Vermonters aged 70 or over can schedule vaccination appointments from Tuesday

Vermonters aged 70 and over will be able to make an appointment to receive the Covid-19 vaccine from 16 February, officials said at a news conference on Friday.

These Vermonters, about 33,000 people, form the next group in the state’s age group strategy, which prioritizes the elderly, said Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. Then the state will move on to people aged 65 and over, followed by Vermonters with high-risk conditions.

Anyone can make an account on the Health Secretariat’s website, from now on, in preparation for the registration process, he said. Vermonters aged 70 and over can apply for an appointment online or by calling a designated phone line, starting Tuesday at 8:15 am

Vermonters can also make an appointment through Walgreens, which is receiving a separate allocation of vaccines from the federal government.

About 38% of people aged 75 and older received their first dose of the vaccine through the current process, said Smith. This includes 538 Vermonters who live at home, who are receiving doses through local home health agencies and emergency medical services.

In total, 12.5% of Vermonters aged 16 and over received at least the first dose of the vaccine, with 37,200 people started and 32,600 completed, according to the department.

Governor Phil Scott reiterated his defense of the age group lawsuit, saying he allowed Vermont to move smoothly through the process compared to his neighbors who made broader categories eligible. “Just saying that people are eligible does not mean that they actually have the doses to cover them,” said Scott.

“This is why we have seen other states cancel appointments, perhaps scheduled for months in the future, even for those in their 70s or 80s,” he said. “Here in Vermont, we take a different approach to setting realistic expectations based on the supply we know we will receive.”

Restart music programs

The state will restart school music programs next week as soon as sports games are resumed, officials announced at a news conference on Friday.

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Music programs will have a number of new restrictions designed to limit viral spread: artists must have a distance of 1.8 m around them, instrumentalists must wear a slit mask during playback, rehearsals are limited to 30 minutes and presentations cannot have a face-to-face audience.

Education Secretary Dan French said music has been a “more challenging” area, as officials have considered reopening school activities. But the low number of cases left them confident in their ability to do so.

“Some of our restrictions indicate … there is a lot of involvement in musical instruments (which) work differently from an aerosol production perspective – for example, flutes are much safer than oboes,” he said. “Mitigation measures for music are therefore relatively complex.”

The singing will also be included in the new orientation, he said. Authorities are still looking for ways to restart theater and the performing arts.

“As we contemplate the move to a phase of recovery in education, enabling these types of activities will become a key strategy to meet the socio-emotional needs of our students and will go a long way in restoring a sense of normalcy in our lives” , he said.

Franklin cases rise

Franklin County broke a new record for a one-day case count on Friday at 36, while the state struggles with multiple outbreaks, according to data from the Department of Health.

The state registered 162 cases on Friday, up from 126 the previous day. The state did not register new deaths, keeping the total at 189.

The hospitals have 47 people diagnosed with Covid-19, including 11 in the ICU, a slight drop from the previous days of almost 60 hospitalizations.

Health commissioner Mark Levine said that Franklin, Bennington and Rutland counties have been battling the virus, but their cases cannot be attributed to outbreaks; instead, the majority come from transmission within the community within and between families.

He also addressed the announcement of the discovery of the Covid B117 variant in Burlington wastewater, saying it needed to be confirmed with genomic sequencing of a positive case to confirm that it was actually found in Vermont.

Increased transmissibility of the variant could lead to an increase in cases, which would increase hospitalizations and deaths, said Levine. But he said that at the moment there is no need for further restrictions or guidance.

He said a recent survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control found that double or more rigid masking could significantly limit the spread of the virus. “If you are concerned about the fit of your mask or want that additional degree of protection against a tighter fit, it may be worth a try,” he said.

The CDC also recently said that people who received both doses of the vaccine in the past three months, and were not experiencing any symptoms, do not need to be quarantined if they are exposed to a Covid case, said Levine.

“This is really excellent news, which shows that we believe that vaccination not only protects you from being infected in those 90 days, but that you will also not be able to spread the virus,” he said.

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Restart music programs

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Franklin cases rise

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