The Deeper Dig

After two years of pandemic-related supply chain issues, Vermont businesses are facing a new wave of price increases on everything ranging from seitan deliveries to two-by-fours. Now, they're cutting costs, raising their own prices and wondering how long the trend can continue.

Sandy Sumner became a reluctant advocate for efforts to hold an international plastics company accountable for PFOA contamination in Bennington. Now, months after his death from an aggressive cancer that he believed was caused by his exposure to toxic chemicals, legislators are making their third attempt at a bill to empower pollution victims. Sandy's wife, Marie-Pierre Huguet, wants to see it pass.

For some, the long-term effects of a coronavirus infection can be debilitating. And while clinical understanding of the disease evolves, many worry that Vermont's rural health system is ill-equipped to treat it.

Nursing homes reopened their doors to visitors last November, but advocates still worry that another Covid-19 spike could once again lock family members out from seeing and caring for their relatives. What have we learned from nursing home lockdowns? And what does it mean for the future of long-term care?

Recent trends in Vermont’s Covid-19 case counts have officials and experts feeling optimistic about the course of the pandemic — but all warn it would be premature to brush off the Omicron threat just yet.

As of Friday, the state’s seven-day average for daily new cases had fallen by more than half since its peak on Jan. 9, a sign that the worst of the past month’s surge may have passed.

Many of the most drastic effects of the Omicron variant are still being felt. Hospitals remain under serious strain, with elevated numbers of Covid patients continuing to stress a diminished workforce. Schools and families are still contending with the disruptions of widespread staff and student absences due to Covid infections. And fatalities in Vermont continue to climb, with 54 Covid deaths — the third-highest monthly total of the pandemic — reported so far in January, as of Friday.

But the apparent decline in transmission is significant, according to a range of experts. The nation is likely weeks away from a new, transitional phase of the pandemic, and the shift toward managing Covid as “endemic” rather than epidemic may finally be in sight. 

Students are back in school for their third week of the new year. Or at least, some of them are. The Omicron variant has caused a massive spike in Covid-19 cases and a massive spike in absences among students, teachers and school staff. As a result, dozens of schools across the state have already canceled classes for at least a day this month, and some for longer stretches.

State officials have prioritized keeping schools open during the current surge, citing the drawbacks of remote learning. But with this many people impacted by Covid, how much schooling is actually happening right now?

Vermont hospitals are feeling the strain from the recent surge of Covid-19 cases — and so are patients. Doctors and nurses are caring for an overwhelming number of people. Many are sick with severe Covid, and even more are crowding facilities after delaying care earlier in the pandemic. That’s caused some hospitals to call in federal reinforcements, and it’s forced some patients to delay procedures they see as essential.

Opponents of hound hunting in Vermont have spent this fall ramping up their calls for the state to restrict the practice. And while it’s too soon to tell if they’ll be successful, their tactics have brought statewide attention to what was once a niche hunting technique.

A new 300-page report represents Vermont’s first comprehensive strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change. The Climate Action Plan outlines more than 230 steps toward meeting an ambitious set of emissions reductions goals. How will those proposals now be put into action?

Elementary and middle schools in the Granite City have had more total Covid-19 cases than in any other community. Parents and administrators alike are concerned about the long-term impacts.