By Holly Ramer And Lisa Rathke
Associated Press
The governors of the six New England states and New Jersey have extended a prohibition on interstate youth hockey through the end of January.
The governors took the action because of coronavirus outbreaks associated with youth hockey activities.
In a news release late Wednesday, the governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey said the prohibition, which had been set to expire Thursday, would be extended through Jan. 31.
The prohibition applies to all public and private schools and youth hockey leagues. It will be reevaluated as public health conditions warrant.
The prohibition does not affect interstate collegiate, professional or U.S. national team hockey.
In Vermont, the order does not affect rules that allow limited youth leagues and school-based sports programs within the state for people 19 and younger.
Here are the latest developments regarding the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic throughout New England:
MaineThe state Center for Disease Control and Prevention has placed an order for 17,075 vaccine doses with federal authorities, Maine health officials said Thursday.
The order is expected to arrive early next week and is the fifth in a series of vaccine requests that state officials will file in the coming weeks, officials said.
Combined with prior orders, Maine expects to have enough doses to vaccinate about 81,850 people in the first four weeks of distribution, officials said.
The numbers: The Maine CDC also reported four additional deaths and 700 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The agency said 188 people are currently hospitalized with the virus.
The state has reported 351 deaths and nearly 25,000 positive cases of the virus since the pandemic started.
Maine’s average positivity rate has risen from 5.5% on Dec. 17 to nearly 7% on Dec. 31, according to Johns Hopkins data. The state is also averaging about 425 new cases a day.
MassachusettsGov. Charlie Baker signed a wide-ranging health care bill Friday that he says will codify in law many of the emergency changes made to the state system in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Republican said the new law extends requirements for all insurance carriers in Massachusetts to cover COVID-19 testing and treatment. It also increases insurance coverage for telehealth services, which have become vital during the pandemic.
Baker’s office said the law also expands the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, other specialized nurses and optometrists, takes steps to protect consumers from surprise medical bills, and calls for a study on the effects of COVID-19 on the health care system, among other steps.
“This legislation applies lessons learned during the pandemic to make long-lasting changes in the way people access health care services,” said House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat.
Small business grants: Massachusetts is distributing another $67 million to almost 1,400 small businesses to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Thursday.
The grants are part of the a $668 million relief package announced last week.
About half the businesses are minority owned and 48% are owned by women, officials said. They include restaurants and bars, personal services and retailers.
The first round of grants announced last week totaled nearly $49 million in support of 1,158 Massachusetts small businesses.
The grants of up to $75,000, but not more than three months’ operating expenses, can be used for payroll and employee benefit costs, mortgage interest, rent, utilities and interest on other debt obligations.
Pandemic burnout: A city’s public health director, stressed by 10 months of nearly nonstop work handling the community’s response to the pandemic, is taking medical leave.
“I’m exhausted,” Framingham Director of Public health Sam Wong told the MetroWest Daily News by phone on Wednesday. “I’m physically, mentally and even sometimes spiritually exhausted. I have given everything I’ve got for the city for the past 10 months and then some, and it has taken a toll on my health and it is to the point where I have to take a step back.”
Wong said he was also frustrated by the inequities and politics of the pandemic.
New HampshireGov. Chris Sununu has issued an executive order authorizing certain military service members and emergency medical technicians to temporarily work as licensed nursing assistants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sununu, who issued the order Wednesday, said it “provides yet another tool to ensure that health care providers across the Granite State are able to maintain workforce and continue to provide quality care as we distribute the COVID-19 vaccines.”
The order followed one he issued Dec. 10 that authorizes certain nursing students to obtain a temporary license.
Protests: An organizer of a group that has held protests outside Gov. Chris Sununu’s home in the weeks since he issued a mask order said no one openly carried a handgun or firearm at any of the gatherings.
“Organizers have made every effort, and have successfully discouraged any and all ‘armed protests’ to date,” Brennan Christian of the group Absolute Defiance said in a statement late Wednesday.
Sununu said earlier that he was canceling his outdoor inauguration ceremony Jan. 7 because of public safety concerns about armed protesters gathering outside his home in Newfields.
“For weeks, armed protesters have increasingly become more aggressive, targeting my family, protesting outside my private residence, and trespassing on my property — an outdoor public ceremony simply brings too much risk,” Sununu said.
