Thread by @JaneLindholm

Press conference beginning soon. Heads up that if the jury comes back in the Chauvin case, @vprnet will go to live coverage from NPR. I will continue to listen to and tweet the COVID press conference, and you'll be able to find the audio at vpr.org.

@vprnet And we're beginning with Mike Pieciak today, as the governor is off at the weekly call the Biden administration has with state governors.

Pieciak says the modeling and statistics give the Scott administration confidence that it is on the right track. This week's weekly case total is down 24% over the last 7 days and down 39% since April 1st.

He says cases in the younger demographics that were previously leading case growth are down significantly. He points out this decrease is not likely due to vaccination among this population. Due more to behavior and prevention, earning a thanks from the commissioner.

Given the decrease in cases, the state forecast models predict an optimistic future, Pieciak says. And vaccination continues to progress, with VT showing high vaccine willingness.

“Given the higher case rates we’ve seen over the winter, we estimate 120 Vermonters’ lives have been saved” due to vaccines, Pieciak says.

AHS Secretary Mike Smith is taking some time off, so today we hear from deputy secretary Jenney Samuelson. She says the administration is very pleased by the robust response to the vaccine.

Over 47,000 Vermonters between 16 and 29 have made an appointment to be vaccinated. That's 40% of that age group. Registration opened for 16-18yos on Saturday, and for 19-29 yesterday.

In Vermont's BIPOC population, 18,000 individuals have made appointments and/or been vaccinated.

Overall totals: 295,128 ppl have been vaccinated with at least 1 shot. 93,750 people have gotten 1 dose and 201,378 people have received their 1st and last dose.

Dr. Levine says the state is doing work on the website that holds the state's updated COVID data, so the dashboard won't be updated today, but today's totals and tomorrow's totals will both be updated tomorrow and assigned to the correct day.

Levine encourages people to continue to get tested if they think they may have been exposed, or if they've been traveling--which is required right now (3 days before arrival if you're coming from out of state or within 3 days of return to VT if you live here).

Levine is talking about breakthrough cases--people who have contracted COVID after getting vaccinated. This is rare, but still happens. He says data suggests .007% of vaccinated people have had breakthrough cases.

That's nationwide, not Vermont-specific.

Levine says Pfizer-BioNTech says its trials have shown the vaccine is safe and effective in people age 12-15. That data is now being independently evaluated, but Levine thinks if it is verified, younger teenagers may begin to be vaccinated by May or June.

Question time now.

1st question, from Calvin Cutler. He asks what Vermonters who were waiting on the J&J shot should do. (Example, a woman who needs to get the single shot in order to be fully vaccinated in time to attend her child's graduation.)

Levine says he expects federal authorities to make a decision soon, after a meeting at the end of this week. He doesn't have any real sense of what the official decision would be, so it's hard to advise Vermonters on what to do.

Question about whether/how the state will be ramping up vaccinations in order to get everyone vaccinated quickly--some people are finding appointments pretty far out in May and wondering if they can get an earlier dose.

Levine says if supply increases, vaccine appointments can increase. Samuelson says the state has the capacity to ramp up, if it has the supply. She says there's availability in all counties except Grand Isle in mid-May now, and Grand Isle will be getting more appointments soon.

Samuelson advises Vermonters to keep looking; they may be able to find earlier appointments on the state sites, and the pharmacies are also frequently adding new appointments.

Commissioner Pieciak says the wait is frustrating, but it's a good sign in the sense that it means Vermonters are so eager to get the vaccine that the demand is outstripping the weekly supply.

Q about whether Vermonters will still want the J&J vaccine when/if the pause is lifted. Levine says he's heard from many people disappointed in the pause and ready to get it as soon as they can.

He says there was originally some concern around the country that people wouldn't want it at all, but the opposite has been true. Thinks young people in particular might really want and be ready to get it. So as long as the pause is lifted, he anticipates strong demand.

Q about if Vermont has seen any of these pediatric multi-system inflammatory illnesses which can begin in young people after they've had COVID. Levine says the state thought it might have 1 case, but the CDC said it didn't meet the criteria. So no official VT cases of that.

Question about what seems to be a discrepancy between the state dashboard reporting a more than 50% vaccination rate and the modeling report showing more like 48%.

Pieciak says the dashboard is usually showing a percentage of the eligible population--those age 16+.

The modeling report percentage is based on the whole population, including kids. So the rate will be lower.

Question for Levine about herd immunity. He's answering by talking about how Vermont can get to that 80-ish percentage rate.

(But I would love to hear more about how Vermont in context. VT's high uptake is helpful, but isn't it of limited value, broadly speaking, if the rest of the country and the world has a lower rate? Variants etc. are still going to spread if we don't get everyone vaccinated.)

Governor Scott has arrived fresh from his call with the White House.State supply of vaccine will be staying level this week. But pharmacies will see a slight increase of Pfizer and Moderna this week, about 8000 doses in VT.

Says White House officials are still anticipating more info coming out about the J&J vaccine after Friday's ACPI meeting. Says J&J has continued manufacturing a limited supply of the vaccine as it awaits federal changes.

Scott says the state's reopening plan is tied specifically to vaccination rates. (Though he did say at a previous press briefing that there were other benchmarks not included in the state graphics explaining the plan. So that's a discrepancy from what he has said in the past.)

