 Good morning everyone We have a lot to go over this morning and then my team will go into more detail shortly, so I'll keep my comments brief To start I want to update you on our weekly evaluation on school and recreational sports Unfortunately, we're still not in a position to announce restarting these programs today But we're continuing to reevaluate that decision based on the data and we'll revisit this issue next week As well as our usual health and education updates on Fridays Today we have announcements on our surveillance testing program Contact tracing in our medical reserve core to make sure our long-term care facilities are staffed Director Borderman will also talk about VT alerts, which is our emergency alert system Which will now offer COVID updates So anyone looking to stay on top of the latest COVID news in Vermont Can now do so through VT alerts But before the others go into details, I want to reflect on two pieces of news First the FDA advisory panel recommended approval of Pfizer's COVID vaccine for emergency use yesterday It's expected the FDA will make that official within the next couple of days And while this is certainly incredible news and an important milestone as well as a huge step Toward defeating this virus, which has devastated our way of life We have to reflect on what's going on right now As we've said here before we have a team of talented experts in Vermont Who have been working for months to prepare for the distribution of the vaccine To be sure this has and will be complicated But we're ready and we expect if the FDA and CDC sign off The first doses will arrive sometime next week And while this is great news and should give us all hope We're not out of the woods yet We'll uh We'll be again looking at this every day and dealing with this with a limited number of supplies Now every uh Every single morning since march I start my day looking at how the northeast states are doing as well as florida texas in california And I write down the number of positives and the number of deaths Each state had the day before I do this as a daily reminder to myself How quickly things can change and the fact is there hasn't been much good news lately We still have high case counts, which means more have to be admitted to the hospital And sadly this results in more deaths The last Statistic has been concerning me more and more We as a country had more deaths in a single day yesterday Then we lost on 9 11 Now think about that for a moment over 3 000 deaths in one day And we're about to go over 300 000 deaths since march That's more deaths than we lost in world war one korea vietnam iraq and afghanistan combined Every death is tragic Regardless of the circumstances or age And we know it's not just older folks in nursing homes who are at risk Right across the border in the hampshire. They're dealing with an outbreak among members of their legislature And tragically the 71 year old speaker of the house Lost his short battle with covet on wednesday He was just sworn in last week It's just a reminder that this virus doesn't care who you are Or what title you hold This is tough stuff But covet isn't compassionate And isn't afraid to prove the dire and very real consequences each and every day So while it's important to acknowledge the good news around the vaccine We've got to put it into context and remember The virus is still our common enemy Because while it's a step in the right direction until enough people are vaccinated It's critical we keep doing what we've been doing So I ask you again to continue wearing a mask Avoid crowds and gatherings and quarantine when you need to Together we can keep each other safe as we work our way towards the end of the tunnel So with that I'll now turn it over to deputy secretary boucher Who has an update on our career technical centers? And how they're managing with covet Thank you governor Good morning as governor scott said i'll provide an update today framed largely around our career technical education Or cte system in vermont We have 16 different cte centers around the state and i'll highlight the work They've been doing to ensure that our students Who are enrolled in programs like pre-engineering Culinary arts construction sciences medical sciences advanced manufacturing graphic design and automotive technology to name just a few Are effectively accessing their education Cte programs are generally much more hands-on and applied than the traditional education classroom Accordingly our cte leaders and educators have had to pivot uniquely to create Instructional paradigms and flexible offerings in order to meet student need in the context of the pandemic Luckily, this is a group of educators and leaders who are used to thinking outside the box I'm pleased to report that our cte system is doing quite well in its handling of and response to covet 19 The majority of cte centers like schools are operating within a hybrid teaching and learning paradigm with students learning through a blend of both in-person and remote learning Teachers and staff are doing outstanding work Instructors have worked diligently to learn canvas or other online platforms and to move their curriculum into these systems As one center director wrote in an email last week Teachers have adapted and improved their assessment systems and skills Can change their instructional model on the fly and support one another mentally and emotionally the latter being needed almost on a daily basis Which is something that we've talked about quite a bit Throughout the pandemic and also recently Another cte director wrote last week to say while our teachers are challenged in new ways every day They continue to be committed to student learning and well-being. They are indomitable Across the board cte directors report that students are adhering to the rules of mask wearing hand washing and social distancing without complaint The recurring theme is that they are simply grateful to be able to be at the cte center In addition families have an understanding supportive and grateful for in-person learning for their children To be sure people are tired cte directors are exhausted as are their staff Despite that most continue to do outstanding work And i'd like to publicly thank them for their commitment and efforts to ensure that cte students Can continue their education as seamlessly as possible during these challenging times Now i'll turn to an update on the governor's emergency education relief or gear funds As you may recall gear funds were part of the overall federal cares act In vermont governor scott wanted to ensure that these funds of over 4.4 million dollars for our state Were used to bolster the cte system during the pandemic Given the governor's close ties to cte as a former cte educator himself As well as the centrality of robust cte programs for our economic health and recovery as a state It made sense to infuse our cte system with these resources I'm pleased to report that we have now allocated 100 percent of vermont's gear funds All 16 of our cte centers applied for these resources And this is exciting news Because we all both aoe and the field had to turn this grant program set up and the application process around very quickly So we're very thrilled that we will indeed use all of these funds in the way governor scott had hoped So what are cte centers doing with these funds? I'll show a couple of slides to illustrate and the first one is already up there So as you can see on this first slide the bulk of the funds are being used for both equipment and supplies And this is not surprising given the applied nature of these programs that i alluded to earlier Many of our centers have had to make provisions so that students Would no longer need to share necessary toolkits software and course materials In addition the advanced software required for many cte programs Required the purchase of new laptops and iPads for students because these programs can't run on chromebooks Or the existing base level laptops typically used for general education purposes Prior to covet students accessed these technology paradigms on desktop computers in program labs, which is not a feasible solution during the pandemic because of our social distancing needs Cte centers are also investing in upgraded teaching technology So teachers can live stream demonstrations to those students who cannot be in person on any given day Funds are being used to upgrade broadband internet access at school and providing internet access to students who would not otherwise have access at home And simulated labs Dissection kits and mannequins are needed to replace in-person clinical training and work-based learning in many programs We can also see on this chart that over 17 percent of the funds are being used for additional staffing Hiring more instructional aids For instance So half of students can be in the shop or the lab with the teacher While the other half work on content in a separate space Again in order to comply with our required social distancing as we manage the pandemic Cte centers are also investing in expanded guidance and nursing staff and full-time substitutes From the second slide we can see that the most specific Activities under these funding sources are support are focused on instruction and instruction related technology And that's consistent with what I just noted I also wanted to take a moment to highlight the creativity of cte centers and how they're responding to the pandemic One center received federal approval to purchase a used van with the funds so that they would have sufficient flexibility to transport students To and from the center Again in the context of not knowing whether the schedule might need to change with little warning due to community virus level And so this flexibility for this center was needed because scheduling a busing service wasn't really meeting the needs of students They needed to have something much more flexible and and and able to go And we did get approval for that from from the feds. They were they were excited to hear about this actually Another center will use funds to convert their greenhouse and their storage shed into new classroom spaces in order to meet the social distancing requirements required to preserve student and staff health Finally Burlington technical center should be commended for the fact that they have found new physical locations For all of their cte programs Within six weeks of the campus closing all programs were up and running in new spaces throughout the community Again, this goes to show how dedicated and committed our cte cte educators are throughout the state That concludes my update and i'll now turn it over to director bornamen Good morning America bornamen i'm the director of primordial emergency management And i am pleased to be here this morning to discuss the utilization of the vermont alert system To enhance the dissemination of timely and relevant information of protective actions related to the ongoing pandemic Vermont alert is a trusted resource To warn vermonters of potential and imminent hazards like floods severe storms hazardous materials incidents and other threats to themselves or their property The system will now be used to keep vermonters informed about the About the pandemic and is an important resource for people to get the most up-to-date and accurate information about covid 19 As case counts grow as individuals are being asked to do more and more to keep their neighbors safe And as we draw nearer to a vaccine We feel every vermoner can benefit from this important informational source There is a lot of good information available and vermont alert will not Take the place of covid 19 information pages like health vermont.gov accd.vermont.gov And ven.vermont.gov among others We will direct you to these and other resources so that you can be pointed to the most Important updates directly from state sources But i and i encourage you to check them regularly I should note vermonters will get good news from through vermont alert As restrictions are eventually lifted as recreational and school sports eventually resume And as vaccination clinics eventually open Users will be notified directly if they are signed up Vermont alert is an opt-in service You have to sign up and get most alerts and I encourage I encourage everyone in vermont to do so We currently have about 25 000 subscribers and we would love to have more To register go to vermont alert vt alert.gov and register for a free account Once there you can choose which alerts you receive and covid information is under the health alerts tab If you are a current subscriber, you can go to the same site Log in and change your notifications You can also decide how you want to be notified