 Before I get started, I wanted to make sure everyone knows the by local Vermont program is now open This means Vermonters can go to thinkvermont.com Slash local and sign up for a $30 deal for one of more than 1,300 Vermont businesses This initiative was passed by the legislature earlier this summer With a goal of injecting a half a million dollars of federal relief funds into our local businesses across the state While it's not nearly enough. It's a start now As I'm sure we're all aware today is the first day of school And because these are not normal times things will look and feel much different But the start of the school year is still exciting for kids I wish all students the very best as they start the new year and don't forget to treat your Classmates staff and teachers well just the way you want to be treated As we know some schools will be in-person and full-time While most will have some days in-person and some days online. I Know this hasn't been easy on anyone But my hope is that by giving schools flexibility Those who aren't comfortable with five days a week at this point Will take this time and build faith in their in-person systems and protocols and with this confidence Transition to more in-person days as the year moves ahead As I said on Friday, I want all parents school administrators teachers and support staff And concerned Vermonters to remember we have an incredibly strong team of the Department of Health Who have been helping us manage this crisis since February They have strong protocols in place and a proven record of protecting Vermonters and making sure we're ready for this restart But again Even though we are by far the safest state in the nation With the lowest number of cases and the lowest positivity rates We know there will be bumps in the road and there will be cases tied to schools They also know how important this is for our kids And we're here to work with schools as we take this step forward to respond to and Contain cases just as we've done throughout this pandemic Dr. Levine will talk about some new testing initiatives this morning as well I mentioned this because a strong testing system and using these tests to activate our contact tracing team is key to finding and containing cases and clusters before they become outbreaks Which is critical to keeping our schools and economy open We've been building and strengthening these programs for months, but we're not resting on our laurels and Dr. Levine assure more on this in a few minutes We also have a strong team at the agency of education and Experience talented superintendents principles teachers and support staff across the state Who are rising to this challenge to support our kids? And getting back into school is just one of those challenges As we heard from pediatricians throughout the summer Last year's remote learning affected our kids and not in a good way And now the work begins to see just how deep those impacts were Which is why it's so important for all of us to work together to get kids back on track I know in my heart This is the goal we all share and Secretary French will now talk more about this work Secretary French Thank You governor. Good morning Today's the first day of school for the 2020-21 school year Like every start to a new school year this day brings renewed optimism and excitement as we look forward to greeting our students and beginning The work of our schools which is so central not only to their development, but also to the vitality of our communities Six months ago. We abruptly closed our schools as an emergency social mitigation strategy to stop the spread of the virus Like all states Vermont had to begin the hard work of achieving some measure of viral suppression By shutting down many aspects of our society to prevent its transmission Back then many states announced temporary closure of their schools Some announced they would close their schools until April vacation Others announced their intention to reopen schools in May Vermont took bolder action and announced a closure of its schools for the remainder of the school year This required our school system to rapidly develop remote learning plans for all students This was very challenging work and highlighted issues of equal opportunity that no doubt existed prior to the emergency But certainly we're exacerbated by bandwidth issues and adequate access to computer hardware and lack of robust online learning platforms Despite these challenges with the remote learning our priority was getting control of the virus Our collective work has paid off with Vermont now having a high degree of viral suppression We also made significant investments in our testing and contact tracing capacity To ensure we can rapidly identify new cases of the virus and prevent them from spreading The ability of our health department to contain the virus has been proven when clusters emerged in Wynusky and Fairhaven And now with a successful reopening of our higher education system We can have the confidence. We are ready to take the next step in reopening our K through 12 system It is from an appreciation of this context that we made plans to reopen our K-12 schools Excuse me our plans are grounded in the best public health information available Are designed to ensure the safety of our students and staff I would like to thank all the educators and local leaders who have worked hard over the summer to make the all the preparations for reopening our schools Starting today in our K-12 education system We can mark the transition from one phase of our work to another as we shift our focus from preparing to reopening schools To addressing the educational needs of all our students during this unprecedented pandemic We will be doing this work while also attending to the larger public health concerns because until we have a vaccine The threat of the virus will be with us All Vermonters will need to continue to file the guidance from our health department if we are to keep our schools open The sacrifices and hard work of all Vermonters has given us the opportunity to move forward now with the work of educating our children We can also anticipate having a vaccine at some point moving into a recovery phase of this emergency To that end. I thought it would take some time to make some observations about how I see the next several months playing out in our K-12 system Firstly in education we often talk about interventions Interventions our actions we take within a school or school system to address the learning needs of students Our number one intervention right now is quite simply the act of reopening our schools Reopening our schools is the best thing we can do for our children Reopening our schools allows us to re-establish the routines Relationships and activities of school life that are essential to the well-being and healthy development of our students Our priority now needs to be on the social and emotional well-being of our students All school activities and routines for the next several weeks including academics and extracurricular activities Should prioritize the social emotional needs of students. I Think the social emotional needs of our students will remain a priority throughout this emergency But I anticipate we will be putting an increased emphasis on academics later this month if we can make this the shift to step 3 as described in our guidance Our health guidance anticipates moving from step 2 to step 3 after this initial reopening period if the conditions for COVID-19 continue to remain positive