Will give some opening remarks and an update on where we are in the state with regards to ealth. Well start this morning with a few Public Health data slides and then a little look t where were going. You have seen this before. It is updated. The gray are the cumulative cases that we have had in vermont. We are in the low 8507bs for cases. These 800s for cases. These are the new cases. It is coming into that more plateaued type of phase. This is called anepicurve. The new cases on a daytoday basis. We were pretty accustomed to an average of 3040 cases with occasional times where we peaked here in middle here. At 50 there. This is way back in early march. Started doing things like limits on mass gatherings, closing the restaurants and bars and eventually schools. And then in this time frame the actual stay home, Stay Safe Program began. Several weeks beyond that, we have come from a peak and generally below 10 cases over he last week on a daytoday basis and finally this is a graph of the number of tests we have done in verbatim. Vermont. You see they range from 300 to 00 or 700 over time. This is the percentage of tests that were done in a given day that were targeted for covid19. It goes as high as 12 down to 2 and you can definitely see the slope of that curve diminishing as well. It is a rough indicator of how much disease is in the population showing decreasing number of positive tests over time. And most recently we were in the low single digits. So our focus now from now into the foreseeable future remains to protect the most vulnerable, i would say even more aggressively than before, to the to avoid capacity of the Healthcare System and help protect as many as possible from encounting infection until we have effective antiviral therapies and a vaccine. The timeline on the effective antiviral therapies could be just months. The timeline on the vaccine as you know is commonly stated as 1218 months. So as we look into the future and you heard on fridays press way were bout the going, from the Health Department point of view, number one, keep our eyes on the data. So youll see similar data to what im showing you now but also well be expanding to really understand what the rate of immunity in the whole population of vermont and continue to look at how the Healthcare System is being utilized. I. C. U. Usage, ventilator needs, hospital visits, visits to primary care for flulike mple comes, covidlike symptoms. What percentage of the population is reporting. Understanding that the category that the cdc has come out with, probable infection meaning it looks like covid but a test was never done to confirm that and then an understanding of llness in children and adolescents. Well also be continuing to try to assess individual behaviors to see how much the population is complying with social distancing, mask wearing, ty must remembers, measurements. And how well employers are providing a safe working environment for their employees and their customers. We have heard a lot on the National News about some areas that the Health Department is going to be focused on very closely in the near future. We already are and will continue to focus aggressively on these. First will be to maintain an aggressive strategy with regards to testing and having the adequate supplies to do that testing. There will be emphasis on rapid test results. Rapid is still pretty good in 24 hours but there are times one needs more rapid, perhaps 20 minutes. Well be working again to validate point of care testing machines that we could hope to istribute to the population at large. Well be working more on that integration piece with pediatrics as i just mentioned. And the simple nasal swab in front nose rather than omething way back in the nose. Obviously if you test, you need to have that followed up with n aggressive Contact Tracing workforce and stance, both of which we have already here in vermont and the opportunity to make sure we appropriately isolate and quarantine to again keep that level of disease in the population very, very low. When you put those two factors together, testing and contact tration along with the fact that we will be going 14 days without an increase in cases hopefully. Thats very significant and well continue to have good hospital readiness without having to report to crisis standards of care, these are all things that need to be in place to move along the continuum that the governor has outlined previously into what has now nationally been called phase 2, if you will. Lastly, we need to and will continue to be as aggressive as possible and intensify our efforts to keep all longterm care facilities as safe and uneffected as possible. Something i think we have done very well with over the a number of weeks in vermont since we had the two larger outbreaks to start with. Were not seeing consistent evidence for major outbreaks throughout the state in longterm care. That will have to be a major focus as well. Ill turn it back to the overnor now. Gov. Scott thank you, doctor. The last few weeks, i know how difficult and frustrating it has been for too many as they have repeatedly tried to get through the Unemployment Office and especially for those still waiting for their very first check and for many this is the first time in their lives they have ever been laid off and so they have no experience using the system. In order to help our vermonters to get through on the phone, were adding another 50 state flows and 50 agents to bring the total number answering the phones to 150. And the total of over 200 people now processing claims. Getting through on the phones was not the only obstacle. This is why i directed the department of labor to clear tens of thousands of issues which has been holding up vermonters benefits. This past thursday the government identified 4,500 claimants with issues holding up claims. Under normal circumstances, investigating these issues is were d to make sure adhering to federal regulations, but these are not normal times. These very restrictive federal standards have made it difficult if not impossible to keep up with demands this