 Good morning, everyone. We'll begin today with an update from Dr. Levine. Good morning. Today I'm going to speak very briefly about a health update and then discuss some issues regarding the school we have. Actually, I have no outbreak data of concern to convey. No new cases and the majority of the outbreaks we've been following. While Friday there were 13 new cases in the state, in the past three days there have been an average of two cases per day. We continue to closely monitor the situation around the rest of the country and especially in the surrounding region. Based on the trends that we've been seeing for some time now, I continue to believe you've come to a point in our response to this virus that allows us to bring our children back to school in a carefully considered, measured and safe way. I was just quoted in yesterday's Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics press release calling for schools to prioritize in-person attendance for preschool through grade five and for students with special needs. And I stand by my statement of one week ago. In Vermont, this is the right time to open schools. We have achieved a stage of viral suppression that will allow us to open schools comfortably. Now to be clear, if we were in Arizona, Texas, Florida or countless other states, we would not be having this conversation. We would likely be planning a fully remote school year. At our press conference 10 days ago, Dr. William Raska, UVM pediatric ID specialist, infectious disease specialist, and I again reviewed the data supporting our conclusions that one, younger children are less likely to transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus, become infected or develop severe disease. Two, that adults in a family are more likely to be the index case in an affected family, not the child. And three, school based studies from around the world have not shown significant transmission of COVID-19 within schools. Multiple European countries who have gotten disease transmission to low levels like Vermont have enjoyed great success in reopening their schools. And it is the youngest children up to age nine who are not only at lowest risk but stand to reap the most benefit from the in-person learning environment, as I'm sure my pediatric colleague who's here with me today will speak more to. Vermont essentially looks more like Europe than the rest of the United States. Of course there are risks. As a health commissioner, when I rate the risks against the educational, developmental, social and emotional risks for young children, I come to the same conclusion as pediatricians and education experts. Now is the right time for Vermont to restart in-person learning. We in public health hear your fears and understand your concerns. Over the past months we've been learning from education leaders, school districts, administrators, teachers and staff. And we've been hearing from parents about their specific concerns, pros and cons, and considerations that must be made in planning for return to school. And have been adjusting our public health and educational guidance, which has been out for six weeks, accordingly. We know that one plan will not fit all and schools are customizing their solutions to fit their specific needs. The three principles that have guided us in planning for return to school are to one, give every child a quality education. Two, allow for flexibility as the situation involves, evolves like every other aspect of this COVID pandemic. And three, look for and share innovative solutions. When I say now's the time, it is in recognition that our guidance was drafted based upon the health data as it currently looks, knowing it could change. I don't mean that we will not see new cases, clusters or even limited outbreaks in our communities. But there are public health protocols in place for handling any such event. As we've demonstrated over the past months, with our capacity to limit the spread of disease through testing, tracing, interviewing, and advising those who have been in close contact and possibly exposed to a person with COVID-19. When there are cases, the health department will inform communities about what is happening without compromising the health privacy of individuals. And as we are heading into flu season, there are bound to be rumors, misinformation, and coronavirus scares swirling around in schools. Please know that the health department, the agency of education, and your local school districts are committed to telling parents and communities the truth about what is happening and what actions schools, teachers, staff, parents, and students should take in order to protect everyone in the community. And please this year, more than ever, take advantage of early immunization with flu vaccine for yourself and your family. The virus is not going away, but with the continued support of our monitors and visitors, we can continue to keep transmission of the virus to a minimum by wearing a mask when out and about, maintaining social distance from others, not in our household, washing hands frequently, and staying home and away from others when we're not feeling well. We must model this behavior and teach our children these practices in school and at home. Now I would like to introduce Dr. Rebecca Bell, a pediatrician and specialist in critical care, who's also this year's president for the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Thanks Dr. Levine and Governor Scott for having me. Yesterday the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics put out a statement asking schools to consider prioritizing in-person attendance for all students preschool through grade five and students of all ages with special needs. In the statement, we summarize the data around transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in children as well as the importance of in-person learning for children's academic, social, and developmental needs. Our hope is that the summary of the current data can be useful for schools in their current planning for reopening and for schools that have already put out their plans as they periodically reassess the situation as a school year progresses. I'm not going to read the statement word for word. I used to be a teacher myself and I know that's the worst thing I could do right now is just read a statement word for word that you have accessible to you. So instead I'm going to spend a few moments talking about why we think this is so important. And in during motto in my profession is that children are not just little adults. When we learn pediatric medicine it's tempting for us to think that children have the same anatomy and physiology as adults just in smaller packages but that's not true. We learn that children's physiology responds uniquely to disease and that their bodies and their minds have vastly different needs from adults hence the need for the field of pediatrics. And all of that plays a role in what we're talking about today that we should be thinking about children and schools and COVID-19 in a different way than we're thinking about other aspects of community reopening during this pandemic. And to get even more granular we should think about younger children differently than we're thinking about adolescents. Thankfully as Dr. Levine has noted young children who are typically most susceptible to respiratory viruses seem to do the best with SARS-CoV-2. They're less likely to contract the virus less likely to become seriously ill and less likely to transmit the virus than adults or older adolescents. That combined with the fact that this is the same population that struggles the most with remote learning makes prioritizing in-person education for our youngest students a sensible goal here in Vermont. Children and families depend on schools for more than just education. We can and should have a conversation about the outsized role our public school system plays in frankly holding our communities together and whether we as a society given the enormous impact that educators have on our children appropriately value the work that educators do. The answer is no we do not but that that is the reality we're currently faced with. As pediatricians we miss working with our educators to provide comprehensive services to families and we're really worried about kids. I don't have statewide data to present today on the secondary impacts that COVID-19 has had on kids and families in Vermont but I can tell you that from my experience and my pediatric colleagues experience that children and adolescents especially those who are most vulnerable are really untethered right now. They're not doing okay. The loss of structure and routine and consistent adult presence and social and emotional connection has been really upending. I know that educators know this too which is why they are working so hard to get back to some semblance of routine and structure and connectedness this fall and we appreciate all their efforts. That brings me to my next point. If I could choose only one mitigation strategy with respect to school safety it would be to keep community viral transmission low. What happens in the schools is a reflection of what's happening in the community. The data we have now suggests that schools will most likely not be a main driver of transmission in this pandemic. They will instead mirror what's happening in the community. We keep schools safe by keeping our communities safe. So while our school officials are working so hard on their plans to keep teachers and kids safe inside school walls we have an even bigger burden to bear as members of the community and keeping our positivity rates low. That means all the stuff that we've been talking about wearing a mask, keeping physically distant and staying home when sick. Lastly I want to address the very real and valid and reasonable reactions of confusion and distress that exist from the mixed messages in response to this unprecedented and devastating pandemic. The national conversation around school reopening has raised legitimate concerns from teachers and families and that's because much of the country is not at a place where they can safely reopen schools. But Vermont is uniquely poised to be moving towards in-person learning because our case positivity rates are so low and because we're using science to guide us. I would ask Vermonters to take their gaze off the national scene and instead look towards our local leaders those who know our community's best and trust that they will provide the best guidance and most importantly adapt the guidance in response to evolving evidence. On a personal level I want to remind folks I don't work for the state. I'm a pediatrician. I'm a parent of two young children who are now thriving now that they are full-time back in their early childhood education center. I watch their center reopen under the guidance of the health department and that process has been very reassuring to me as a parent. As a president of the Vermont chapter of the AAP I have frequent meetings with national pediatric leaders and heads of other state chapters and those conversations have only reinforced my belief that the work that's being done in our state by our health department has been done with thoughtfulness, with care, with intentional collaboration, with a willingness to adapt and change in response to local data and always with an eye towards keeping our community safe. So to summarize, one kids are less likely to contract, get seriously sick from and transmit the virus than adults, younger kids even more so than adolescents. And this is the same population that benefits most from in-person learning. Number two schools are a lot of things to a lot of people. Schools are where our children are educated but also where they receive nutrition, developmental support, mental health support, and community connection. Kids are not doing okay without those things. Schools also play a critical role in addressing racial and social inequity. Three, Vermont's low rates of community transmission is exactly why we are talking about in-person learning. So that means keeping community transmission rates low is the key to keeping our schools safe. We all want to do what's best for children. As we continue to work collaboratively towards school reopenings, I hope that the consistently reassuring Vermont data can help schools in their reopening and their reassessment plans as the school year progresses. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Bell. Very informative. Seven weeks ago, Dr. Levine, Secretary of French and I, spoke at a press conference and set a clear goal to return to in-person instruction for our kids in the fall. At the same time, we recognize how unpredictable this pandemic is and the anxiety it can and has caused. So our planning included remote learning and hybrid models as alternatives. These approaches were in our guidance for schools issued on June 17th, developed by a large group of health and education stakeholders, including experts from the Department of Health and the Agency of Education, NEA members, the Superintendent's Association, Principal's Association, Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators, and most importantly, pediatric infectious disease experts. Our core principal throughout has been to give guidance that helps school districts find safe ways to provide every child with an education that is as good or better than before the pandemic. As you just heard from Dr. Levine and Dr. Bell, as well as other public and pediatric health experts, including some who are also parents of school-aged children, they encourage in-person instruction, especially for kids 10 and under. I often talk about the importance of listening to the experts and the science. So to be clear, Dr. Levine and Dr. Bell, alongside Dr. Kelso and Dr. Rasko, who spoke on this issue a couple of weeks ago, are experts on the potential for spread in our communities and in school settings. They also recognize the negative social and developmental consequences of not having in-person instruction. These experts have also looked at studies from countries that have put kids back to school. Our experience with childcare centers and summer camps and the capacity we have built to contain clusters and outbreaks. With this knowledge, they continue to recommend kids be in school in areas like Vermont with a low number of cases and who have the ability to quickly contain the outbreaks when they do occur. Even Dr. Fauci has recognized the importance of opening our schools and areas with low positivity rates. This is why we put an emphasis on opening for in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible, especially for younger students and those with special needs. But at the same time, we have to recognize and plan for the reality that our data could change before the start of school. And the other reality is we'll continue to see cases of COVID-19 in Vermont and we'll also see some in our schools. We also know there's not a one-size-fits-all plan for our hundreds of schools because each are a little bit different, as well due to our state school structure, we must also respect the local decision-making process. This is why the guidance was developed to encourage flexibility with three primary options. First, full remote learning like what we did in the spring, but hopefully much better. Second, a hybrid model offering a mix of in-person instruction and remote learning. Or third, full in-person learning. Now, as district plans roll in, we're seeing many, but not all, starting with the hybrid model, with kids being in-person only a few days a week. But there are others offering full in-person instruction. All for months, data and science and the expert advice would allow for more in-person instruction than many schools are currently planning. I understand the need for caution and the need for school staff, parents, and children to ease into this, to gain confidence. Just like we've turned the spigot slowly in our economic restart, it makes sense for some to start with this more conservative approach. Beginning with a hybrid model gives school staff and parents time to test the waters and work through some of the stress and anxiety that exists in a situation like this, where we know things could change and we need to be nimble. Because whichever option a district chooses, it will be new and different than normal, like this hybrid model. And we want schools to take the time to get this right so students can hit the ground running. With that in mind, I'll issue an executive order later this week, setting Tuesday, September 8th, as a universal start date for students. We'll also work with the legislature to change the requirements of the school calendar to give districts greater flexibility. This will give schools one to two additional weeks to work with staff, test the systems they've built, and fine tune them if needed. School districts, school boards, teachers, and administrators should take this extra time to make sure they and their hybrid and online solutions are ready and effective so we can deliver for our children and build confidence in the public education's ability to be flexible and responsive because faith in the system is key to returning to in-person instruction. Faith in our ability to contain clusters when they pop up is important too. That's why we've worked so hard to build up a testing and tracing system that can surround and contain clusters and outbreaks before they become widespread because again the reality is we're going to continue to see cases and it's possible some could involve a school but we have a proven team that's ready to act quickly to contain them. Now I want to be clear none of this is ideal it's our reality and I know anxiety is high even while the health data and experts clearly support in-person instruction and I can assure you if necessary we will not hesitate to act to protect our students and school employees. Fortunately Vermont is in a much better position than most other states. In fact we're probably in a better position than any other state in the country right now to return to school and opportunities do what's right for our kids and families because of how successful our monitors have been in limiting the spread of this virus. While this pandemic has created countless challenges and obstacles we owe it to our kids and their parents to provide them with the best possible education preferably in-person or a hybrid system that allows them to easily toggle between the two. Now I know this won't be easy but I have faith in educators who have a big challenge before them but also a huge opportunity to help teach our kids about the value of being flexible, creative and resilient and we know they are 100% committed to giving our kids the high quality education they deserve. So at this point I'd like to turn it over to Secretary French to talk a bit more about school reopening. Thank you Governor. Good morning. Coming into August the anxiety levels around reopening schools have increased as school and staff parents alike contemplate the uncertainties around reopening our schools for the fall. These uncertainties remain despite our planning at the state level and the hard work of implementation that is now occurring around the state in each school district. My home my household is not immune from this exact anxiety as well. As I work in the corner of a bedroom to plan and coordinate the state's education response to this emergency my wife a veteran elementary school teacher is at the dining room making preparations for her classroom. I believe our uncertainty and anxiety about reopening schools is not caused by inadequate planning but rather the fact that none of us alone can fully control or predict how this virus will behave in the future. This lack of control particularly for those of us accustomed to being in control is unsettling. What we can do is pay attention to the science, keep our assumptions realistic and use our best judgment. To be successful we must be flexible and be prepared to respond to what is happening whether or not it fits our plans because our plans are just today's best informed guests of what will happen in the future. That being said we have learned a lot about this virus and we know what works. We have learned that if everyone does what they're supposed to do in terms of wearing a mask washing their hands staying home when sick and social distancing that together we can have the opportunity to safely reopen our schools for in-person instruction. I say we can have the opportunity to reopen our schools because one of the main reasons we are able to contemplate reopening our schools in Vermont is that as a state we have adopted a disciplined approach to managing the virus and have achieved a high level of its suppression. If these conditions were different our plans for reopening schools would look totally different. Our plans put stock in our proven ability to continue to manage the virus together as a state. Our plans to reopen schools include measures to prevent the virus from entering the operational perimeter of a school district by mandating all students and staff complete a daily health check and requiring six students and staff to stay home. Implementing stringent precautions inside the school such as wearing the facial coverings to stop the spread of the virus if it does enter a school and provisions to manage symptomatic students and staff during the school day. These plans acknowledge we will likely have positive cases in our schools among students and staff. This is a hard reality to accept but it is the reality. If we can continue to maintain the high degree of suppression in our larger society however we can minimize the likelihood of positive cases emerging in our schools. The bottom line is that if the virus is in our communities it will be in our schools. We all have to do our part to reopen schools by suppressing the virus in our communities. Reopening schools is not just the work of teachers and school administrators. To safely reopen our schools everyone must wear a mask and do their part. We are building some flexibility into our instructional plans by allowing districts to utilize in-person instruction, remote learning and some accommodation to what we are calling hybrid instruction. This flexibility will be necessary to navigate changes in the public health conditions but also necessary for our schools to reopen and to stay open. Based on my experience as a teacher, a principal and a superintendent I know that school district operations are fragile from a logistical standpoint and highly dependent on human labor since education is fundamentally a humanistic endeavor. In spite of our best plans schools or certain grades in schools might have to close for lack of staff such as teachers, bus drivers, and para educators. The decision to give school districts the flexibility in choosing among in-person, remote, or hybrid instruction is an operational necessity if we are going to maintain schools being open. And it is important that we strive to keep schools open since this stability school activities is not only violent to our students but also to our communities. In the coming weeks we will continue to focus our efforts at the agency on supporting our school districts in this work. We'll be minimizing the publication of new guidance in favor of supporting the implementation of the guidance we already have. We do have a few pieces of guidance that are in the works, notably guidance on sports which will be published in the coming week or so, and guidance on student supports including guidance on special education and social and emotional support systems. Re-opening our schools will require each community to follow state guidance and apply it in their unique settings to create local solutions that best meet the needs of their students. We cannot direct specific implementation solutions from the state level since we cannot anticipate all of these local factors. We can however trust in the professional expertise of our educators to do what is best for all of our students. At the state level we will work closely with school districts to support them in this work and to collect