The Deeper Dig

If the Legislature passes a law to allow municipal mask mandates during a special session next week, town and city officials will find themselves at the center of a policy debate that’s escalated for months. Gov. Phil Scott has repeatedly said he doesn’t believe a statewide mask mandate would be effective — and that instituting one now would be an abuse of his authority. Democratic leaders have argued that a data-driven masking policy could help tamp down a surge that’s strained the state’s schools and hospitals for months.

While Scott has said he’s skeptical that detractors would comply with new mandates at this stage of the pandemic, some public health experts argue that there’s ample data to prove that mandates boost compliance — and that that in turn suppresses infection.

Guest: Julia Raifman (Boston University School of Public Health)

In the first 10 days of eligibility, about 15,500 Vermont children ages 5-11 had either been signed up for appointments or received their first dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine. That's about 35% of the eligible population. But despite the early rush, experts have warned that there may be more hesitancy around this group than other age groups. National survey data has shown that about two-thirds of parents of young children are not planning to sign their kids up right away.

Dr. Judy Orton, a veteran Vermont pediatrician, says it's understandable for parents to have concerns — but that the kids' vaccine is both safe and effective. She responded to a range of reader-submitted questions in a live VTDigger Q&A this week.

“This has probably been the most well studied and most followed-up vaccine in the history of vaccines, and probably the most public too,” Orton said. “So we have a lot of data to go by.”

Recorded at a live storytelling event in Burlington, VTDigger’s Fred Thys and Audi Guha talk about reporting in uncertain situations.

Vermont’s three members of Congress have served a combined 93 years in the U.S. House and Senate. They’ve accrued an unusual amount of power and influence for one small-state delegation. But they won’t remain in Washington, D.C., forever. Whenever the next vacancy occurs, it could represent a once-in-a-generation chance to reshape Vermont’s congressional representation.

Recorded live at a VTDigger virtual event this week, veteran political professionals Liz Bankowski, Dennise Casey and Julia Barnes, as well as VTDigger political reporter Lola Duffort and managing editor Paul Heintz, discuss the future of the state’s delegation.

A state program to house Vermonters who would otherwise be homeless in vacant motel rooms during the pandemic is in limbo — again. More than 500 families who would have been kicked out in late September got a 30-day reprieve. But with a new deadline just weeks away and few options available for affordable apartments or shelter beds, where are people exiting the program going to go?

What’s it like attending high school in a converted department store? Five years of Burlington High School students are finding out.

The longtime leader of the Vermont Council on Rural Development is stepping down September 30. For 21 years, Paul Costello has helped towns and cities across Vermont envision how to build stronger communities. Looking back on that work today, he still can’t stop talking about the future.

“We have to be committed in new ways at this point in our history,” Costello said last week. Facing big-picture challenges like climate change and entrenched racial injustice will require even more individual participation, he said. “The only thing we can envision is a better Vermont — and us putting ourselves on the line for it.” 

Students in some districts are returning to school buildings as soon as this week. Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases across the state are still surging due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

School leaders across the state say their number one job is to keep kids safe this fall. But what exactly that means could look different from school to school.

Guests: Brian Ricca (St. Johnsbury School District), Libby Bonesteel (Montpelier-Roxbury School District), Jeanne Collins (Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union), John Castle (North Country Supervisory Union)

While an ongoing conversation about police reform plays out both nationally and locally, Covid-19 has led to its own pandemic of mental health issues. In response, some central Vermont police departments have been trying a new method of integrating mental health services into law enforcement. Is it working?

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is driving a new surge in Covid-19 cases across the country — and a much smaller increase in cases throughout Vermont. Health authorities say the Delta variant is far more contagious than previous strains of the virus, but that vaccines are still effective at preventing severe illness and death. But with case numbers rising both nationally and locally, how concerned should Vermonters be?