of those alerts email text phone Or notifications on our app If you search for the everbridge app under the app store And for what specific area you want to really receive alerts for using your hometown and county You can accomplish this all on your smartphone phone through the everbridge app or online at vt alert.gov We know there's a lot of information we all need to know to keep our families and our communities safe Vermont alert will help you know how you can do that and when the data supports it And we'll provide timely notice of when and where to get vaccinated and importantly when we can once Again turn return to activities gatherings and events that make up the quality of life We treasure so much in vermont again that alert that address is vt alert.gov And with that I will hand it over to secretary smith Thank you, erica I want to take a few moments and talk about three initiatives that i've mentioned previously, but today Wish to address them in more detail last week. I had mentioned that long-term care facilities Especially skilled nursing facilities where the most vulnerable vermonters may reside are challenged by outbreaks In their facilities, especially During the first 24 to 48 hours of an outbreak when staff May test positive And have to isolate and other staff who are close contacts to the positive must quarantine It is also challenging in these facilities when residents are near death and require additional staff attention This situation produces a scramble to provide adequate staffing either through heroic efforts Of existing staff or equally heroic efforts of volunteers or temporary staff Or through institutions like uvm mc or home health, which have been great partners in this effort or all of the above But we need to do more the state of vermont Has contracted with Tlc home care a staffing agency based out of williston for emergency Long-term care facilities staffing needs. This is a professional staffing pool and represents new capacity within our system It will augment our existing medical reserve corps and serve vermont volunteer pools Tlc has been an excellent resource for many vermont facilities and supporting staffing needs throughout the pandemic And we're confident they will hit the ground running with expanded capacity to meet the increasing need Tlc is a vermont owned company operated by nurses who care About fellow vermoners. Tlc will provide the for emergency staffing deployment of up to 40 staff 40 staff total those are rns lpns lna's and unlicensed caregivers and support staff specific to long-term care And covet outbreak response needs The contract will be managed by dale the department of aging and independent living as part of the health outbreak prevention and response team That is a rapid response team. That's been that's been organized since The start of the pandemic the contract has flexibility to pivot to different needs However, the primary focus is providing staffing to long-term Care facility outbreaks. This is a solution meant to augment staffing shortfalls which arise in long-term care facilities, particularly as i said before When an outbreak situation is identified and staffing is impacted by the virus It is a short term and not intended to solve all staffing concerns Yet we'll meet critical needs to bridge gaps for covet 19 outbreak situations in addition Dale has created a website covet staffing dot vermont dot gov It's a call to action for vermoners who have Capacity to step up and help meet the critical needs of covet 19 responses in long-term care facilities clinicians With capability to step in are especially needed in either paid or volunteer roles We are in this together So we are requesting vermoners to assist in our health care to assist our health care heroes During this surge the need is great for clinicians and support staff Just to be clear the intent is not to shift Existing health care workforce into this pool But rather a call out for those that have additional capacity part-time workers retirees unemployment Unemployed individuals college students to step up and fill short-term gaps in the system caused by covet 19 outbreaks I want to take a few minutes I also Want to say this I just I can't leave the subject without thanking the long-term Care facility workforce enough for their dedication and skill In caring for the most vulnerable vermoners in the most unimaginable of circumstances They need help and we need to help them and help is on the way Now let me turn to testing Besides the establishment of greater capacity in our testing statewide including new sites That will be up and running next week in richford and Swanton as well as wells river I wanted to talk about more capacity On bringing that we're bringing on for surveillance testing last week. We performed 30 34,500 last seven days. We performed 34,541 tests And we're adding to that capacity because still we are seeing too many days of Of over 100 covet 19 cases So we must do everything that we possibly can to get a handle on the virus and put more safety measures into place One way to improve is what we know about the spread of the virus and to address The elevated risk is for more people to be tested to that end We're requiring 25 percent of patient facing health care providers and staff to be tested monthly as We all appreciate our health care workforce is essential and critical regardless of covet 19 and even more so during This pandemic There is no question that health care providers and staff Can safely deliver care and services in health care settings and can prevent the transmission of covet 19 Personal protection equipment along with recommended safety precautions make health care settings safe for patients providers and staff However, this is a very large workforce that is also circulating in the community where transmission Can more easily take place So in order to accomplish our goal of more surveillance And to protect this workforce Hs in the department of health Have worked to increase testing capacity both by working directly with health care providers and through on-demand Testing sites the teams will continue their work to identify and implement the fastest and most efficient testing options available To minimize the burden on the system and again I want to take some time to thank the heroic health care providers and staff who are on the front lines providing high quality Compassionate care and support for the people of our state In addition Starting next week. We are augmenting the approximately 105 full-time equivalent contact tracers We have with a new call center The call center will be put in place Using maximus staff maximus is the current contractor Charged with administering the vermont health connect program in terms of having a call center The maximus team will begin early next week and will bolster contact tracing Efforts by midweek the initial rollout will include 25 agents But two more waves of 25 people will be added for a total of 75 additional Contact tracers the expanded team will be working aam to 4 30 p.m Daily seven days a week including holidays until we decide they are no longer necessary maximus has experience in this work including statewide tracing efforts in other states And just one other item. I just wanted why i'm up here take the opportunity to say that This is the last week of open enrollment the yearly period for individuals to sign up for health insurance coverage That coverage through the vermont vermont health connect Enrollment opened on november 1st and ends next tuesday December 15th the customer service support hours are extended for the final days of open enrollment to provide personalized Assistance for vermoners. It's important to remember that if you try to get through and aren't able to complete the process by the deadline We will still be able to help you throughout next week The covet 19 public health emergency has shown that having health insurance Is is as important as ever the state of vermont is committed To ensuring that vermoners have access to health coverage And those that qualify for net for financial help will get it Paid help paying for it vermoners can apply for health coverage online at vermont health connect dot gov and by supportive enrollment Assistance offered by telephone and the number is one eight five five eight nine nine nine six zero zero and through regional based assistors The state also offers a plan comparison tools so vermoners can get quick Anonymous estimates for financial help and learn about available health care plans I'll now turn that's that's the conclusion of my update. I'll now turn it over to dr. Levine Who will provide his weekly update? As well. Thank you very much As you can see We're now over 5500 total cases since the pandemic began and 93 deaths We're reporting today on our website 113 new cases and We'll be also showing 26 hospitalizations Two patients in the icu no patients on ventilators So we've seen a lot in the national news and gotten questions here about the potential impact of Thanksgiving on cases It's now been about two weeks since Thanksgiving You can see on this slide The time period where we would begin to see any impact starting at around seven days after the holiday This gives the seven to 14 days span We did have that Highest case day ever which was clearly not all related to Thanksgiving by any means It had a lot to do with reporting And issues as you recall with the uvm medical centers reporting and other late reports that came in We have been pretty much in a stable pattern over these number of days There still may be people who became symptomatic Uh late in their course maybe days 11 to 14 who may be just getting tested and starting now But I wouldn't anticipate a huge increase in cases At this point in time Just to bring you up to date you heard from the secretary about almost An average of 5 000 tests per day over seven days I remind everyone again that that's Since the college students left campus so not inflated by college student numbers and I feel comfortable with this number in the low two percent in terms of being an accurate representation of what's going on in vermont now Obviously If you only looked at people who are symptomatic and getting tested for that reason their number would be much much higher This number takes into account asymptomatic people And it takes into account the fact that we're doing a lot of as you heard Surveillance testing so we can get a good handle on the state of virus prevalence in in our state We're not seeing a lot in the terms of syndromic surveillance changing in this most recent period which means that Even though flu has been reported as sporadic and covid is reported as we've just reported We're not seeing a lot of increase in People presenting to urgent care settings with symptoms Now While our cases remain higher than they Than we are used to seeing They've remained fairly stable lately and there's been no escalating spike as you could see on the data We hope this means that vermont is either avoided Thanksgiving gatherings or kept them very small And we truly appreciate that None of our recent contact tracing efforts have revealed clusters of cases coming from this holiday But we are still seeing about 100 to 120 cases a day Which is a level much higher than we are accustomed to As of yesterday the epi teams were Continuing to investigate and follow 38 outbreaks And somewhat north of 220 situations We're not seeing a so-called surge on a surge as a number of places in the country have seen And we've not seen new escalations in our level or percent positivity As our neighbors in even this region have been seeing extensively But I caution us that these are not numbers we should start to develop a new comfort level with As I spoke about on tuesday numbers like this can have significant impacts Especially when viewed through the lens of our three priorities Of keeping our kids in in-person instruction in school Keeping our workers at workplaces and our economy thriving And reducing illnesses hospitalizations or deaths All of these cases that we report daily continue to impact our schools our worksites our healthcare facilities And unfortunately the number of new cases in both residents and staff of long-term care facilities Continue to rise The total on this slide is a little over 300 Again, they vary by the site We are also as of today going to be adding two new sites with very small numbers of cases thus yet Holiday house residential care home and our lady of providence residential care community There are simply more people with covet 19 in our communities right now And more potential for possible exposure We need to take that into account as we plan for and celebrate holidays As the cdc and