As cases of the coronavirus surge across the nation, messaging from top media outlets and Vermont’s own health commissioner has shifted dramatically — case counts don’t really matter, and COVID should now be thought of more like routine seasonal flu.
The two founders of the Marijuana Policy Project have senior leadership positions in Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW), a national group promoting the decriminalization of prostitution in Vermont.
In a news release last week, the governor announced that $3.5 million in Community Development Block Grants will be dispersed for affordable home repair, financing, mixed-income housing, and community facility improvements.
“The reality is we now deal in hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine when we look at adverse effects, and the data from hundreds of millions of doses does not really support a policy that would say these are dangerous and shouldn’t be used. If anything it’s the complete opposite, that they’ve been extraordinarily safe.”
“Even with omicron we have the tools we need,” Scott said. “We have vaccines, boosters, testing, and common-sense precautions we have talked about repeatedly — like wearing masks indoors and crowded public spaces and staying home when sick.”
Statistics revealed during Tuesday’s press conference show that 455 Vermonters have died of Covid-19. At least some of these Vermonters died “with” Covid-19 and not as a direct result of the disease, Gov. Phil Scott and Health Commissioner Mark Levine said. How many? They don’t know.
A bill introduced this month by a handful of lawmakers spanning all three political parties would bar vaccine mandates in Vermont.
A St. Johnsbury man was handcuffed by Newport City police and cited for trespass last week after he refused to put on a mask at a high school basketball game, Police Chief Travis Bingham said Monday.
The Burlington School Board is moving forward with plans for a new high school and technical center despite that decision being based on an apparent miscalculation by the Vermont Health Department regarding PCB safety levels in schools.
If the recommendation adopted last week is approved with change this week, State House leaders must then determine how to deal with lawmakers and staff who refuse to show proof of vaccination or submit to testing.
Blaming the 5% of unvaccinated Vermonters for “70% of hospitalizations and close to 80% of ICU admissions,” the Scott administration sent a Dec. 16 letter to business owners asking them to take aim at unvaccinated workers and customers.
As Vermont continues to be mentioned in headlines across the nation as one of the most vaccinated states in the nation along with some of the most reported COVID cases in the nation, Florida has taken a different approach and gotten better results.