Under step 3 schools can follow less stringent requirements when implementing in-person instruction If we can make the transition to step 3 in a few weeks I expect schools will be able to put a renewed focus on academics with the advent of more in-person learning Which will probably result from the shift to step 3 We also know that considering the prospect of flu season and moving to more indoor schooling as temperatures get cooler That we need to take advantage of this time in late September to maximize in-person learning opportunities for students We will likely be implementing some form a mixed in-person or remote learning until we have a vaccine He can safely move into a recovery phase To support hybrid learning the agency will be working with educators and schools to identify and scale innovative practices and hybrid learning That seemed to work best Our team at the agency is currently working with educators from around the state to address this need Based on this collaboration. We will be publishing guidance on the following topic soon Guidance on physical education and a support guide for physical education co-developed with shape Which is the Society of Health and Physical Educators of Vermont? lab science guidelines and supports co-developed with Vermont science educators in Priority instructional content for math developed with the input from Vermont math experts and in alignment with national recommendations We also be putting significant effort behind developing guidance on student support systems Including guidance for meeting the needs of our students who have disabilities We know that disemergency has been very difficult and challenging for our education system on many levels But we also know that necessity can be the mother of invention and therefore we need to be alert when new effective ideas emerge In in anticipation of the need to identify new innovations One of the first things we did when this emergency began was to form a task force of Vermont educators business leaders and other key individuals To think about the strategic implications of this emergency on Vermont's K-12 education system members of this task force included Raphael Adamic who's the director of instructional technology for the Windsor central supervisory union Bridget Assay a school board member for Montpelier Roxbury public schools Janet Bombardier chief technology officer and COO for chroma technology Dr. Heather Gouche deputy secretary the agency of education Jean Collins superintendent for the Rutland Northeast supervisory union Morgan Crossman executive director of building bright futures Just a careless a division director for the agency of education Matt Dunn founder and executive director of the center on rural innovation John Downs the director of the Tarrant Institute Scott Farr superintendent and director of the River Valley Technical Center Jason Finley career development coordinator for the Randolph Technical Center Tammy for Shet special educator for North Country Union High School Sharon Howell the new headmaster of St. John'sbury Academy Martha Martell a classroom teacher at Wilson Central School Mike McRaeff assistant executive director of the Vermont principles Association Juliette Longchamp director of professional programs for Vermont NEA Tom Lovett the headmaster emeritus of St. John'sbury Academy Randy Lowe superintendent for the Bennington Rutland supervisory union Martha Santa Maria a classroom teacher at Middlebury Union Middle School Chuck Scranton executive director of the Rowland Foundation and Lisa Ventress president of Vermont business roundtable This group led by Dr. Andrew Jones is the director of curriculum for the Mill River school district and president of Vermont curriculum leaders association has been meeting throughout the summer and recently completed its work I'm pleased to announce that later this week we'll be publishing the group's report and its recommendations I would like to thank the task force members for their hard work over the summer In summary, I expect this initial period of school reopening will have a focus on meeting the social and emotional needs of our students If the conditions support it and we are able to transition to step three later this month I expect districts will put more focus on the academic and learning needs of students while the conditions remain positive to maximize opportunities for in-person instruction In anticipation of having a vaccine and eventually moving into a recovery phrase of this emergency we will also begin to work in describing the strategic implications of this emergency on our education system and begin a conversation about how to enact its most effective innovations across the entire system That concludes my update. I'll now turn it over to Dr. Levine Good morning Before I give an update on the numbers, I will share two important developments with regard to testing As the governor said Testing has been key to our ability to understand and track the presence of COVID-19 across the state And with expert contact tracing isolation and quarantine to limit the spread of the virus To date we have tested more than 146,000 people Nearly one quarter of our population Through pop-up test sites operated by the health department and the Vermont National Guard And through testing by hospitals and health care providers A few months ago Walgreens joined in a pilot testing effort and now operates a drive-through site in S-Extension And today I'm pleased to announce Based on a pilot test with the health department That kinny drugs has entered a partnership with the uvm medical center and will begin testing this week at 11 different locations around the state Some will begin as early as tomorrow And others over the next two weeks Locations and dates of testing are being added to our map now so folks can make appointments I'm also pleased to announce That working together with the agency of digital services We have created a new online system that facilitates registration And results reporting This will speed up the reporting of test results by making them available electronically Through email For people who get tested at one of our sites This comprehensive tool ensures that results are more easily accessible While still protecting the privacy of the individual's health information We are in the final phases of testing and making recommendations and improvements to this new system So Vermonters can continue to access testing when they need it And while I'm on the topic a reminder about testing We know many vermoners want to do the right thing to protect their friends and family And for some people the urge is to get tested But while anyone can get tested not everyone needs to get tested The best way to protect yourself from COVID-19 and keep our schools and economy open Is to follow all of the key prevention practices Wearing a mask keeping a distance of six feet from others Avoiding crowded spaces, especially indoor spaces Washing your hands a lot and staying home when you're sick If you think you should get tested talk with your health care provider The health department recommends testing if you have symptoms of the virus If you have had close contact within six feet for about 15 minutes or more With someone who has the virus or if you are referred by your health care provider for another reason We do not recommend people get tested before visiting another household Or attending a gathering just to make sure that they're okay Testing only tells you if you have COVID-19 