our current guidance says Staying home is still the best way to protect ourselves our families and others right now And speaking of protecting one another The cdc recently released a summary of public health strategies To address high levels of community transmission of covet 19 In the december 4th morbidity and mortality weekly report It acknowledges the effect of colder weather More time spent indoors The holiday season And silent spread of disease Leading to where we all are in this country right now It highlights the importance of a multi pronged approach Using evidence-based strategies to reduce transmission And provide a bridge to a time when we can safely return to everyday activities The report came out now because of the frankly alarming statistics we're confronted with every single day Regarding our nation's experience with the virus In the hopes that states can implement the combination of strategies And reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus Long-term sequela of disability Hospitalizations and death As well as mitigate the economic impact Now the things i'm going to present right now won't surprise you Because they are strategies the Vermont has already embraced for many many months But i think it's important for all Vermonters to hear them one by one And understand that we've already placed a check mark in the box beside each one So they include universal face mask use For which there is compelling evidence Especially in light of the large amount of asymptomatic transmission of virus Maintaining physical distance from others and limiting in-person contact For much the same reasons i just recited Avoiding non-essential indoor spaces and crowded outdoor spaces You've heard us for a long time speaking about the reasons why we should both avoid crowds As well as multi household gatherings and our data does support our recommendations Fourthly increasing testing to quickly identify and isolate people who are infected Again, especially as a means to halt silent transmission of disease And as you know and as you heard even more today Vermont has been and continues to be a leader in the volume of testing and the access to testing Fifth promptly identifying quarantining and testing close contacts This is in essence what we've been calling our containment strategy And i think you've heard us talk enough about that to appreciate that it's going on here And it's helped keep our kids in school our students on campus And our business is open when cases arise Safeguarding people most at risk for severe illness or death from infection You often heard us talk about our most vulnerable and our policies that seek to protect them Especially those who live in congregate settings and allowing us to learn to work productively with racial and ethnic minority groups Who also have increased risk Protecting essential workers with adequate PPE and safe work practices We have stockpiled PPE quite effectively in Vermont and we do have sector specific guidance to protect frontline workers Postponing travel I think recognition of this source of virus transmission has determined travel policy from the very earliest days of the pandemic in our state Increasing ventilation and enhancing hand hygiene and environmental disinfection All of these guidance that we gave to businesses and to the education sector about reopening Was filled with detail about this element even though frankly the minority of infections occur through touching surfaces And lastly Achieving widespread availability and high community coverage with effective COVID-19 vaccines A journey we are about to launch together as a state And you heard from the governor about the advisory panel to the fda The fda perhaps as we're speaking here today, but uh sometime today will come out with their official Recommendation for emergency use authorization of the Pfizer platform Over the weekend the advisory committee for immunization practices of the cdc Will inform the cdc who i expect on monday will come out with their recommendations Which is really critical for the entire practice health care community And then we will move from there The report also notes that we need to make sure all of our strategies take health equity into account To safeguard those who have borne the worst of the pandemics impact People who most are at risk due to high age or underlying medical conditions And racial and ethnic minorities So although in vermont we're not immune to the increased COVID-19 transmission happening everywhere under our eyes We have much still to do Based on this important cdc report. We are doing the right things And while that can make us feel more comfortable We can still say that not a day has gone by where we didn't learn something new Well, we were open to refining our approach even further We continue to work together whether it's schools businesses health care providers policymakers communities and more And of course individual Vermonters We all play a role in making these strategies a reality I'm proud of our entire team's work so far And I look forward to that final goal of achieving high community coverage with effective vaccine My final few comments have to do with the announcement I made earlier in the week regarding our test notification system for close contacts And it's mainly to announce that that actually did begin on yesterday The texts are for certain people who've been identified as close contacts by someone who has COVID-19 This helps us get information out to them very quickly So close contacts can then quarantine right away and access other important information on our website Keep in mind these texts do not replace an actual person And expert contact tracing work that will occur Everyone identified as a close contact still gets a phone call from a contact tracer And I must note that unfortunately the number that appears on your phone that I mentioned on tuesday was a test number The actual correct number that the text will be coming from is 89361 89361 This number is also listed on our website As a reminder our contact tracing team will help determine who gets these texts based on the situation If you should get a text know that it is a legitimate and important message from the department of health I'll turn this back to the governor now Thank you. Dr. Levine will now open it up for questions All right, just as a reminder I notified all the reporters ahead of time. It's 1146 and we have 27 reporters in the queue So we are going to limit this to two questions and then move on from from there We'll start in the room with calvin Thank you. So probably for dr. Levine. I would say You know, we've had some pretty robust discussion about whether the state can mandate vaccines But what about employers can individual employers? mandate vaccines for their workers Oh Thanks for the question so at the moment There is actually not an approved vaccine There's a vaccine that's being recommended for emergency use authorization And this comes from the commissioner of the fda steven. Han Institutions may require individuals to take an fda approved vaccine Or apply for an exception However, emergency use authorization products are still considered investigational So the implication there is you cannot mandate a vaccine that has only received eua approved Decision it has to have official fda approval So it's a moot point really to answer the question you asked Makes sense. And then I guess one follow-up question probably for secretary smith as well um these uh tlc To the the tlc workers and the volunteer pool that we're going to be calling on Are they going to be assigned to just one facility or or do you envision them maybe traveling around to where they're needed? Because I just There could potentially be a risk for spread there as you may know Yeah, you know, obviously we have daily testing right now in in our our skilled nursing facilities And twice a week testing in other facilities for long-term care So there's abundant testing going on among staff These are with staff we're talking about and then of course if there is a positive then we start facility-wide testing over multiple days as well So they would be placed where needed Throughout throughout the state, you know when we have multiple outbreaks We have these situations in multiple places and that's and that's where they would be placed Thank you Given that the the emergency order from the cdc will be coming down today Uh, or from the fda How soon do we expect to fire up the The injections for for our first first wave? Do we know? Yeah, well again, uh, dr Levine can answer the question about the plan. Yeah We're still waiting for the fda final approval The cdc has to sign off as well and then they have to be shipped to us So and then we can distribute from there. So we're not talking about instantaneous It won't be early next week. It really all depends on when we receive The vaccine And then we can distribute from there But we're we've been working on this for a while and we're prepared and ready ready to go Just as soon as we receive them In just 10 seconds to add to that So fda cdc shipment Sometime middle to late next week, but these are federal dates being told to us and they changed So I don't want to be held to those dates And then ability to Deploy them from the depot to the various hospitals around the state The long-term care facilities Because they are in a partnership The federal government and the pharmacies Will be receiving shipments and the hope is that by the 21st Which is not too far away. They can get their first doses The pharmacies have been contracted to provide three separate Clinics over a three-week period as more and more vaccine comes in on a weekly basis So we hope that over that three-week period A big chunk of the long-term care residents and staff Can be handled in the clinics. They're providing on-site to deliver the vaccine. That's that was my follow-up question is The personnel who are going to be involved in giving those shots. So is that going to be contracted or is it Health care work, you know the hospitals or yeah, so the farmers for the long-term care. It's the pharmacies under a federal contract And they're committed to these clinics based on their contract For the health care workers around the states and us working in close Connection with the health care sector and the hospital specifically So they'll be giving pretty much themselves the vaccine Thank you Moving to the phones. Joe Barton Chronicle Just another question about the vaccine Given that it's I'm ready to see approval and you said that that would be investigative in nature Is there going to be um, are you going to be records kept of the patients who received this and Whether or not they come ill later. I mean is this part of a Non-double-bind Any in effect What we'd be definitely keeping track of these the federal government is very interested in the in the data as well Because we're going to have so many different platforms with different Vaccines as well. It's going to be imperative that we collect the data So this will be data about individuals or is it going to be Just overall data So there's an extensive process Because what you're really referring to is making sure we can keep track of adding adverse effects, correct See that people were helped and not harmed and if they were are the harms reported and kept track of so that We know exactly what kind of events are occurring Is that the intent of your question Well, that's part of it. That's one side of it. The other side is um, if someone receives the vaccine and the amount of time that passes Are during what you'd expect? Some form of immunity to be seen if people have, you know Genfin disease are I would assume that would be useful information as well Yes, so so from the safety side There's voluntary reporting by individuals who get the vaccine. There's mandatory reporting by The health care system and all of the providers There's monthly safety Analyses and reports by the sponsor of the vaccine and then there's an entire VA ER's adverse event reporting system which Takes all this data and works between the FDA and the cdc To understand and share the data so that analyses can be done real time During the period of administration of vaccine and thereafter Making sure that people are aware that Not every event occurs in the context of the trials So you need to be able to robustly report everything that occurs once it's actually in use Now There'll be a very significant tracking system in place knowing Who got the vaccine? Which vaccine they got because we do anticipate there'll be more than one What doses they got So that they only get a second dose of the appropriate vaccine that they got the first dose of And