data on what is working well so we can identify opportunities to share these ideas more broadly across the state. And for our most vulnerable students we will work with districts to ensure these students have the supports they need to be successful. This is uncharted territory and acknowledges a considerable amount of uncertainty and anxiety. I am confident we will be successful however if we can follow the science and trust in our own expertise and resourcefulness. Starting school after Labor Day gives us a bit of extra time to make these preparations. Let's take advantage of this time to make sure the new school year can be as successful as possible. Thank you. That will open up to questions. We'll start the room with Calvin. All right. Thank you. So maybe a question for Secretary Friendsher, Governor. So we're hearing from of course parents and teachers that are concerned about going back to in-person learning. How is the state preparing for, let's just say, some teachers don't come back. How are we preparing for a shortage in educators or in-person learning? Well, we certainly hope that the hybrid plans work that we can find a way to get back to in-person instruction in the state. As I mentioned in my remarks, I believe we're best suited out of any state in the country to do this. If Vermont can't do it, I think we're in big trouble as a country because we are again poised with a low positivity rate to do this. But I understand the apprehension and we want to make sure that we provide for that. And maybe the hybrid type of approach can do that so we can build confidence and faith in the system. But we'll take a look and take any approach we have to to make sure that we have the instruction necessary for our kids in schools. We contemplated with our medical reserves asking people who might be willing to step up if there was a need. We may have to resort to something like that, but I certainly hope not. I hope that we can move forward and then prove ourselves that this is safe for our teachers, for our kids, for our families, and it really is the best approach. Secretary French? Calvin, I think, as the governor mentioned, this flexibility that's going to be necessary is twofold for reasons. I think one is certainly to adapt to changing health conditions, but the other is to address the sort of fragilities I refer to as the logistics involved with operating our school districts. We had labor shortages in some areas in Vermont schools, particularly school bus drivers and some of the support personnel prior to the COVID-19 emergency. Those conditions still exist, and particularly for many of our rural schools, their operational viability or continuing ability to maintain operations is really highly dependent on some of those logistics. So I think it's important that in our state guidance we do impart some flexibility to districts, and I think the hybrid ability in particular allows districts to shift personnel who might not be available for in-person instruction, the provision, the online work. I think the other issue is time, and you know as the governor announced today, to give districts some extra time in the beginning of the year, I think that's really prudent at this point and necessary. Districts are at different stages of publishing our plans, and we know staff will be in additional time to work through the actually implementing those plans. And I think that's something we're open to working with the legislature. I'm looking at the calendar issues there in the statute to see what we can do to support people trying to implement these very complex plans in this very dynamic context. And then Governor, just one last question for you. Of course over the weekend there was protested, you know, I'll tell you that during the Marble League pence, I'm wondering what their initial thoughts are on it, sort of the chain of pence, and what happened. Yeah, you know it's a it's concerning, obviously, we saw over the weekend, particularly the one video that seems to have gone viral throughout the nation. I would hope that the rest of the country doesn't believe we're all represented by the woman on the video. But we have to acknowledge that racism exists here in Vermont, and that was an example of it. So it ended peacefully. There were people talking back and forth, so I thought that was helpful. And again, from what we've seen throughout the country, we in one sense did set an example of how you can have alternative views and then peacefully. It really is unfortunate that there seems to be two sides on this, because there shouldn't be. We should be together on this. Racial equity is important. It's important to law enforcement, and I would say law enforcement is important to those who need or are advocating for more racial equity. So we should bring the two sides together and speak with one voice. I think that's where I hope it will end up when we get through this. Stuart? Governor, I'm wondering if you could comment on the mask mandate, which is, as several have said, this reopening of my hinges on viral suppression of the community. There are now 1,700 Vermonters who have signed that petition to use saying they don't buy your mask mandate at all. What is your reaction to that? What would you say? Yeah, it's not surprising to me. I acknowledge that Friday when issued the mandate that it wasn't what I preferred doing, that we needed to continue to educate and guide people into making the right decisions. But as I said, Friday, the modeling that I'm seeing, the number of cases that are growing, particularly coming from the south up the east coast to the northeast, is concerning to me. And the more we can prepare, the more we can keep our economy open, the more we can have in-person instruction in our schools. If we want to get back to normal, we're going to have to take these steps. But I get it, there are some people who just don't believe that it does any good, that they feel as though they're protected enough and they don't have to wear a mask. Well, again, I would advocate that it's altruistic. You're helping someone else. You're not just helping yourself. It's not preserving yourself. It's preventing the spread from happening from person to person. So again, it's not a reaction isn't surprising to me, but I will continue to advocate. As I have done for the last number of weeks and months, wearing a mask helps others. If we could all do this, then we'll get through this much quicker and get back to some semblance of normal. Given all this writing on it, do you anticipate we're going to need to have some kind of a penalty for those who just don't? I still hope that we can move forward with guidance and instruction and education and that people will come to the realization that this is the right approach that we're seeing throughout the country. We're seeing if we could do it as a country. Again, we would get through this much, much quicker. Even the President has acknowledged the fact that wearing a mask does good. So for those who are not believers, read the data. Look at the science. Read the data and you'll come to the conclusion that it's the right thing to do. Steve? Hi, Governor. Following up on Calvin's question, in talking to several people who were at that rally, a couple of them were speakers and they were talking about the fact that it is a mixed message that's going on there, they were kind of upset that the BLM folks came in and were pretty much up in the face of everybody and trying to shout them down while they were trying to get their message out, which in several cases had nothing to do really with that and was more along the lines of supporting police officers. So they were upset with the tactics that were being used and perhaps that drove the wedge. In fact, several of the people said we're kind of on the side of BLM but this really made me think twice about it. Yeah, again really unfortunate that this is becoming so polarizing because we should be all on the same team here and I understand, you know, I'm a big supporter of law enforcement. I don't believe that we should be defunding the police at this point in time. I believe that we should be strengthening that, maybe changing the way our approach to law enforcement but certainly not defunding. At the same time, I understand, you know, as we saw in the video that racism does exist and so we have to confront that. We have to accept that and we have to do better but I would advocate that we want to protect and make sure that law enforcement knows that we're on their side as well. They keep us safe. It's part of public safety. You know, one of the highest priorities of any government is public safety and they're on the front lines of that so it's unfortunate that there had to be two separate groups and when I see that we should be together on this issue. And finally, very quickly with Secretary French, we're hearing some shortages as far as the teacher's saying they really don't want them back and the same goes with other staff, as you have mentioned. Do you have any sort of numbers as far as resignations, early retirements, maybe DFMLA? That situation and do you have a plan to kind of help some of these small districts? Yeah, we don't have the data yet so I'm not sure what to what extent it's an issue. I think, you know, there are still districts that haven't published their plans yet and I I think many will still be revising them and tightening them up in the coming weeks. I think we are turning that corner as we get into August where the focus will be on implementation so I expect these issues to start to emerge but we don't have the data yet. Okay, we're going to move to the phones now. Avery Powell, WCAX. My question is for Dr. Levine. So we're seeing some national reports about COVID testing when universities return in the fall and how that could potentially be a strain on the national supply. Do you see that could happen in Vermont and how are you all preparing for that influx of students who will need to get tested? Yeah, that's a very timely question Avery. The issue in Vermont probably will not mirror a lot of what you've been discussing because our capacity at our public health lab and our capacity at our colleagues at UVM, at least initially when students come back and have a mandatory testing protocol undergo, none of those labs will go through the labs I just mentioned. Each college and university is separately contracting with commercial firms and will be dependent on them for those early results. We have however agreed that should there be localized outbreaks or cases in various colleges that would require some enhancement to testing we would be there to partner with the college and university and offer additional resources. At that time it could be possible that that would impact our state testing capacity to some degree but again that would probably not occur unless this was a major college-wide outbreak that I don't frankly foresee in the cards at this point in time. So initially students are coming back they will be under a quarantine and testing protocol that shouldn't have much of an impact on statewide testing. Over time as the semester evolves we'll have to reevaluate and see if there is ongoing demand for state resources in addition to what the universities have already contracted with for surveillance testing during the course of their semester. Thank you. Hadley from the Valley Reporter. Hi Governor can you hear me? I can. I have two questions about schools. First with these hybrid learning models that are popping up across Vermont does the state plan to create daycares for parents who need to work while their kids are taking remote learning days? I think I'll refer to Secretary French on this. I would add that you know we can look at it either way. What we're experiencing right now with our kids not in school there are challenges for many families right now who are trying to work and trying to keep their kids involved in something whether it's childcare or summer camps and so forth. So with the opening of school even with a hybrid model or in full five-day instruction that will alleviate the pressure