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This story was updated at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Gov. Phil Scott will extend Vermont’s “state of emergency” for another month until Aug. 15. In the announcement Tuesday, Scott said the extension was just a “vehicle” to uphold some Covid-related restrictions and continue steps toward reopening the state.
The move comes a day after officials announced 35 new Covid cases in the Manchester area. Manchester Medical Center reported a slightly higher number — 42 cases — as well as 30 false negatives on its Facebook page Tuesday.
At the governor’s press conference Tuesday, Health Commissioner Mark Levine said that he couldn’t pinpoint a specific event or source of the outbreak.
Thirty of those cases were reported with antigen tests and were considered “presumed positive,” he said. Levine said antigen tests provide a rapid result but are generally less accurate than the test used by the state health laboratory, called PCR.
Officials plan to follow up with those who tested positive for the antigen test to begin contact tracing and confirm the results with a PCR test.
Levine said Vermont continues to have one of the lowest rates of positive Covid tests nationally. While cases have surged in many U.S. states, Vermont has averaged seven new cases a day for the past week, according to the Department of Health. Roughly 0.5% of test results were positive over a seven-day period, Levine said.Â
State officials also urged vacationing Vermonters and out-of-state visitors to quarantine after returning to the state. “It’s your vigilance that has allowed us to safely reopen those sectors,” Scott said. “We need you to continue. Because it’s not time to let your guard down.”
Agency of Human Service Secretary Mike Smith was equally blunt about the failure of some to quarantine after visiting another state and then attending social events or gatherings back in Vermont. He suggested that could be the reason behind some of the cases in the most recent outbreak.
“All I’m trying to do here is deliver a reminder to Vermonters that we all need to do our part, that we continually need to be vigilant. And we have to do our part to contain this virus and risky behavior can lead to outbreaks,” Smith said.
People who have traveled to a place with an increased number of Covid cases are supposed to quarantine for 14 days, or seven days with a negative test.
By extending the state of emergency, which was set to expire on Wednesday, the governor is ensuring that he retains various emergency powers set out in a series of executive orders that his office has been issuing since March. The state of emergency also qualifies the state for some federal programs.
Health Care Aid
Vermont officials also announced that the state would help health care organizations and farmers rebound after pandemic-related losses. Applications open this Friday for both groups, as the state allocates $275 million in health care relief and more than $25 million in aid for farmers that milk sheep, cows or goats, as part of a package approved by the Legislature last month.
Health care organizations of all kinds, including doctors, dentists, long-term care facilities, and hospitals, can apply for the grants, said Mike Smith, secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
For those who need the money, “Please apply,” Smith urged.
Health care organizations were hit hard during the pandemic. Canceled appointments and postponed elective surgeries cut into hospital revenues. Elder care homes stopped accepting new residents and took on more expenses. Dentists, chiropractors, and other providers didn’t see patients in person for months.
The current application cycle, which closes Aug. 15, will cover expenses incurred from March 1 to June 15, according to Smith. The state will offer a second round of grants in October, to cover losses from June 16 through Sept. 30, he said.
Vermont has already poured $58 million into health care organizations to keep them afloat during the height of the pandemic, Smith said. The current grant round will be awarded based on the organization’s need, and the amount of lost revenue or increased expense due to Covid.
The money provides short-term aid, but not a permanent fix to Covid-inflicted financial strain, Scott acknowledged. “Even if we’ve received all we’ve asked for, it wouldn’t have been enough to offset the impact of this virus,” the governor said, noting that he had requested more cash than the Legislature ultimately approved. “We know there’ll be more work to do in August and beyond to recover from this pandemic.”
Grants for Agriculture
In the past four months, Vermont has lost 25 of dairy farms, said Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts at the press conference. After years of low milk prices, the Covid-19 crisis sharply reduced sales to food service, schools, and other large buyers, hitting farmers who were already struggling, he said. Before Covid-19, the state was losing about 1.5 farms each month. Vermont now has 636 cow dairies, 47 goat dairies, and five sheep dairies, he said.
The agency will start accepting applications Friday for $21.2 million in grants to dairy farmers, and $3.8 million for businesses that process milk, including the makers of cheese, butter and ice cream. The program is open to businesses that can demonstrate economic losses and costs incurred since March 1 that are related to the pandemic, and applications will be accepted until Oct. 1.
Another $5 million in grants is available for other agricultural businesses, including non-dairy farmers, farmers markets and slaughterhouses, as well as $500,000 for fairs and field days that were canceled due to Covid-19.
Tebbetts said he sees some hope for dairy farmers.
“The world is opening up again a little bit,” Tebbetts said. “People are buying more dairy than they were.”
Anne Wallace Allen contributed reporting.
Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately characterized the Covid tests reported in southern Vermont. They are antigen tests, not antibody tests.
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