I have been told i need to stay close to the microphone, so i will do a lot of pointing. Each bar represents the cumulative number of cases on a given day during this past month. The blue portion of the bar represents the newest cases. I think, just eyeballing this, everyone can see this does not represent linear growth but this is termed exponential growth. We dont know what the days to come hold, but we can anticipate everything will get higher. I want to remind you it was only two weeks ago, we had one case in vermont. We have in excess of 100 now. 123 to be exact. The last day on this graph is the 23rd. But in my hand, i have the most updated data which came after midnight last night, and there is now 123 and the blue portion is 28 new cases. The appearance of the graph is more important than the numbers. The other perspective is that it has only been about two weeks that we have been involved with coronavirus at this level in vermont. And in that period of time, we have experienced now eight deaths. Six of the deaths are associated with the outbreak at the burlington rehabilitation facility. And to be fair, these are every single one a tragedy in itself. But most of the deaths there were in individuals who were very medley complex, may have had advanced dementia and did not have goals of care that were going to indicate they would be going to the hospital for full efforts. Nonetheless, were it not for coronavirus, they would still be with us. Two of the deaths out of the eight were not involved with that facility, but were still, what we are finding are characteristic of the impact of this virus worldwide and nationwide affecting those who are older and who have other compromising conditions. So im very concerned about the slope of that curve and very concerned in our small state about the number of deaths weve had. If you begin to look at the experience regarding deaths around the world, youll find that in the countries that have been hardest hit, which would include italy and spain, the lines are pretty vertical in this direction. That indicates a rate of doubling of deaths every couple of days in those countries. There are now states in the United States that show the same trend. Our neighbor, new york, new jersey, most recently louisiana was added to that. Louisiana two weeks ago had its first case. It is seven times the size of vermont populationwise but has 1,000 cases and their death rate is accelerating very rapidly with the doubling time of a few days. The state of washington i which we use as our index case, if you will, has a much more diagonal slope. Still not wonderful, but the death rate doubling there every week. So we in vermont im giving you this for perspective want we practice that exponential growth in the number of cases looking into the future at the right time and that we dont mirror some of those death rate curves where things are definitely getting very rapid and are concerning. This is why i view this as the perfect time for the governors latest Mitigation Strategy in the emergence the order that will be talked about further in the con. I wanted to talk a little bit about expectations, now that we are in renting stay home, stay safe policy. What will happen, what we might expect. Many press conferences, we have given you the 80 rule and the 80 rule is still true. 80 of those who get this virus are not going to be hospitalized and not in i. C. U. And still remain alive and have have a mildtomoderate illness that they can isolate at home and work through. In the outbreak as we are seeing in a number of other states and countries, you have to realize also though that not everyone is going to be immune in that 80 category and there will be in that category in the 20, 30, 50aged group will get sick, much sicker than we advertised , and we are finding worldwide that some of the deaths fall in those categories too. ,i am not saying this to be scaring anybody, but at the same time, we have to be realistic, that in largescale outbreaks of the disease, if you have 100,000 people that are sick, 20 of may be younger that are hospitalized because of the sheer numbers. But we still know that the likelihood of a very bad outcome and in people who are younger is very, very low, but the likelihood of a bad outcome as you get into 70s, 80s and above becomes much, much higher. We know this will be a great hardship for people. We know this is unprecedented. But we also know this is scientifically sound, but hard. And we know that assessing the magnitude of the impact is challenging. This is a major lifestyle change for all of us to experience. But one thing we do know and thats the magnitude of the impact if nothing is done and i can assure you that the impact of what we are going to do will lead to a far more favorable end result than if we had done nothing at all. Everyone in the country is asking how long do these things have to go on for. Is two weeks enough . Will we be open by easter . Is three weeks enough . Should it be three months . I wish i had the crystalclear answers for you, but we dont have those answers, not as a National Community or a global community. And we are learning all the time. We do know that we really do want to make sure that we suppress the virus to the point where not as many will be ill and not as many will be in the position of potentially overwhelming our Health Care System and resources, and those are the goals that we have, not that we will prevent everyone from getting this virus ever in their lifetime. Thats not how it will work. So although there are questions, we need to realize that we need to all be in, all in. Its helpful, as we see other states joining this effort that we will have more of a regional and national Coherent Community response to this, which has worked well in other nations. We need to continue to learn from other countries and almost feel grateful for the fact that the United States came a little later in the game for coronavirus and on a statewide basis having activity at different levels. So as we go through this period of