pandemic has placed on the system. It has made an already complicated and bureaucratic program more difficult while i greatly appreciate the funding available through the cares act, our ability to get the benefits to people quickly has been burdened by stringent requirements set by the feds. So we were forced to make a choice. Allowing a cumbersome process delay money needed to family or find a way around it. In the end, we opened our ahead of put people process. The department of labor rolled up their sleeves and found a way to clear issues to help payments go through when vermonters file claims this eek. We will follow up after the fact to verify eligibility. By saturday night nearly 32,000 issues have been cleared with means over 20,000 people will be cleared to file their weekly claims to start receiving their benefits. Have old you friday, we helped those who did not have issues cleared get some relief as well. We issued 1,200 checks to over 8300 vermonters yesterday. I personally brought them to the mail center this morning. The treasurer will share more on this team effort in a moment. We did this to get money to those in need. But for most, it is likely only a prepayment of their full benefits with the remainder being paid through regular process. Again, i understand these delays have been devastating for vermonters who are staying home to stop the spread and save lives. There is still a need to put food on the table and pay their bills. Because there are risks to federal funding, we hope these issued could be resolved through normal process but it became Crystal Clear to most this was not happening fast enough so we needed to find another way. These steps could help provide some leaf. Stopping were not until everyone who gets a check every week. I want to thank everyone for helping to stop the spread of this virus which is saving lives. We have pearce on the phone. Thank you for all of your efforts from you and your team yesterday. Thank you. Thanks for your efforts. 8284 the payment for individuals for over 10 million. This required our staff working ver 10 hours each on sunday. Myself and our i. T. Staff. I want to thank deputy treasurer for coordinating this effort. I was pleased to see that the department of labor cleared a substantial number of those claims saturday night which lowered the volume for my staff sunday which allowed us to process the payment in a timely manner. We Work Together in times of crisis and i see we were able to process payments so that vermonters will have funds to meet their family needs in this this severe and unprecedented crisis. Gov. Scott thank you treasurer pearce and thank your team again for me as well. With that, i think were going to open it up to questions at this pointed. Do you have the commissioner in the room or on the phone to answer questions along with secretary smith, the usual team on the phone. Secretary quinn. Commissioner sterling. Were going to start in the room with thanks. Governor, the we did have some additional debts for the weekend. Deaths for the weekend. Im wondering if the numbers you saw friday gave you some indication whether youre going to be able to gov. Scott im going to let the commissioner answer part of that. Im always watching the data. I keep track on a daily basis. How were doing. How New Hampshire is doing. How new york is doing. How were doing as a country. I keep track of that. Death is not the only indicator and every death is tragic, but we have to watch the other number of positives as well. So were tracking everything and that will be more of an ndicator as to one category. I would like to comment on he deaths. There is not like a rapid increase in deaths. There are steady trends of deaths across the board. Obviously none of these all of these are tragic, but the fact that they occur in the ntext of this epidemic is two or three is not an exception to what has been oing on pretty much all along. We want to focus on it but i would not want to focus on it in way that would derail any of our future plans because the data doesnt indicate that should happen. Can you characterize the people who died . Give us demographic information . A couple of the most recents were in longterm care facilities. Eedless to say, elderly. Were doing an assessment. Well have it out very soon. It is almost 100 people in their 60s and much older. Were not seeing a lot of ounger people. I want to stress that every death is tragic in the state but when you compare massachusetts for instance, they have 10 times the population but they have probably three to four times the death rate than we do. At this point in time. A lot of people pretty upset about the potential plan to Close College campuses. In an already strained system gov. Scott again, sometimes democracy is noisy and dis ruptive and they have err every right to show their displeasure. We accept that. This may be the tip of the iceberg in some respects. We are going to have a lot of pending needs throughout. Our Healthcare System. Our hospitals, other institutions as well as education. Hat could be on a case for k12 and higher ed as well. The past couple of years, you remember the first and then we had southern vermont college, Marlborough College and others on the brink at this point. Again, this is our State College system. We want to protect that. This is something the trustees and theness chancellor have been talking about for a number of years. We have been trying to do whatever we can as you probably remember from my budget addresses and state of the state addresses, i have acknowledged that we have some problems and we have throughout our system whether it is Early Learning or Higher Education in the amount we appropriate bills. So suffice it to say, this is some of the decisions that were going to have to make over the coming months, maybe as difficult or not more difficult than what we have made thus far so it is going to be challenging. Thats why i want to make sure that we have the legislature involved in this. I know other states have questioned whether the legislature should be involved at all in some of the covid