on many families. I know Fairhaven I think is going to a five-day instruction. I think Orleans is going to a five-day instruction as well. This will be a tremendous benefit for many families. So it's whether you look at the glass half full or half empty this could benefit many families as well. Secretary French. Yeah I think the issue of childcare is really one of the more important logistic considerations as districts are creating their plans to reopen you know once again why these solutions need to be sort of worked out at the local level because those dynamics vary significantly from community to community. I do know some school districts are working on that issue in partnership with private care providers and other districts are contemplating an extension of their after-school programming and so forth. But I think it remains to be seen how we resolve this issue but I think it does underscore once again how critical schools and the role they play in our communities. That transcends not just the academic and social development needs of students but also just the the vibrancy of our communities in general. Thank you and my second question. Secretary Smith come up and maybe add a bit to that as far as childcare is concerned. Okay thank you. Thank you Governor I just wanted to add a little bit more about childcare. Just remember we never shut down the child care system during the pandemic. We kept it open for essential workers and we subsidized the child care network during the pandemic so that it would be viable when we reopened child care to everybody. We supported that with about $18 million of funds and now we're getting ready to put out an additional $12 million that the legislature has appropriated for helping the child care system. So there is a robust child care system that we did not and by the way this was unique to Vermont. Vermont did not let its child care system sort of shut down. It subsidized it even though it was probably limited during the height of the pandemic but kept the infrastructure going and now with the reopenings as we reopen the economy as we reopen schools we now have a infrastructure that is in place and ready to go that is somewhat equivalent to where we were the pre-pandemic which is a testament to both people that work on the front lines and child care centers but also to the state of Vermont to the governor's leadership in making sure that we had the resources to keep these facilities open. Thank you and on another topic our superintendent here wrote a letter to parents that went viral where she explained that the reason Vermont school districts have vastly different reopening models is because the state hasn't given them enough guidance for reopening schools so what is your response to the criticism that school districts haven't received enough guidance from the state? Well again you know nothing's going to be perfect here we don't we don't have a roadmap so to speak but we started seven weeks ago as I mentioned in my opening remarks with a number of different entities at the table trying to consider where we go from here giving guidance we're providing guidance over the last seven weeks to today we'll continue to do so and our structure in Vermont is different than some states and there is this local control component that's part of our state law and so we have to allow for that as well some flexibility so again we're doing the best weekend I know the superintendents are under a great deal of stress as our teachers and students and families we're all in this together and again it's there's no it's no perfect solution here but we're doing the best we can with what we have and I believe getting kids back into school for in-person instruction is the best best path forward. Secretary French? Yeah I would just echo the governor's observation this is a very stressful time for local school leaders as it is for parents and students themselves we're doing our best to reconcile these issues but at the end of the day I think folks can count on the state in particular to put out fairly directive guidance on the health precautions and those be implemented in schools but we start thinking about the practical application not only of the health guidance but also on the structural response based on staffing patterns based on the facilities the grade levels the resources and so forth which vary significantly from community. I think it does necessitate us to have some amount of flexibility built into our plan and as the governor mentioned we're willing to be as responsive as we can to that but at some point we have to just trust our local leaders to use their best professional judgment to act act the guidance that we can produce. All right just a quick time check we have about an hour to go and 21 callers still to get to so we could just be mindful of that as we move forward to be appreciated. Eric from the Times Argus? Yes this is also about schools. Where did this September 8th date come from? It seems like it got by Pride last week when they got the email asking if they'd be open to it. Some had already started their plans have had or finished their plans and we're close to finishing that when they were kind of given us September 8th this is when we're going to open date. Well it was a question that we put out to many of the districts asking if this would be helpful to them I know that there's again very stressful time people are trying to put their plans together some are ahead of others and we we thought traditionally you know I thought about many many years ago when we didn't start we didn't open our schools until the day after Labor Day so this is in consideration of many of the families still getting through the summer as well as appreciating the fact that many of the districts still need to put their plans and test their plans. This doesn't mean that they don't teachers and principals and and the superintendents aren't are going to be getting their plans together and trying them out testing them out beforehand but we thought that this might give them a little bit of extra time to test them out make sure they're all ready to go when September 8th hits and the students come back into for for many in-person instruction that they'll be ready and as well as for the hybrid and remote learning so that they can protect their systems. And so is there any funding available either through the state or through the CARES Act to help maybe boost some staffing levels because as my prior colleague had mentioned the letter from Superintendent Neese that brought up and Secretary French as well brought up lack of staffing and if giving kids in the school is the priority but schools have to then shut down because they don't have proper staffing is there any kind of funding available to throw out and hire more people to help that substitute? Well again on top of the 1.8 billion dollars we spent on education there has been care dollars that have gone to education so it should be a lack of resources. Secretary French? Yes there are as the governor mentioned there are additional resources being deployed through the CARES Act it's primarily primarily we call the CRF the Coronavirus Relief Fund and then through the S or the elementary secondary education emergency relief. It is going to be a question to a certain extent about cash flow for districts in the summer. The SR application has gone live that was delayed a bit by some regulation of the U.S. Department of Education. The CRF is similarly complicated but that should that should be going out fairly quickly so districts will have additional resources you know paying to help them with reopening school and some of those resources could be used for staffing clubs. Thank you. Wilson Ring, BAP. Hi everybody I guess it's now happy our good afternoon. Two questions on the school opening. The science is certainly reassuring about how kids in COVID but what about all the adults who work in the school I'm sure many or at least some of those would probably fall into the COVID high-risk categories. How do you protect them? And then secondly assuming the reopening goes smoothly would it eventually be up to the schools themselves to decide when they'd be comfortable getting back to the full-time instruction? And those are my questions. I might refer to Dr. Levine for part of the question but I just want to remind everyone as we've been going through this pandemic from the very start whether it's going back to work in manufacturing facilities, construction jobs, retails and so forth. The same types of basic protection is needed. You know make sure you wear your mask. Stay physically separated from others when possible. You know if you're sick, stay home. There's just so many times when we we try and contemplate what we can do better but it really is about the basics and they still exist. So I'll let Dr. Levine elaborate on that. Thank you governor so obviously it is exactly what the governor said but it's also the comments that you've heard throughout the morning regarding the fact that the school is really a microcosm of the community and we have to regard things that are happening in the school are going to be reflective of what's happening in the community. So if people are alert to the four cardinal rules that we've been talking about in their community life and in their whole life the school should be a safer environment as well. Also remember at least for the younger half of the school population the information we've been providing regarding the lack of transmission generally from the young to the adult which is a very important consideration. In the end if an adult who works at a school feels that they are especially vulnerable whether it be their own health profile, an immunocompromising state, their age or what have you. Obviously those are the kinds of issues they need to bring to their own physician and bring it to their attention and have discussions about the wisdom of returning to the school environment or not. Separate from the considerations I've just been talking about which should make the school environment a safer place to be. I'm with the second question and my second question. Oh I'm sorry what was the question Wilson? Assuming the getting back to school goes well would it be eventually up to the schools themselves to decide when they wanted to get away from hybrid education and get back into full time? Yeah I would say that it's totally up to the districts themselves. The more we prove ourselves the more confidence we have in the system and if things go well I would think that they would evolve into in-person five-day in-person instruction. Okay great thank you very much as always. Mike Donahue the Islander. Thank you and Secretary French I've heard local control several times this morning at past news conferences sounds like it's a primary concern of this administration. I'm wondering what if school districts don't want or need the extra time they think it's the lost time or waste and they want to get going and they don't want to wait around to September 8th. Is there any possibility they would be allowed to do it? Oh thanks for the question Mike. I think you know the details on that would really to answer your question be really required to have the governor's order produced and as the governor announced intention the policy order for the end of week it's hard at this point to answer that specific question so I'm happy to come back to that once the order is published. Well it's pretty straightforward I mean is the order going to be so locked in that people have to wait until September 8th or you must have seen a draft or something or must have consulted with them? At this point in time you know as a result of response of the districts it doesn't appear that anyone is unwilling to wait until September 8th but flexibility is key here. If we I haven't done you know I haven't we haven't initiated the executive order at this point in time if Secretary French finds that districts want to start early and they want that flexibility I'm not I'm not seeing why they couldn't and we might we might change the order to reflect that