Governor bans multi-family gatherings, including at Thanksgiving — bars and clubs to close

/ November 13, 2020

By Guy Page

The executive orders announced today to reduce transmission of Covid-19 in Vermont do not include any restrictions on religious services, Gov. Phil Scott said.

Reporters peppered the governor and Health Commissioner with specific questions about how the new restrictions would impact aspects of life in Vermont.

Vermont Daily asked the governor: “Do the new restrictions apply to this weekend’s scheduled religious services?” He answered succinctly: “no.”

New restrictions include:

Ban on ‘multi-household’ gatherings indoors and outdoors, in homes or public spaces. As cases are reported and contact tracing is performed, people at these gatherings can expect to be contacted by, and must comply with, health department authorities.
All bars and social clubs closed to in-person service.
Restaurants remain open for in-person service until 10 pm. Takeout available.
Restaurants, museums, gyms must keep log for contact tracing.
All recreational sports on hold, except those sanctioned by VT Principals Association.

The multi-household ban includes extended families gathering for Thanksgiving. Celebrating this holiday will be a single-household event, under the new guidelines. At Tuesday’s press conference, the Health Department noted a large increase in Canadians testing positive after the Canadian Thanksgiving in October.

Here in Vermont, Halloween parties are being blamed for some of the uptick in cases. A total of 116 positive cases were reported on Nov. 11, 84 yesterday.

Hospital cyberattack not factor in new restrictions – Like the pandemic, the October 28 cyberattack that stripped the UVM Medical Center of computerized patient records and impacted email and phone service continues, despite herculean containment efforts. In a Nov. 10 statement, UVM Health Network President John Brumstead said, “this cyberattack happened in the midst of a global pandemic that shows no signs of slowing, making this situation even more troubling.”

Vermont Daily asked Commissioner Mark Levine today, “ Are these new restrictions at all prompted by your concern about hospitals’ reduced efficiency due to having to cope with the cyberattack?” His reply was an emphatic ‘no’: “The answer is absolutely not. The hospital is functioning very efficiently, as much as it can. The hospitals are delivering quality care for people. Its concern is about hospitals in general…not letting cases get so high that capacity itself is challenged….. Nothing can be further from the truth. It wasn’t even mentioned in our deliberations.”

Brumstead’s statement paints a picture that, despite IT experts’ hard work and commitment, the hospital may be paperless for a while:

“Federal authorities have directed us not to discuss the details of the attack on our IT systems in order to preserve the integrity of their investigation. What I can tell you is that this attack was very broad in its reach. That means our response and restoration must be very carefully planned to be sure we can safely and securely restore our systems. The UVM Health Network team is literally working day and night to address this situation and the Governor has called the Vermont National Guard into service to bolster our own resources…. We are making steady gains each day, and I am very proud of our teams for their response to this emergency. Even with our daily gains, we do not yet have a timeframe for full recovery and restoration.”

In calling for Vermonters to “dig deep” and sacrifice, Gov. Scott noted that he has not seen his mother in over a year. Nor has he seen his daughter in Rhode Island since the pandemic began. In a lighter moment, the governor commenting on UVMMC using fax machines in lieu of email: “Who would have thought fax machines would make a comeback?,” he mused. “And drive-ins. Don’t throw out those 8-tracks.”

Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/howcheng

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25 thoughts on “Governor bans multi-family gatherings, including at Thanksgiving — bars and clubs to close”

  1. I don’t care where I live; I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends and the governor is not invited.

  2. Someone pass this information and video on to the governor’s office to show him the real threat from the virus. It isn’t the virus we should be worried about, it’s what lock downs are doing to our state and country. If you don’t think I’m right, watch the video enclosed in the article from Dr. Tom Woods.

    https://granitegrok.com/blog/2020/11/tom-woods-burns-lockdowns-and-mask-mandates-to-the-ground

    He compares strict countries to no lock down/no mask countries.

  4. Benedict Scott the tyrannical liar proclaims this and that all of which are unConstitutional,I don’t know how many votes Mr. Hoyt received but I can state he would govern from a Constitution state unlike Benedict Scott,Vermont deserves better.

    • Well we had one person commenting that the governor’s job wasn’t very important.

      I guess we’re all finding out just how unimportant the job of governor in the state of vermont is.

      I can’t believe anyone would be ignorant enough to believe that statement or to make it.

      I’m really saddened by the number of people in the state of vermont that believe the lesser of two evils is any kind of a choice when we had a real choice in Kevin Hoyt.

      At some point the people in the state of vermont are going to wake up. I’m not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

      We had an opportunity to flip this state by electing Hoyt as governor…

      Oh well you get what you vote for…

  5. Not going to comply – not with unconstitutional orders from a governor, not with any of their staff.

  6. Good luck enforcing that, Governor. Family ties are stronger than your rules.

    All of this drama over a virus with a 99.7% recovery rate. (Notice that the nightly news doesn’t include a fatality line in their graphs–which would be flat–only a “case” line). State officials and their media yes-men are doing cartwheels because of cases, cases, cases–almost none of which are contagious because the test is too sensitive (Dr. Fauci himself has confirmed this in his own statements). We need full transparency on PCR test results, not simply “yes/no.” It’s not a damn pregnancy test.