money and i have embraced the fact that we do things different in vermont. I want their involvement. I think we need their consideration. We all need to Work Together and try to find solution a solution. This is a great topic for us to consider. There is not an infinite amount of money available either. Whatever we do now, we have to consider what are the longterm effects . Is it sustainable . If we just inject money into any institution, is that necessarily going to mean youre going to be able to survive in the long run . Because they had financial challenges previous to this. Again, a lot of considerations over the next few months but im thankful they put off the vote for at least a week and are giving everyone time to settle in and consider. Governor, do you over the weekend you brought up the act that money could not be used that way. Over the weekend, several 75 ni were idea that million in covid relief and said if we could take that money and put it toward the State College system and that could float them. Gov. Scott lets be clear what the State College system is asking for at this point too. Even with a condensed proposal they are bringing forward, they re asking for their ongoing i think it is 25 million. They want another 30 million just for this new package. Additional money would be needed. Again, this is not just for this one single instance. What do we do in the future . This is ongoing. This injection at this point in time is not going to fix the longterm problem that they are facing. The structural changes that are necessary. So again, we will take this into consideration. U. V. M. Has asked for money as well as will other institutions. Again, our hospitals are going to be in great need when this none of you recall, the procedures, elected surgeries and so forth, where they make their money are able to be utilized at this point in time. So they are going to be in desperate need as well. Our k12 system, in other parts of government. All the while, were not taking any money in either. Our individual municipalities as well. This is going to be challenging. I know its sounds like again, im appreciative of everything our congressional delegation did to get us some money for relief but that is not going to fix all of our problems. Well have to make some choices collectively with the legislature and we will do that and try to find solutions to problems as they come forward. Has there been any talk or discussion about the private sector getting involved . U talked about education around the state. Is there a chance we could gov. Scott possibly. Again, i would say the businesses themselves are going to be challenged in the aftermath as well. This is widespread. No one is going to be left untouched as a result of this pandemic. So again, it just reinforces the fact that we have to Work Together on this. Remain unified in trying to do everything we can to be smarter and better in future about where we make these vems. Investments. We want to make sure were making the investment so that we contemplate the future. Were not going to make everybody whole as a result of this. That is not going to fix some of the systemic problems. Over the last number of years, i have talked toobt demographics. No one hasnt heard me talk about the deaf graphic challenges we face as a state. The number of cases in our k12 has decreased by 30,000. That has anfect on our Higher Education. When you dont have the students enrolling, that means they have a problem on the other end. It is all about enrollment and overhead costs and were going to have to work at this together. First of all, there is the poa. That is the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program that wasnt failed was unveiled by the senate, by congress. That will allow those who are selfemployed to receive unemployment benefits. This program is not up and going. We are hoping it will this week. Loans that are desperately needed by those in vermont and across the country. We have heard some good news. This morning, it appears that there may be an answer to the logjam in washington so that they can appropriate more money for that program. So we will hear more from them, but its really a congressional problem at this point. Governor. Ou, and regards to the pandemic the Fund Assistance program, we are doing final testing today and tomorrow. As soon as that is complete, we will go live with the system. In a recent conversation that we had with others, it seems that that is on par with what other states are doing, in terms of timeline. I just recently spoke with the state of massachusetts and their program is also going live this week as well. In terms of that perspective. There are a number of reasons why someone might not be eligible for unemployment insurance. This answers the question, though, if they are selfemployed. It also looks like they are looking for business support as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, governor. Good morning. Thank you for all the data that you have been pumping out. With other states, one statistic that has been missing are the number of cases for individual towns. How soon will the state of vermont be able to start providing town by town listings, the number of cases each one has . So instead of Washington County just having 32, are those all in barry city or montpelier . I noticed the numbers in Franklin County say 93. I have to assume some of those are the inmates. Not sure the numbers actually match up to where people are these days. I dont have the answer to that. Im sure the data is being collected but im not sure how it is being implemented. This is a partial answer. When it gets out in small numbers, you actually exceed, even though you try not to succeed and identify the visuals who are the cases the individuals who are the cases. It may be one or two people. We have to always be conscious making violations and sure the way that we portray the withouts not isnt consequence, i should say. Hard ifr aspect is very youre looking for statistical differences amongst various communities. It is often challenging enough just within geog