The Friday New York Times morning briefing newsletter features a section on Vermont’s unique success in fending off the coronavirus. In more than two months, the state has not had a death from the virus while the rest of the nation, including the rural states of Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota have seen case numbers soar.
Writer David Leonhardt credits Gov. Phil Scott’s early mask wearing and consistency in telling Vermonters to take the virus seriously as a major reason for the state’s low case counts.
Leonhardt points to a piece in The Washington Post that attributes the state’s outcomes to “a high degree of social trust among residents.”
Vermont’s outlier status is also the result of solid information from “two strong local media organizations — VTDigger and Seven Days,” he writes.
Vermont-based New Yorker writer Bill McKibben gave both news organizations a shoutout for shutting down comments sections “to prevent misinformation from spreading.”
VTDigger has also won a national award for Covid coverage, in addition to three other awards. Thursday night the Local Independent Online News association, which has 300 member organizations across the country, recognized VTDigger for the news organization’s daily and investigative reporting on COVID-19, and new critical projects including a 24/7 liveblog, a daily COVID-19 newsletter (with 8,000+ subscribers), coronavirus tip drop email address, an essential services business directory, a searchable FAQ knowledge base for readers and a Vermont Remembrances series about people who have died of the virus.
