Vermont: MANDATORY Quarantine Policy

[GnarDawg]

Boston burbs inside of 128.

I know multiple families with 2nd houses in the Okemo and Killington area that have been up the past 2 weekends. No quarantine and maybe 50% of them get covid tests the week before. They go up Thursday or Friday nights and back Sunday after skiing.

Not that it matters, but what area are they coming from just out of curiousity?

[easyrider16]

I am sure many are ignoring the quarantine orders, particularly because they don't make an awful lot of sense. People are allowed to cross the border at will to shop or work. That right there is going to allow all the spread you need for Covid to travel across state lines. This quarantine business is not going to do much to prohibit the spread. It's the masks and social distancing that will matter more. So if ski areas operate properly with minimal lodge access and limited restaurant seating, etc., and people wear masks and stay away from one another, that will do the job much better than any BS nativist NIMBY quarantine. I believe these quarantines are largely political, for show, and are not really based on science.

[Big Bob]

I am sure many are ignoring the quarantine orders, particularly because they don't make an awful lot of sense. People are allowed to cross the border at will to shop or work. That right there is going to allow all the spread you need for Covid to travel across state lines. This quarantine business is not going to do much to prohibit the spread. It's the masks and social distancing that will matter more. So if ski areas operate properly with minimal lodge access and limited restaurant seating, etc., and people wear masks and stay away from one another, that will do the job much better than any BS nativist NIMBY quarantine. I believe these quarantines are largely political, for show, and are not really based on science.

At this point in time where VT has community spread i could not agree more. As I said elsewhere that cat is already out of the bag. Gov Scott recognizes that just sitting down for the holidays with family members not in your household will do more to spread this than other activities.

[tyrolean_skier]

I asked two guys to put their masks up when I was going to enter the K1 maze. They got mad at me and one of them said I should not be skiing if I cannot deal with the situation of them not having their masks up. I should have told him that he should not be skiing since he does not follow the rules.

[BoozeTan]

I asked two guys to put their masks up when I was going to enter the K1 maze. They got mad at me and one of them said I should not be skiing if I cannot deal with the situation of them not having their masks up. I should have told him that he should not be skiing since he does not follow the rules.

Dickheads like that are who will lead to killington being shut down..ppl are such assholes

[easyrider16]

It's so frustrating that some are so pig-headed about masks. They are the ones who will ruin it for the rest of us, not the people violating "quarantine" who are otherwise engaging in appropriate social distancing practices.

[skidogg]

I asked two guys to put their masks up when I was going to enter the K1 maze. They got mad at me and one of them said I should not be skiing if I cannot deal with the situation of them not having their masks up. I should have told him that he should not be skiing since he does not follow the rules.

Dickheads like that are who will lead to killington being shut down..ppl are such assholes

had i been there i'd a had your back ty

[Guy in Shorts]

Once we have have a mandatory mask law it will never be safe enough to go back. Just like seat belts masks will be here to stay. They just work.

[Big Bob]

Vermont is the safest place in the nation to quarantine. We are down to 5 deaths for our last 2000 cases of Covid with four of those in one nursing home. Pretty much hardly anyone is dying from the virus here.

Nah! Aroostook County. STILL only ONE death SUPPOSEDLY attributed to Covid-19.

I just checked the VT map. Even folks from the county are not allowed into VT without quarantine. There is not one county on the map now that is not red, including every county in VT.

[snoloco]

It's so frustrating that some are so pig-headed about masks. They are the ones who will ruin it for the rest of us, not the people violating "quarantine" who are otherwise engaging in appropriate social distancing practices.

I don't see the anti maskers as that big of a problem. The vast majority of people are doing the right thing, which makes those who aren't easy to spot, and the worst offenders will have their passes pulled in due time.

I think the travel restrictions became a false sense of security for Vermonters. The idea was that the state was a bubble and that those in it didn't need to worry about preventing spread, because the travel restrictions kept it all out. The governor even went along with this given that he opened up bars early and didn't mandate masks until August. New Hampshire was the only Northeast state to do it later. It turns out, that couldn't have been further from the truth, and the messaging from the governor and among residents that this was "someone else's problem" only left them more vulnerable to an outbreak. People were simply too trusting of each other, and all it took was one ember and you'd have fire through dry grass.

The Montpelier hockey outbreak turned out to be a serious wake up call to anyone who thought Vermont was a bubble or an island. It started with some players socializing after a game where one was infected and infected others. Then it spread to their workplaces, their schools, their communities, and then to other communities. Whether the initial case was travel related or not is moot. The reason it exploded the way it did was because of people who were too trusting of each other and had way too much close contact.

The fact is that the travel restrictions are symbolic and are not enforced by the state. There is no fine or other penalties. The only difference compared to other states is that some Vermonters are VERY adamant that people follow them. The state can't tell ski areas to pull passes of people who didn't follow the travel restrictions. That was a clear overstep. The ski industry and the governor's administration also know that there is no ski season if everyone followed the travel restrictions and that many people will simply lie. For every person who decides not to come because of the travel restrictions, there will be another who takes that reservation. That being said, some social media outlets have been totally overwhelmed with discussion of it. Killington has been really good on their social media outlets at removing comments where someone openly states they are going to flout the rules, as well as removing comments telling people to stay away or questioning their quarantine status. Other resorts have not done as good of a job and their social media is really a hot mess.

[easyrider16]

I don't see the anti maskers as that big of a problem. The vast majority of people are doing the right thing, which makes those who aren't easy to spot, and the worst offenders will have their passes pulled in due time.

This sounds like wishful thinking to me. I've seen numerous people without masks at K, and the worst that has happened is a polite request to mask up. Besides, the real issue isn't even on the hill, where people are outside and spaced out. The real issue is what people are going to do in bars, restaurants, and at their ski houses and hotels. That's where this will spread, and no one will be pulling passes in those places for bad behavior.

My biggest concern is the ski house scene. Dozen or more people from parts unknown gathering in the same home, and do you really think they'll be wearing masks? Multiply that by however many share houses there are on the access road.

[snoloco]

It would be smart for your governor to limit the number of guests in a lodging unit. He supposedly banned all travel and socialization, but won't take more meaningful and more enforceable action like that.

[Skivt2]

I’m afraid we are going to see a shut down. Ned Lamont, governor of CT, said he thinks a shut down would be a good idea and that he needs to talk to the other regional governors.

[spiderpig]

I’m afraid we are going to see a shut down. Ned Lamont, governor of CT, said he thinks a shut down would be a good idea and that he needs to talk to the other regional governors.

I don't think so. The doctors are urging him to implement a shutdown and he does not want to due to business concerns.

[snoloco]

Do you have a linkable source? I know in New York, Cuomo is reluctant to shut down businesses because they aren't largely responsible for this wave. We have a very granular approach and businesses are only being closed in areas where hospital capacity is stressed. Living room spread is what is causing this wave. The regional coalition is really the Cuomo show. He started it because he wants contiguous states to be on the same page.