Really, that's the kind of data tracking that will be going on Did I get all the angles you were looking for? I think so. I probably didn't think of all the ones I should have thought of but we got ones that I didn't think of Okay All right tim vermont visits magazine All right, good morning governor I get this question quite a bit. So actually getting it quite a bit Also when it goes different to warm and it goes something I said, uh restaurants and bars Events and even high schools board We're following the rules They can play down an order Are being punished punishes the word they use governor For basically the bad behavior of individuals who are not following Gathering those guidelines and that and that sort of thing and Wondering and then they follow up and say, why isn't there enforcement and repercussions for these individuals? You've spoken about this Before but now we're seeing cases go up or see deaths go up every day One two three deaths every day here in Vermont What is your response to that? To those questions that that sort of line of question. Yeah, well again It's not We don't look at it as a punishment. It's just a reality when we see the community spread and we see the social gatherings and we see areas that Give us more of the virus amongst the communities we have to take action and To close down the opportunities for that social engagement We thought the best approach the most immediate approach was to stop the recreation so to speak And in other areas, it's it's really the the the best tool we had at the time We'd like to be more surgical. We'd like to be more strategic But we're right in the middle of a of a crisis a pandemic each and every day So we have to again do what we think is best to accommodate that We've been quite successful from the beginning without the enforcement mechanism Vermonters have been very compliant and for the most part and and certainly we're not seeing everyone on board But I think I would put vermont up again. It's almost any other state in that regard. So The enforcement piece might not have the the benefits that some would would hope for And we would utilize a lot of time and resources in following those up So we thought we still feel the guidance is the best approach But we have been willing when when there have been cases the attorney general is Has moved forward with a couple of cases. I believe one in particular that I remember That being the the gym in ruttland and we followed through so again for the most part it's due to not understanding what the policy is and and Feeling that they don't have to follow the guidance as as we laid out But when we when we educate We find that there is compliance. So so again, I wouldn't look at it as a punishment. It's just the reality at this point and you know that california recently, uh, Take it basically to people who are gathering is would that be something that I've got to you know, what would be the point where You might in vermont do that? Well, again, we're seeing a lot of compliance here. Our numbers are flattening out We're seeing in california, uh, their their numbers are growing dramatically And new york, uh, did the same thing. They had a Penalty process and their numbers are growing at this point every state is different and uh, and i'm not second guessing What they're doing and and we just have to do what we think is right here in vermont So as long as we continue to see the numbers, uh, we we continue to have the desired effect And and what we did what vermonters did uh over thanksgiving appears to be paying off Because it seemed as though it seems as though we're not seeing that surge on the surge So if that is the case, uh, then vermonters are doing what they what they can without that That that type of a enforcement mechanism that that I don't think is that beneficial. So again, we're going to continue to do What we've done since the beginning because it is having the desired effect the vaccine is coming into place Hopefully all of this will get us through The the next few weeks and then we'll be on the road to recovery at that point We're going to move to chris at the newport daily express Yes That says the flu vaccination and even the shingles vaccination. Do you have any data on that? I believe that commissioner peach. I could show that our vaccination rates are actually up for the flu So that's good news. I don't know about the shingles or singlets Vaccine at this point. Dr. Levine to probably comment Yeah, we're we're really proud of our monitors I mean the rallying to the cause for the flu vaccine has been wonderful We still have room to to move. So Thanks for allowing me to remind everybody of that shingles vaccine Is not a seasonal vaccine And most of the other vaccines are not seasonal in the sense that flu is So one can get them at the appropriate time in their development in terms of age, etc whatever One thing we have noticed is that People are availing themselves of health care Obviously back in march april may people were very afraid to even go near the health care system Not realizing as we have come to realize in vermont that it's one of the safest places You can be that there have not been a significant episodes of people Transmitting virus within the health care system itself Even though we do see cases within the health care system So I think a lot more vermonters are going back to getting their regular medical care I don't know about how that translates yet into other vaccine data. I haven't been tracking that as closely It's much more the flu vaccine that we've been reporting on here Right the county courier Good morning governor. Good morning Dr. Levine In fact while you're at the podium quick question for you In regards to the graph that you continue to show With it with a spike last week At least some of those cases can be attributed to other dates Why is your department not gone back through to identify what they each Of those cases should actually be attributed to and and correct the graph so that we can better see the progress of the virus Because the way the graph is constructed and the way we've been consistent with our data is to Put the case on the day that it is reported That is the key to understanding how that works However every day Even though that's how it looks on that graph We get a clear accounting of what the date was that the test was actually performed And so it doesn't hinder us from doing epidemiologic work. It just keeps us consistent And reporting apples to apples Consistently for the whole whatever number of months we've been through already Just heard people better a little concerned that it seems that You know, especially being one week after Thanksgiving that it's a little deceptive So I didn't know if maybe that'd be a better way to show it to the public Yeah, no, that's a good thought But I would I would just point out that many of the cases would have been in days preceding that spike Which probably would have been too early for a Thanksgiving related Case so it's it's not misrepresenting the data in any major way But I understand where you're coming from Governor Yeah, thank you. Thank you doctor. We appreciate it Governor I understand there's at least one school closure in franklin county due to the virus You give us an update On that and and any other school closures and If your administration is still maintaining that there's no Spread among primary school students or teachers um, I may ask uh It'd be secretary french if he's on and give us an update on the The school in franklin county By and large, I think we still are doing very well in our schools and not seeing The number of outbreaks and so forth so Secretary french on the line. No, okay Okay Hi, this is deputy secretary gushey We're not i'm not aware of a school closure. It's possible that one of our schools has decided to go into a remote Learning paradigm, but we can get back to you on that for certain I Sure appreciate that if that could be by the end of the day, I'd really appreciate it. Yes. Absolutely. Thanks for the time Wilson the ap I um morning everybody I have Two questions one the first one is a two-part question, but hopefully it's quick. I can ask the both together Um, dr. Levine and governor scott. You both seem to be uh, almost saying that hey, we have dodged the bullet on The Thanksgiving surge that you feared so much. I mean, can you address that a little more directly? Have we? Dodge that bullet and and the second part of that question is do you anticipate making A similar call for the upcoming christmas and new year's holidays and whatever holidays people might be celebrating Yeah, that's question one The second one for dr. Levine. How do you anticipate the rollout of the vaccine across the state? Do you anticipate as more people get vaccinated the number of positive cases that are being reported in fatalities will drop Conversely to that And so those are my questions Um, again in terms of uh, thanksgiving Uh, we know that we asked a lot of hermonters and it appeared that they uh from just anecdotally and from my Moving around on that day myself It didn't seem as though there was much traffic on our on our highways and and and the data thus far Shows a positive result. So We're just we just needed a couple more days to make sure that it is the case Our seven day rolling average has been okay. I mean Again, it's still too high, but uh, but it was high before Thanksgiving. That's why we put those measures into place so good news and Again from my standpoint We just need a couple more days to be sure that it's uh that it is the case And and the holiday later Um, again, we'll uh, we'll see what happens over the next few days, but But we're not seeing a dramatic drop. I mean, that's the point And i'm not saying we're not going to consider any changes for the the upcoming holiday but We're still seeing high levels. Uh, and even though it it It leveled off they're leveled off at a high rate. So Again, what we did helped we just don't want to Exacerbate the situation and make it worse. So we'll we'll pull all that together and make some determinations over the next week or so And I have nothing further to answer that question with But the second question that you asked regarding, uh, what would we see in rates of death and things of that sort? So, uh, I say this just to be completely candid and not to take away people's hope or anything of that sort But let's look at the earliest group that's going to get the vaccine people in long-term care By the time they've gotten their second dose of vaccine And then had a few weeks go by to build up that immune response It's going to be Actually in february Even though they'll have gotten their doses And for earliest those potentially in december many in january second dose definitely in january So we're going to talk early february before we even see an immune response That we would want to be seeing at that level So If I can channel dr. Fauci, uh, dr. Redfield from the cdc They are all saying This is looking like a horrific winter In the united states I'm not saying that for vermont But in the united states when you look at the kinds of numbers that are happening every day That people might get numb to after a while Those are not going to be impacted by a vaccine appearing on the scene at christmas time It's going to take till february march and beyond to really see the impact of that And that's on this most vulnerable population. I'm just talking about Most of us who are in the more general population aren't even going to see the vaccine Till march equal may kind of thing with higher risk groups starting to see it in january and february But again for the impact on those groups knowing it's a two-dose vaccine and you need to build up immune response It's going to be Well into february march before that happens So i'm not taking away hope here. I'm just providing a reality context That the stark statistics on the tv of hospitalizations and deaths and cases aren't going to change Like a snap of a finger because there's a vaccine on the market But they are going to change and the changes will occur After february more more dramatically we hope Thank you very much Yeah, I just want to add just So that we're all realistic here A lot of this depends on how much of the vaccine we receive We don't have control of that We've been told that it's going to be Accurately distributed throughout the states based on population But we don't know what that supply is So we may not get the doses that everyone thinks we are And we're still waiting for the approval of the second company moderna And that will have a positive effect on on the supply as well So a lot of it hinges on how much of the vaccine We are going to receive and then