Democrats Krowinski, Balint calling for statewide mask mandate in Vermont

On Thursday, Vermont Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, issued the following statement following record COVID-19 case numbers in the state:

The first thing that came to mind when I saw today’s case count of 591 was, ‘Why? Why is more action not being taken to protect Vermonters and keep our communities safe? Why don’t we implement the strategies we know work, like a mask mandate, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19?’ The Governor has stated that he has the tools available to support our communities, but has yet to utilize those tools and has not articulated when the appropriate time is to roll out the mitigation strategies we know work. That time is now. That time was yesterday. That time was a month ago.

Parents, students, business owners, health care providers, educators, and local officials are exhausted and looking for the Governor and his administration to take steps to support them in their day to day lives. Early on in the pandemic, Vermont was heralded as a leader in our response to the pandemic and the tremendous effort that went into collaborating and finding collaborative solutions to support our families, friends, and neighbors. Our communities are still making sacrifices to support each other, but they need the Governor and his team to take state action to give them some relief. We are not talking about shutting down businesses or implementing travel restrictions. A statewide masking policy, reminding Vermonters of the effective ways that we can protect ourselves and others – like staying home when you are sick, and increasing the availability of testing are all ways we can bend the curve like we did in the beginning. The data presented at the most recent press conference shows that we are on track to have this level of community spread for the next four weeks, and it is unfathomable to me that nothing is being done to address this unprecedented spread of the virus in every county in the state.

Vermonters are absolutely burned out and cannot understand why more is not being done to mitigate the spread in our communities. The Governor has the power and authority to take immediate action, he has before, and I know he can do it again. This is not a political decision; this is a decision that should be made based on following the data and the science. Governor Scott, please take action today to implement a statewide masking policy and utilize other strategies we know will make a difference in protecting Vermonters.

RELATED: Mandatory School Masking Ends In Florida

Also on Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint, D-Windham, released this statement urging a change in the administration’s coronavirus policy:

Earlier today I requested a meeting with Governor Phil Scott to discuss the COVID-19 infection numbers that were released today. I conveyed to his staff that it’s long past time for his administration to pivot in their approach to the pandemic. Four weeks ago I made the same request. Today, 591 new cases were reported, the highest number to date, we have 53 Vermonters hospitalized, and 14 of those are in intensive care units. These numbers speak for themselves–this is unacceptable and we cannot continue this way. Although the governor was not able to accommodate my request today, I sincerely hope we are able to meet tomorrow and together begin to map out a better path forward for Vermonters. We cannot afford to wait another day. The administration’s plan is not working.

As far back as August, when the Speaker of the House and I reached out with concerns about the Delta variant we were told by the administration that the covid infection rates would plateau in a few weeks time. This didn’t happen–not in September or October. We continued to press for a shift in strategy and asked the tough questions about why that was not being done. Now we are seeing our highest numbers yet and our greatest community spread, and his team is still not using all the tools at our disposal. This is taking a terrible toll on families.They do not have the support they need to ride out this crisis.

I am one of many parents across Vermont whose child is home from school and is quarantining this week because she was potentially exposed to a positive case in her school. My spouse and I are juggling childcare while also doing our jobs. We are far from the only ones, but we are fortunate to have resources that other families don’t. Neither of us have to sacrifice a shift, or a paycheck, or a job to stay home with our children. Many Vermont families are at a breaking point; this surge in infections is crushing them. Staying the course on a failing strategy doesn’t make sense. We must be using every tool we have to help reduce the community spread of the disease.

It isn’t too late to change course. We can re-institute a masking mandate, and it can be tied to rates of infection in hot spots. Other states have already done this. We can still reduce the number of infections, the number of hospitalizations, and the number of Vermonters who will die from this highly contagious virus.

When things aren’t working, strong leaders do not stick their heads in the sand. They re-evaluate, pivot, and commit to a new path. This virus is unpredictable. We all hoped infection rates would drop as more Vermonters got vaccinated, but clearly that hasn’t happened, and we are overdue for a reassessment of strategy and a course correction. It has to happen now. I look forward to talking with the administration about how to get this done.

Image courtesy of Public domain

28 thoughts on “Democrats Krowinski, Balint calling for statewide mask mandate in Vermont

  1. It should be noted that Governor Scott has resisted calls for a mask mandate. To do a mask mandate would require him to put Vermont in a State of Emergency. He feels this would at this point be an abuse of power.

    It should also be noted that these legilsative leaders could on their own call for a special session and pass a law mandating what they feel is needed.

    This looks more like political playing on people’s fears and trying to chip away at Governor Scott’s popularity by the Democratic legislative leadership than real concerns over health.

    • John,

      Legislators could present a bill, approved by both chambers, to the Governor for him to sign, so it would become a law.

      He could just veto it, and Dem/Progs definitely would not have the votes to override his veto.

  2. They are doubling down because as Biden’s spokesperson said “this is about compliance!” When our Governor, the administration, and the Legislature are openly colluding with the Biden Administration and Fauci to commit fraud, crimes against humanity, violate God given rights, constituational rights, civil rights – we no longer have a republic – we have a well financed criminal syndicate.

