Breaking with many of his Republican colleagues again, Gov. Phil Scott on Friday called Republican efforts to change the outcome of the presidential election “bizarre” and said it was time for opponents of President-elect Joe Biden to move on.
“It’s amazing to me that 17 attorneys general signed on to this,” Scott said of the recent lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden’s win over President Donald Trump. Speaking at his regular Covid-19 press briefing Dec. 11, Scott noted that Republican governors in the contested states had certified the outcome of their general elections.
“For this lawsuit to come about and try to challenge some of those states is just unnecessary and a bit pathetic in some respects,” Scott said. “We need to move on.”
The press briefing Friday came at a time of both hardship and hope for Vermont, which is struggling with mounting Covid-19 infections and deaths, but is also seeing clear signs that the Thanksgiving holiday will probably not create the spike in infections that had been widely forecast and feared.
The state confirmed 113 new cases of Covid-19 Friday, with 26 hospitalizations and two people in the ICU. Ninety-three people have died of the virus since the pandemic began in March. Now that it appears Thanksgiving didn’t result in a wave of exposures, “I wouldn’t anticipate a huge increase in cases at this point in time,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine.
The state has carried out 34,000 tests in the last seven days, and will start requiring that 25% of patient-facing health care providers and staff be tested monthly.
Details about vaccine trickle in
Hopes are high for the arrival of the first Covid-19 vaccine, expected in Vermont this month. But as he does at nearly every twice-a-week briefing, Scott emphasized that Vermonters must continue to follow safety precautions. Most Vermonters won’t be vaccinated until spring, he noted. And he said the U.S. saw 3,000 Covid-19 deaths Thursday, more than the number of people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Every death is tragic regardless of circumstances or age,” Scott said, noting New Hampshire House Speaker Dick Hinch, 71, died of the virus Dec. 9, a week after he was sworn in to office.
“This virus doesn’t care who you are or what title you hold,” Scott said. “Covid isn’t compassionate and isn’t afraid to prove dire and very real consequences every day.”
Asked when the vaccine will be available to the first group of Vermonters – health care workers – Gov. Phil Scott cautioned that there are still a lot of unknown details. The vaccine is expected to be shipped to Vermont sometime next week.
“It won’t be early next week,” he said of the first injections. “It all depends on when we receive the vaccine. We’ve been working on this for a while and are ready to go just as soon as we receive them.”
It’s also not clear how much of the vaccine Vermont will receive, something that state officials can’t control, Scott noted.
“We’re told it will be released equitably among the states based on population, but we don’t know what the supply is,” he said, adding that a different vaccine from Moderna Therapeutics is also in play. “That will have a positive effect on supply as well.”
Caregiver staffing needs
Long-term care facilities, especially skilled nursing facilities, have long reported staffing difficulties as a result of the pandemic. On Friday, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said that conditions have become especially difficult as a result of recent outbreaks that are part of the general virus surge experienced in Vermont in recent weeks.
“It is also challenging in these facilities when residents are near death and require additional staff attention,” he said. The state has signed a $1.4 million contract with the Williston firm TLC HomeCare to provide up to 40 people who can help with emergency long-term care.
“The contract has flexibility to pivot to different needs,” Smith said. “It is a short term and not intended to solve all staffing concerns, yet will meet critical needs to bridge gaps for Covid-19 outbreak situations.” The state is also asking volunteers to help with long-term care, either as paid workers or volunteers.
He noted the state isn’t asking existing health care staff to change jobs, but for people who are unemployed, retired, or available for other reasons to fill short-term gaps in the system caused by Covid-19.
New alert system
Erica Bornemann, director of Vermont Emergency Management, on Friday highlighted the state’s Covid-19 information system, which uses an existing alert system that is usually reserved for flooding and other emergencies. The site now has about 25,000 subscribers “and we would love to have more,” said Bornemann. Updates include information about Covid-19 numbers and changes in state activity restrictions.
Contact tracing
The state is adding to its contact tracing staff, now at about 105 full-time equivalents, with a new call center that will use the staffing firm Maximus. That’s the Virginia-based company that was brought on to help the Vermont Department of Labor handle the torrent of new unemployment insurance applications that resulted from business closures in the spring and summer.
The team from Maximus is scheduled to begin working next week and will eventually provide up to 75 new contact tracers, state officials said.
Benefits cliff approaches for unemployment Vermonters
Several benefits available to unemployed Vermonters who are struggling because of the business shutdowns are winding to a close at the end of the year, including extended unemployment benefits. State officials have said they are concerned about what will happen to people suddenly left without that relief, but look to a hoped-for Covid-19 aid package from the federal government for solutions, saying the state just doesn’t have the money.
Officials think there will be 15,000 to 20,000 Vermonters affected by the loss of unemployment benefits. Providing them with continued unemployment insurance coverage would cost the state $10 million a week, money that’s not available, partly because the state can’t use its $250 million unemployment trust fund for that purpose.
“We have the resources but we can’t use it; our hands are tied,” Scott said. Congress doesn’t need to pass a full stimulus package to help the group that is losing benefits now, he added; they just have to allow the states to continue using some of the unemployment insurance money that is available.
“If they did nothing else, if they would just extend unemployment and PUA and so forth, we’d have the resources needed,” he said. “I know how dire the need is here for those who are on unemployment right now.”
Out-of-state license plates; mask-free Christmas tree celebrants
Asked about a mask-free public tree-light ceremony in southern Vermont, and about the out-of-state car license plates that are a common feature at ski area parking lots, the governor followed the guidance that he has been issuing for months regarding how individuals should respond to others’ possibly unsafe behavior: without confrontation.
With no way of knowing who has quarantined as required, and who hasn’t, Scott recommended against jumping to conclusions.
“Some have second homes in Vermont; some have moved here and stayed here because it’s a safe place and they can work remotely,” he said. Watching the data every day is a more accurate way to determine how people are behaving, he said.
“I haven’t seen hardly any out-of-state mentions of those who are positive,” he said. “Unless we have specific information to prove that somebody has not, it’s hard to go after folks.”
As for the tree-lighting ceremony, he called for common sense, reminding Vermonters that they shouldn’t need instructions from public officials to do the right thing.
“I get how difficult this is for some, but putting a mask on to prevent the spread is altruistic. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for someone else,” he said. “It’s just not that much to ask.”
That said, for those who want to file a complaint, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development or the Department of Public Safety will accept one. “It would help us to refine the educational posture that has worked quite well so far,” said Public Safety Commissioner Mike Schirling.
