to the college reopening data for a second. Burlington has decided to relax its earlier curfew for city bars and restaurants. I'm wondering for Dr. Levine, I guess. Have any problem with that? Seem an appropriate move given the data or what? I'm gonna let Dr. Levine answer from his perspective. I would just add that we gave flexibility to communities to make these decisions on a case by case basis, knowing their communities and when they felt safe or they felt as though they need to impose some of these restrictions on their community. So we've done that. Obviously city of Burlington feels as though it's time to open those up and that's their prerogative at this point. Dr. Levine. Yes, I have to say that both in Burlington and statewide, the college data does look still quite good. We're not seeing instances of transmission of COVID within the campus setting. And the numbers have certainly been low enough that if the city of Burlington or any other city who had a similar ordinance in place decided to relax the time of closing of bars, for instance, one couldn't argue with that. I think everyone realizes that economically, that's a hardship for a bunch of owners and if it can't be justified from a public health standpoint, I think again, you watch the data closely. So watching the data to this point, I can't believe that the hour of closing bars is the entire explanation for success in the college population. So now if that is relaxed a little, again, watch the data closely and if things continue on fine, that's great. But if they don't make appropriate adjustments. Thank you. Peter Herschfeld, VPR. Commissioner Harrington, we keep the note from a listener expressing concern and computing over the cessation of the extended high unemployment benefits. I'm hoping you can explain how many people are going to be affected by this, whether it's a certain profile of workers that's going to be affected and what that impact is going to be. Additionally, the release from your department said that the state is being compelled to do this because the unemployment rate dropped at 4.8% in August. But I recall the governor saying quite recently that there were still 30,000 unemployed brahmanas in the state, which would mean a much higher unemployment rate than 4.8%. So I'm hoping you can help me reconcile those figures as well. Sure, happy to hopefully shed some light on that. So to the first part of your question about who would be impacted, at the time we received the notice that we would be triggering off of high extended benefits, there was actually no one within the program at the time. That being said, we received notice and of a future date when those benefits would be expiring. And that is the ending of this week. And I believe there are a couple of people who have received benefits or will be receiving high extended benefits for this week. I think the part that isn't quite known just yet is what the future impact would be. So this essentially impacts those individuals that are receiving traditional unemployment. An individual receives 26 weeks of traditional unemployment. They then receive 13 weeks of pandemic emergency unemployment compensate, which was part of the CARES Act. And then once they've exhausted the 13 weeks of PEUC, they move on to the extended benefits program. And the extended benefits program under high unemployment goes to 20 weeks. Under normal extended benefits, that's another 13 week program. So there's an additional seven weeks added on to the extended benefits program when a state's unemployment rate goes to a certain level. So, the immediate impact may be flight, but the long-term impact is essentially anybody who is filing on the traditional unemployment path who is moving through these various programs will essentially be in this case in an immediate reduction of seven weeks in their long-term unemployment plan. And then it is likely at some point, our unemployment rate will drop to a level that triggers a thought of extended benefits altogether. We did provide a letter of this concern and possible solutions to our congressional delegation. We've also provided that to the general assembly here in the state of our concerns. And I did just receive word yesterday that our congressional delegation has sent a letter to the secretary for the US Department of Labor, Secretary Scalia. So it is something we are monitoring very closely. And as people move through the weekly filing process, they will be impacted at some point in time, depending on how long they've been filing for. To your other question though, about the unemployment rate and the impact there, all of this is based on what's called the Household Survey, which is conducted by the US Census Bureau. And that information is collected. It asks two critical questions. One, are you actively looking for work or have you looked for work in the past four weeks? And if offered work, are you able to accept work? And it's those two critical questions that determine what the state unemployment rate will be. And what we have known and have shown is that COVID is a very unique situation for many when it comes to eligibility. Whether it's the governor, the legislature, we've all with a different way to support individuals who are going through the pandemic and it provided opportunity for them to stay home and love one, to quarantine when they are sick, to remove the work search requirement when we knew that the number of unemployed remoners far exceeded the number of jobs in the market. But all of those things have a downstream effect on whether someone is actively looking for work and or able to accept work. And so what unfortunately this does is provide a situation where what is actually being reported, collected and calculated by the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and then reported by the state is a number that I don't believe and many of us don't believe is truly reflective of the current condition in the state. So we're reporting an unemployment rate of 4.8% and for the