  3. So Welcome to the UNIPARTY GAMES!

    This is yet another example of the uniparty working to stay in power and money.

    Exhibit A – Uniparty left says we need to mask, trace, stop all movement, no jab no job!

    Exhibit B – Uniparty right says, masks don’t work, it’s unconstitutional, send us money to defeat!

    “Your honor, clearly the two parties are not serving the people are not defending the constitution. If it pleases the court we would like permission to submit exhibit C”

    You may present exhibit C.

    Exhibit C – Presented by defendant Jesus Christ who was previously convicted of a crime he did not commit, and has come back to offer forgiveness, peace and love. He only asks we change our direction.

    “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love thy enemy.” Jesus Christ was paraphrased as saying.

    If it pleases the court we ask why Uniparty Left and Uniparty right, neither of which are standing up for their neighbors, neither of which are saying, “We have medicine that is very effective, very cheap, and is saving lives why are they not using it? Why are we fighting? Why are 90% of the people needlessly suffering and dying?

    We ask the court to charge the leadership for the willful and knowing and planned efforts to kill, to restrict medical treatments for the ill, to cause harm to the people of this state. They have not protected the republic from enemies foreign and domestic. We charge these people have put power and money as their idol and god, as their constitution, which was no the one they were sworn to defend.

    “Uniparty Left, Uniparty Right, Do you have any other testimony to bring before the court?

    Uniparty Left, “Yes your honor, we submit that it is racist and bigoted that we don’t allow prostitution and drug dealing in the state of Vermont.”

    Uniparty Right, “Yes your honor we are not racist. We have no objections to pornography between familial members and think taxing this base entertainment, while we tax everything else in our state, would be an infringement upon free speech. We are against any taxation.”

    “But your honor, this has nothing to do with people needlessly dying! How does this make any sense? ”

    The court will now declare it’s ruling. “The defendant is found guilty of being racist. You will not be allowed to publish anything on social media, you will be found guilty of fake news. You shall be fined, $50,000, fired from your job with notifications of such firing published across the state. You shall be labeled racist and must wear clothing stating such for a period of not less than 5 years.”

    WHY ARE PEOPLE IN LEADERSHIP ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN?

    PARTY OVER COUNTRY
    POWER AND MONEY OVER LOVING THY NEIGHBOR

    WE NEED TO CHANGE DIRECTION.
    POWER AND MONEY ARE NOT GOING TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS.

  4. What is exhausting to me is the sight and sound of these irrationally paranoid legislators screaming for mask mandates every time we see an increase in cases. Why do they act as if every other person is dying of Covid? The surges will come and go and we have to learn to live with it. How do they explain the fact that big bad Florida is at all time low cases…with no mask mandates in place and a much lower vaccination rate than Vermont. We have the information on how to protect ourselves. We can make our own decisions. Stop trying to control Vermonters.

  5. Here’s the Vermont Mask Survey spearheaded by Vermonter and informed consent health educator, Amy Hornblas – on just masks alone. Her findings indicate the cure is worse than the dis-ease, and we are actually lowering the IQ (which goes a LONG way towards explaining the idiocy happening out of our golden dome today – the brain robbed of oxygen, dumbs down) of children, proven, making them mask Oxygen depletion of the brain causes brain damage, that lasts.

    Take the survery here:
    https://vtmasksurvey.com/

    Stoopid is as stoopid does, and the inmates are running the cuckoo house.

    From Catch-22:

    “Fortunately, just when things were blackest, the war broke out.”

    “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Or would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to, but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. ‘That’s some catch, that catch-22,’ he observed. ‘It’s the best there is,’ Doc Daneeka agreed.”

  6. Of note: the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Biden administration not to enforce its mask mandate through OSHA.

    Krowinski and Balint should take note of these words from the court’s decision and remember that we still live in America and some of us are unwilling to surrender it to medical tyranny:

    “The public interest is also served by maintaining our
    constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make
    intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions—even, or
    perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials.”

    https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2021/11/12/bst_holdings_l.l.c._v._osha.pdf (page 20)

    An inspiring read.

  7. Trying to stop the Covid virus with a mask is like trying to stop a mosquito with a chain link fence.

  8. Instead of mandating every person in Vermont to wear a mask over their face, the situation would be vastly improved by simply mandating Jill wear a paper bag over her head!

  9. Nazis gotta Nazi.

    In Sweden no one wears masks and in Sweden cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are down. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/ Sweden isn’t in the news, but Sweden was supposed to be in the news because Sweden wasn’t going full Nazi.

    America is about freedom. It’s about liberty withstanding the storms and howls against it. It’s about live and let live. It’s about tolerance, because liberty and tolerance go hand-in-hand. America is not about the state dictating medical measures to the population.

    When medical tyranny finally loosens its grip on us (if we have the backbone to stand up against it) then we’ll finally see what the tyrants have been suppressing all along: early treatment of Covid-19 is the answer to stopping this pandemic. Masks are merely a symbol of obedience to the tyrants.

