Thread by @JaneLindholm

#vtpoli press conference coming up, and accompanying thread to follow. Governor Scott, Health Commissioner Dr. Levine, and Human Services Secretary Mike Smith are all planning to give opening remarks, and all will be remote, because of a COVID exposure.

A contractor who was in the Pavilion auditorium, where the press briefings are held, tested positive for the virus earlier this week. Although the public officials at the podium were following safety protocols, they are quarantining to take all the necessary precautions.

The governor and Dr. Levine and others have already been tested at least once. All have so far tested negative. The governor will remain in quarantine until Tuesday. If he tests negative on that day, he will resume normal activities.

Scott starting the presser early today. Maybe remote briefings are a good thing. He started by recapping what I just went over, and now turns to the start of the mass public vaccination program, beginning next week.

"Now, we want everyone to be vaccinated. If more supply of vaccine becomes available, we can quickly scale up and broaden availability," Scott says. But the state will begin with just those age 75 and above.

Age 70+ will come next, followed by those age 65 and above. After that, people with certain health conditions will become eligible. We don't know much yet about what happens after that!

AHS Secretary Mike Smith says that when the website opens on Monday, "there will be enough appointments for every Vermonter age 75 and above" in a 5-week window.

But Smith says you may not get an appointment on the day you want or the time you want. And he asks people to choose an appointment close to where they live, because doses are being distributed based on the geographic distribution of older Vermonters.

The state will not give out the website or phone number until Monday, when it goes live.

Smith urges Vermonters to "please keep your appointment", says the state is worried about spoilage if people don't make their appointment.

More information available at healthvermont.gov/myvaccine

Smith says you will be asked for insurance information when you register, but you do not have to have insurance to register. You will be asked to prove your Vermont residency, but I'm not sure how they will do that. Maybe a reporter will follow up on that later.

After you go through the registration process you will be able to choose a place and time to make an appointment. You can only register one person at a time. The state is working on how to make sure that those who cannot get to a vaccine clinic are also able to get the vaccine.

Smith says don't call the health department for more information. Don't call a pharmacy. Don't call your primary care provider. Don't call 211. He urges people to go to the health dept. website for more info: healthvermont.gov/myvaccine, and to wait until the site goes live on 1/25.

Smith acknowledges that 10s of thousands of people are likely to try to access the website and phone bank on Monday and urges patience, saying everyone age 75 and above WILL be able to get an appointment.

Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine now. starts with a health update. Says case counts continue to fluctuate between 100 and 180. 174 new cases reported today. Positivity rate is 2.5%.

43 patients are in hospitals, with 5 in the ICU. Community transmission continuing. Only 1 in 4 people have an UNKNOWN source of exposure. 10% of recent cases are associated with outbreaks, but most are person to person, not an outbreak situation.

52 outbreaks being monitored by the state: 21 are in independent/senior living, 19 are in workplaces, 5 (I think he said) are in schools.

There have been 6 more deaths since Tuesday. All were older Vermonters, half living at home (or being treated in the hospital), half in long term care facilities.

Levine offering some statistics on how many people in group 1A are saying yes to the vaccine in Vermont. Residents of long term care facilities have an uptake rate of about 92%. Staff rate at these facilities is 60%.
In hospital/health care settings, the rate ranges from 70-90%.

Dr. Levine is sharing his own experience going through quarantine: being contacted by a contact tracer, addressing his own risk of exposure based on what's known about his contact with the positive individual, and staying away from his wife.

Question time. Remember, everyone is remote on this call. Looks like there may be a problem getting the reporters to be able to be heard. Uh oh.

Scott's communications chief, who runs these Q&As, now asking ANY reporter who is able to go ahead and ask their question. No dice. So she's now reading a question that was texted in by Tim McQuiston.

This wasn't the question, but Scott confirms that he still expects to deliver the budget address next Tuesday, "hopefully after" testing negative. His 7-day test will be Tuesday.

"It looks like we are experiencing a widespread un-muting issue," Rebecca Kelly says, with apologies to reporters who "would like to do the grilling yourselves."

Stewart Ledbetter asks about concerns and violations at Elderwood and other long term care homes. Good reporting by @sevendaysvt @derekwbrouwer on this: sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/arc…

2nd question from Ledbetter about teachers wanting to be prioritized to get the vaccine, given the state's focus on in-person learning. Ledbetter says the teacher petition he's referring to says teachers also feel the statewide testing protocol isn't telling the full story.

Scott doesn't zero in on teacher vaccination, but says the state is confident in the information they're getting from the surveillance testing. And repeats that the state's goal is to save lives. (Thus the age prioritization.)

Dr. Levine chimes in to say the state has to make choices because it doesn't have enough doses right now to get everyone. Would like to get to lots of different groups of people, but has to make tough choices to prioritize saving lives.

Says states that are allowing people of all age categories AND front line workers to get vaccinated at once are "diluting" the possibility of getting traction in any one risk group in particular.

Scott says what the science and data tells them is that those who are most likely to die are in the older categories or who have severe chronic conditions. Says the state will reassess after completing these groups.

**ME: That's important. I haven't heard the governor talk about the fact that the state might change it's strategy after completing these early groups. (But I've wondered about it since deputy health commissioner Tracy Dolan hinted as much on VTED a few weeks ago.)

Cat Viglienzoni asks if residency and age will be checked when people get the vaccine. Sec. Smith says he really hopes people won't game the system. And people will have to attest to their eligibility when they register. They'll be asked their name when they get to the test site.

And Smith says they'll be asked to sign a waiver when they arrive. (I'm not sure what the waiver says, or if it actually has anything to do with eligibility.)

