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The year began like any other: A legislative session kicked off, March elections and town meetings loomed, and Vermonters went to work, school or wherever their daily lives took them.
Within weeks, Covid-19 had changed everything. The normal ways people gather — whether to socialize, protest, or do business — disappeared. New symbols of public health — masks, pumps of hand sanitizer — became ubiquitous. And thanks to the ever-present guideline to stay 6 feet apart from others, documenting the “new normal” up close was as difficult as adapting to it. Here’s what VTDigger’s reporters and photographers saw when they masked up and hit the streets.
Jan. 9: Climate change activists are removed from the House of Representatives chamber after disrupting Gov. Phil Scott’s State of the State address. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFeb. 11: Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrates his victory in the New Hampshire primary with a rally at the Southern New Hampshire University campus in Manchester. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerMarch 3: Members of the selectboard count ballots after residents voted on a local option tax during Londonderry’s Town Meeting. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
March 13: At a press conference in Montpelier — the first to include social distancing guidelines — Gov. Phil Scott announces a state of emergency due to the growing threat of the novel coronavirus. Health Commissioner Mark Levine, who would become a fixture at Scott’s press briefings, discusses “flattening the curve,” the concept that preventive measures will prevent a sudden spike in cases that overloads health systems. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
April 10: Tricia Dwyer dons a powered air purifying respirator, or PAPR, system during an equipment training at Central Vermont Medical Center. Hospitals across the state instituted a slew of new safety protocols to prepare for a surge of Covid cases. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerApril 22: Nurses from the Central Vermont Medical Center watch from the side as protesters demonstrate against the statewide Covid-19 virus shutdown in front of the Statehouse. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMay 7: Tracie Surridge, an elementary teacher at Burke Town School, prepares to meet with her class virtually using Wi-Fi in the school’s parking lot. With poor internet at home, some educators taught remote classes from their cars. Photo by Justin Trombly/VTDigger May 19: Medical personnel place a Covid-19 test sample into a sterile container at a pop-up testing site in Barre. Expanding the state’s testing and contact tracing infrastructure was a key strategy for keeping outbreaks contained, health officials said. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerMay 26: Albert Stringer, an advanced emergency medical technician with Newport Ambulance Service, has his sinuses swabbed to test for the Covid-19 virus, as medical personnel from the Vermont Department of Health train local EMTs on how to administer the virus tests. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMay 26: Free food is given away at a distribution point run by the Vermont National Guard, the Vermont Foodbank and Vermont Emergency Management in Burlington. Demand exceeded supply at food distribution events across the state during the early months of the pandemic-induced economic downturn. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJune 3: Currier’s Quality Market, the general store in Glover for 53 years, faced closure before finding a buyer later in the summer. The market has made a name for itself statewide with its vast collection of taxidermied animals, pelts and mounts. This moose, which stands in front of the town post office inside the store, is a selfie magnet. Photo by Justin Trombly/VTDiggerJune 5: William Staton of Essex joins several hundred demonstrators as they lie down or take a knee at the end of a silent vigil to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minnesota. The national protest movement following Floyd’s death rippled throughout Vermont, with weeks of demonstrations in towns across the state. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
June 13: Another tradition upended by Covid: high school graduations. Some schools held massive drive-in ceremonies, while Winooski High School organized a traveling “mobile graduation.” Here, the procession arrives in front of the home of Jaysean Nasir Coleman, center rear. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJune 23: Victor Guyette, who is homeless and living at the Holiday Inn in South Burlington, puts his supper away in the refrigerator in his room. Hundreds of Vermonters experiencing homelessness found refuge from the coronavirus in hotel rooms subsidized by the state. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJuly 3: Alfred Hughes Jr. prepares to mark his 10th anniversary as star of Brattleboro’s annual Fourth of July celebration. While the town’s parade was canceled due to Covid, Hughes was still a part of its virtual event. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerJuly 5: Gloria Kravetz, 85, pulls down her mask and says “I love you” during a visit with daughter Amy Saunders at Birchwood Terrace in Burlington. Nursing home visitation restrictions over the summer allowed for limited outdoor visits, bringing some family members together for the first time in months. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJuly 25: A Black Lives Matter supporter, left, goes nose-to-nose with a person who attended a rally to support law enforcement on the lawn of the Statehouse in Montpelier. The rally in support of the police was met by a counterprotest from supporters of the BLM movement. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAug. 11: Cathy Trainque scans her primary ballot from her car at a drive-in voting site at the Barre City Auditorium. In the first statewide election held during the pandemic, local election officials implemented creative solutions to allow people to vote in person while adhering to health guidelines. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerSept. 1: More than 500 demonstrators march from Battery Park to City Hall in Burlington to protest police brutality, especially against people of color, and call for the firing of three officers accused of excessive force. Groups of demonstrators occupied the park, situated across from the police headquarters, from August through October. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSept. 8: Students arrive at U-32 for the first day of school, following weeks of debate over the safety of in-person education during the pandemic. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerOct. 9: Rebecca Whittemore-Arsenault peers into the window of her mother’s room at the Mountain View Center. Due to an outbreak at the center and ongoing visitation restrictions, Whittemore-Arsenault was unable to help care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, throughout the year. Photo by Emma Cotton/VTDiggerOct. 26: University of Vermont President Suresh Garimella announces a freeze on tuition and other charges for students. Garimella credited students throughout the semester for helping to keep Covid cases on campus low, but he would face questions later in the year when the university announced a series of cuts to its College of Arts and Sciences. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerOct. 30: Amanda Alexander, who was once homeless and hungry, now cooks for people who need food assistance. While food distribution programs continued in some form throughout the year, one in four Vermonters were still struggling with food insecurity by the fall. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerOct. 22: Kevin Oddy, chair of St. Johnsbury’s Board of Civil Authority, runs advance ballots through a tabulating machine during a processing session 12 days prior to Election Day. The Secretary of State’s Office changed procedures to allow local officials more time to process ballots, and mail-in voting drove record turnout in the general election. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
Nov. 7: Crowds gather in Burlington to celebrate after the presidential election was called for Joe Biden. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNov. 11: Jack Lazor and his wife Anne, not seen, are considering how to pass on Butterworks Farm, the creamery they established in Westfield. Lazor died on Nov. 28. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDec. 16: Anesthesiologist Anthony Fazzone, who in March performed the first intubation of a Covid patient in Vermont, was among the first to receive the Covid vaccine at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph. Health care workers received the first doses of the vaccine, describing the rollout as “the beginning of the end” of the pandemic. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
Mike Dougherty is a senior editor at VTDigger leading the politics team. He is a DC-area native and studied journalism and music at New York University. Prior to joining VTDigger, Michael spent two years...
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