on the day you were tested You could have already been exposed but may have been tested too early for it to show up on the test Or you could be exposed to COVID-19 after you are tested Testing is not prevention and a negative test does not necessarily mean it's safe to gather with others Let's look at our health update now As of yesterday total number of cases 1654 Total number of deaths 58 I can tell you that our last death was on july 28th That was 41 days ago the slope of our Curve hasn't changed in a long long time And now looking at the number of new cases over time The last four days have been relatively uneventful from the standpoint of numbers With 12 cases total ranging from one to five on any given day I'm happy to report that the outbreak in killington has had only one new case added For a total of 18 cases And the yield from the pico killington Pop-up was zero new cases Our percent positivity rate last week remained in the 0.3 percent range And since march today did has been in the 1 percent range We obviously will be very focused on discerning the impact if any over the next couple couple of weeks Of a number of current events Obvious first one is labor day But I must say in the times I was out. I was very impressed with what I observed In the behavior of fellow vermoners The burlington protests which have gone to reasonably high numbers But I continue again to be impressed with the percentage of people masking And of course Reopening and as you just heard k through 12 reopening I'll now turn it back to the governor And with that we'll open up for questions Yeah, really taking a look at the hospitality sector Particularly our you know restaurants And our lodging They've been impacted greatly over the last several months And it's time if we have Again low positivity rates Low number of cases and we're successfully opening up schools That will be the next area that we'll look at well again We know the challenges with broadband in vermont and across rural America for that for that matter I'm hopeful still hopeful that congress will take action And that will continue to invest in more broadband throughout the states In this particular case, I'm not sure the secretary of french will be able to answer that It's more of a department of public service question We can get the answer to that I don't believe commissioner tyranny is on on the line, but we can get you An answer to that but but again, it's uh, it's problematic for some The $3,000 to extend the lines was a step forward, but we know we have a long ways to go Well part of that is tracking data So that will be no different than it ever is because we track all of the data 24 7 every day of the year Probably what you're referring to more is if there are a sufficient number of cases That would generate a significant amount of contact tracing So currently we're Thank goodness under utilizing our contact tracing workforce And only using probably less than half With the number of cases that we're encountering at this point in time So we still have a vast reserve in our workforce Plus we've hired and trained another handful of Contact tracers to add to that workforce suspecting In the event that we have a surge in cases not only with k-12 but potentially with colleges with Foliage season things of that sort that we'd have even a second reserve if you will so currently An underutilized Force which I hope could continue in that vein But plenty of room for expansion Yeah, so, you know essentially our modus operandi to date has been when there's an outbreak Doing a pop-up most recent example was in the Rutland and pico killington areas Over a three-day period With schools it's a little Maybe less complicated Because we might not need to do that extent of tracing depending on if it's an individual case If it's a small number in a classroom versus, you know an entire school, which would be much less likely And we'd have to try to understand If the family units that those cases came from had anything interesting going on in terms of numbers of people affected congregate gatherings things of that sort, but pretty much We do a pop-up on demand if it's needed Thank you I just just want to remind everyone as well the news that uh, dr. Levine spoke of earlier Is great news with kinny drugs with 11 locations that is Increasing the amount of testing we'll be able to perform as well with the college and universities doing their own testing In our pop-up testing that we've done over the last few months We've steadily increased our testing ability And we continue to look for other opportunities as well So I think we're in pretty good shape. And uh, and again, this is a positive news with kinny drugs coming on board I'm ignoring that Is it coming at a good time here as far as our numbers go you say that they're the hospitality sectors the next one Why are we looking at numbers wise for that You know, you know, um, again, we know the hospitality sector the the most impacted sector in terms of the unemployed Um, we the vast majority of those still unemployed come from that sector So that's why we know we have to pay attention But it's also where we're most vulnerable when we're inviting more people to come in To our estate. So we just have to be strategic. We have to be careful. Everything we've done has been In with that keeping an eye on that But it's time. I think if we prove ourselves over the next couple of weeks It's time to open up that sector so they can get through the winter and survive And get to the, you know, more normal times a vaccine maybe between now and spring We'll get us back to where we should be right now You know where we're heading last year, you know, we were We were we were fortunate when we look at our numbers from the budget standpoint You know, we were doing very well Up until the pandemic hit and probably would have had a record surplus. I'm hoping we can just Resurrect that get back on her on the on the path forward Into a more viable viable economy Well, if it keeps up the numbers stay either the same or even less And you do increase What i'm wondering is the The possibility that We can get back to those numbers and to I mean the What i'm trying to say is the areas that for instance the ski industry and a few others they were They were around record pace last year. They had snow. They had lots of visitors. I know in The situation i'm in on the weekends that we see a lot of people from out of state and they do adhere to our policies, but And in fact, we haven't had any problems Yeah, I don't I don't anticipate that we'll get back to those numbers Anytime soon and it may not be over the next few months But again opening it up as much as we can because a lot of it's out of our control a lot of Folks are are apprehensive about traveling themselves until they see a vaccine or or have faith in in where they're going so It's not in all in our control We could open everything up to a hundred percent and still not be a capacity and not Get the numbers back to where they were before so We'll just have to continue to do the best we can prove ourselves And do this in a measured responsible way. And finally The number of possible Who are actually staying here in Vermont and just staying here because it's safer or they perceive it as being safer Do we have any handle on those numbers or Yeah, I'm not sure that we do. I'm not sure how we would collect the the data either, but But I mean I the numbers speak for themselves. We are the safest state in the country In all respects, but