Gov. Scott says he also really hopes people won't try to push ahead in line. Reminds people that if they do, they're taking the vaccine away from someone whose age puts them at a high risk of death. Says "that's not the Vermont way."

Smith says he hopes the state will have a plan in place by next week to address any concerns about spoilage if people don't show up for their appointments.

Q about whether or not people will be able to get appointments together. Smith says he hopes people will be able to find times close together if they register one right after another.

Scott says he hopes that if two people show up in a car and have appointments near one another but not at the same time that people administering the vaccine will have flexibility in getting both vaccinated at the same time.

ME: That seems to throw a huge wrench in the process. If the state is NOT going to hew to its registration process, wouldn't that increase the possibility of spoilage and confusion? Couldn't flexibility make things more chaotic, given how rigid the process has been designed?

What time will the website go live? Smith says the state won't put out a press release until morning, which will have the phone number and website.

FYI, reporters are emailing and texting their questions and followups in to Rebecca Kelly so she can read them for the state officials.

Q if strep throat cases are on the rise and if it's potentially being caused by wearing dirty masks. Dr. Levine says strep is not a reportable disease, so he's not sure of stats in VT that show if it's high or low this year, and says the dirty mask idea doesn't make sense to him.

On mask wearing, Levine says people should wash their reusable masks frequently. Says guidance doesn't say X number of hours or anything like that, but if you're wearing a mask for many hours a day, you should probably clean it every day.

My kids wear their masks at school all day and I've had to start sending 2 per day with my 1st grader--kids are gross.

Q asking for further clarity on the state's plan to avoid spoilage. Sec. Smith says there are still some people in group 1A who can take a spot if there are doses that need to be used. And those who are home-bound might be able to be given doses before they spoil.

There is no waitlist, however, for people to get on, Secretary Smith confirms.

.@VPRDillon asks the governor if this recent exposure makes it high time for him and his cabinet to get vaccinated. Gov. Scott says absolutely not. Says he'd prefer to be the last Vermonter to get vaccinated.

@VPRDillon Scott says he'll wait his turn. And he's fine; quarantining is allowing him to walk in the shoes of other Vermonters who have to do the same, he says.

No changes to the state's current policy for school-based winter sports.

.@averynpowell asks about National Guard troops that were apparently removed from the Capitol building and needed to rest in parking lots etc. Says NH Gov. Sununu called back NH troops. nbcboston.com/news/local/sun…

@averynpowell Gov. Scott says he has not heard of any Vermont troops that were impacted by this. Says Adjutant General Knight has his cell phone and would respond if the Guard needed him to, but he hasn't heard of any adverse impact for VT troops.

(From what I read this morning, troops have been allowed back in. Many lawmakers were very upset about the issue. Story is still developing and I may not have read the latest on what would help to explain why the troops were removed in the first place.)

Q about what's known about people who might be fraudulently filing for PUA (pandemic unemployment assistance). Labor Commissioner Harrington says there's been a lot of national news about this, and a significant uptick in this (nationally).

Harrington says that most of the fraudulent filers are not Vermonters or other individuals, they're international crime syndicates that are getting ahold of people's information and making attempts. Says this may be connected to large data breaches.

Question about hours for the vaccine clinics. Secretary Smith says it will mostly be business hours. But Gov. Scott suggests maybe there could be some sites with more varied hours. Secretary Smith says they'll be nimble.

.@EPetenko asks how the state can guarantee that all Vermonters in the 75+ group will be able to be vaccinated if the state can't be sure of the federal allocation. Secretary Smith says "it's math." But seems to miss the point of her question.

@EPetenko Gov. Scott says it's true that the state can only follow its own plan if it has the allocation it expects from the federal government. Says it's making these plans based on what it knows /expects from the feds.

@EPetenko Notes that in New York, appointments are being canceled because the state doesn't have the doses to complete all the appointments that have been made.

@EPetenko Erin also asks what the state has done to make sure the vaccine website is accessible to those for whom English is a second language and for those who have disabilities. No firm details immediately available. Rebecca Kelly says she'll put Erin in touch with the health dept.

Breakdown for the number of Vermonters in each of the age categories:
49K Vermonters are 75+
33K Vermonters are 70-74
42K Vermonters are 64-69

There should be a "town site map" up on "the site" today, Secretary Smith says, and a more specific listing of the physical locations soon. I assume he's talking about the health department website: healthvermont.gov/myvaccine

Homebound Vermonters and those who will not be able to physically go to a clinic are going to be served through what is essentially a totally different system than the website registration, Smith says. 1/

ON THAT: They have not said in today's press conference that homebound Vermonters should not sign up via the website, but @healthvermont's Tracy Dolan DID say that on @vermontedition earlier this week. I'd love more clarity on that system. We'll ask on Tuesday.

For those age 18-64 who have health conditions that make them eligible for vaccine priorities, they will not be able to get the vaccine until the age group 65+ has been completed.

What will the sites look like: it won't be a drive-up vaccination situation. Smith says people will need to be observed for 15 minutes, so they'll be in a building. There are accessibility accommodations in place.

Guy Page asks how much the recent extra police presence at the Statehouse cost the state. Gov. Scot says he doesn't know. Public Safety Commissioner Schirling says it hasn't been assessed yet (they're still in that pay period).

Steve Merrill question now, but it's texted or emailed in, so we don't get a long story. Question is about internet companies raising rates and if that should be allowed when people are at home trying to work/do school from home.

Gov. Scott says he sympathizes. Reminds folks that internet companies are not regulated utilities, so the state doesn't have control over pricing. Says he'll try to get more info to the person who sent Steve the question, to try to help this person afford the costs if needed.

How many vaccination sites are there? There will be 54 vaccine sites in 39 Vermont towns.

Presser over. Gov. Scott thanks everyone for their patience with technological difficulties.