month of August and in all actuality, our rate based on the number of people filing and receiving benefits is probably something more like eight to 10% unemployment. So again, a lot of this is a definitional issue in terms of how the data is collected and how it's recorded, but it has real impact and implications on people who are unemployed and receiving benefits. Thank you very much. Jo Lee, Local 22. Can you hear me okay? We can. I want to touch on the massless weddings in Woodstock that happened on Saturday where 40 or so people weren't wearing masks. Considering the wedding that happened in Maine and the eight deaths that followed due to the spread and in line with the Champlain Fortured outbreak, I was wondering if there was any testing being offered to the employees at Woodstock Inn? Again, I saw the photo of myself and was concerned after seeing that I asked their commissioner and our secretary Curley as well, Commissioner Shirley, Secretary Curley to look into it to contact the Woodstock Inn where the picture was taken to see if we could come to make sure that it was valid, first of all, and then find out what really happened because, again, it appeared from the photo to violate a lot of the guidance that we provided, but I'm going to let Commissioner Shirley provide you with an update as to what was found when they communicated with the Woodstock Inn themselves. Now, good afternoon. As the governor indicated, Secretary Curley and I spoke at length yesterday with the management team at the Woodstock Inn. It turns out that they've been in close contact with the agency of commerce for several weeks and actually even before that to try to do their best to ensure compliance. Same sort of story we've heard from many Vermont businesses who are in close contact, consistently with the state and local officials to try to do their best to find a path to compliance and they indicated this was the first event of its size that they have hosted. The wedding was originally supposed to be 125 people. There were actually about 25 who did not travel as a result of our quarantine requirements and travel restrictions, so it was reduced in size as a result of that. All guests were screened on arrival for temperatures. They also, one staying at the hotel, completed the attestation form that's required by the agency of commerce and the guidance that's been promulgated. They walked us through a variety of the logistics around how guests were seated and how they moved around. They actually had assigned seating in pods that related to where either a travel party or a familial unit and they were given drinks as they sat, which may account for some of the unmasking. If you look carefully at the photograph, you'll actually see that they're laterally distanced in those pods by about six feet, but things did appear to sort of fall down a little bit. The distance between the rows may not have been six feet, so we did share those concerns. They actually proactively had reached out to the agency of commerce earlier in the day to gain some additional guidance and to have a conversation. So we're confident that together with the plans that they have in place, both retroactively and the things they've learned from this particular event that things are gonna go as well as possible. Are there any consequences for businesses, especially as the hospitality industry here in Vermont is now back to 100%. Are there any consequences if these kinds of businesses don't comply with the mask mandate? There are potentially, as has been the posture since the beginning, education and engagement is the first line of inquiry, and in the event we get hesitancy or reticence to that, we do have close communication with the attorney general's office to add another layer of potential education and then requests for compliance and or orders as necessary. And at this time we don't know if there are any cases associated with the wood stock wedding? No known cases at this stage. All right, thank you. Just to as well to clarify, the entire hospitality sector is not back at 100%. Lodging is back to 100, but restaurants are not. And as well, the guidelines still exist, even for those in lodging, gathering sizes are limited to 150 outside, 75 inside, and many other provisions. So we expect those guidelines to be adhered to, but I just want to make sure that everyone that understands it's not 100% throughout the hospitality sector. All right, Ed, Newport Daily Express. Yes, sir, I've been in. I'm going to return to a question from last week when you indicated that there had been a little bit of an upsurge in the COVID outbreak. I think come back, for a lot of people who have families on either side of the border, it's been a while since they've been able to see each other. What metrics are you looking for that will allow at least some limited amount of border crossing for families? Yeah, I just... Is there anything that's happened, but is there any possible chance that the border could be opened by Christmas? Yeah, just to be clear, I have no authority to open up the border or restrict the border at this point in time. This is a federal decision in conjunction with Canada. So it's between country to country, not state to country or province. So having said that, again, we're concerned about the numbers, but hope they get their numbers back down to where they were before because they were right in line in Quebec with what Vermont was doing. So we'll see what happens. Hopefully we'll come to some conclusion on this, that everyone will follow the guidelines in Canada and here in the States, and then we get back to some sort of normal. But I don't believe that will be until we have some sort of vaccine in place that's safe and that can be widely distributed throughout the country, as well as into Canada as well. And that will take some time. Christmas will be out for a while. