Vermont reporters provide a roundup of top news takeaways about the coronavirus and more for Wednesday, Dec. 15.
Want VPR's daily news in podcast form? Get up to speed in under 15 minutes withThe Frequency every weekday morning. How about an email newsletter?Add our daily email briefing to your morning routine.
While Vermont's pandemic state of emergency has ended, the delta variant is now circulating around the state. Click here for the latest on new cases, and find the latest vaccination data online any time.
1. Four more Vermonters have died from COVID-19
Four more Vermonters have died due to COVID-19, the Health Department reported Wednesday, as health officials tallied 348 new COVID infections statewide.
A total of 24 Vermonters have now died from the virus in the first half of December.
COVID hospitalizations dropped to 70 today, and the state's weeklong positivity rate dipped to 4.5% both elevated, but below the record-breaking levels set earlier this month.
Some 84% of eligible Vermonters are now at least partially inoculated, and half of fully-vaccinated Vermonters have now gotten a COVID booster shot.
- Matthew Smith
State officials are projecting a rise in COVID cases over the next month.
Financial Regulation commissioner Mike Pieciak says there was an increase in cases a year ago during the holiday period, and he expects the same trend will take place this year.
"There's some uncertainty that comes with the Christmas and New Year's holiday relating to the gatherings that will occur, and in fact we do anticipate that cases will rise following those holidays, probably on the upper end of our projections over the next two or three weeks following those holidays,” he said.
The Scott administration is encouraging individuals to get tested before and after they attend any significant holiday gatherings.
- Bob Kinzel
Gov. Scott says unvaccinated Vermonters are stressing the state’s health care system
Gov. Phil Scott had a stern message for unvaccinated adults in Vermont during his press briefing Tuesday.
Scott said the roughly 40,000 Vermonters who have chosen not to get a COVID vaccine are placing an undue stress on the state's health care system.
"From the very beginning protecting our health care system has been our top priority,” he said. “The fact is unvaccinated adults are undermining that objective. Because even though they're about 5% of the population — they account for about 75% of the hospitalizations."
Scott also urged Vermonters over 18 to get a COVID booster shot for protection against the omicron variant.
- Bob Kinzel
State health officials aren’t sure when COVID will become more predictable
Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine says the rise of the omicron variant makes it more difficult to predict when COVID-19 will become endemic.
An endemic virus, like the flu, spreads in more regional and predictable ways compared to the severe spikes of a pandemic.
Levine says the new variant could cause the pandemic to extend well into next spring.
“Or maybe it could be less than that,” he said. “Because actually omicron infects a whole bunch of people because it's supposed to be even more infectious than delta, and if it gives a lot more people a milder infection, but it doesn't cause the serious outcomes and it sort of races through the population, maybe we'll get to endemic even quicker."
Prior to the arrival of omicron, Levine says he expected the virus to become endemic by March 2022, but he says that date is now harder to determine.
- Henry Epp
State officials seeking federal health care staffing help
Vermont is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help deal with the recent COVID-19 spike.
FEMA is contracting health care workers in Vermont to help administer monoclonal antibody treatment to COVID patients.
Human Services Secretary Mike Smith says FEMA workers will work at three different hospitals.
"We expect the FEMA teams to arrive late this week. Their work will focus on additional capacity at hospitals across the state,” he said.
Smith says the state has requested additional help from FEMA to assist with EMS services, but it's not yet clear whether the agency will grant that request.
- Henry Epp
Bennington Select Board rejects mask mandate
The Bennington Select Board decided against enacting a mask mandate Monday, as COVID surges through the area.
The Bennington Banner reports the board instead issued a mask recommendation for public spaces, despite one member saying public comments favored a mandate by a three-to-one margin.
Bennington County has the third most COVID cases per 100,000 residents in Vermont over the last week, according to a New York Times database. The county falls under the CDC's highest level of community spread.