but but we haven't heard any pushback in term at this point in terms of wanting to start earlier than the 8th. Okay and for Secretary French and Secretary Moore obviously Major League Baseball didn't get off to this start and I understand both of you are planning its two separate orders in the coming days to cover both high school sports but also local recreational sports going forward are these rules for schools and rec leagues going to be the same or if schools are blocked will students who coaches be able to jump to recreation leads to participate? Yeah thanks Mike. As I mentioned we expect to release guidance for high school athletics or school athletics here in the near future. Secretary Moore has been leading that up precisely because she had considerable experience organizing the work around recreational sports and the common theme is the involvement of the health department so we do endeavor to ensure that our health guidance is consistent across all the different agencies that might be involved in producing regulation but I think there'll be considerable amount of consistency on this and I think there's also what we've worked to do is to bring the Vermont Principals Association involved involved from the very beginning so they're they're actually the ones that are going to be developing the specific guidelines for implementing the regulation so I think it would be a very coherent approach to providing some guidance on this subject. But if they block or schools sports are blocked I'm being told that recreational teams and leagues are certainly encouraging high school kids to come play with us if your school shuts you down so I guess the question is will there be consistency in both orders in this case? Yeah so I think the consistency once again is the health guidance approach to all settings on athletics. Okay thank you both very much. Guy Page. Good afternoon governor. Would you be open to laws to allow existing education fund dollars to flow to other models like homeschooling and micro schools and maybe relax regulations that promote so called that currently promote so-called professional daycare while discouraging traditional home daycares? You know I've talked a lot about over the last few years about the creative career concept and allowing for more flexibility so I'd be happy to have the conversation. There's been resistance to that in the legislature but you know with this pandemic I think that it highlights the need to have more flexibility so I would be more than happy to have the conversation if successful in November to have the conversation with the legislature in January. I mean I just think that there's all kinds of opportunities that we should explore as a result of this. We'll learn a lot as well from some of the experiences we're going through with with the remote learning hybrid and as well as in-person instruction but how we can how we can do better with the with the dollars that we have because we're spending a lot of money for education. How can we do better and give kids the education they deserve and need? Thank you. Also governor I heard your comment about Saturday's rally. Are you also concerned when anti-police protesters including some dressed in threatening anti-fault riot gear disrupt the peaceful permanent gathering of people sitting in lawn chairs they shout down everyone speakers can't be heard they yell that police and their supporters are racist they wave signs and say you know you know what the police they rip signs out of elderly ladies hands. You know we're all concerned about racial activity but do these tactics concern you? Yeah obviously I mean I've been a promoter of respect and civility listening to one another I think these times warrant that at this point racism is on center stage which it should be so we should listen to that at this point in time. Again I'm a promoter advocate for law enforcement and public safety in general so I'm not looking to defund police I'm looking to change our approach but we need to keep people safe on all sides of any issue. Mm-hmm thank you. Mike Bialowski. Hi can you hear me? You can. Okay great I have a COVID question trying to bring it up on my phone. Okay so thanks for your comment. I have two per question. The state of Vermont as of yesterday has one hospitalization for COVID-19. There has been death in over a month. Just four of the 56 deaths since the outbreak are under the age of 60. How do you justify the continued economic restrictions and other mandates in the state of these deaths? And I'll just answer that first. Arizona, California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, New York, the rest of the New England states, Midwest. I mean that could be Vermont. We're very fortunate to be in the position we are today because of all the the approach that we've taken because it could have ended up much differently. As I've said many times two hours from here in Boston they had almost 9,000 deaths. At 32,000 deaths in New York, New York City in particular which is only a five-hour drive. So we're not immune to that but the approach we took I think has led us to where we are today. I don't want to lose any ground. I want to keep moving forward. I want to keep opening the economy. I want to open the schools for in-person instruction and to do that we're going to have to take steps and measures to keep us moving in the right direction, which I think has worked for us. So I would just say look at some of the other states and what they've done and tell me whether that's what you want from Vermont. And the second part of my question is, as your administration though, how many confirmed last test cases are in each of the neighboring states? And I would add, I think that's a no-for-death note when there's a death recorded or a case reported. Is that a lab-confirmed case? You may have heard stories in the news of Washington Post recording one of them said some of the states are following different guidelines in the CDC that allow for presumed cases and kind of a broad definition. So you know how many confirmed cases there are in death? How many confirmed cases we have had in lab confirmed? Dr. Levine. So all of the cases that we report are PCR confirmed lab cases. Early on there was some confusion because the CDC had lumped together the PCR test, which is the one through the nose, and serology, antibody testing, which is done through the blood. And we had a very tiny percentage of those lumped in with our other cases. Those have been clearly separated out now and we're only reporting the PCR confirmed active cases, not serology. So that was a point of confusion in a number of states across the country. The other point of confusion revealed by the recent experiences in Manchester and surrounding region had to do with counting antigen tests, a different test than the PCR test. And in Vermont we're requiring that the antigen test be confirmed with a PCR test. So that's your question. Okay. Again, let's clarify that you're speaking to Vermont and some other states, right? But or we... Everything I've said is specific to Vermont and... Okay, I'll clarify. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Yeah. Greg, the county courier. Hi, Governor. Hope you had a good weekend. I wanted to start with a clarification. I had a reader reach out. They contacted ACDC. They weren't able to get a very good response. So quick follow-up on the mask mandate from last week. Some people are concerned that weddings or other private functions are going to be considered public because, you know, they might be being held in a, you know, a restaurant close to the public but, you know, open for private ceremony. Would events like that be required... be considered public and require a mask mandate? Gathering of up to 150, yes. And then just wanted a quick question here about reopening schools. It's my understanding that when schools closed in springtime that many of the support staff did not qualify for unemployment, particularly regular substitute teachers. Many of these support staff are barely making more than their minimum wage until they, you know, certainly don't have the means to just start and stop work like a light switch. As he worked to reopen schools and have said that schools may have to close in a moment to notice. I'm wondering what's being done to prepare to financially prop up these support staff so that they're ready to come back when schools reopen. I know teachers are covered by their union and so, you know, because of that their salaries are pretty safe but I'm wondering what the state's doing to to prop up the support staff. I believe all of them were covered under the PUA Greg but I can, maybe I'll refer to Commissioner Harrington about that but I believe that they were covered under PUA. They may not have been covered under traditional UI but I think the PUA did cover them. I didn't catch the entire question. It's about some of the support staff in schools. Initially, there was an issue and I remember this early on that they weren't covered. Certainly weren't covered. Teachers have been continued to be paid throughout the pandemic under normal conditions through the districts and the schools but some of the support staff were not covered in that manner and I'm not sure that they were covered under traditional UI for some reason but I thought that the PUA picked them up if they weren't covered by traditional UI. Sure, you know this is the classic response of it depends but we refer to these as educational wages so in statute if someone is receiving a wage from an educational institution and that educational institution has normal breaks in employment whether it be for holidays or summer breaks then those wages during the normal period can't be used to make somebody eligible for benefits during what is a scheduled break. Yeah, this isn't the case in here. The teachers were continued to be paid but there was some support staff that were not covered and so that they would not they would not be paid so I think that's the question. It depends on whether they are on a normal break or whether they lost employment during the summer or during the break period and then you are correct governor they are likely either if they had lost employment during a time when they were fully scheduled to be employed then they would either be eligible for UI or likely eligible for PUA if they didn't have enough if they were deemed monetarily ineligible for UI. Secretary French and yeah I was just going to add that in the spring through executive order districts were mandated to maintain their payrolls as an economics ability measure I think to the the question about supporting staff going forward you know once again I think districts have the additional financial resources through the federal dollars but those those are going to be local decisions relative to how they're going to staff their services I know some districts for example are hiring additional staff to implement the safe and healthy checks for students in particular on buses so we'll see different patterns emerging we're trying our best to get those federal dollars out to districts to help ensure that they have adequate staff to implement the guidance. All right thank you governor. Steve Narrell. Hello can you hear me? I can. Thank you a quick one for the doctor and a quick one for the governor if I may. Dr. Levine thanks for having your your folks get back to me about the fomites or the virus being viable on surfaces for 72 hours does that that include like variations in humidity sunlight stuff like that or should we presume at 72 hours or maybe say add another 24 hours just to be safe. Yeah so the study that that was referring to I don't believe varied some of those parameters that you're talking about so it's more just in an indoor setting even in a laboratory setting the other part of that is you use the word viable and you can use the word viable several ways in this case viable meaning you can detect some copies of the virus on the test that you perform but I wouldn't want to guarantee that a hundred percent of the time you did that that virus was