certainly with the pandemic with a low number of cases the low positivity rate So I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to stay in vermont for the winter I know I mean and and this was his vacation again I mean think about it the vice president chose vermont to come and take a couple of days He shows, you know, the faith he has and uh in what we have or what we're doing All right, moving to the phones. We'll start with joe from the barton chronicle My first question is about um, the proposed supplement to unemployment Where does that stand now our people Getting that three hundred dollars. I know It was supposed to end Um, pretty early. So is it over before they've gotten it? Well, it will be backdated. I don't believe um and uh commissioner herrington can Can chime in but Nobody has received that benefit at this point in time But it's retroactive and they will be receiving the full benefit over this period of time But uh, but you're right. I think that It's it was only designed for three to four weeks. So By the time this comes into place they will be They will be They'll be out of out of room in some respects because until congress takes action They won't be an additional amount of money because that was just that was just female money Oh, wait, maybe Joe if I if I could uh, commissioner herrington, can you give any more information on that? Thanks governor. I'm happy to You know the the first initial three weeks that every state that applied receives Is back is going to be backdated in many cases state by the time they had applied and received approval They were already talking about backdating So we're looking at the first week being the week that ends August 1st the week that ends August 8th and the week that ends August 15th The federal government has indicated there may be additional weeks available Depending on how the rollout goes in here in brahman We are doing the first step in the eligibility requirements gathering. So Uh individuals will be at this week And going forward to certify that their disruption and employment is due to covet Uh 19 and then from there we will take that population And identify the rest of the eligibility criteria And then start issuing checks. My hope is that um, you know, we could start issuing checks As early as next week If not before depending on what we receive back from individuals who are able to certify that their work is Has been impacted by COVID-19 Thank you. I have also another question that was asked of me by an acquaintance who is a volunteer EMT person and he noted that um The hazard pay Was granted to professional EMTs and He is as to whether anything can be done Um, not necessarily for volunteers because they don't expect to get paid But their organizations for example, or if there's any kind of Recognition from or otherwise that can be granted to people who are volunteering to serve their communities He said that a number of his colleagues Can't go on calls these days because they have uh, some kind of health compromises and I think To some extent he just thinks that people like him should be recognized for their service to the community Yeah, they certainly should be recognized. We We do count on volunteers throughout vermont, whether it's the volunteer fire department or EMTs And I don't know what we would do without their public service. So In terms of thanking them, I do thank them But I don't know the particulars of the program. I'm going to ask secretary smith to elaborate Thanks, joe. That's a pertinent and timely question We've had we've heard from a lot from the volunteer EMS Community on sort of the hazard hazard pay concept the grant program The hazard pay grant program was for It basically was for those frontline Workers in public safety, uh, public health health care and human services That were could be based on a payroll Aspect for determining how much they would get between 1200 and 2000 dollars Obviously volunteers Were not In that because they weren't getting paid and the payrolls couldn't be checked However, there is a grant program that's being run through the tax department for municipalities That could include Hazard pay for Volunteers in in that regard, but also the legislature is now looking at how to expand the hazards hazard pay program And included in that look see is Is the aspect of volunteer EMS. We're working with the legislature. Obviously, it's Trying to figure out how you would do a Any sort of hazard pay program without A payroll associated to it probably would be in terms of the most expeditious way would be a grant program probably to The municipality in terms of for this specific purpose, but we're looking at With the legislature looking at various ways to expand this program That's a good way Greg the county courier. Yeah, good labor day weekend Um, first off, I did get this connected a little bit quickly last week and I wanted to acknowledge I I appreciate your time even ask my hard questions Um, I'm hoping you give us an update on Uh month take leaves in richford, uh that we've spoken about the last few days Um, I haven't received an update since friday um maybe Commissioner shirling is there been anything That is uh transpired between friday and today Uh, thank you governor. No, uh Just some correspondence from uh, municipal officials in richford thanking us for a prompt response of the only The only update I've received no operational Notice that the state police, uh, or the The law police academy has 11 troopers Uh being trained right now. Is that a a move? in your administration towards defunding the police or our best law enforcement Um We are constantly training and always have opportunities for more law enforcement Amongst the ranks of the vermouth state police. It's been challenging through the pandemic Even in the academy and so there's been a bit of uh, of a Maybe a vacuum in some respects over the last six months there But uh, we're hoping to get back up to speed and continue to train law enforcement throughout vermont Anything I should add with that commissioner shirling I just add uh, that, um Recruitment for law enforcement remains a challenge, uh, increasingly so in the uh existing climate and uh, so that's part of the challenge The other part of the challenge is the covet operating environment to the academy was Limited in the total number of recruits that could be trained This session as a result of the covet distancing requirement that we put in place there Yeah, and I would also add pre pandemic We have had a labor force shortage across all sectors Including law enforcement so We have an annual attrition in the state police of approximately 30 troopers annual lead, uh, so this is a normal, uh, slightly light class typically we shoot for 15 For class but that's the normal attrition rate Right, and then uh, left to the governor again on a labor You here It's my understanding that v-trans was down about 20 workers in the district five-day area With a statewide effort not to hire people because of COVID and the budget issues You know that may be good now, but when It's not fly as a big kind of safety issue. What what's to say? Yeah, well again, we have a hiring freeze at this point. Um, let's not You know, I want to underscore that we still have budgetary concerns and we're doing all we can To make sure that we live within our means and we provide the services that we need to I uh, I expect we will Be able to continue to plow the roads to keep them safe But but we have to prioritize in certain areas I might