but we're ready Again to vaccinate as soon as we receive it, but we don't have control over that aspect Okay, again. Thank you both Kat wcas Well, that was actually a perfect segue into my question Which was we've heard a lot of course about Pfizer's vaccine And the first wave of vaccinations coming from them But of course moderna is inching towards FDA mercy use authorization as well So when you look more broadly, when do you expect that Vermonters might see multiple options for a vaccine? Yeah, well again, I think you laid it out very well It's it's all it's not in our hands here in vermont It's in the hands of the FDA the advisory panel the cdc And but it looks good. I mean they've they've shown the Some of the trials have shown that they I think moderna might be 95 effective, which is great news And and so once that is approved It's it took some time for Pfizer to get to that point And then it just again do the do the math as we move forward. So Hard to tell but But I know everybody is working as quickly as possible To to make sure that we have a safe vaccine to distribute or as safe as possible And and then keep track of Of all of this at the same time because it really is going to be important with all the different platforms And there may be a third or fourth manufacturer Coming to the forefront in the next month or two So we have to keep track of all that and what the different dose rates are And making sure you receive the same dose and so forth. So it's complicated But but we feel we are prepared and ready to go just as soon as we receive those supplies from the federal government Dr. Libby, did you have any insight on a possible timeline though for when You know, we might get more vaccine after this first round from Pfizer. So when we might see Then you know, we'll call it the next round. However that ship power you want to turn that shipment Right. So with the Pfizer we're we're pretty certain As certain as we can be from what we're being told that we're going to get the same number of doses For at least the first three to four weeks each week the same number of doses repeating But Moderna is probably a week to two weeks behind So that lag time, which is not very long. I mean, this is still a very rapid sequencing here In Moderna, we we believe we will get even more doses than when we have a Pfizer In terms of what's ready to be deployed When they get their authorization, so there will be not just a doubling of doses There'll probably be a little more than a doubling based on the fact that Moderna has a little more stockpiled at this point in time And and I don't really know about anybody beyond Moderna, you know the UVM College medicine is involved in the AstraZeneca trials And that's the one that nationally keeps getting named as one that could potentially get authorization next But certainly not in 2020. So it would be sometime after the new year Got it. Thank you Eric the Times Argus Yes, this is a question about the Montalert I see on the website that there's an option for those who have alerts sent to their home or work phone We know some in the states, especially older residents don't have access to an internet or a cell phone So how would they go about signing up for these alerts? And once they are signed up, what does the alert look like? They're not going to be seen Director for I'm in the way as fast Yes, thank you. So folks can sign up in a a few different ways. You can either go online either at home or Anywhere you have internet access And sign up on the website. You can download the everbridge app on your cell phone And of course you can go anywhere where you have access to service for that You can when you sign up you can receive notifications On your home phone That is a it's a through a reverse dialing function that the Vermalert system has in addition to text messages and emails and As well as notifications on the everbridge app is really up to you as a user How you want to receive those notifications and what types of notifications you want to receive in different modalities Did I answer that question because I didn't I wasn't I was trying to hear most of it having a hard time Here if you may need to hit star six again, we're getting some feedback from your line We could follow up with him if that's not the we can do that. Yeah, I think from what I heard Hold on. I'm back. I gotta mute it there for a second. I don't know why Um, so do they need internet access to be able to send up? Is there a number they can call to sign up? um You you really do need to have internet access to sign up only because If you want to make changes to your notifications, um, and Or you know somewhere down the line You would want to be able to log in and that login is dependent on a password that you Choose Okay, thank you Mike donahue the islander Thanks, Rebecca. Uh, governor, uh, it's a follow-up from earlier this week. Yeah And Tuesday, you noticed a good news from a 30 general tk. Donovan Dying with your original transparency policy when it comes to police telling the public about practices involving teenage drivers that killed remoders and other serious accidents But you also noticed the that opinion was breaking and he hadn't been brought up to speed I'm guessing you've been breathing out um And I'm told that a temporary gag order that the public safety commissioner imposed 12 weeks ago Currently still is in effect this morning It took less than 24 hours for the commissioner to impose that yet. Now we're on day four and still not reversed I'm just wondering What you heard we heard from the commissioner the other day and what time is short I know so What can you tell the governor as to How to get this temporary gag order limited to the public Yeah, um, Mike I have not been briefed There have been other areas that have taken a had a higher priority over the last couple of days. So I will uh, I will get I haven't been Have had no correspondence with the attorney general on this at all so I'll um, I'll try and get up to speed and uh and get something to you But uh, but I I don't know I don't have any uh, any response at this point because I just I just don't have the answers Okay, you might have something next week to uh, Tuesday, or I'll do my best You always do. I appreciate that. Thank you Guy chronicle the vermont state house Guy page. All right, we'll move to lisa lumis the valley reporter Is it my turn or my test please from the valley reporter? Yes, go ahead lisa Thank you secretary These are you just went out of my pay grade on uh, how much is left uh, because it's There I'll probably ask uh secretary young to help me out the secretary of administration to help me out This will not be a cares act money that Will do be doing a contract extension on this as you rightly pointed out the cares act money runs out on december 31st and we will Obviously be contract contact trees and beyond uh, december 31st So we will be using uh, general fund money in in this regard to do that contract Contract extension for maximus. Thank you Secretary young Thank you We have at this point in time allocated all of our cares act or close if I was to we fund uh Two programs and appropriations to departments and uh outside entities Right now we are in the process of doing an accounting as to whether they've been able to send it all of their Corporations for these funds on eligible projects before the end of the year So that's what we call the reconciliation process So as we do that we do find that some money is freed up because the original receiver could not Use it and we've been going into the joint fiscal committee over the last four weeks Asking for that money to be allocated to other programs or other uses as uh, we determine Where they're still critical needs so that's a lot of the things Pretty much sense at all, but as that that can be said comes to life for the allocating Do not leave any money on the table at the end of the year If I could add to that secretary young And maybe you can confirm but we did go into the joint fiscal committee The other day with a proposal for about I think it was around 20 million dollars. Uh, they approved One piece of that. I think it was two million dollars for the hazard pay program that we we could have used a little bit more money The two million dollars will fulfill Some of the the need in that program that they established But they did not approve the The economic relief we added 10 or 11 million dollars in economic relief for Some of the businesses that we wanted to add and knowing that there's you know hundreds of millions of dollars worth of need Especially in the hospitality sector. We just thought give them an extra boost on top of the 150 million We just went through last month But um, but we're going to go back at that to make another proposal to the joint fiscal committee To get that money out the door So that we can get it in the hands of those who who need it at this point There was also another piece that they didn't move forward with and it had to do with Agriculture going from dairy to non-dairy or vice versa, but if you could just confirm that for me secretary young Absolutely governor at the administration when in the joint fiscal committee on monday Having um part it was sometime earlier this week And asked for an additional Um, one print seven five million to go to the existing agency of agriculture grant program to move some of the money that was directed to the dairy Industry to the working land farm because that program was under subscribe and the Joint fiscal committee Denied that request. We also went in with ten million dollars to supplement the existing business Grants the economic recovery grant And that money would have allowed the pending applications who are eligible to get on average about five thousand more in the grants that are going out next week And that was denied Those are the major ones and then they denied the request for housing pay About three point two million for um It's part of the human services request For the designated agency So with that this approval under the statutory process We uh had um the opportunity to revise the reasonable Which we did yesterday because the time uh the clock is ticking and so we asked for Uh the agricultural grant to be revisited and we increased our request for the economic relief grant to 13.2 million So as the process works The joint fiscal committee has five days To approve or disapprove that request So we hope to have our decision on or before Tuesday So we know how much to include in the grants that we hope to put out this Wednesday or Thursday Thank you Again in fairness to the uh joint fiscal committee. I think they were Maybe considering what Washington would do or not do over the next few days and if they came to uh agreement on some sort of relief package that that might impact Which it may But they haven't moved and we have to deal with reality at this point So we want to make sure that we get this money out the door and in the hands of those who just really need it to the right now Great Erin bt digger The good question is a little bit about her again and a little bit about um like Smith, um You see State tracking how many people who are homeless have had COVID-19 in any way Um, you know separately from you know, out of which the general operational aid staff And are there any testing initiatives physically targeted to that population? Do you have any information about how many people who are homeless have been tested? Erin that's the information I'm going to have to get back to you on how many people If we have information on how many people within that population have been tested Um, and other information that you just asked. I just don't have that at my fingertips and whether we Actually have that information. I'm just going to have to uh get back to you on that. I apologize Kind of quick, um So question, I want to understand about the response I was facing Those through um, you know, you have to say I could provide you a mailing address As those other contact information Is there any guidance on what to do with someone who is homeless in my house? Like is it your housing, hospital, mailing address, maybe not even a cell phone number? uh to contact someone like you know Is there a difficulty that you coordinate contact tracing on that situation? Yeah, I'm not sure I'll let dr. Levine answer that question for you Yeah, if I'm hearing you correctly um If if if through contact tracing somebody's been identified, but they may not have an address a stable address or um be hard to find Certainly couldn't get a text on a cell phone things of that sort. So, you know, we do have an extensive Um district office network throughout every region of the state And we have public