Protesters started gathering outside Sununu’s home on Nov. 22 in response to an order, which had taken effect two days earlier, requiring masks to be worn in public spaces, indoors or outside, when social distancing isn’t possible because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, police issued summonses to nine people and arrested one of them under a new anti-picketing ordinance.
VermontThe Vermont town of Stamford has voted to overturn in its community Gov. Phil Scott’s emergency orders issued with the intention of protecting the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The select board of the town of about 800 people along the Massachusetts border voted 3-2 Tuesday to “terminate” the governor’s restrictions.
The three board members in favor of the idea cite a section of Vermont law that they believe allows them to reject the governor’s order.
Select board member Daniel Potvin said during the meeting that quarantine requirements, restrictions on large family or public gatherings, and face mask requirements “violate the constitution” in part because they were imposed without normal due process of law.
He asserted it was important to stand up against such measures because it could lead to more loss of personal freedoms later on. Scott hasn’t enforced the orders heavy handedly, he said, “but that could change.”
Potvin said Friday the town is expecting some type of legal action from the state of Vermont, but “until it’s cleared up the governor’s orders are still in effect.”
“There will be a battle,” he said, noting he did not know exactly how that legal battle would play out.
Deborah Bucknam, a Walden attorney, the vice chairwoman of the Vermont Republican Party and a former candidate for attorney general, has agreed to represent the town for free.
In a letter dated Wednesday to the chair of the select board and the Stamford town clerk, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Phillips said Vermont law does not give the town authority to terminate the state of emergency.
“These truly are distressing times, and I understand that good people, differently situated, may have diverging views as to how to best respond to this crisis,” Phillips’ letter said. “But the law is clear on this matter, and (the emergency order) remains in full force and effect within the Town of Stamford.”
The letter did not say what the state would do should the town continue to maintain it can terminate the order.
Scott said Thursday during his regular virus briefing the state feels it’s on solid legal ground.
“We’ve been talking about this for quite some time so an entity doesn’t get to opt out, they’re all part of Vermont,” Scott said
A number of townspeople — and a majority of select board members — have been debating the issue for about a month. While the board met in person, a number of people called in to voice their opinions.
Some residents have said they believe Scott’s actions are legal and have helped keep Vermont’s COVID-19 infection rate among the lowest in the nation.
“It doesn’t make sense at all,” Stamford resident Pat Sullivan said at the meeting. “In fact, it horrifies me.”
Vaccine supply: Officials are concerned about the reduction in the number of vaccines Vermont will receive from the federal government next week.
The state is expected to get a total of 7,800 doses of a combination of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines next week, rather than the 11,000 doses it had expected, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said Thursday during the governor’s biweekly virus briefing.
The reduction “can eventually have an impact on our overall vaccination timeline,” he said.
The state is contacting the federal government to see how the allocations can be increased to at least 11,700 doses a week, he said.
“This is at the federal level, and we’re really trying to understand what is going on. You can’t have a program where there’s no predictability in what you’re getting and then you get cut from one week to the next,” Smith said.
Six staffers at the Vermont Veteran’s Home in Bennington have tested positive for the virus, Smith said. Facility-wide PCR testing was happening Thursday and will continue twice a week for the near future, he said.
Law enforcement outbreak: The Bennington Police Department is dealing with an outbreak of the coronavirus among its force.
Five officers, including the police chief, and one civilian employee have tested positive, Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd said by email on Wednesday.
The department has 26 sworn officers. “We have sufficient officers to cover all shifts and our force is providing that coverage,” Hurd said.
Town officials believe the outbreak is contained, he said. Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette worked closely with the Vermont Department of Health to make sure proper protocols were followed, including contract tracing, Hurd said.
“It is unfortunate, but as front line workers, they face greater risks than most of us,” he said. The Bennington Banner first reported on the cases.
The numbers: Vermont reported 69 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday for a statewide total of more than 7,270 since the pandemic started.
A total of 24 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with six in intensive care. The state reported four more deaths for a statewide total of 134 since the pandemic began.
As of Wednesday, 11,157 Vermonters had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Department said.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 106.14 new cases per day on Dec. 15 to 84.86 new cases per day on Dec. 29.
The latest average positivity rate in Vermont is 2.19%. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for Vermont the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test specimens using data from The COVID Tracking Project.
The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Vermont has risen over the past two weeks from 2.03% on Dec. 15 to 2.19% on Dec. 29.
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