ask, um, Secretary Flynn on No, okay But uh, but I will check back in with him, but uh, I have heard No concerns in some respects. We we know what our mission is And we'll we'll fulfill that mission Thank you Good morning, I have a couple of logistical questions. I'm going to try to clear up for our viewers With these new Testing partnerships. Are these tests going to be free or they gotta cost money? What should people expect? I don't have the answer that maybe commission levine You're talking about the ones through the pharmacies Yes, like the kidney drug partnership Yeah, I expect to need to pay for those the insurance cover all of it like how does that work? I believe they should be treated just like other tests with insurance being the first stop And not charging the person out of pocket And is there any restriction on who can go to these are they doing for instance? The tests for people who are trying to get out of a quarantine from travel Right. So the preferential audience for these tests will be the asymptomatic group. So probably the leading Sector in that group of people trying to get out of quarantine from travel Or potentially people who have been traced as a contact and want to get out of quarantine or As a contact and then the last kind of logistical question I had On that front was how Fast people can expect a turnaround time to be for these tests, you know, they're going to be one two three days a week Yeah, so I think that's part of the partnership with UV a medical center. So they will be triage As the medical center does and our turnaround time has been within two days using that method Earlier on when Arizona, texas, florida were having their huge surges The private companies commercial labs like quest and lab core were having Very long turnaround times even those operations have now Been able to come in at just a couple of days turnaround So we don't anticipate they're being long turnaround times for really anybody for testing Thank you Thanks, Rebecca, uh, governor, I was wondering any reaction to the New lawsuit filed by several promoters speaking And in junction blocking the distribution of mail-in ballots By way of mass mailing saw people on the voter statewide voter checklist And notice the lawsuit You've pointed out a flaw in the temporary election law path I was one of the reasons you didn't sign it, but just wondering what your reaction to this lawsuit Um, I wasn't aware that a lawsuit had been filed at this point, but From my standpoint, uh, I believe that people should Vote I think the mail-in type of approach Well, it could be is new I think it could have been done in a different way The reality is that's the way it's going to be done in vermont, and I believe that It will be done successfully the secretary of state is is the Is the lead on this and And he has said and he's the expert on elections He has said that he has No qualms about this being successful. This might be a better question um for Maybe for the secretary of state in terms of His response to the the lawsuit because I just I wasn't aware of it Okay, thank you very much Wilson rang the ap Lisa Rarky Wilson boss today I'm whether Secretary french is um today being the first day for schools to restart Have you heard from districts about how it's going today? Are there any issues or anything that's going well? Class Yeah, thank you for the question. Um, no, I haven't yet. That's uh, I think a little early, but I'll I'll check in with the superintendents. We have a regular weekly call on thursday, so Okay, and then do you know, um, roughly what percentage of Students or districts that have students back for in-person learning today? Yeah, I mean it's Yeah, when you say in person, are you meaning 100 percent in person? Uh, we have just most districts are in a disposition of hybrid learning So there's some version of in-person being enacted today, but it's hard to uh Say, you know, what what districts are just doing solely doing in person Okay, all right. Thank you Welcome Mara Brooks Mara Brooks Hardwick Gazette star six on mute. All right, we'll go to tim mcquiston remont business magazine Hi governor, all right. I wanted to ask you about the global warming solutions act And it's tough to your death pretty soon Is there any under any conditions that you would sign it with the provision that any individual could to the state? Yeah, I uh You know, I outlined in a letter to the legislature as you've seen Some of my concerns about this And there is a path forward and we can work at this on this together So at this point, it doesn't appear that they're at least from the house perspective I've heard or haven't heard from the senate for from the house perspective They feel that they have gone as far as they can But you never know with the legislature it still has an opportunity to get us all on board and move forward with this but But I have some, you know Some some concerns that had not been met at this point that I think are detrimental to the state And also related to that is there Can you anticipate, you know, that the the carbon reductions are very very strict is that seem reasonable Even within the realm of possibility from your perspective, well again, you know Climate change is real and we have to get serious about carbon reductions and And I believe moving to electric vehicles is the the fastest way to do that and Try and really focus on that area because that's that's where the the The biggest the lowest hanging fruit is in some respects because that's where most of the carbon emissions come from 60 percent is from transportation related Issues so Focusing on electric vehicles. I think it's the right approach We've been doing that over the last couple of years and incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles having charging stations putting infrastructure in place So again, I think it's doable I mean the the path we're on is doable But but trying to get everyone on board. I think is uh is important to the cause and instead of In the in the courts and in litigation. Let's all get together and make this happen Great, thank you very much Guy page Yes, the question for secretary branch Uh, secretary french, there's there's been a uh, the new policy on School buses. I have a question about It says not only do children need to be masked, but the windows need to be open as well And that's I guess in extremely inclement weather And I wonder If you could explain why why that's not overkill Um, and and also Concern about uh, especially this time of year these flying through an open window. Maybe singing an electric child Whose equipments are at school Is that something that's been considered? Yeah, thank you You know just to the back up on that a little bit. We haven't issued any new guidance pertaining to school buses In the original health guidance. I believe this remained sort of intact and that was published in june 17th Uh, we did as I mentioned earlier We anticipate moving uh to step three in our guidance, but in our original guidance We did decide to open busing at step three initially Just to address a lot of logistic issues and a lot of the issues you refer to Our recommendations not requirements. Certainly. I think pertaining to windows as our recommendations We'd like to encourage in classrooms as well To to improve air circulation But I think still common sense will prevail in the case of bees and other things flying through windows But I think you know school districts are well well equipped to deal with those issues and