health nurses who are working in those offices who are a real extension of our epidemiology branch, if you will And they help with identification. They help with the public health aspects of having found a case in a certain setting And what the implications are for that setting whether it be a Uh a place that houses people who are homeless or whether it's a school or what have you So, uh, there's certainly A lot of effort made to make sure that we can account for people who are identified that way If that was the intent of your question Yeah, um, thanks sir. Thanks for that Sean the chester telegraph Thank you With the emergency authorization of water are possibly two vaccines just around the corner What what's the state messaging plan for ensuring that people take the shot and and when would that plan be publicly available? Yeah, it's it's about acceptance of the vaccine. Is that what you're getting at Sean? Yeah, I mean basically to to let people know about the vaccine and to answer their questions and and I guess to ensure that at the maximum number of taking Yeah, so there's an extensive messaging plan and obviously you haven't seen it yet because we have to find out about the vaccine Before that can even happen And there's still going to be some unknowns If only the Pfizer vaccine is approved in the near future Because of the nature of the design of the studies that uh, Pfizer carried out. So Obviously, we do want to maximize uptake of the vaccine and reduce the amount of People who may be hesitant to get the vaccine. So we have to be very transparent But we have to know exactly what we're talking about to do that. So Um While the communication plans are in place the actual content is obviously the the critical crux of the matter here Do you have an idea about how long that will be? You mean to when to when you start to see it? Yeah, yeah, no, certainly during the course of the next several weeks You know, I just want to keep in mind that Um, it's going to be into january before the next priority group Becomes eligible to get vaccine based on again The numbers of doses coming into the state And that priority group will cover a lot more people that are in the first group of Long-term care facilities and health care workers So we'll certainly be prepared to meet the needs of that group But in terms of the more general population who don't have a specific risk factor in a may be very large in number The same information will be pertinent to them But they won't actually need that information for a lot longer because they won't be getting their vaccine Until 2021 hopefully earlier in the year Before the spring we'll have to see and shan It's this isn't specific to the Vaccines on the table right now, but our original interim Vaccination plan submitted to the cdc, which is available on health vermont.gov Does outline in section 12 the communications plan? It's it's generalized and high level because the details weren't available when this was submitted, but it does lay out Channels as well as you know community partners and other steps that will all go into that communication specific planning process Yeah, I did read that that's why I was asking the question about a more specific thing, but obviously that's kind of thank you And I'll just add that You know by that time we get to that phase of things The primary care practice community is going to be very heavily involved in this whole vaccination effort And when you come down to it, it's one thing for the state to say this or to say that But people have usually access to primary care and in this state we have Very high percentages of our population who have a primary care clinician and it's obviously that trusted relationship and The shared decision-making that goes on and those interactions that will be critical to the Average Vermonter Though I'd love to say that Whatever we put out as a health department and as a state would be as critical information to them Obviously everybody wants to hear from their doctor Or nurse practitioner and and understand exactly their feelings about it and how they can individualize the advice To the individual person based on what they know about them. Thank you Peter Hirschfeld vpr Peter vpr. All right. We'll go to steward nbc five Good afternoon Stuart, are you still there? Try that again stewart Okay Following up on tim mcquistons questions specific to skiing we've Now that the season's underway had a few emails And i'll paraphrase one from sto Uh, I know for sure the parking lot at sto is filled without a state place And there is a zero chance that all of these people have quarantined Uh, we've had people from okimos Send messages of similar concern. So the question is what can the health department do to ensure folks arriving from out of state? Follow the the quarantine and and testing protocols Yeah, again, not a perfect system, but i'll ask uh, commissioner shirling or secretary curly. Maybe they could provide some Some details Sure, uh, happy to show this is secretary curly The ski areas are working very hard to be sure to educate folks on the need to to carry out a quarantine before they Come to vermont hit the slope We have signs as the governor has talked about on the interstate As you're exiting the interstate These areas have a lot of information on it. The department of tourism and marketing is spending A great deal of time getting that message out to make sure people know before they go So I hope and I feel that the people really are willing to carry out a quarantine with a little planning They're they're willing to make the sacrifice. So Unless we have specific information to prove that somebody has not Then it's hard to go after folks. Um, and honestly we uh We feel like everybody's working together to make it work And we're hopeful that that folks are complying as far as further enforcement. I would certainly have to um Look at uh commissioner shirling to help on that could I let me just add uh before commissioner shirling Ways in on this I just you know, i'm not being naive But at the same time, I don't believe that we should jump to the conclusion just because we see Uh an out of state plate in a parking lot that they haven't quarantined Many have second homes here in vermont Some have uh have moved here and stayed here Because they uh, they want to enjoy their home. It's a safe place And they can work remotely. So we have many people in that category as well We keep watching the data That's really important to us as we've said before And i'm not seeing on the uh on the reports I receive on it on a daily basis I'm not seeing that. I haven't seen hardly any out of state Mentions of those who are positive. So You know, I On one hand, we want people to adhere to the the guidance But if we're not seeing a problem at this point in time either if it isn't being adhered to So we'll continue to monitor this We know the scare is want to uh to Make sure that they're safe because it's part of, you know, their attraction as well They don't want an outbreak On their on their mountain or at their facility. So Commissioner surly anything to add to that A very little governor. I think you and secretary furlough covers most of it I would just add one piece which is that uh, Folks have information that indicates non-compliance and then with the guidance and the details around that You could send it to either commerce or public safety. It would help us to Respind the educational posture that has worked quite well so far Okay, uh, and just a question for you governor What do you think of the texas lawsuit? Challenging the four other states and the fact that now more than 100 republicans in congress have signed onto it Yeah, I think it's bizarre and a lot of respects. I think that we need to move on I think it's amazing to me 17 attorney generals have signed on to this so Again, I don't know What the intent is here, but these are, you know, these are republican republican governors and republican lieutenant governors And republican secretary of states have signed off on the elections in their states Said that they they certified them And for this lawsuit to come about and try and challenge some of those states It's just uh unnecessary And uh, you know a bit pathetic in some respects. So we need to move on They say they're scared of the president. That doesn't include you right there The republican signing off are scared of the wrath of the president. Well, that does not include you I gather. No, it doesn't include me and or nor does it include many other governor republican governors throughout the country Again, uh, you know, we need to do what's right We don't need to harm the institution any more than it has already been harmed So we need to move on and uh and look forward to to brighter days ahead and trying to really focus on You know the common enemy here as I said in my remarks is the virus And it seems as though others are trying to take our focus away from that when we need to be Focus on this. I mean when you have 3000 deaths a day Or we're getting to the point where we're going to exceed the 300,000 mark I mean, this is Disturbing that that we take our focus away from from what really is the problem here. So again, I uh, I'm hoping the The supreme court will react in a an appropriate way. I'm sure they will And then be done with that and and move on Thank you And I understand peter hirschfeld was disconnected, but should be back on the line peter Apologies for the miscue governor, uh, the legislature is beginning to draft a framework that acknowledges the impact of the pandemic on town meeting day And it looks like they're Going to put together a bill that would give Towns and districts the ability to change the date of town meeting day if they want And also give them the latitude though not require them to adopt a mailing voting for town meeting day ballot measures Is that consistent with what you are looking for? Or are you looking for Mandatory universal mail-in balloting for town meeting day. Yeah, well again My preference is to move forward with the with a mandatory balloting Proposal because it worked so well in the general election But we're at the the table with the legislature at this point in time. We just you know, we can sense you can see We're in a tougher position today than we were before the the november election And so we know we we need to take action In terms of town meeting day in march So we're at the table with them will come up with a solution I believe that everyone can can accept and and again Trying to do what we can to protect The process as well as protect our constituents and and I think that we all had that in mind So I look forward to something we can all agree to And I can sign very early on because they they need to know this The towns and municipalities need to know this Or have this in in law before the end of the end of january. So time is of the essence And why not why why not give towns the latitude to decide whether mail-in voting is right for them in law? But I think I just said that we're working through that again I I believe we just came off of a general election Where we had the highest turnout in history And and it seemed to work fairly well and why not continue with that process Thank you Austin the burlington free cross Hi, I believe my questions are for secretary smith and I do want to apologize in advance. I've had some Connectivity issues on my end. So I may have missed a couple things along the way Well, my questions have to do with the emergency emergency staffing help for skilled nursing facilities and long-term care facilities and regarding the TLC contracts the 40 staff you mentioned How much of the demand does that help still and at what cost is that contract to the state? The contract is 1.4 million dollars and it should help us because it doesn't It doesn't the demand doesn't help happen all at once. I mean it happens all at once for a very brief short period of time before we can sort of stabilize staffing on a longer term basis and as I mentioned our Area where is the most critical need is the 24 to 48 hour period And in those institutions that have outbreaks where there may be death involved Because of the attention that has to be paid to The various patients that are in critical need so the the 40 Staff RNs LPNs LNAs and unlicensed caregivers support staff I think will be sufficient plus As you as you've pointed out We're calling for volunteers as well both paid and and and volunteers With a website and i'm going to shamelessly promote this website here because we do need the volunteers Uh to be helping out in long-term care facilities covid staffing dot vermont dot gov And with that call to action effort, I mean what sort of numbers