capable of actually infecting so keep that in mind and the 72 hours was on certain surfaces and then you know other surfaces are much lower amounts of time I think what I'd want listeners to this press conference to come away with though is please wash your hands a lot it will help when it comes to transferring virus from the surface to your face mouth what have you but even more importantly physically distance and wear your facial covering because the majority of infections are going to come through the air and not through the surfaces okay great thanks doctor governor this has to do with with the prison death up here in Newport will will the people who allowed this man to suffocate basically when there was a full service hospital not three miles away we've heard that that the new contractor might be rehiring people from the old contractor will these people who allowed this to happen be held personally responsible well again this man's death you know what i said on friday was i'd like to see the the investigation the results of the investigation before commenting on what would happen next and our responsibility obviously many many mistakes were made during this whole ordeal unfortunately and and we need to do better but but i i'll wait for the for the final investigation there are a number of them going on all at the same time before we come to any conclusions about responsibility by individuals secretary smith sure thank you thank you governor and thank you for Steve for the question there are five external investigations either going on or completed in the death of mr johnson in the in the Newport facility those are the defender general and that just recently concluded disability rights the secretary of state uh the state police and vpq hc which uh looked at medical quality on this i've added a sixth investigation when i asked the law firm grounds rackland and marn to look at the johnson death as part of their ongoing department of corrections review i initially said in december but i've asked them a few weeks ago to refocus efforts more specifically on mr johnson's death when i heard about this summary of the defender general's report there um the the department of corrections its leadership is committed and certainly i am committed to get to the bottom of what happened and by state and federal statute the organizations that i just mentioned conducting the external and independent reviews are committed as well um to not only provide a fuller picture but also a shine a light on the mistakes that were made and i believe there were mistakes as i said last week and as the governor had just mentioned of how a cancerous growth tumor can go on detective for so long that eventually it shuts off the airway of a of a man and he dies there's many questions to this uh as i had said last week um on the darm study we're coordinating with both the federal authorities and the state authorities on this there is there was some confusion i want to i want to clear that up over um the interpretation of correction policy about what constitutes an administrative review and what doesn't a 2006 policy that the corrections department states that there will be a medical and administrative review this is in addition to the six studies the external studies that i just had mentioned um what is included in an administrative review is where there is the confusion in the past the medical review was interpreted as an administrative review was combined and interpreted as the administrative review last week um i had said there was not an administrative report and there should have been and the answer to that question is i view those as two separate reports that should be done separately and there should have been uh secondly i think one of the mistakes that uh we are coming to grips with in the mr johnson's death in terms of the investigation because you've been you've been asking about will people be investigated will people um be looked at and their behavior is that the department did the department of corrections did divert their attention away from this investigation during the first quarter of 2020 actually the whole agency diverted their attention away from what they particularly do um on a day-to-day basis in the first quarter of 2020 based upon what i asked them to do is to focus on the response to the coronavirus and and as you know i've praised the department's response to that the possibility of saving lives of inmates um and and correctional workers were paramount during that time and i and they did do an excellent job during that time but that was uh what took a backseat is the um the continued investigation of the circumstances of mr johnson's death and um during that time i for safety purposes of the inmates and the staff um i had asked that we pause the drm investigation we have restarted that uh investigation and that will include a review of uh of mr johnson's death and the contract has been amended to make that formal so there are now six investigations either concluded or ongoing on external investigations plus i will make sure that in the future that we have two reports that are done by the department of corrections one a medical review and two an administrative review that will look at all aspects of behavior that are done i think these external reports are are needed and they're required by state and federal law but i also think we have to be self-reflective in the corrections department as well but would you be okay with with uh them rehire another company rehiring the same people is what i'm asking i'm i'm not comfortable with anything being rehired but in order to keep the health care system going if it takes time to review every one of those people uh as we're moving forward and secondly we haven't determined the fault of who is um who's that fault here um i would say give us some time before we uh we move some of the people around or not rehire some of the people sure thing okay Courtney local 22 local 44 hi uh my question is for sentry french um we've seen in superintendently newsletter and other sources that um you know some school staff have already put in letters of recognition in early retirement you was just wondering if you could confirm you know how many resonations or early retirements or family medical needs things like that uh requests that have come in yeah i think i answered that earlier um we don't have that data i don't know if we necessarily would see that at this point it's it's a good question i think and you know once again points to some of the variability of districts will need to navigate as they make their plans uh more well known in their communities and we still have a number of districts that haven't published those plans but something that's certainly monitored is there any like rough estimate or like you've seen a lot you haven't seen any i don't have a sense of it at all yet okay thank you shawnd coming in the chester telegraph thank you this is for dr levin he would seem that rapid testing and contact tracing is going to be important in keeping the schools open and safe and and based on the clinical trials antigen testing could fit the bill for that need what what is the department of health doing to help in reconciling the unusual antigen test results found in manchester sure thanks for asking the question about antigen testing the um food and drug administration and the actual manufacturer of the platform that we're talking about kaidel both are independently investigating this so i really have no word from them yet about what their investigation has revealed they've both taken lots of data from the machine lot numbers serial numbers etc and we'll just have to wait on us understanding exactly what they find but with regard to actual use of these machines i again actually feel very positively about this equipment if this problem that might be discovered isn't too severe and feel that they could play a significant role in testing in the future whether that will be within a school not so short if one looks at the product's own package insert so to speak and looks at the recommendations of the association of public health laboratories and others for a symptomatic person in the first five days of symptoms in a high prevalent setting these machines can reliably deliver a positive result if the person is symptomatic from COVID-19 and they might actually provide a very early ability for a local school and a health department to impact what's going on in terms of spread of disease because you can make those quick decisions about isolation contact tracing etc if we're talking about today in Vermont just putting it in a school because we want to have that early warning system the fact is the prevalence currently in Vermont is very low there's a low number of people in Vermont with symptoms and we certainly wouldn't want it to be used for screening personnel at the school or students at the school under those circumstances because it would not reliably deliver accurate results in that setting. Just to follow you had said that an antigen test needs to be confirmed by a PCR test. Are there specific guidelines that the health department has having to do with how that's done in terms of the amount of time between the two tests and the type of swath that's used whether it's just nasal or nasal pharyngeal? Yeah so we don't have the specific guidelines for that as a health department but they exist sort of within the testing community and most of the PCR tests depending on the platform would require a nasal pharyngeal swab or a nasal swab and one would just have to be sure that you were using the appropriate swab for the platform that you were doing your testing on. The time interval between should obviously be as short as possible because if you're actually trying to confirm a test you want to know that in there may not wait days down the road. If you are actually finding that the antigen test was negative and you know that the antigen test has a false negative rate that's greater than the PCR test you would want to get your PCR test at a specific interval of time. If you were just screening somebody who you thought might have been in contact with someone with COVID like that day or the day before you might actually want to wait four to seven days to get your PCR test because it would have the highest likelihood of being positive on that day. If on the other hand you were concerned about is the person positive that day or not you wouldn't accept the negative test from the antigen test you'd want to immediately do your PCR test. So I hope those nuances aren't confusing everybody but did I answer your question? Yes, thank you very much. Colin Mayan, BT Digger. Yes, we can. Go ahead Colin. Beacons is the education policy around math. Weaknesses and education policies with the math. Well the education policy that you were initially employing I guess decided. I would say time. Yeah, time. Just needed more time in order to convince more people to wear them. What we're seeing with the modeling indicated to me that we're going to see possibly some cases coming back towards the northeast within the next three to six weeks and I just wanted to be prepared and I thought it was it was a point in time where it was necessary to make a mandatory otherwise you know education was my preference guidance was preference on my preference but but in this case I just thought that time didn't allow for that and that we needed to take steps more immediately. Do you have a sense of what areas of the state or in what sectors of the population people continue to not wear a mask? It seems to me it's a across the board. It depends on the area. It doesn't seem to be confined to one age group who are resistant or who conform. It's just it's across the board and this is just anecdotal from from my perspective I just see kids to to to seniors wearing masks but I see them as well without masks so it doesn't I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason to it. Wouldn't you say it depends on the area? What do you mean by that? It depends on where it is. I mean it just depends on where you are at that