Vermont reporters provide a roundup of top news takeaways about the coronavirus and more for Thursday, Dec. 23.
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While Vermont's pandemic state of emergency has ended, the delta and omicron variants are now circulating around the state.Click here for the latest on new cases, and find the latest vaccination data online any time.
1. Health officials report two new COVID deaths Thursday
Vermont health officials reported 426 new COVID-19 cases and two new deaths Thursday.
That brings the total number of Vermonters who have died from the virus to 460.
Hospitalizations remained steady with 53 people hospitalized, 17 in the ICU.
And the seven-day positivity rate dropped slightly to 4.3%.
- Brittany Patterson
State offering rapid COVID tests over the next week
About 25,000 antigen test kits were given out today as part of an effort by the Vermont Department of Health to make testing more accessible during the holidays.
Vermonters trying to get free rapid COVID tests this morning encountered long lines of both cars and people at health centers, hotels, and other locations.
Rapid COVID tests will be available over the next week, and the Health Department says it's offering 96,000 tests total, available first-come, first-serve through the end of the year.
The walk-in locations and times are listed at the department’s website.
- Lexi Krupp, Connor Cyrus and Liam Elder-Connors
For Vermonters who received J&J COVID shot, here’s how to get boosted
Vermont now has at least five confirmed cases of the omicron variant. Nearly one in every 10 vaccinated Vermonters chose to get the one shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine as their first dose.
For many that was more than six months ago. Now with the highly transmissible omicron variant the dominant strain around the country, Vermont health officials are urging people to get boosters.
They encourage people who had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to get boosted after two months, and those who initially had the two dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines should get boosted after six months.
Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine says people who got the J&J vaccine only need a single booster dose of Pfizer or Moderna.
“So for all those who got their initial dose of Johnson & Johnson and then got either mRNA vaccine within recent times for a booster, that should be it for now,” he said.
Levine says eventually everyone might need a second booster.
- Connor Cyrus
UVM requires COVID booster shots for when students return from winter break
The University of Vermont is the latest school to require booster COVID shots for students returning to campus after winter break.
It follows similar rules for students and staff at Middlebury, Dartmouth, St. Michael’s and dozens of universities across the country, including UMass Amherst, Boston University, and Cornell.
Some schools have also preemptively suspended indoor social and athletic events and reverted to grab-and-go dining for the beginning of next semester.
Cases are anticipated to increase due to the omicron variant.
- Lexi Krupp
Appeals court said it would allow Biden’s vax mandate to move ahead, potentially impacting Vt. municipalities
An appeals court last week said it would allow President Biden’s vaccine mandate to move ahead, and this could impact Vermont’s larger towns and cities.
The president’s mandate says any business with at least 100 workers would have to require employees to get the COVID vaccine or test regularly.
Ted Brady leads the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. He says about 30 municipalities would be affected by the mandate.
“The League is advising our members to follow this closely,” Brady said. “And for those members that would be impacted by it, to prepare as if it was going to go into effect and be ready for that.”
While the appeals court last week said the mandate should move ahead, a group of business organizations and Republican-led states asked the Supreme Court Monday to block it.
Brady says towns with more than a 100 employees should familiarize themselves with the federal guidelines if the mandate goes into effect next year.
- Howard Weiss-Tisman
2. Animal tranquilizer turning up in drug overdose cases
An animal tranquilizer is turning up in drug overdoses across the country.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says xylazine was involved in fatal drug overdoses in 23 states in 2019, with the highest rate – 67% – happening in the Northeast.
Officials say the animal sedative used in veterinary medicine to sedate cows, horses, sheep and other animals is being added to other drugs, mostly fentanyl and heroin, as a cutting agent.
But unlike opioids there's no antidote, like Narcan, to counteract a xylazine overdose.
The tranquilizer is not a controlled substance and not approved for human use.
- Associated Press
3. White River Junction DMV will once again serve customers in January
Vermont’s Department of Motor Vehicles will once again serve customers in White River Junction, beginning in January.
The location has been closed since March of 2020, when the governor declared a state of emergency.
The DMV is reopening the office in a recently renovated space after feedback that the location was essential to provide in-person services.
Vermonters can schedule appointments starting this week.
- Lexi Krupp
4. Panton dairy farm fined over environmental violations
A Panton dairy farm has been fined nearly $22,000 for environmental violations.
The Agency of Natural Resources said in a written statement Tuesday that in May of 2016 and June of 2017, the Vorsteveld Farm removed vegetation and dredged and filled a wetlands area connected to Dead Creek.
Then in March 2020, ANR says it observed farm runoff like manure going into a Dead Creek tributary.
In an environmental court settlement earlier this month, ANR said the farm agreed to pay the $21,750 in fines and make structural improvements to prevent farm runoff.
The farm also agreed to implement a wetlands restoration plan.
- Elodie Reed
5. Charlotte loses snow-removal equipment in garage fire
A fire has destroyed the Charlotte storage garage that houses snow-removal equipment for the town.
WCAX reports the building and equipment inside the town garage is owned by Charlotte Road Commissioner, Hugh Lewis Junior.
Tractors, a front-end loader, all of their tools, and four plows were lost in the fire.
According to WCAX, the town relies on the Lewis family equipment to assist with snow removal.
The cause of the fire, and the cost of what was lost, is still unknown. And there were no reported injuries. Officials say the fire does not appear to be suspicious.
- Karen Anderson
6. Lifelong Mad River Valley community member Nick Kenyon dies
The Mad River Valley lost a lifelong community member this month.
If you knew Nick Kenyon, you know the twinkle he got in his eye when he smiled. You might’ve known him as an entrepreneur, a merchant, a farmer, a friend. Tricia Sanders knew him as a brother.
“When he wrapped you up in a great big hug, you felt bulletproof,” Sanders said.
Nick raised beef cattle, over 1,000 laying hens, and two daughters in the Mad River Valley, where he was a fourth-generation resident. His family runs Kenyon’s Variety in Waitsfield.
He loved snow, the Green Mountains, and the family farm, where his fiancee Alison Martino says she still sees him.
“I look at his tractor and I see him, the baler,” she said. “He’s just everywhere. He’s down in the field, and yeah, just everywhere here.”
Nick Kenyon died on Dec. 8. He was 43 years old.
- Anna Van Dine
Elodie Reed compiled and edited this post.
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