are you hoping to achieve with that? We haven't put any numbers on it. We just want you know some of the staffing will be for relief Because as I said in the beginning remarks, we've had heroic efforts by multiple people Including existing staff within those facilities working multiple shifts We've had heroic efforts from volunteers already. I've heard of you know vice presidents of organizations nurses Coming in and helping out UVMMC has been uh critical in helping out in this need So, you know, we we don't put a number on it, but I think with the 40 Additional staff that we will have through this contract. I think we will meet the needs of those critical periods that we need Thank you very much All right, and uh, I appreciate all the reporters help i'm keeping to the two one to two questions Just a quick time check for reference. It's 1245 and there are still 11 left in the queue and wallace allen Hi, I think I only have one question Governor you have spoken before about the timing of some of the federal and state programs that are Effectively ending at the end of the year, which is going to stop some of the relief that has been directed at for monitors who've lost their jobs As a result of the pandemic. I mean one of them is the State unemployment insurance where people were naturally timing out and there's no extension no more extensions available for them um, has the administration been able to come up with any data on how People are going to be affected or how many people are going to be affected by this and i'm also wondering You know you've spoken before about how there's no more state support for them The department of labor has said they can't extend the insurance benefits without another stimulus package Is there is there any plan in place to determine who is going to need this help to get through the winter? You know the early winter months because even if the stimulus package passes In you know in the very beginning of the winter it'll take a while for this money to get to people Um, is there any provision for people? I noticed that there wasn't and The latest proposal in front of the joint fiscal committee. There wasn't anything set aside specifically for that Yeah, my biggest concern at this point is ui or pua Um, we believe there's anywhere from 15 to 20,000 Vermonters who will be impacted By lack of action on the power of congress That equates to up to um, 10 million dollars every single week And we can't use the We can't use the unemployment trust fund to to To do anything with i mean we have resources within the that's what's uh Frustrating in some respects because we have the unemployment trust fund and it's it's in pretty good shape I mean we we started out with A half a billion dollars in there a little over 500 million We have about 250 million million in there now. So we have the resources, but we can't use our hands are tied So all they would have to do a congress would have to do if they did nothing else If they would just extend the unemployment and pua and so forth We would have the resources needed to to fulfill the need. Uh, so that's from my standpoint That's the highest priority at this point in time the rest we can catch up on so I believe I still believe I spoke with some other governors last night on a conference call They've been going to their congressional congressional delegation and these are folks on both sides of the aisle And and they believe They believe when speaking to again members of both sides that there could be Something that would take place before the end of the year but but again We uh, I know I I know how dire The need is here in this state for those who are on unemployment right now And that's why we need their help. We need them to take action. We need them to do it now Thanks, but there's no uh provision for reallocating some of the state money that has come back. You said there's 24 million dollars Again, as I said and You know, that's it's 10 million dollars a week Um, we would burn through that about a week and a half With what's left. That's that's not enough. That's not going to fix the problem All right, thanks and and plus as well I will say we can't we can't in some respects We can't utilize that because we have to expend that By 12 31 and these programs are running out about the same time. So it's it it wouldn't be We can't utilize that funding After the first Good point. Okay. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you Andrew caledonian record Uh, yeah, thank you. Good afternoon. Um, my question is about the letter and the intent of the multi household gathering restrictions As it applies to extended families and students We've heard from a school administrator around here who's an understanding of the Of the restrictions is that extended family members for instance grandparents can provide transportation and after school child care And who have been doing so can continue to do so but on weekends or for instance on thanksgiving the same grandparents Should and couldn't interact with the family. Is that understanding accurate? And uh And if so, how are schools supposed to supervise and educate their families and students on On that level of new one. Yeah, what what letter are you referring to? Uh, it's a letter that we received from school administrator Who's understanding is that grandparents for instance could drive a kid to school But the same grandparents couldn't interact with the kids On the weekend or during the holiday Yeah, um, again, I'm not sure If I get the full flavor. I'm looking for dr. Levine, or maybe commissioner Shirley Oh, okay Okay, I'm going to let uh deputy secretary boucher answer this because it appears that might come from the agency of education Thank you, governor. I believe this might be referring to a piece of our guidance that recommended Again in keeping with the goal of Of not mixing up households that routinely were not interacting with one another that That lea's local education agencies build that question into their usual screening process So I don't believe the intent Of that was to it was really to ensure that households That were not already Interacting very Regularly such as the case with we've heard from some families where grandparents are regular caregivers of children My my understanding is that was not the intention Of of that guidance So if there was a pre-existing arrangement for extended family to care for students That was in place before The application of household restrictions that could continue And that interaction would be allowed outside of the context of the after-school care Well, we actually left, you know, we I think that was the tacit understanding because it really is about Social gatherings that do not typically occur So We didn't speak directly to that issue that's for certain in the aoe guidance Um But we could certainly revisit that and see if there needs to be some clarification on that Secretary Curley can offer a little bit more as well Secretary Curley, do you want to add anything to that? Yeah, I I think that's what we're getting at is we have have permitted Multiple households to get together where it relates to child care Or health care or the needs as we think about but what we ask is for multiple households not to gather outside of the necessary care related areas Right now because as soon as you think of social gatherings And and this is our our aspect then is we understand that sometimes you need to have a carpool or you have child care But you don't need to get together on the weekend for a family to pair a family friend in or so to speak right now It's not the right time for that Okay, I guess that money is the water but I'll I'll take this Let me Let me try to tell you a little more. I think what you're asking is Is you know, perhaps when when a student has been with a grandparent for child care purposes So that the parents could go to work for example The child is permitted to do that and and still be in school But what they should be doing is making extra get-togethers happen For example in the evening or on a weekend where it's truly for social purposes and not for the care of the child Specifically or related to health Is that helpful It is clear to me now so a grandparent can drive a student on Friday, but can't come over for lunch on Saturday All right Thank you It really does come down to that want and need And it's you know, it's a tough choice to make but when you think about bringing multiple families together for social Get-together dinner and so forth. It's not you know driving someone to school It's getting together You know in a large or much larger group in a social setting Without masks and so forth and and that's where the spread Seems to take place or it has been in the past. So that's what we're trying to prevent but But I understand how murky and muddy that might seem and counter-intuitive that might be We'll go to Andrea at seven days Hi there. Um, I Just question is for secretaries mess, I believe I see on the covid staffing site that there are some there are Open applications for the tlc staffing positions Does tlc have Staffers on hand right now can't activate immediately or are they still in the hiring process for those positions? They have 20 right now. They can activate immediately We are hiring some more, but we expect that to be up by next week And do you expect those those 22? To how immediately Will the 20 be done? Well, I'm hoping when I say immediately as soon as they're needed in various homes Okay, and do you anticipate that there is current need or that that will be You know with the next few days Yeah, I I think there's always some need and you know, those needs have been handled so far through uvm mc the home health association volunteers and others But we need to get these paid staffers into these facilities Into some of these facilities as quick as possible when we see these outbreaks and again These what i'm talking about a very specific time periods within an outbreak Once the outbreak after the initial outbreak staff seems to stabilize in this in this environment so far Staff seems to stabilize in this This environment what we need is sort of an immediate Ability to get people in there within the 24 48 hour period and that is what we're doing right now So we have staff that can do that. I don't know what What the If if we're going to be deploying those immediately or waiting to see If there is needs in the next few days, I just you know, this is done Almost nightly in terms of dale looking around and seeing what the staffing needs are in these facilities have had outbreaks Okay, um, great. Thank you a 3 w c a x My question is for dr. Labine Moderna has announced that it is starting trial for a vaccine on adolescence What is having an effective vaccine for adolescence mean for stopping the spread of COVID-19? That's a great question. The adolescent population We kind of regard as like the adult population in terms of their ability to Be able to transmit the virus much different than the much younger pediatric population That we've been emphasizing all along in the sort of k through 6 age range where it's much less likely that They will be impacted by the virus or be able to transmit the virus So I think adolescence is a really critical time And we would love to have a vaccine that adolescents were eligible for And would be efficacious and safe in that population You may know that in the Pfizer vote that was taken by those on the panel the only couple of Reluctant votes were because of the age cutoff at 16 or 17 Because those individuals felt that that age range hadn't been amply examined in that study But and I think the cutoff when it gets announced will be age 16 For getting that vaccine. So if Moderna is doing more work in that arena, that will be welcomed. Thank you Greg the Bennington banner Thank you. Good afternoon, governor Let's be familiar with the story about the town of Stamford first reported by a Vermont public radio Detailing the town held an in-person public Christmas tree lighting that members of the select board said during in-person meeting At which they were unmapped that they regard the state's COVID-19 regulations as violating their constitutional rights So my question is what's your message to residents of Stamford who are concerned about their health and safety given these actions And what's your message to the monsters in Stamford or elsewhere who do see these emergency orders as an infringement of their rights Thank you. Well again to reinforce all the things that I said to my remarks and what we've been saying over the last nine months whole true These measures you do work They have been working for Vermont and I get how difficult this is for some but putting a mask