It is November and there are more dashboards to summarize. We continue daily and limited-weekend COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
Budget season begins with an overview of the proposed budget by the Town Manager to the Selectboard, and this starts at the next regular meeting of the board.
They’ll also approve more repairs for the skating rink, increase the deductible on health insurance for town employees, review their goals, and more. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
Promotion of Brattleboro was a primary topic at the regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard Tuesday. Blue Whale Public Relations had some typical Zoom-related delays but otherwise gave a solid report on their early efforts to reach out to the media.
Hybrid meetings will continue for a while longer, favorable financing for the water treatment facility was announced, new stop signs are official, and Union Station might be sold for a dollar in order to save as much as $100,000.
Your local check of the October numbers. We continue daily and limited-weekend COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. We’ve also added weekly variant updates. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
The Brattleboro Selectboard is easing into budget season while wrestling with the safety of retuning to in-person meetings. They got an update on the Water Treatment Plant upgrade, paid for some emergency repairs, gave out a liquor license, and discussed Town Manager Elwell’s final Long Term Financial Plan.
There was more – there will be new stop signs coming to some corners, a discussion of ARPA fund possibilities was quick, and a discussion of blinking crosswalks took quite a while.
BRATTLEBORO, VT — In recognition of increased COVID case numbers, the Empty Bowls Steering Committee has opted to go virtual again this year as opposed to returning to an in-person dinner. For 18 years now, local potters have created and donated beautiful and functional bowls to raise funds for the food shelf that has now grown to be Foodworks. In that regard, this year is no different.
“We experienced incredible support last year, putting on Empty Bowls in the time of COVID,” explains Groundworks Board Member and Empty Bowls Co-Chair Beth Kiendl. “The tweaks we made last year—shifting to selling bowls in local storefronts—were so successful due to the community support for our work providing emergency food to all who need it in our community.”
The Brattleboro Selectboard willl take up a number of water treatment plant issues at their next regular meeting. This includes emergency replacement of a blower and other emergency repairs for wells, a project update, and a loan application. The board will continue discussion of adjusting COVID rules, hear an update on ARPA funding, consider some traffic safety measures, and contemplate Town Manager Elwell’s final Long Term Financial Plan, FY23-27.
Your place to check the September numbers. We continue daily and limited-weekend COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. We’ve also added weekly Delta variant updates. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved a new rule requiring face covering indoors, subject to the approval of Dr. Levine and the Vermont Department of Health. If Levine doesn’t approve, the board strongly recommends, rather than requires, the face coverings. This is all in response to a rapid rise in regional COVID cases, more Delta variant, and a fluctuating CDC rating of viral transmission.
In a related action, the board recommended to everyone who is able, please get vaccinated.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will meet on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (320 Main Street). The public is encouraged to participate in the meeting over Zoom. The Municipal Center will be open to the public with limited seating spaced six feet apart and face coverings will be required in the meeting. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
Update to the Community from Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell:
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) has reclassified Windham County from an area of “moderate public transmission” of COVID-19 to an area of “substantial public transmission” of the virus.
All Town of Brattleboro government facilities remain open to the public at this time, but we have reinstituted the requirement that anyone inside Town buildings must be wearing a face covering. This applies equally to employees and to visitors. It applies equally to vaccinated people and to unvaccinated people. The CDC guidance on this matter is clear: all “people [should] wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.”
I superficially looked at the CDC site, and learned 2 things about delta:
1. CDC sayszz the Delta Variant is one and a half times as contagious as Alpha (which I understand is the first new iteration after original Covid-19. What they mean is that if a person infected with Alpha would (under a particular set of circumstances) infect 2 additional persons; then a person infected with Delta, under the same set of circumstances, would infect 3 people. (Of course a major epidemic management goal would be to get the that number down to .9 or less.).
According to the CDC’s website, 64.4% of the total population of Windham County has had at least one does of a COVID vaccine. 55.8% are fully vaccinated.
Keep this in mind as we crow about Vermont’s high vaccination rates. We haven’t hit 70% in Windham County yet. We’re much closer to “half way there” than the “almost 100%” people like to assume.
It’s August 2021, in case you’ve forgotten. We continue daily/limited-weekend COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. We’ve also added weekly Delta variant updates. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
If you are choosing to not get the COVID vaccine then you need to accept complete responsibility for your behavior. That means acknowledging the fact that you may be responsible for the suffering and death of others. It means that you should make an effort to keep away from other people while you wear a mask. But your selfish behavior has made it clear you will not make the effort to protect others.
American society is putting a lot of effort and money into trying to convince the unvaccinated to get the shot, but those efforts are resulting in less than adequate outcomes. The time has come to give up on the unvaccinated and start punishing them for putting the rest of us in danger.
BCS proposed graduated distribution of COVID stimulus funds and a “People’s Budget” at the last selectboard meeting (July 6, 2021).
A draft of the technical explanations will be available on the BCS website. This is not a final version, but is pending peer review.
In comments at the end of the meeting the board members expressed some confusion about the funds. They no doubt have their own ideas about spending on infrastructure projects and tax relief for property owners. One member of the board actually said that distribution of the money to low-income people would be inappropriate, although the ARPA legislation specifies the purpose of the funds as COVID relief. This would certainly not exclude payments to low-income people.
It’s bad enough that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his band of idol-worshipping Trumpies are controlling much of what goes on in congress, but many of their supporters around the country are also in control of the course of COVID.
Federal politics has always been less than representative of the will of the people and that kind of imbalance has increased over the last few years. Even though Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate they have great difficulty passing any significant legislation because of issues like the filibuster and the need for 60 votes for bill passage. This situation has all but crippled the body politic and it will continue for the foreseeable future.
That future is starting to look at little grimmer when it comes to COVID in this country. A minority of Americans are determining the course of COVID because of their refusal to get vaccinated. The unvaccinated are not a monolithic group but it seems clear that states that lean Republican and places that have bought into the Trump lies have the lowest vaccination rates.
It’s July 2021, and while we’re ‘done’ with COVID, it isn’t done with us. We continue daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. We’ve also added weekly Delta variant updates. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
Engaging in usual forms of commerce makes one believe that the pandemic is a thing of the past. I find it extremely frightening that more people are not wearing masks in public because the science does tell us that not enough people have been vaccinated to provide the kind of herd immunity that we might need to protect all of us.
Fifty four percent of the U.S. population has received a first dose of vaccine and 47% have received a second dose. That means that as you go about your daily business about half of the people you see should be wearing masks. Of course, the vaccination numbers vary by state. Vermont has a vaccination rate of 82% for a first dose and 75% for a second dose. Massachusetts is at 70% for a first dose and 61% for a second dose.
Even with those numbers we still should see a quarter to a half of the people we engage with on a daily basis wearing masks. It is just not happening. Most places, as well as the CDC, have lifted mask restrictions for vaccinated people and have let the unvaccinated rely on their conscience to do the right thing.
Guess what? It ain’t working. The daily numbers of new COVID cases and deaths are declining but more than 600,000 Americans have died from the disease and it has become clear that most of the recent deaths are in people who have not been vaccinated.
Update to the Community from Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell:
There is no longer a COVID-19 State of Emergency in Vermont.
All Town of Brattleboro government facilities have reopened for public visitation without an appointment. Some offices will still require face coverings or other special precautions until further notice. For example, masks will be optional in the public spaces throughout the Municipal Center, but anyone who needs to go behind the counter or into the vault at the Town Clerk’s Office will be required to wear a mask.
