Scott announces extension of business closures as many Vermonters remain jobless

Guy Page

EXTENDED CLOSURES: Gov. Phil Scott has announced that business restrictions will continue until at least April 15, an extension from the previous April 6 deadline.

Gov. Phil Scott on Friday said he is extending business closures, which so far have caused more than 60,000 Vermonters to lose their jobs in a matter of weeks.

“This new order makes clear that any previous orders or directives that had an expiration date prior to April 15, are subject to the Stay Home, Stay Safe order, which means they must follow the in-person operation closure guidance until April 15,” the governor said in a statement.

The order applies to bars, restaurants and Department of Motor Vehicles in-person operation, which were set to expire April 6.

At his Monday press conference, Scott hinted that even more extensions lie ahead. For example, Vermonters can expect the governor to announce this week that the “stay home, stay safe” order will be extended beyond April 15.

“We’ll extend it for a period of time and then update as necessary based on the science and the data that we receive,” he said.

As of Monday, the state of Vermont is reporting 23 coronavirus deaths. Health Commissioner Mark Levine, speaking at a Monday press conference, said total Vermont deaths from the pandemic could reach as high as 100.

Meanwhile, approximately 60,000 Vermonters have lost their livelihoods over the past three weeks as a result of the Scott administration’s orders closing businesses and forcing Vermonters to stay home. The job losses are expected to climb if Scott keeps the state closed for months.

Responding to a reporter’s question Monday about whether social distancing measures could be ordered in the future if the virus reemerges, Scott said it depends on the situation.

“For us to say that once this wave is over that we’ll go back to normal would be disingenuous,” he said. “We’re going to have to be constantly monitoring and making sure that we make corrections as best as can based on the science and the information that we are receiving.”

President Donald Trump has said he hopes May 1 can be a target for Americans to get back to work. He is calling for a second Coronavirus Task Force to focus on getting the economy started again.

Medical experts are predicting the coronavirus pandemic to hit its peak in the United States within the next two weeks.

Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. reached 8,910 on Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with more than half of fatalities — 4,758 — occurring in New York.

The number of Americans who have died of seasonal flu since Oct. 1 ranges between 24,000 and 63,000.

A study by Breitbart News indicates that actual hospitalization rates from the coronavirus are well below the projections put out by the federal government.

“The results showed that the actual number of cumulative hospitalizations as a percentage of regular hospital beds needed projected by the IHME model ranged from nine percent in Tennessee to 47 percent in Florida,” the report states.

The relative quiet of most hospitals hasn’t gone unnoticed by the public. The #FilmYourHospital social media trend on Twitter continues to be a viral phenomenon, as citizens nationwide post personal videos of orderly hospitals experiencing manageable numbers of patients. The citizen posting counters reports by some media outlets that hospitals are facing severe overcrowding and long testing wait lines related to COVID-19 cases.

Increasingly, commentators are voicing concerns that the economic impacts of the shutdown could be worse than the virus.

“The scale of this [economic collapse] hasn’t quite registered yet — our leaders are still far more afraid of a virus that probably kills fewer than 1 percent of those infected, than the prospect of a third of all Americans losing their job,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said this week.

“A year from now, what will seem scarier, the Chinese coronavirus or the economic devastation it brought? It’s worth thinking about that,” he said.

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.

Image courtesy of Guy Page

14 thoughts on “Scott announces extension of business closures as many Vermonters remain jobless

  1. Hey everybody in case you hadn’t noticed, covid19 is VERY SERIOUS stuff. Some folks moan about “over reaction” or “shutting down the economy unnecessarily”, I’ve got news for these nea sayers, if you’re DEAD, you won’t get much work done. As for data on age, with orcwithout under lying conditions it’s irrelevant to most. If you’re DEAD, you’re DEAD. Let’s ALL get with the program and stay safe.

    • What a vacuous, circular argument. People making such statements can’t possibly believe that a citizenry without jobs, with stores closed, manufacturers of comestibles unable to produce, and an economy completely decimated can survive with all the “precautions” being enforced on us by tyrants. And adding to the destruction, Vermonters – and Americans in general – have had their constitutional rights & freedoms deleted, resulting in real slavery to government for those who manage to live through the ordeal. It is well beyond time for these fearmongers to start dealing with reality, although that concept is typically lost on those who collect welfare benefits or have some connection with government.