on to to To prevent the spread is is altruistic If you don't want to do it for yourself do it for someone else do it for you for your loved ones It's just not that much to ask when you think about sacrifices that have been made for many especially You think about the greatest generation and what they had to go through during World War two And and others who have served in in public service the sacrifices they made for us This is this is just a simple Ask that is effective and will get us through this So, um, I um I I appreciate uh their their stance their position. I just don't agree with it All right, and that's for residents in Stamford who are concerned about this I mean do you have any message for them or have you been in contact with uh with folks in Stamford to Uh, there's a way to sort of resolve things or just more education or Again, uh, just adhere to the guidance that we've been laying out, you know Wear a mask stay Physically separated don't gather In uh in groups, uh, and if you're sick don't go to work You can you can take that into your own hands You don't need public officials to tell you what or what to do or what not to do in that regard But you know, it's just again common sense for my standpoint Thank you very much governor. Thank you Steve any tv No, hi, can you hear me? Yes, can you hear you can hear me? I can Great, thanks. Uh, I don't want for the doctor and one for the governor if I may um Doctor, uh, I wanted to thank Ben Truman, uh for getting those lab numbers above the bcr to me So quickly, uh, and efficiently, I'm sure you guys are you know up to your Up to your necks and how busy you are and I wanted to thank you guys for getting that data to me and but uh From what I understand, uh, the pcr the lab pcr numbers that we're using Are between 32 and 37 from what I could see And uh, no studies have shown that there's any infectious virus in asymptomatic patients Or in tests using over 30 cycles So if Vermont is using say 33 plus For the pcr test wouldn't that um result in almost a 97 percent? false positive rate because of the exponential nature Of the pcr numbers So first of all, thank you for the thank you Uh Our communications team will appreciate that With regard to the numbers, um, you know All I'm going to say in response is Our testing strategy has served us well We've identified and been able to contact trace cases We have the best statistics in the country If your theory is correct, which again, uh, I'm not confirming that it is because uh, I don't believe it's universally subscribed to But if it were correct, and we were Somewhat overestimating Um It has paid off And I would rather not Get into a controversy about a person who may have some mild symptoms And had virus detected But it was at a higher Um Cycle threshold value That's still a person who Could transmit virus to somebody else as far as I'm concerned And I would much rather approach it from that standpoint Then worry if that person just had inactive virus in their nose or copies that were too few To detect on a very very sensitive assay And leave it at that because uh, it's been a successful strategy and um We're not only using the machine you just referred to That's one of the platforms in the health department's armamentarium But again, you know across Platforms whether you stop you're talking about boston the male clinic or the uvm lab Uh, there's a whole array of lab tests being done With various cycle thresholds And again, we seem to be finding the the virus when we need to and acting appropriately And I don't believe we're missing it in any regard and hence Letting a lot of cases be out there that could be spread to other people and cause them harm Because it just doesn't bear out in the data. Okay. Thank you, doctor Governor You just mentioned the supreme court lawsuit It is being bizarre It is would you consider it bizarre? For a handful of states to disregard their own state laws and their state constitution To change election laws at the last minute without authority from the legislature As the law proscribes Uh To disenfranchise All the states that have that do follow the law and did things correctly I think it's bizarre for one state to sue another state over their own laws. I think that's what's bizarre Uh, and and I think that that's overreach I mean, that's what you know as a republican I believe in states rights individual rights states rights and uh, and I just I I just I just find that bizarre that that Others would think that they should have an effect on on another state that they can sue another state to change The way it's changed their laws And these are again. These are these are governors who have certified their results They they have found no reason they've found Nothing that would would would impact their decision to to certify the results So you're calling into question The governor maybe the lieutenant governor the secretary of state or even their attorney general maybe um But certainly You're calling into question their integrity that they didn't sign their certification of their election And that's what I find so bizarre But if the election if the election Uh, did not Law vote their prescribed laws, but but they signed off on us Steve these these governors in those states signed off on They they sworn out to the constitution. They signed it. They said these these These did go through uh in accordance to law Well, I guess we'll let the uh, we'll let the supreme court sort this one out and uh, I hope they don't take very long in doing So but I yes, I I believe that they need to weigh in As they have in every other state They they need to bring some they should bring some evidence is what they should do Which we haven't seen have you been what have you been watching? I haven't been watching I haven't been watching anything That this shows me that there's been any mass type of fraud I mean you think about it. You'd have to have The governor the secretary of state and others in on the fraud, right? I mean For there to be this of this mass this wide scale um Situation I I just I just can't With electronics not necessarily Maybe we should go to canada where we have uh, you know where they have a direct paper trail And then there wouldn't be any questions the canadiens seem to have this worked out. Perhaps the us could uh follow their example Uh good point, uh, steve and in this state. We did we do have paper ballots And uh, we can go back through them and many other states do as well And they have been certified even in some of the states that have been questioning Uh, they have paper ballots and have certified the results All right, we're going to move the signatures in the envelope. We're going to thank you governor and thank you doctor We move to tom at the bremont standard tom bremont standard So thanks very much Go ahead tom Okay, uh, all of my questions have been addressed for today. So I just want to thank you governor Well, thank you very much and we're finally getting you on the line. So that's uh, that's good news We're making progress. Yeah. Yeah. Well I've been I've been hanging in there. Uh, kind of hanging there the last couple of weeks But um, I'm here today and uh, we have some questions on Tuesday. Thanks so much. Well, thank you very much Mike true north reports Hello, go ahead mike Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Uh, michael, I'll give a true north report Um, I have an economic question Uh, can you hear me? Okay, sure go ahead Okay, great. Yep. Well, we're in new hamster. Uh, governor christa new new is i'm sorry my son Uh, governor, it's proposing to reduce the rooms and meals tax to support their hotels and restaurants Would you support such tax cuts here in vermont for our own hotels and restaurants? Yeah Well, I'm always in favor. Yeah, I'm always in favor tax cuts, uh, mike But in this situation, I'm I'm just not familiar with what new hampshire has done with their, uh CRF funds and so forth, but uh, we've we've Provided a lot of relief. We know we need to provide more For the hospitality sector. I mean hundreds of millions of dollars more NA aid is needed and we're hoping with the next Economic recovery package that congress will hopefully pass That there will be more funding available that we can distribute to them We just took a different path And and I don't again, I don't have any knowledge of of how much they've given To their business sector out of the CRF funds they received, but I know that we've done a lot And want to do more and understand that there's more need but But i'm not sure that that Again, when you think about We heard we've heard Over the last few weeks. We've seen it That the restaurants are struggling and they're not having the client tell That they normally do a lot of people aren't aren't as uh, I don't feel That they can go out to do that and I respect that So they're struggling and and some of you know, because we're we're so reliant on On trade from other states. We're not having and we haven't asked them to come But we're not seeing the cross-border support that we normally do and we certainly don't have anyone from canada coming in Either so that impacts The the that sector the hospitality sector, but i'm not sure that that's enough relief for them So we've taken a different approach. We've given them grants Directly and uh, and we've done a lot to date, but we know we need to do more in the future Maybe you know, I don't I just don't know the comparison Mike between what may hampshire has provided in CRF relief compared to vermont right And a quick follow-up if I may um as businesses are forced to make huge cuts to their own operations staff to survive during economic downturn Is the vermont state government planning its own cuts to its programs and staff to mitigate costs during these tough times Yeah, I mean we've we've taken a number of steps ourselves We're going to be presenting a budget that will be balanced Based on reality this in the next month So stay tuned. You know, we'll do all we can With what what we have and and and again We want to focus on economic recovery because we know that the businesses Provide for the lifeblood of government. They provide the revenue that we need For the future. So we're going to work hand in hand and make sure that we Provide for the businesses so that they can survive and then thrive in the aftermath Well, thanks Robin the caledonian record Robin caledonian record star six to unmute Okay, we'll move to Dana local 22 Um, could you hear me? We can Okay, so my question is regards to christmas eve some churches are planning on holding masks in person Is this at all a concern? well, obviously, um, anytime you have a mass gathering and I don't mean that in the the religious sense, but anytime you have people getting together and a gathering It's of concern to us Without the proper protocols, you know, making sure you're distancing making sure you You are wearing a mask and so forth We have not Again, we've asked the churches to to limit the their gatherings and use the safety protocols in place Based on the occupancy Rate in the in the facility. So Again, we we provided that guidance and hopefully they'll adhere to that And find other creative ways to to Get together and it's an important holiday for many. So It's an important religious holiday at that. So We understand the need But hopefully they can get creative and do it in a safe way so they can They can keep their constituency Safe as well. Thank you Guy page Guy, thank you very much. Thank you very much color Question about gesture tickets Of the 93 romaners that is totally fatalities How many or even roughly what percentage? This COVID as the primary cause of death And what roughly what percentage of this COVID as a contributing factor? Hey, I don't I don't have the answer to that guy Be happy to to try and figure that out. I don't I don't have it at my disposal Is the commissioner on the line he he is right here the commissioner of health is right here But he I don't think he has his fingertips. We can we can provide that to you though We'll go back through it If you for the future if you have any of those specific Areas where you'd like to have numbers of that nature Just just send us a text or or send us an email and we'll try and get that beforehand so that we're prepared When we had the press conferences Yes governor, I did and they weren't able to come up with exact numbers I guess I'm looking more for a a general sense of where the balance falls on that is it Like again mostly I I don't I haven't looked through the death certificates myself guy, so I just don't know Okay, but we're happy to take a look Okay, thank you That's it. All right. Thank you very much and we'll see you again on tuesday