point in time. Do you have a sense of in what region people are following your advice more so than others? You know again it doesn't I don't know what to to make of it. I can go into a convenience store the same convenience store on a Wednesday and see about 50 of the people wearing masks but then I can go in on Saturday and find 95 percent of the people in there wearing masks so I don't know what to make of it to be honest with you. Yeah and I had a specific question about sort of the some of the outdoor guidelines and exercising guidelines and I'm wondering if you could sort of describe you know we're trying to explain to reader ahead of Friday the order what what it actually all means. What are people like what constitutes public in terms of outdoors and when are people expected to wear masks? I'd say within if you're within a six feet of someone else then you should be and you can't physically distance yourself you should be wearing a mask. And what if there's a situation like a path where you're likely to come in within six feet to someone at some point but for the vast majority of that time you're not going to be within six feet of someone. I would keep your mask with you in case someone wants to engage in a conversation stops let you by you can put your mask up and mask up while you're passing someone just be respectful of others. Thank you much Governor. Chris Mays rentable reformer. Good afternoon I'm just wondering if you guys are talking about or considering any kind of hazard pay or for other benefit for for teachers I'm seeing there's a little bit of anxiety for teachers going back and I know there was something done for essential workers um it was passed by legislature so may have that being talked about at all right now. Not that I am aware of Chris um the hazard pay was passed by the legislature as you remember it was encompassed a number more people and these uh in the beginning and and they didn't all qualify so this was paired down to just health care workers that would qualify under the CARES Act so I'm not I'm not I'm not sure if there's any conversations going on with teachers and whether they've even qualified under the CARES Act. All right and then um it might be for Secretary French um you talked earlier about the CARES Act funding going to help with resources in schools do you anticipate any of that money might be used to sort of help with counseling with teachers or staff members who might be really nervous or scared about returning to school. There's a couple different pots of money under the CARES Act the CRF funds are largely the way I refer them often is the sort of a reimbursement for COVID related expenses and you know the acceptable uses or the allowable uses of those funds are delineated by the U.S. Department of Treasury and what you're describing to me doesn't sound like it would qualify for CRF funding. Essar funding on the other hand is directed directly to school districts and they can use those funds in accordance with any of the current federal education policies so to the extent of what you're describing might be considered professional development or some broader support framework for teachers it might depends on how districts put that program together. All right and is there anything that the state might offer in terms of resources to the staff members in that line? We don't currently have additional funds for that we do have a set aside at the state level under Essar of approximately three million dollars we're reserving the better part of that to focus on supporting students in terms of mental health and so forth so we think that will be an emerging need and we want to be having some funds at the state available to direct that to some regionals solutions because no doubt those solutions are going to have to be developed to to adapt to this very unique environment. Okay Chris I think we need to move on. All right, thank you. All right we have about 15 more minutes before one o'clock and 10 more callers to get through so we can just be mindful of that. Tim McQuiston from Odd Business Magazine. Thank you Ethan. Governor you and Dr. Levine and Bell laid out a really compelling case for personal instruction and they also mentioned the European model some of which split it up between older students and their students and you also had a very successful the way you closed the economy and then reopened it it's received wide praise it's been very successful and yet this plan the school plan seems very vulcanized here and that's created a lot of concern and as you know the economy is not going to work well if there is some school district you're doing one thing and children are home and parents who have to work usually have to be home and I'm not clear on on why you didn't have a unified plan like you did for the economy especially since the data that you're citing seems to compel in-person instruction full-time it's been as much of Europe is doing right now. Yeah well the school structure in Vermont is much different than probably in Europe certainly our our economy is different than our school structure and having more local control and local decision making is important to Vermonters so accepting that premise we thought giving some flexibility to those in different areas because not every school is the same and having the districts understand their schools better than we would on a state level seem to be the right right track to take. Now having said that I believe that once we get moving forward and having different districts taking different approaches would give some confidence to others if they're successful in moving forward with more in-person instruction that's the goal from my perspective is everyone having enough confidence in the system so that we get to a point where we have five day a week in-person instruction for our kids. Is there do you have a time frame for one that would happen or I don't think you can put a time frame on it you know confidence and proving yourself sometimes takes time and but the sooner we get at it the sooner we'll get there I'm confident in our team and the approach we're taking and giving some flexibility I think gives at least some flexibility again to the districts to do what they think is right so that all lends itself I think to having more confidence in the system in the end. What would you tell the parents who are both working are there's those that you know whatever adults are working in the household what do you tell them if they know that two or three days a week their kids are going to be home. Tim what are they doing now? Well in the the way it the way it when you shut down the economy basically everybody was home. But what are they doing today like today we haven't we're at 50 percent across the board what are they doing today that's going to be different like a month or a month and a half from now. Well there are summer camps there you know the parents are on vacation that sort of thing so the summer has a different structure than the fall does and the way the economy works as well. I'm just I'm just thinking again as the last half full I think they're going to be in different areas I think this is going to be helpful to parents and then in others with we're going to have to continue to work remotely we're going to have to continue to ask employers to be flexible as well and then when we gain enough confidence and we can get people and get our kids back to five day per week in-person instruction then we'll be better off but I don't think you can force this Tim because you'll I mean that's what's happened on the federal level I'm with the president making the statement that we're going to open up schools I think that that set up the confrontation that drove the wedge and so that approach doesn't work and we need to take a different approach and prove ourselves. All right thank you governor. Andrew McGregor, Caledonia record. Yeah good afternoon governor thank you for taking all our questions. There have been numerous instances recently comments and presentations during these conferences about the importance of in-person education and now the focus on the younger students. Do you feel like you need to persuade people to this fact whether it be school boards administrators teachers family all of the above? Yeah I do Andrew I think that that's you know there's a lot of uncertainty again there's no playbook here a lot of a lot of trepidation as to what this will mean I mean we're talking about kids and we're talking about individual lives and so this I get the fear and so convincing and showing that what we're doing makes sense I think takes a little bit of time and that's why we've given this flexibility and not tried to force the situation just a gentle nudge. And is there at you know is there one group in particular that that you're focusing on I mean are you sensing resistance from from administrators and school boards to to a full in person or is it more the public? You know across the board I think there is some fear but but I would have to say it seems as though from my perspective more from the teachers than anyone else. Oh well their population in some cases and I think that's where I'm seeing most of the fear. Okay and just a couple of quick finer points for Secretary Grinch I guess I know the order hasn't even been published yet and some of this was addressed with Mike's questions earlier but will the September 8 start date apply to private and independent schools and is this just a shift of the of the full calendar or is there going to be a reduction in school days? Yeah to your point I didn't think the devil's in the details on it something we'll be working on this week. The independent schools function a little different under statute so we'll have to you know fall back on how we can work with a statute to enact this but I think the force of the order now and essentially push the calendar back as the governor mentioned earlier we intend to work with the legislature to address the issue the larger issues of calendar and how time is used in the school day. Yeah because that raises an issue that one of our local superintendents brought up with us that if the calendar is shifted at the number of school days the same there'll be an issue with certain members of staff being asked to work out beyond their existing contract. Right I mean there's there's some flexibility now at the local level to move in service days you know around if they wanted to take advantage of the extra time to bring teachers in that's certainly a possibility but I think the order does provoke the larger conversation around the calendar and as the governor mentioned that's one we're interested in having. Okay thank you. John Dylan, DPR. Thank you Governor you talked to you just mentioned here among teachers and older teachers with the return of students to school can you address or maybe Dr. Levine address the direct concern that they have about their own health you know it's a place where people will be together in common areas and even with all the precautions there is a risk and that's that's why we're seeing staff not willing to go back. What can you reassure students I mean sorry teachers and bus drivers and staffers that it's safe? Yeah thanks for that question. Without going into laborious detail the public health guidance that the schools have received is quite comprehensive and it first of all assures that sick individuals won't be in the building. There are symptom checks there are temperature checks the adults and the children should be relatively healthy who are in the setting. Second of all within the walls of the school the rules are the same as they are in the rest of society so in addition to not showing up if you're ill there'll be plenty of opportunities for use of sinks and hand washing and sanitizer. They'll also be masking for the entire population within the school and we've learned a lot. My colleague Dr. Bell was telling me earlier about even in the child camps. Children are quite resilient and can meet new norms of behaviors if they understand what's expected of them and then the physical distancing