the issues of epi pens and so forth Are ones that predate this this emergency and I know they'll address them And are fully capable of doing so So you're saying these are just recommendations or not They're not requirements and school districts can use their own discretion Yeah, I think they're one I just know I just make the point. This isn't there's nothing new relative to school bus direction This has been around since june Some of it is a requirement other parts that are recommendations But I think specifically when you start talking about issues specific issues of opening a window or not Those are recommendations for folks Okay, there was an obvious 11 documents that specifically reference that But okay, thank you very much for that French governor I've got a question for you about your policing executive order You note that local and state government Are discussing quote an end to qualified immunity for law enforcement officers removal of police from schools Which may open and form debate and consideration in Vermont community and in the legislature Are raising those issues? Are you saying that you are inclined to support legislation? We're taking the police out of schools and ending qualified immunity or are you just saying You know what's being discussed. Yeah, I'm in support of having the dialogue And and leaving it to the districts to determine what they want to do Commissioner shirling. Are you still on? Do you want to comment on that provision in particular? I am governor. Thank you I think you You nailed it on the on the first answer that The choice to have law enforcement in schools is a district by district in school by school decision um I don't think I have anything to add to that How is this governor? Is this related to to covid in any way or is this just would this be an executive order? Even if never know state of emergency. Yeah, this this has nothing to do with the state of emergency in some respects It's uh, it's all about the racial disparity. We're seeing Uh rise throughout the country and something that we need to address Do you want to take a position on? Taking police out of schools and qualified immunity. I mean, is there do you have a point of view on that? No, I'm I'm in favor of leaving it as I have, you know with the in-person versus Remote learning in terms of opening up our our schools at this point Um, I'm leaving it to the districts, but we need to have the conversation You know racism is real and we continue to see uh, it rear its ugly head Almost weekly at this point and we're not immune to in in the state of vermont So we have to again address this Way we're doing it in a responsible way having the dialogue. I think it's important to coming to at least Some measure of working together Because it's literally in our hands just like You know, we talked about the pandemic and and how Taking steps wearing a mask staying six feet apart staying home when sick and so forth Is so important those simple steps Ending racism in our country Is literally in our hands the government can't do this But we can individually it's about how we treat each other and it's about a mindset and we have to work on this because We have we have a lot of work to do and again, we're we're doing our part in this manner It's not over. I mean, there's going to be Ongoing conversations about this and we have to again have the the tough conversations That need to be had Okay, thank you Governor so new data from the transportation company unit group has said that far more people moved to vermont Between march 1st and the middle of august Obviously the state's in trying to get more people here What is the thought process been behind it with this influx of people keeping them here? One hopefully things kind of return to normalcy within the next year and a half Yeah, again I talked about this a lot pre pandemic about the need for more people more families in the state to fill our mp schools 30,000 fewer kids in our schools over the last 20 years I'm shrinking workforce in terms of number of people available for work So in some respects what we need to do is bring more people in And again Selling that we're one of the safest states in the in the country Seems to be working in some respects But keeping them here takes an economy that works, you know making vermont more affordable And focusing on the economy in general I think we'll we'll continue to to keep people here once Once they get more complacent So we're on the right track. I believe that we'll see hopefully influx of people over the next couple of years But we have to do our part to make sure that we keep them here by making it make it affordable Hi governor, thanks for taking the call I also have a question about the global warming solutions act Can you explain further given that vermont has missed One climate emissions reduction target several years ago and it's not on track to meet current Pledge under the Paris Accord What's so difficult or offensive about Having a system in place that would hold the state Accountable to those pledges. Can you explain a little more about that? Yeah, there's different provisions within that I have Issues with with the act itself and one of them is making the state financially liable and for from a lawsuit and so I don't believe that's the right approach. I just believe that we need to put Laws in place that will help get us to where we want to go I don't believe using the threat of a lawsuit As a as a good approach to changing behavior So what what's the what's the mechanism that would be in place to ensure that the state meets its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target? That's not a judge or lawyers or others Well, again, just putting it into the court and in finding the state isn't going to change behavior I believe again as we started down this path. I believe that the electrification Using electric vehicles is is the answer 60% of our emissions are through transportation And we have started moving in that direction. I believe that we can further Incentivize work towards Changing behavior in that area and I think it's exciting in a lot of respect. So I think getting people on board again Is about proving ourselves and to show that there's a different path and it You know, it isn't using carbon emitting vehicles. It's it's through Electric vehicles, I believe EVs Yeah, I think I think a lot of people agree with you on that I just it's a question of how to hold the state accountable for the emission targets What happens if we're coming up on a deadline and and we're just far off from those goals about what will what mechanism would be in place to Ensure that the state does more to try to meet those goals I think it depends on on where we're we're failing And again, this isn't something that can be done in any one or two or three years It's going to take some time and I believe that it will ramp up I've said this all along with the electrification of vehicles We're not going to see this overnight But in ramping up towards this, I think the trajectory will will further increase The closer we get to acceptance and the closer we get to having more vehicles available The price comes down more incentives More charging stations having everything in place Will will allow us to just more steeply ramp up to where we want to go. So It may not be in the first a few years, but but I would say You know again that trajectory looks different in my from my perspective than it does for others. It's not a Slope that is consistent. I think