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Steve, Steve, any KTV? Hi, Steve. Hi, can you hear me? We can. I have a couple questions for Dr. Levine, if I may. Dr. Levine, I've had some viewers request that I look into how this happened and how we could prevent it from happening again. And it appears that some virologists have speculated that or suggested that if this virus was zoonotic, that it would have mutated by now, suggesting that it had escaped from a lab. And due to the screw ups that we had at the US lab, Dr. Fauci had licensed the Wuhan lab and approved funding for it back a few years ago. And this included gain of function research, which is actually gain of function, meaning they're making it more virulent or more dangerous from what I understand. And now the US can do this research again. In the December 2017 edition of Nature, it's titled US Lipspan on a Risky Pathogen Research and the NIH will again fund research that makes viruses more dangerous. How do we ensure that something like this doesn't happen again, I guess? And do we acknowledge that it could or might have happened and how do we prevent this from happening again? Very happy to pass this question on to Dr. Levine. Thank you. So Steve, I think what it boils down to is something neither you nor I nor anyone else really knows. And that has to do with the theories. And we do know in this country, there are labs that are very high level protected labs, if you will, I think they call them level four or level five, dealing with pathogens that we don't want to go outside of a laboratory setting. And I'm quite sure that the security around that is quite good. Anything that happens overseas, I'm less sure about. And frankly, I know Dr. Fauci's name has been inserted into this discussion a lot, not just by yourself, I mean by many others. But as far as I'm concerned, this goes under the rubric of conspiracy theories that I can't really comment on because they're beyond our ability to, right, they're beyond our ability to really show how much veracity there is with regard to them. However, with the zoonotic issue, we do have good knowledge of many viruses that have actually come our way through that pathway, meaning for those who aren't aware of the word zoonotic, things that existed more in the animal population and then made the jump to the human population as has been stated for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 virus. Coronavirus is by their nature, generally are known to be rapid mutators. So that in itself may explain some of what we're seeing or not seeing right now. But in terms of how would we prevent that, whether you subscribe to the laboratory hypothesis where it really is maintaining very strict and high-security protocols and precautions, or whether you subscribe to the zoonotic pathway where it is mother nature to some extent, but mother nature emerging with circumstances like what apparently happened in Wuhan, if we believe that, with an open-air market, with lots of things being sold that were already dead, but also things that are alive that were being sold and in close quarters to one another allowing transmission for a respiratory virus to happen very quickly. So the total final word isn't in, so hard to tell you what would be preventive in this regard. Okay, and one more if I may. Are you familiar with the Center for Health Security? Yes. And have you attended any of their workshops like event 201 or the Claytex pandemic exercise? I have not. Have you? No, I'm just an armchair epidemiologist. I was just wondering if you had attended their workshops because I guess they had run some to be, to be prepared for something like this in the event that something like this happens. Yeah, no, I think my final word on this would be, much like I've said previously is the nation at large needs to learn a lesson from this, many lessons, but one lesson is underfunding of public health, underfunding of emergency, and especially pandemic preparedness. And again, not pointing a finger at one administration or another, because this is historic. It goes across multiple parties, multiple administrations. I think this will have been the wake up call so that pandemic preparedness and other emergency preparedness budgets are more robust at this point going forward. Thank you. Great, thank you very much. No one can argue with that, that's for sure. Thank you all. Alec, news seven, news seven. Can everybody hear me good? We can. All right, awesome, thank you. All right, so my question, and I guess the follow up to a lot of these questions that have been answered is in regards to traveling as we enter the winter season, economically how has COVID-19 impacted the ability to travel, to travel in and out of the state? How is that? Yeah, it obviously has affected travel in and out of the state. I think in general, people are cautious. They aren't traveling as much as they did before. We see it with some of our counters that are on the ports of entry, where we've seen maybe a 30, 35% decline. I know Commissioner Petschek has also has data that shows there has been a decline in the number of people traveling to Vermont. Some of it's due to our guidelines, some of it's due to again, some of the sectors, the hospitality sector, lodging and so forth, but a lot of it is just people are being very careful and not traveling as much. And as far as businesses are concerned, especially small businesses, and we move into the winter and continue the fall season, as well, how can businesses continue to ensure a safe and COVID free environment? Well, by adhering to all the guidelines that we've laid out, they're really pretty simple in some respects. The travel policies are important, that's individual, but making sure people wear masks, stay home when sick, wash your hands a lot, stay separated from others. I mean, these are just very simple things that people can do to help in trying to at least confine this and stop the spread here in Vermont and elsewhere as well. Yes, yes, I might. All right, thank you very much for your time, Governor. That's it. All right, thank you very much for tuning in. We'll see you again on Friday.