aspects so again it doesn't take unusual protections it takes the standard level of protections to really help all those in the school environment. On top of that though what you've alluded to is something I did refer to earlier there are people who may feel they are especially vulnerable not just because they're an adult but because they're an adult of a certain age or with a certain medical makeup if you will that makes them feel more vulnerable than others. They all have physicians and can be conferring and consulting with them and understanding how best to mitigate and manage the risk that they might have in that setting. So I think you know as the governor has been saying we understand in many cases there are well-grounded fears and anxieties and they're not too dissimilar from those that other members of society have other settings that aren't even schools but hopefully armed with all that I've mentioned plus the data that we've provided regarding how virus is or is not transmitted from one generation to another will at least help manage this anxiety to the greatest degree possible. Thank you. Kevin McCollum, seven days. Hi Governor, can you hear me? I can. If I could just follow up on John's question about the concerns people have about returning to school lines that Dr. Levine just outlined or is that something that's going to be flexible for those districts? I know we've been talking about that. I'll let the Secretary of French speak about that further. Yeah it's a great question. I think you know school districts firstly are responsible for educating all their students you know certainly parents kind of like for homeschooling and we're giving school districts some tools you know in terms of giving us a flexibility around in-person remote and hybrid instruction. So I think you know as much as we are emphasizing the in-person we know that remote learning will need to still be in the toolkit of schools particularly if we have changes in the virus conditions that warrant it but also as I mentioned some of the logistical concerns and maintaining operations. So I think all districts were sending that message certainly a focus on in-person but they need to continue to improve their remote learning possibilities so all districts should have some capacity in that regard and I think you know they that varies to a certain extent around the state. We've worked to put some common infrastructure in over the summer but I think you know most districts in the state if not all will be able to provide remote learning of some sort to most parents. And but that sounds like a no. It sounds like there's there's going to be resources for districts to do that but there won't be required to offer that possibility. Well I think once again it's it's you know the district's going to articulate what its plan is and then parents can assess that and also work with their school boards to give input into whether that would work for them. And then parents ultimately have some options available to them and ultimately homeschooling. Okay all right so the state guidance is not requiring remote learning as of the start date it is I think I'm hearing that properly right? That's correct you know the guidance is formulated to basically make and allow hybrid learning to be permissible. So we you know that's the basic ground the grounding of our guidance it basically examines our tenants regulations and so forth and says look you districts can can provision remote learning in person and hybrid so it makes it permissible you know what we're seeing now and which has you know caused a lot of the hard work that's going on and the anxiety is how district provision that will vary from district to district. Okay well I mean I just imagine that some of the spike in homeschooling requests is directly due to the fact that remote learning is not going to be guaranteed in districts and so people are concerned about that and are taking proactive efforts to sort of say well if there's not going to be remote learning in my district necessarily I'm going to make sure there's going to be remote learning and I'm going to teach my kid at home this year. Yeah I think it's also a function of parents assessing what is the remote learning I mean not all remote learning is equal so parents need to understand what exactly is being proposed and how it will be proposed but we are as I mentioned we are seeing an increase in the homeschooling numbers I will say that trend seems to have increased prior to us releasing the hybrid learning guidance so I'm not sure what the impact of that will be but I suspect a lot of the interest in homeschooling was based on what was appearing to be a choice between in person or not with hybrid on the table I think districts are producing more options for parents so it remains to be seen to what extent that trend in homeschooling will rise. Okay thanks very much and the only other question is for the governor and governor that what's your take on the debate in Washington about extending the $600 on employment benefits obviously republicans are trying to shave that down to something more like two democrats want to extend it through the end of the year if you had your druthers and you could wave a magic wand would you would you continue those facets or do you worry that those are dissuading people from getting back in the workforce? Well I think it's a little bit of both I do believe that there should be something there and I also believe they'll come to some agreement on this and it'll be somewhere between 200 and 600 but I think it is needed for many families for many individuals because this has been long term and obviously widespread so I'd like to see something I don't think it should be at the $600 level but but I do believe there there needs to be some supplement to existing unemployment benefits. Why don't you think it should be thick? I think it's it's enough to keep some people home I truly believe that I mean because you just do the math and and figure it out and there are some who are making more money now than they were when they were working so I think there needs to be a little bit of incentive to go back to work if if you can and but enough to supplement what what is needed to pay your rent and and pay your mortgage. Okay thank you governor. And Wallace Allen, BT Digger. Hi Ethan can you guys hear me? Yes. Governor I wanted to ask you if you think that Congress and then Trump will approve additional aid for state government because I know that state and also municipal government are going to be looking for some extra cash and if not from the Fed what's the game plan if Ramon doesn't get additional money or if Ramon doesn't receive flexibility to use money to address this budget hole? That's the multi-billion dollar question that's going on in Washington as we speak. You know I've said before flexibility would be nice if we could have more of that additional dollars would be be welcome but if we didn't have any of that we'll figure it out. We'll live within our means. So we've you know we've got some good news coming in terms of closing out the year-end we're better off than I we had all thought we were going to be so we know it's going to be a tough fiscal year 21 but we're also showing that we can take some steps to to preserve the revenue and make our way through this so I'm confident we'll make it through but it would be nice to have more flexibility as well as more resource more dollars in the upcoming package. I believe I do believe that they will I think most Republicans and Democrats alike can see the merits and more flexibility and I think we'll see that the next package whether we'll see any any dollars flowing new dollars for budgets I think that's 50-50 at this point. When you say there you know there are there's debt that we can take what whatever we've done we've done them and you know we've already done the the first quarter of the budget we we don't have any there's no non-essential travel or limiting hiring the hiring fruities the administration I've I've canceled any increases and wages for our our staff and and and many others have have as well whether it's the Attorney General, Secretary of State and so we've taken a number of steps that have preserved some of the revenue at this point in time so we've done that already in this first quarter and we'll continue to do that through the the rest of the the fiscal year. I guess I was wondering what people can expect to see in the future in terms of this kind of cutback. I guess we won't know until we know what we have to deal with we don't even have the cards dealt with to us yet so we'll learn more as the legislature gets back in the session and things should be clearer by then but for me to speculate at this point wouldn't be helpful. Okay, thank you. Joe Gresser, the Department of Chronicles. I believe this is a question for Secretary Smith once again it's about the death of Mr. Johnson and answer is no to that question and I think what the Department of Correction is doing is waiting for the completion of the external investigation including the investigation that I have commissioned through the Department of through Drowth-Rackman and Martin and I believe they are moving towards an investigation through the Department of Personnel Management as well but I I'll have to follow up on that as well but the answer to your question is no. Thank you very much. Aaron Potenko, BT Digger. Ethan, can you tell me how many more people we have? Yes, sorry. Three more. We're in overtime here. Go ahead, Aaron. Aaron, star six. Didn't mean to scare you off. All right, we'll move on to Joel from the Burlington Free Press. Yes, good afternoon Governor. I don't have any questions today honestly enough. I think it's lunchtime. Well, I think my esteemed colleague well, believe it or not. It may be a question for the free press. Yeah. All right, well you all take care. Thanks, Joel. Olivia Lyons, WCAX. I do have a couple questions. So the C says that they want to school financially and hiring additional staff for health and safety tests but some schools may shut down for a lack of staff. So why is the state accepting this? You know, how many schools do you anticipate may shut down but to put the massive strain on those surrounding schools with plans created for their current students? So how will the state help those schools? Secretary of French Olivia, do you have do you have specific schools that have said that they were shutting down? No, but it was mentioned before by Secretary French that there may be some schools that do shut down for lack of staff. Hi, Olivia. I was just referring to, you know, staff being an important consideration for schools to maintain their operations and reopen and our objective is to ensure that continuity that schools can stay open. So in terms of the additional state resources at this point there are none but school districts do have access to federal supports to help with the COVID relief including funding for staff. Okay, and then on a different note through Efficiency Vermont there is a grant to improve air quality in schools and about 220 of the 350 eligible schools showed interest in this. So is the state going to offer additional funding to make building improvements for COVID including air handling systems beyond the Efficiency Vermont grant program? It's not clear to me yet, you know, the state and the legislature, we work with the legislature to dedicate I think it's $6.5 million of CRF funding towards this HVAC program. I think we all acknowledge its toe in the water and so to speak but there are a number of priorities related to reopening school and HVAC as one of them. I know I think Thursday I'm meeting with the House Education Committee and we'll hear from a number of superintendents around the state in terms of what they're thinking about in terms of their costs and so forth. So I know the financial considerations will remain a significant concern for not only for us and for the legislature. All right, thank you. Okay, I think that's it. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you again on Friday.