If you've recently had COVID, Dr. Levine says you should try to get vaccinated within 90 days of your recent illness, but you have a little time where you can safely assume you have protective antibodies. But he does recommend not waiting more than 90 days.

We're going back to previous reporters who have a question for the governor now that he's back. Calvin Cutler asks about the Canadian border. Scott says no word on border reopening.

Governor Scott: "I don't think it's a good sign when Ontario and Quebec have closed the border between them, so I'm not sensing that that will be any time soon. At least not this month."

Mike Donoghue asks about military tax exemptions. Scott says VT is one of 7 states that hasn't taken any action on repealing the state tax on military retirement benefits. He's long wanted to make sure veterans aren't taxed on these benefits.

Scott and Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray joined forces this week to support eliminating this tax. See their joint commentary here: governor.vermont.gov/governor-scott…

Donoghue asks if the problem is that legislators haven't served in the military and don't fully appreciate military service. Scott says that's a question better asked of the legislature. For his part, says he never served, but has a deep appreciation for those who have.

Greg from the County Courier asks who coordinated the joint statement on this from him and Molly Gray. He says that was the two staffs coordinating. He knew Gray had supported this particular policy during the campaign, so it seemed like a good area for cooperation.

Says he personally talks to the lieutenant governor every other week and their two staffs are in more frequent contact.

Greg switches gear and asks about why people who are vaccinated and are able to socially distance have to continue to wear masks while watching school and recreational sports.

Scott says the state will keep an eye on it as spring progresses.

Lisa Loomis says VT is one of 13 states that taxes social security benefits. Wonders if Scott would support eliminating that tax. "Sure," he says. Says he's long supported that.

Says he and the legislature moved forward a few years ago on eliminating the SS tax for those with low and moderate income. Says he's inclined to support a further reduction or elimination of the state tax on SS, as he's advocated previously.

Anne Wallace Allen wonders about the potential conflict or interactions btw. those who are masked and those who aren't as vaccine rates increase and policies shift.

I kind of missed Levine's response. But Scott says that by the 4th of July, everything should be lifted so there will no longer be a mask mandate. And there may be a relaxing of the mandate outside before then. No official word on that yet though.

Pete Hirschfeld asks that question I was just wondering about, if low vaccination rates outside of VT could hinder the value of high vaccination rates in VT!

Levine says that's an interesting issue. Says one thing is whether and how businesses will mandate vaccination. And says the vaccines should get true approval, not just emergency use authorization, pretty soon. So the questions about mandating vaccines may change.

He goes on to say Vermont's decisions will be based not only what's happening within our borders but outside our borders as well. But he thinks it's likely that the US will see significant viral suppression in the next few months so it may not be a huge deal in the near term.

Pieciak says new variants cropping up in parts of the world that have no or low vaccine protection are a worry. This past week was the highest weekly total of new cases since the start of the pandemic, he says.

But says for now Vermonters should have pretty strong protection based on our high vaccine uptake. Pete asks if herd immunity could be regionally effective, and Pieciak says yeah, kind of.

Governor Scott says he's very pleased to see how many young people have already signed up for the vaccine since they became eligible over the weekend and on Monday.

Pieciak says the rate of 50yos getting vaccinated increased 17% over last week. 40yos had a 19% increase. So people are still signing up and getting vaccines. (FYI: I didn't catch whether those %s were based on making appointments or getting a 1st dose.)

Conversation about federal COVID relief dollars and where/how they should be spent.

Q about progress for the AstraZeneca vaccine. Levine says it doesn't sound like emergency use authorization is going to be forthcoming right now, based on problems in other parts of the world. Says it's not being factored into VT's vaccine planning for the next couple of months.

Q from Erin Petenko about why the state says its vaccine schedule hasn't been impacted by the J&J pause. Scott says increase in the other two vaccines has helped fill the gaps, but VT could see an issue if J&J doesn't come back into circulation at all.

Scott says he would like "Vermont to be a state that does not tax the cloud, even if other states disagree with us." And the legislature also appears to disagree with him.

More tax questions. Some confusion over PPP loans and what years they may or may not be taxed for.

Question about the process for a vaccine to go from emergency use authorization to full approval. Levine says it’s just a matter of time and watching for adverse reactions. Says he’s not sure if the manufacturer has to ask for approval or if the CDC just does that.

Says he expects to see approval in May.

Correction: I wrote CDC, but I meant FDA.

https://twitter.com/JaneLindholm/status/1384549565328764928

Guy Page asks why Vermont’s breakthrough rate is significantly higher than the US average. Levine and Scott say the disparity is likely attributable to reporting systems and a much higher testing rate than the rest of the country, which may catch more breakthrough cases.

Question about the governor's position on expanding the Vermont prison system with a new facility. Scott says there's a lot of room for conversation about capacity, but that a modern facility for the offender population will still be necessary.

AHS Deputy Secretary Samuelson says the aim of AHS and the Department of Corrections is not to increase the number of beds in the correctional system, but to modernize the facilities that incarcerated people are living in.

Almost done. I sometimes miss stuff at the end (and sometimes miss stuff in the middle, too, of course) because I'm getting ready to get on air and can't type and talk at the same time. :)