Before voting down a mask mandate, Bennington Select Board members expressed concern about enforcement, while several members said it should be the state government's role to issue new restrictions.
- Kevin Trevellyan
2. State council considering how to reduce emissions for Climate Action Plan
A regional cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars was supposed to play a major role in Vermont's Climate Action Plan. But several states pulled out of the regional program just before Vermont adopted it's plan — leaving a big hole.
The Climate Council is now looking at three different programs to cut emissions.
The state plan recommends Vermont develop a clean heat standard to reduce emissions from buildings. It would push big fossil fuel companies to provide ever cleaner heat options to customers in Vermont, and could be expanded to include gasoline and diesel. Doing so is one of three alternative policies on the table.
Global Warming Solutions Act Director Jane Lazorchak told House lawmakers on Tuesday it will take a big policy to replace the funding and emissions cuts that the regional plan, called the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program, or TCIP, would have provided.
"There are options and we know that a regional commitment to emissions reduction is necessary to meet the targets that are set in the Global Warming Solutions Act, so I expect something will come back,” he said.
All would require legislative action to move forward.
The Climate Council is set to return with a recommendation for how to replace TCIP in the spring.
- Abagael Giles
3. Nonprofit aiming to grow Chittenden County housing stock
A group of nonprofit housing agencies is launching an effort to build 5,000 new homes in Chittenden County over the next five years.
The agencies are aiming to make a quarter of the new units permanently affordable.
Michael Monte is CEO of Champlain Housing Trust, one of the groups leading the effort. He says another priority is to increase the homeownership rates among Black Vermonters.
“We're working through a range of other approaches and ideas and investigating different ways of financing and targeting BIPOC homeowners and providing them that opportunity,” he said.
Only 17% of Black households in Chittenden County own homes, compared to 64% of white households, according to a news release from the housing campaign.
- Liam Elder-Connors
4. Gov. Scott wants to return some Education Fund surplus dollars to taxpayers
Gov. Phil Scott says he wants to return half of a $90 million surplus in the Education Fund to Vermont taxpayers in the form of a rebate.
And Scott wants lawmakers to use the other half of the surplus to pay for some new workforce development programs.
The Education Fund has the extra money largely due to a surge in revenue from the sales tax, and higher property values.
Scott says he'll ask the Legislature to invest some of the surplus and return the rest to taxpayers.
"I would say that taxpayers might say, ‘Why don't you just give it back to me if I overpaid,’ so I would like to at least meet them halfway and give them back a rebate,” Scott said.
The House Ways and Means Committee this winter is also expected to consider a plan to use part of the surplus to lower the statewide education property tax rate.
- Bob Kinzel
5. Burlington City Council votes to amend language in city charter to decriminalize sex work
The Burlington City Council voted to amend language in the city’s charter on Monday, in an effort to decriminalize sex work.
MyNBC-5 reports the city council on Monday heard from survivors of sex trafficking, advocates for and against sex work, and city residents discussing their opinions about the charter change at a public forum.
If Burlington voters pass the amendment next year, the city will not be able to criminalize sex work, but people still can be prosecuted at the state level for sex work in Burlington.
- Associated Press
6. Contract negotiations stall between UVM Medical Center, nurses union
Contract negotiations between the University of Vermont Medical Center and its unionized nurses have reached an impasse.
VTDigger reports negotiations over the nurses' contract -- which expires in July -- reached a stalemate in last week's negotiating session.
Medical center leaders proposed a new three-year contract, which the nurses union rejected, even as staffing shortages continue to plague the hospital.
Negations will pick up in the spring.
If their contract lapses, the nurses could strike like they did in 2018, when a two-day strike cost the hospital an estimated $3 million.
The nurses union represents about 2,000 nurses. The union also includes about 600 hospital technicians, who work under a separate contract.
- Matthew Smith
Elodie Reed and Kevin Trevellyan compiled and edited this post.
Have questions, comments or tips?Send us a message or tweet us@vprnet.