it's going to increase as we get closer To to to more acceptability as well as new technology Okay, thanks for that last question is about the latest by local program with the $30 coupons that were launched today obviously that's a that's a novel and economic development plan to put money in the pockets of Area businesses. I signed up for it at 11 o'clock hoping to get my $30 coupon and I have not heard back yet with a verification code There seems to be some Hiccups in the in the website there. If you had enough data on that you probably haven't since you've been in the press conference What's your optimism about that program? This is my first update from you Kevin Maybe commissioner or secretary curly could respond to this Yeah, hi, can you hear me we can Okay, great. Um, yes, we are over there that the site is having trouble We have a great demand for the program already over 10,000 for monitors are trying to get signed up. So Um, the system is working, but I understand that the um codes are filled a little delayed But um, it was just asking for both patience and uh, hopefully those codes will become your way very shortly Okay, and then um, can someone just give me a quick summary of the of the larger the more aggressive Similar program that I think is in the works or at least under consideration 50 million dollars. I believe Yeah, so, um, the house what uh, was not uh, a large fan of of the 50 million dollar Expansion of the pilot program So, uh, you know the senate may see it differently and so it's still being discussed as we see But uh, a lot a lot more to come. I'm sure this week on that front in the meantime, we're very excited about the interest that the pilot program the 500 000 has Has received more than 1300 businesses Has signed up and again, that's all vermont local businesses And as I mentioned already this morning, we've seen more than 10 000 for monitors signal their interest in And um, and buying local and having an opportunity to receive a statement Okay, thanks very much everyone. Thank you Kevin Andrew caledonian record Yes, uh, good afternoon. Can you hear me again? Uh, I this is for secretary french. Um, I guess I'm wondering Do you have a date circled on the calendar for when you feel like you and the aoe will have a Turn to corner on the reopening In terms of whether it's successful or not and what the metrics are that you'll be looking forward to To make that determination Yes, thank you As I alluded to that transition to step three. I think we'll mark mark that change And actually I think we'll look significantly to our partners at the department of health to make that decision But it'll be looking closely at the metrics that you've you've become aware of, you know, that we review every friday Been looking for that any change in those metrics as a result of the k-12 opening But I would think in a couple weeks we'll be able to make that transition if conditions remain positive And is your soul focused then at this point just on the health metrics or are there educational metrics that you also Will want to keep having some influence Well in terms of the transition to step three, I think that's largely dependent on the health metrics But we'll be in this this won't say longer period of working under a hybrid model That's dependent on a lot of logistical issues and we'll be attending and supporting districts As they move forward in this the situation, but I think in terms of the larger health concern Yes, we'll be looking at those data to see to what extent we can make that transition at level three And how important is it from your perspective at this point For schools to find their way through to maximizing the about the in-person Learning that they're offering their kids I think it's it's a you know, it's a critical Moment we have but I think you know once again as I mentioned The priority right now is just to reopen schools and to focus on the routines and relationships and not to put Too much pressure. I think on this initial opening period around academic Needs, but I think that will come sort of naturally I do expect the weather remains good and You know our data remains good that we'll we'll see an increased focus on in-person learning and The system itself will start to focus on assessing the impact of the emergency on students And we'll make that transition So I think I you know school districts will feel a sense of urgency to start to reach out and Take those steps to remediate student learning But for right now, I mean our focus I think really needs just to be on reopening school and meeting the social Emotional needs of our students Okay, thank you Liam vpr Hi, I was wondering about the uh the executive order around public safety governor. You laid out a number of action items You know around making some data more publicly available a statewide support policy A universal reporting for misconduct and Allegation and I'm wondering when you'd like to see those initiatives actually go live and be things that are available for You know are being used Yeah, I mean some of them might take more time than others But just as soon as possible the body worn cameras is an area that that we're actively working on as we speak The use of force policy is something that that we we can work on immediately And it's just going to take a little bit of time for some of the others but training the data and so forth Again, just as soon as it's practical. We're working on many of these initiatives right now Mr. Shirley Let me just get the reaction from commissioner shirling as well Thank you, governor on the data front. We're making significant progress progress there in the acquisition of a new records management system that will allow for Additional data to be publicly available in a variety of different formats The policy development components are are actively under development together with a variety of partners and stakeholders and as our development of options for Both the governor and the legislature to consider on a host of other Initiatives we're working as swiftly as possible On all of the things mentioned in the governor's executive board in terms of the The reporting of improper Alligators on this conduct allegations on how much information governor would use to support releasing In that portal like the names of officers accused of misconduct the department says what level of detail are you Would you like to see in that in that portal? Yeah, just as being just as transparent as possible while respecting the rights of individuals So we'll determine that as we move forward, but but again just being just as transparent as possible I mean, do you have some ideas of what that might look like? I mean, what what does that turn possible mean to you? Well, again within the provisions of protecting an individual's rights But and as well as maybe some union rights as well We're trying to we'll try and meander our way through that and Provide as much transparency as we possibly can within those parameters Thank you John news seven Star six to unview. All right. We'll move to ann wallace allen bt digger Hi, can you hear me? We can um I have two questions One is I'm wondering how many of the child care hubs are actually open today and how many kids that involve I have to ask secretary smith for that And thank you. This is the latest information that I have first of all I I want to thank the team at ahs who worked over the Labor Day weekend to Make sure that there were facilities up and running Here as schools open schools