      • Yeah, and they’ll have us wait until this fall to receive a vaccine that will only be 47% effective before we can live our lives again.

        The worst case projections are 2x the rate of heard and cancer deaths every year. While this would be incomprehensibly tragic, it is something we can get through and survive.

        In the meantime it’s interesting that all the positive drugs are getting no traction, everyone is saying the world will never be the same. We can do better, our media should be coming together and giving us hope, letting us know where the positive changes are coming, how we can help each other out, as that is truly how we’ll overcome and have overcome every challenge in the past, cooperation, love for you neighbor and using the collective genius of the entire world, rather than some little despot with a control of all the media and microphone.

        How is it that Face book is allowing the Chinese government to post that it’s America’s fault. Yet Facebook in their infinite wisdom, declared the Gr33n Mtn Prty not a political party and banned us from doing any ads? Yet we were registered with the state as a political party.

        Truth has a hard time getting through the garbage heap of information, propaganda overload.

    • I’m going to upset the apple cart, am 80. Long way to go before DEAD. Trust me, Being in the Air Force I had many more chances of the sudden mental shutdown than this at the young age of 19 when there’s little deaths of Civ-19 for those of similar age, now. Be positive it might be contagious to those around you.

  2. “One” computer model predicts 4200 Covid-19 deaths in Vermont if preventive measures aren’t taken, (Dr) Levine said.
    Modeling with preventive measures shows 1500 of those lives saved.” @ Apr 6th Vt Daily Chronicle

    Model “predicts” 2700 Vt. Deaths no matter what – out of a dense fog of Bull Feathers.

    This seems absurd, and the first time we have heard or seen any such numbers.
    If these are the secret numbers being used by our Experts and Politicians –
    It is NO WONDER our Politicians and “Experts” have been in such full fledged complete PANICS
    so as to create several aspects of Martial “Law!!”
    How many $100 Millions has Vermont spent so far – untold.
    .
    We have seen NOTHING of these numbers, deaths nor $dollars, nor any reasons, news, or experience factor, to believe them.

    No one reports in comparison how many die in Vermont each month – this Virus being a tiny %,
    far less than ordinary elderly lung failure, cancers or heart failure. Every earthly life ends in death.

    Doug Richmond, Well, And of an age, 76, to be susceptible

  3. Still wondering about this science Mr. Scott keeps referencing. So far all I see is speculations and exaggerated models that fall far short of being accurate. Let’s get the economy rolling again, enough of the fear mongering.

  4. Let’s ask, and find out, exactly how many of the current COVID deaths have underlying conditions and what their ages are, and if they died with the virus or from the virus. If we’re not allowed to know this information, then let’s ask why, if we’re shutting down the whole damn economy, we don’t have accurate data on which to base our decisions?

    If the US is supposed to have 150,000 deaths from COVID, according to our head of Allergies and Infectious Disease, Dr. Fauci, then this means that Vermont, with 0.19% of the US population, is due to have 285 deaths. Think we’ll get there? And why is our good Dr. Fauci not spending his time ensuring we have test kits instead of giving so many interviews?

    Let’s not wreck the economy for a virus that’s essentially just a bad case of flu that hits the elderly the hardest, as all flues do. Protect the elderly. It’s senseless to sideline the rest of us when the BMJ recently reported that 78% of this terrible, killing flu are … asymptomatic?? https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1375

      • Wow! And I didn’t even know there was a test!

        Still, Governor Scott … how about data on those deaths? I think the good citizens of Vermont deserve to know.

        • Nobody even wants accurate numbers, it’s all part of the plan. You can’t have control without panic and fear. The unknown is the biggest fear and they would like to keep it that way.

          If they were really interested in knowing what is going on they would test a certain area, a county or small state, test every one. Then they could see how many people already had it and recovered, how many people didn’t get it, how many recovered and most importantly what is the mortality rate. They would also have to check and confirm corona virus deaths as main contributor, which our “scientists” are doing the exact opposite, as corona virus hospitalization is completely paid for by government, aka American People which is known as FREE MONEY as they reach into your pocket and take your last dime, yeah free.

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