time that we say stay at home and stay safe, we will be able to benefit from learning from our own statistics every day but studying the statistics we find in the world where various strategies are being tried for various variations of time. It has become Scientific Community that we will flatten that curve as we talkt about talked about before and then there will be a period of time have we hopefully will suppressed the viral activity in the community, but that it may resurface again, whether that is two months later, six months or one year later. It is really unclear. The population at that time will have much more community amongst itself. It will be harder to pass the virus from one person to another because many will have already been exposed and have some immunity. We will be able to get on top of that with more traditional case andy and tracing isolation methods much faster than the country did originally, and that will be a very good thing for us all. So in summary, the strategy is a wise one. It is scientifically sound. It has some elements of mystery to it in terms of not being able to tell you what will happen on a given day or when, but it will work and it will work best if we take and it takes a Village Mentality to this and work all together. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Levine. Times. These are not easy theres a lot of Economic Uncertainty and much concern about the health of vermonters due to the covid19 pandemic. I share concerns in much of these areas. As we look at the challenges i have, Public Safety must come first. That is why yesterday, i issued the stayathome, stay safe order. Around the country and here in vermont, we have seen an increasing number of cases that continues to grow. This is not unexpected. While each and every step we have taken is needed, they have been difficult decisions to make. This is a responsibility i do not take lightly. But heres what i need vermonters to know. His is what i need from them i need you to stay home. Doing so will save lives. Its just that simple. That doesnt mean you cant go out for essential needs or take your dog for a walk or take your crosscountry skis out. Just keep your distance from others while doing so. We must all do our part to slow the spread of the deadly virus and protect the vulnerable which includes the elderly and those with underlying chronic conditions. Preventalso do this to the Health Care System from being overwhelmed, which is important to the health and safety of all vermonters. I fully recognize the emotional, financial and Economic Impact this order will have, but based on the best science and the guidance of our Health Commissioner and the team, each of the actions we have taken are absolutely necessary. And its possible as a forewarning, more may be needed. But the order i signed beginning at 5 00 p. M. Today, vermonters need to stay home as much as possible. They understand their basic needs. So you can leave for essential things like going to the Grocery Store or pharmacy or to seek medical care or as i said earlier, just to get out and get fresh air or some exercise. But when doing so, its important to keep six feet from others. Wash your hands a lot. And cough or sneeze in your elbow. If you are unsure about something whether you should be doing it or not, err on the side of Public Health and stay home. This order directs businesses and nonprofits to suspend all inperson business operations. To be clear, this is on top of the closures i have already directed and requirement that anyone who can work from home should do so. These are important to stop the spread of this virus and i understand there are also things that vermonters need in order to stay healthy and safe and to keep the state running. So we included some exemptions for businesses that are critical to Public Health and safety and to economic and national security, Like Health Care options and operations and things like Grocery Stores and pharmacies, gas stations, hardware stores, critical manufacturing sectors, news media operations, those that serve vulnerable populations as well as services needed to maintain Critical Infrastructure and transportation. These groups should be implementing the workfromhome policies i directed earlier this week wherever possible and making their social distancing distancing,social constantly cleaning, and employees are washing their hands, once again, a lot. Vermonts Small Business owners have shown great creativity and flexibility so services can be offered online where employer s can get products to customers with Curbside Pickup or delivery where contact can be avoided. That can continue. Secretary curley will talk about how businesses can determine whats acceptable under this provision. Understand theres a lot to absorb here. Theres going to be a lot of confusion. There are going to be many different scenarios where businesses and employees will have a lot of questions. We will work through these together. Be erring onshould the side of Public Health. We need people to keep their distance from each other, which is why this order is the strongest, one of the strongest in the nation. Just to put this into perspective for those who think we may be going too far, this virus is spreading quickly. It may not have affected you yet but all too soon, many of us will know someone personally and then will start to feel very real. This is why we are asking our businesses to think beyond the next month. We all care about the health of our employees, family and friends. We are going to leave vermont governor phil scotts Coronavirus Briefing to take you live to the u. S. Capitol where Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is holding a News Conference to talk about the third coronavirus economic aid package passed by the senate moments ago. This is live coverage on cspan. This to trillion saver rescue bill to american individuals, Small Businesses, large businesses, and to provide considerable funding for the Health Care Workers and the scientists and doctors and others who are trying