    If there is anything left to Vermont when the smoke has finally cleared, the truth about Covid-19 will be shocking to the majority who have not done their research. I shudder at what happens after that.

  7. King Phil Scott is ruling by some kind of Fiat Power that he’s usurped.
    Nothing he is doing is as the Founders envisioned for us, we are Free People and our Rights were given to us by God, and Phil Scott has no legal right to strip you of them. Tell this guy to go pound sand!
    Those early Vermonters would have not tolerated this baloney for 10 minutes..

  8. There was a day when people just moved..
    Now they are Escaping.
    We’ve had many move over here to NH claiming Political Refugee Status.

    Americans are not supposed to be planning their holidays around how many=Who the government allows you to invite to dinner.

    Do you Vermonters know how to revolt anymore? I know you have a lot of pitchforks over there.
    Just where is your limit? is my wonder..
    This is way too far to into a Communist China Lifestyle- in my opinion.

    • There has already been at least one lawsuit already filed against the Governor:

      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qksfqs9Lmts2q3zWg-lMaOSyICHC7fPjDFflJwMQb8s/edit

      And there are at least a couple of groups trying to get the word out:

      https://www.802freedom.com/
      https://unlockvermont.com/index.html

      We need to organize more Vermonters, for sure. Lawsuits are springing up everywhere, in other states and countries. Support those who are fighting for the truth.

      • Great links, Jeff.
        This is not about “keeping us safe,” this is about controlling us.

        I’ve had arguments with friends about the Great Barrington Declaration, of which the misconception is that it’s about letting people stay free and then die free. But the central point of that Declaration is that we need to engage in Focused Protection of those at highest risk, not by dictating that they must do this or that, but simply by organizing to protect those who decide they need to be protected: deliver food and medicines in a safe manner, offer financial support, allow to shelter-in-place, etc. Meanwhile, the healthy population under 65 is allowed to do whatever it wants to; indeed, those over 65 are allowed to do whatever they want to as well. It’s their choice.

        It’s about self-determination. When does medical tyranny shade off into political tyranny? Where is the line that’s crossed when medical measures are used as a means of political control instead of as a means of staying safe?

        Regardless of where one stands on the necessity of medical measures, it’s imperative that we recognize that it should never be up to the government to “keep us safe” through measures that at the same time require that we give up liberties, for the simple reason that the line between medical tyranny and political tyranny is blurred when justifications for one can be used as justifications for another, and the vigilance required to tell the difference can easily be lost in the fog of fear induced by those clamoring to keep us safe. Assenting to medical tyranny is an extremely dangerous proposition for those who value liberty.

        Governor Scott is a traitor. He’s on the front lines of a medical tyranny that’s wholly uncalled for, for a disease that, for most of the population, is hardly more than a flu.

        We, the people, can decide for ourselves how we want to handle this. We don’t need Big Brother and we don’t need Big Doctor, either.

        • It’s not up to the government to decide what is safe and not safe.
          You can fall and split your skull open at any time in your life!
          LIFE is not safe.. we all drive cars, eat foods full of chemicals, smoke, we do tons of unsafe things every day of our lives.. this is just calling living.. we make these choices and should be free to do so.
          There are over 600,000 a people a year that die miserable deaths from cancer, and yet we don’t fear this- but we upend our country over the flu?

          Our Founders also never envisioned us to be thinking as a collective either.. The failed socialist experiment in Plymouth showed this all so well.
          It’s all up to us as individuals to chart our own course, take care of ourselves, our loved ones. Do what you can for your neighbors and community because you choose to as a Moral person- not because the government is forcing this mentality upon us all.

          We are allowing them to do whatever they want in the name of “Safety”.
          People are being brainwashed into thinking we are all some dirty germy creatures- for simply breathing! and we all need to be in fear of eachother- as if being clean and distanced is such a lifesaver..
          If you go read a history book, a lot of Jewish people died in what they thought was a shower.
          What next will our government tell us to do in the name of Safety for all?
          Besides this, we are talking about a virus with almost 100% recovery rate.
          There is no emergency with this virus, the media brainwashing the people.
          THIS is what the emergency is.
          The lockdowns, the reaction, The Government ruling over us with this Fiat Power, THIS is the Emergency.

    • But Laura, King Phillip has proclaimed what our future will be. We peasants must heed the word of the Crown or suffer the unconstitutional dictates proscribed for all to see. For somewhere hidden in the parchment of our constitution to be as of yet found, there must be a law thus giving credence to such powerful proclamations! Far be it for we who know so little but do realize that our rights can not be suspended in times of plague. Surely, the Kings council would remind the Crown that no such law or power exists. If we are dragged before the court for such frivolous activities as meeting for dinner upon the Thanksgiving day, we will suffer as proscribed by some unwritten law, somewhere as to yet be found and defended by our council. Freedom to us all!

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