Vermont reporters provide a roundup of top news takeaways about the coronavirus more for Wednesday, Jan. 27.
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1. Vermont announces 78 new COVID-19 cases
There were 78 new COVID-19 infections in Vermont Wednesday, the first day since Jan. 3 the state has seen fewer than 100 new cases.
As of today, the total number of pandemic-related deaths is 172.
The bulk of today's new infections were in Bennington County, with 23 cases, and Chittenden County, with 17.
There are eight Vermonters in intensive care with COVID-19, among a total of 46 hospitalized with the disease.
- Matthew Smith
Scott administration says case growth shows positive trend
Although Vermont's COVID-19 cases are higher than they were the summer, officials in the Scott administration say the recent trend is positive.
At Wednesday’s COVID briefing, Gov. Phil Scott said he was optimistic about the overall numbers, including a drop in new daily COVID cases to 78.
“It's trending in the right direction,” Scott said. “The number of deaths has slowed slightly, which is good news as well. We're getting vaccines in arms – that's good news. So I think you can expect we'll be opening up the spigot a little bit more in the coming weeks.”
Officials say COVID cases in long term care facilities have also declined. They say that may be because many residents at those facilities have been vaccinated.
- John Dillon
Human Services secretary says Vt.'s vaccination effort is off to a good start
The Scott Administration says that despite a few glitches, the state's rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is going reasonably well.
People over 75 starting signing up for the shots on Monday, and began to receive the vaccines on Wednesday.
“A lot of people will be vaccinated within the five-week period,” said Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. “I'm not saying everybody, but the bulk of the people will be vaccinated within the five weeks.”
Smith notes that about 7,000 elderly Vermonters have already been vaccinated through a program that distributed vaccines in long-term care facilities.
- John Dillon
UVM Women’s Basketball team ends season early amid COVID concerns
The University of Vermont women's basketball team decided this week to end their season due to concerns about COVID-19.
College athletes are allowed to compete against out-of-state teams if they follow strict guidelines that include getting tested for the coronavirus three times a week.
UVM women's basketball coach Alisa Kresge said the players made the decision to stop their season.
“It was the unknowns — unknowns of: can we stay healthy, what would it mean for their future if they individually got sick… do we have games, do we not have games? It was just the culmination of the unknown. [It] just took its toll for our players,” Kresge said.
The women's basketball team's decision came days after UVM announced it was pausing all sports games and practices until Feb. 4, due to an uptick in coronavirus cases in the athletics program.
- Liam Elder-Connors
2. Wednesday was the first day the general public could get vaccinated against COVID-19
Wednesday, the first COVID-19 shots were available to Vermonters 75 and older – the first time that members of the general public have had access to the vaccine.
State officials say about 30,000 people have signed up for their shot since appointments became available on Monday.
Heather Danis is director of the health department's Burlington office. She says 150 people were signed up to get their first shot at the Integrated Arts Academy today.
“We had a little bit of a backlog this morning, those sort of first-day clinic glitches that need to get worked out – that’s expected,” Danis said. “But we are already sort of caught up and on track for the afternoon.”
But not all of the clinics went as planned — Springfield Hospital was forced to cancel appointments after storage issues potentially compromised 860 doses of the vaccine.
- Liam Elder-Connors
Springfield Hospital forced to cancel vaccination clinic
State officials learned Wednesday that 860 COVID vaccine doses distributed to Vermont were potentially compromised because they were not stored properly.
Human Services Secretary Mike Smith says the problem was with storage of the vaccine at Springfield Hospital.
He says the Moderna vaccines were kept one degree warmer than the manufacturer allows.
“This is unfortunate, because we've had minimal, I mean minimal, wasted doses in this state,” Smith said.
During Wednesday's press conference, Smith said he was just learning details of what happened. Later, Seven Days reported Vermont Department of Health officials were in discussions with Moderna over whether the doses could be used.
- John Dillon
Gov. Scott says federal government has promised to up Vermont's vaccine allocation
Gov. Phil Scott says the federal government has promised to increase the supply of COVID 19 vaccines to Vermont.
Scott says he and other governors have made clear to the new Biden administration that a consistent supply is essential.
“Yesterday, I was on a call with the National Governor's Association and the new administration, and there was consensus among the governors: what we need more than anything else is clarity on production numbers and the timeline for increasing doses. Having that information will make a huge difference as to when and how to scale up our programs,” Scott said.
Scott says the federal government promised to increase Vermont's supply of the vaccine by 16%. The state currently receives 8,800 doses weekly.
- John Dillon
3. Sen. Leahy returns to the Senate floor, after going to the hospital Tuesday night
Sen. Patrick Leahy was back at work presiding over the U.S. Senate Wednesday, following an unexpected trip to the hospital Tuesday night.
Leahy, who is 80, told his staff that he wasn't feeling well and as a precaution he was taken to the George Washington University hospital for an examination and a series of tests.
Doctors then determined it was fine for Leahy to go home.
He told reporters Wednesday that he had experienced some muscle spasms and that, "normally I would've just said the heck with it."
But the Capitol physician recommended the hospital visit just to be safe.
Leahy is expected to be the presiding officer for the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.
Gov. Phil Scott says if there were ever a vacancy he would replace a member of the Vermont congressional delegation with a person from their own party.
The question came up at the governor's news briefing Wednesday because Sen. Leahy was briefly hospitalized Tuesday evening.
Scott said the question is speculative and premature, but he would stick to his philosophy of maintaining political parity in any appointments.
“I would continue to do what I've done over the last four years, and if there's an opening in any legislative seat or otherwise, that I would appoint someone from the same party,” Scott said.
The US Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats.
Scott made a similar pledge last year when Senator Bernie Sanders was under consideration for Labor Secretary in the Biden Administration.
- John Dillon and Bob Kinzel
4. Vermont Racial Justice Alliance seeks legislative reform to health care, public safety and economic policy
The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance has unveiled its priorities for the 2021 legislative session.
Alex Karambelas, a member of the organization, says the alliance will be seeking substantial reforms to health care, public safety and economic policy.
“The legislation that we are proposing would examine and reconcile the root injustices that are causing Black and brown people to be unsafe,” Karambelas said. “I say it causes them to be unsafe because this isn’t just a feeling people are having, it is material.”
Proposed legislation includes the creation of a commission to address racial disparities in health outcomes.
The Alliance also wants lawmakers to investigate Vermont’s role in slavery, and consider reparations for descendants of slavery.
- Peter Hirschfeld
5. Attorney General files attempted murder charge in case from 2015
The Vermont Attorney General’s office on Wednesday announced it is filing attempted murder charges against a woman accused of shooting her instructor at a Westford shooting range in 2015.
In 2019, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George dropped the case against Veronica Lewis. Lewis was expected to plead insanity, a defense the state’s attorney said she could not counter, according to VTDigger.
Gov. Phil Scott called on Attorney General TJ Donovan to review this case and two others dismissed by George’s office.
A virtual arraignment is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in the Chittenden Superior Court. A plea deal is expected.
- Brittany Patterson
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