  10. Awesome. Balint wants to make political points AND feel safe at Starbucks.

    Apparently she is also okay with injecting a gene therapy vaccine, with known problems into children that have a 100% survival rate, here in Vermont.
    What is deeply troubling is that people believe her.

  11. A one micron droplet easily passing through a 3 micron opening isn’t the kind of “science” to which they subscribe. They also won’t come to an understanding that, if the vax really works, then states with the highest vax rates should not be experiencing increased numbers of cases. It was reported recently that ICU’s in Vermont were becoming crowded with cases other than Covid. It causes one to think that there could possibly be a correlation between that and the vax rate. Just sayin’ !

    • @ Marek

      Yes, the VT Digger scare mongering headlines would make one think that the ICU’s are full of Covid patients but in reality, they are full due to heart attacks and strokes. Now why do you suppose heart attacks and strokes might be on the rise in the most heavily vaxed state??

  12. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. Why do you also need to make me wear one? And if masks work so well, why would the masked kids at school be transmitting Covid to each other? For that matter, if the vax worked, why would the vaxed be transmitting Covid?

    VT sadly embarked on a path of lockdowns, masks and vaxes. We see clearly the results in other countries that did this as well. We’re not going to end Covid with more of the same.

  13. I have no problem wearing a mask. If the State medical authorities mandated that we wear masks, I would do it and hope it works……However, I do wonder about politicians throwing down mandates on matters that they know relatively little or nothing about and then repeatedly violate the very rules they have mandated. We’ve all seen them on TV or the internet dozens of times featuring President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and on down…….Mostly all Democrats or Progressives.

    Speaker Krowinski has now joined the political mandate club, yet she has little to nothing in her background qualifying her to mandate any such action. Her resume is posted on her “Speaker’s” web site below. Take a look at it.

    Does anyone see anything on her resume that qualifies her to be calling for mask mandates or telling us anything else about medicine, medical strategies or pandemics? Or to be telling Vermont: “Why don’t we implement the strategies we know work, like a mask mandate, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19?”…….How does she know they work?…….Even Dr. Fauci isn’t sure what to do on this matter……He has given conflicting views on the effectiveness of masks.

    Below is Speaker Krowinski’s Resume……From: https://www.jillkrowinski.com

    “About the Speaker

    Jill Krowinski of Burlington was elected Vermont Speaker of the House on January 6th, 2021. She is the 92nd Speaker and fourth female Speaker of the House.

    Jill has served in the House since 2012 and was elected as House Majority Leader in 2017. Krowinski has experience working at non-profits and serving on community boards. Jill has served as the Executive Director of Emerge Vermont, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of Democratic women in public office through recruitment, training and providing a powerful network.

    Previously, she worked at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, her last role as the VP of Education and VT Community Affairs. Krowinski also served as a Commissioner for the Fletcher Free Library, Vice Chair of the Health Care Oversight Committee and Chair of the Vermont Child Poverty Council.

    She also has served as a delegate for the American Council of Young Political Leaders in the Philippines. Krowinski is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.”

    Actually, it’s a pretty thin resume considering her high position in State government.

    • Excellent post. Most of our legislators have totally useless degrees and believe because they were voted in they are the smartest in the room. Wear a mask if you want. Don’t continue to destroy our economy and livelihood.

  14. I still will go to the store without no matter what. Only one refused service. Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.

  15. Dem/Progs are scare-mongering and overstating and grand-standing, as usual, as part of their centralized, command/control objectives.

    Having “cases” is one aspect

    Having “hospital cases” is another.

    Having “People dying of Covid” is another

    Having “People dying of Covid-aggravated conditions” is another

  16. I would like to start by saying that anyone who chooses to wear a mask, please feel free to do so. I would also like an explanation of how a mask that at best will stop a 3 micron droplet will stop something that is 1 micron or smaller.
    Let’s call this as it is, a play to reassert your power over the people. I for one have had enough of you people that move to Vermont just to get into politics and then try and make things just like it was from which you came. If you liked that so much please feel free to go back, in fact i would help pay your moving expenses. One thing i do not think you understand about Vermonters is that we are a live and let live bunch. Also i do not think that you do not understand that when we have had enough we will fight to the death for what we believe and our families. I would hate to ever see things come to this in the state and country that i love, but if it come to that many of us will come out of the woods.
    Have you ever heard the saying don’t poke the bear , i would suggest putting your stick down.

    • Try aren’t intelligent enough to put the stick down. History is replete with examples of what happens when petty idiots gain a bit of power. They tend to double down rather than admit an error.

    • Those pieces of crap people are mandated to wear, are TOTALLY USELESS, because the openings on the fabric are much larger than any COVID laden droplets, i.e., the droplets go right through.

      You would have to wear a P95 or P99 mask, but they cost about $5, and are good for just a few days.

      Am I making this up.
      ABSOLU NOT

      Dr. Fauci mentioned it during a press talk at least 6 months ago. It is ON VIDEO.

      Just google, Rep. Krowinski, and you too shall be enlightened.

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