are going to be opening at different times programs are going to be opening at different times this week So I'll give you what I have right now We were up to 24 hub programs up from three from friday Those 24 hubs will serve approximately 73 different site locations as I mentioned last week hubs Have different locations within those Those hubs we had envisioned hubs just being one location But what we found out as we sort of evolved in this process is that a hub can have multiple locations Uh for children and in actuality Can have a lot of slots within those uh multiple locations during the first week this first week of school active and identified hubs Have the capacity to provide over 6450 slots for school aged children during remote learning days As of monday afternoon that's yesterday 3484 of those slots were already filled It's important to remember that the hubs are aligning to the schedules Of the local needs Different school districts have different Time schedules different days that they're open And in terms of in in classroom versus The hybrid model and so we're aligning all of that With these hubs to those various locations to those various schedules Vermont after school continues to work with entities that have Come forward looking to provide school aged care There are also 14 additional Hub locations where Hub applications are in progress With details being confirmed As we speak and uh Vermont after school will pass these additional locations on to DCF to continue the vetting process I suspect that when we all said and done we'll have nearly Hub locations with multiple multiple excuse me 50 hubs with multiple multiple locations Where um these children will be going for child care I do want to point out now that I got the podium and in That we are seeking Additional hub sites in a few areas around the state That we have so far been unsuccessful in getting those Locations and I'll just mention the locations that we would like to work with after school After school would like to work with somebody in these locations to set up a hub. That would be Randolph Manchester and its surrounding towns grand isle county and And in towns around st. Albans and including swat and but There are there's been sufficient progress As we've moved forward here 6450 slots and slots are available slots We decided to go with slots because it gives This will all depend on parents and when they use the child care centers and when they don't and again Ultimately, we think will be up to 9 000 slots ultimately in this in this progress process and If schools go back to Five days a week in person learning We're probably going to reduce this as we move forward Because of the there won't be a need for this as I said, this is a system that we stood up On top of the existing child care system and is a temporary system and ready And can be dismantled after the need is is done What about staffing for all of these? Well in these first initial ones we are We You know, we're we've got the slots. We have the staffing to get the slots up Obviously staffing has been a challenge as we move forward and we're certainly looking at various ways to Get those additional staffing challenges You know Vermont after school those additional Slots filled and and staffed and Vermont after school is focusing on Recent unemployed college graduates Current college graduates who are may be engaged in remote learning themselves Older high school students unemployed The governor mentioned this the other day. We have 40 000 that are unemployed in in vermont We need you And qualified adults of any age and parents of high school or college-age students who are qualified as well I would urge to contact dcf and the after school program to To get us to where we need to go We've done an incredible amount of work In the last three weeks. We still have some to go and as I mentioned in the beginning This is a herculean task to get this system up and running With the realization that we weren't going to have it all up and running by the by today But boy, have we come a long way in getting it up and running To meet some of the needs of child care out there So it sounds like the upshot is that you think that you will have the number that your goal Of 9 000 slots you will have staffing for that Eventually we will have staffing for that right now. We have a 6450 slots our goals have 9 000 slots And we will gear it up now not everybody comes online in schools Um in the same way so we're trying to gear like I said gear up to the districts Okay, um, thanks. I have another question You have a question Yeah, I actually think it's for dr. Levine When we go back to testing results I'm wondering right now. There's a lot of discrepancies on timing for the results And you guys mentioned that that I was just hoping to get a little bit more information about our people Is again standardized when people get the results and is that window going to be closed a little bit So that people people get their tests. No one they're going to take their test results And Are going to get them sooner Yeah, so let me Clarify the question for everyone and then you can tell me if I'm on the right track There's when the test result is available because the lab has run the specimen and they have a result And then there is when an individual finds out that result So for the first part For the for the first part Clearly we believe For monitors are now getting Or specimens are now Being resulted out within a 48 hour period At least those of last week that was true and I'm hoping that's still true today The second part with the electronic reporting system Enables people to get pretty instantaneous notion of their result If they have access to email But we've already instituted systems of people calling So that People can get their results quickly. These are especially important, of course for the negative results Which are the majority as you've seen in the presentation so The problem that we've encountered in the past is if you have a negative result Finding out for real that that result was negative not just no news is good news, but actually getting your result initially it began with mail and Mail takes more time than any other mechanisms. So people were not always getting it in a timely fashion that way Then we moved to a phone calling system and brought in really a whole uh Panel of callers to help expedite that now I think we have really what's the fastest Which will be pretty instantaneous once the result is available. It can be Accessed electronically by email So those should all go, you know within that window of time Shouldn't take much more than the 48 hours that They should be getting resulted out on anyways Okay, thanks unless and at least About payment as I understand it now the test state is paying for the test that the state Is doing so you guys are saying that if you go get tested at kidney drugs you you have to submit your insurance or pay for it Yes Whereas you can still get it free from the state You still get well you still won't be paying for it if You go and present your insurance So I guess you could use the word it's free either way to the person If they have insurance yet True But we have mechanisms for people without insurance or in part of Medicaid to get their studies paid for as well So I understand we have heard stories of people being charged Uh for their tests, but that should not be the reality for any specific form Okay That concludes today's briefing. We'll see you again on friday. Thank you very much