Vermont Public RadioVerified account

Vt Senate backs a study to determine if guns should be banned from the state office buildings that make up Montpelier's downtown Capitol Complex. Sen Phillip Baruth says the state needs to be ready after the insurrection on the Capitol Building in DC in early January #vtpoli

Vt Senate votes, 20 to 9, to ban guns in hospitals starting this summer and the bill also calls for a study to determine if guns should be banned from the state buildings within the Capitol Complex. Backers say it's a reasonable approach-opponents argue it's not needed #vtpoli

That's it for today. See you Tuesday!

Smith says part of the state's strategy to increase vaccine uptake in Essex County, where the statistics show a lower percentage of ppl getting the vaccine, includes putting digital road signs up with information and reaching out to NH health care providers who treat VT patients.

According to Smith, this would be a situation where an inmate who receives MAT to deal with opioid addiction keeps his medication in his mouth but doesn't swallow it, and then sells it to another person in the facility.

In terms of how the virus is being brought in and spread, Smith says there are two theories. One is that the virus is being brought in by correctional officers. And the other theory is about spread, that the virus may be being spread through the illicit sale of narcotics. 1/

Smith says the units where new positives are coming out are isolation units where all exposed individuals are placed together in a cohort.

Question from Andrew McGregor about what the state is learning about the mechanism of spread in the Newport prison facility, where new cases are still being reported.

https://twitter.com/JaneLindholm/status/1372936162055192580 …

For example, some health care workers who decline to get a required flu shot are still able to work but must wear additional PPE or take other precautions. There could be something like that to accommodate those who can't or won't get the COVID vaccine, Scott says. 2/2

Guy Page asks how to make sure people who don't want to get vaccinated aren't treated as "second class citizens." Gov. Scott says there is no plan to force people to get vaccinated and points out there are similar situations we have experience with. 1/

"You may have opened a door that we didn't want to look behind," Levine says to reporter Avery Powell about the increase in medical waste.

Question about if the state is seeing more medical waste with the vaccines (and also the PPE from the past year). Levine says he doesn't have any data on that but is certain that there has to be more medical waste between testing and vaccination over the past year.

Erin asks for clarity on whether inmates will be getting any special priority in getting vaccinated. The answer is no.

Erin Petenko points out the fact that children still won't be able to get vaccinated in this timeline that's been laid out, and couldn't that impact our ability to get to herd immunity.