State levy cards for vaccinated; hospitality sector, travelers, applause

Since November, anyone traveling in or out of Vermont has been subject to a strict quarantine by the state. Travelers must be separated for two weeks when entering the state or preparing to leave, or for a week if they receive a negative Covid-19 test result.

These rules change for people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine. As of Tuesday, vaccinated travelers can come or go freely without isolating.

“I want to be very clear: we are going to do it carefully and methodically as in the whole pandemic,” Gov. Phil Scott said at his bi-weekly press conference last Friday when the state announced the change. “I ask for your patience as we work through this.”

The rule change applies to people who have received both doses of the vaccine and received their second shot at least 14 days in advance, Lindsay Kurrle, secretary of the Agency for Trade and Community Development, said in a letter to hotel owners last week. Vermont said. In the coming months, the state hopes to loosen its rules for large gatherings as well.

For planning purposes, Kurrle said, Vermonters can expect Vermont to return to the rules introduced last August by late spring or early summer – when events of up to 75 people inside and 150 people outside were allowed.

While the state cannot guarantee the timeline, it is the agency’s best guess, Kurrle told VTDigger.

The change in travel restrictions offers a glimmer of hope for travelers and businesses in the hospitality sector in Vermont who have struggled under one of the country’s strictest guidelines for pandemic travel. Hotel owners are beginning to imagine a summer when vaccinated guests can reschedule postponed events such as weddings, after the state’s cautious approach frustrated some event planners.

The lifting of the quarantine requirement for vaccinated travelers is a ‘step in the right direction’ for hotels in the state, said Darren Drevik, a board member of the Vermont Lodging Association and innkeeper at the Phineas Swann Inn and Spa in Montgomery. .

“I was very pleased to hear that the governor says that the rules have changed and that those who received their second vaccine, and waited a few weeks thereafter, were eligible to spend their dollars here,” Drevik said. said.

Drevik recalls that he had to tell a health worker who was outside the state, who called his inn last month to book a room and had already received the second dose of the vaccine, that they would not be able to visit. At that point, state rules still required the worker to drive in quarantine before traveling, or not be vaccinated.

Drevik said he was glad he no longer had to turn people away like that.

“Needless to say, it was hard for me to try to explain it to them, other than to say, ‘Hey, these are the rules,'” Drevik said. ‘Now this [the quarantine for vaccinated travelers] disappeared, it makes it much easier. ”

Wrinkles to navigate

Wrinkles still need to be worked out. The state, for example, does not have a mechanism to detect whether people entering or leaving Vermont without being quarantined received both vaccine shots and waited at least two weeks after the second shot to travel.

The success of the quarantine guidelines will still depend on a system of honor, as has been the case at ski resorts and other getaway destinations since the quarantine was implemented.

‘If anyone’s lying about it, it’s hard to prove they did not quarantine before they came. We had to put a lot of trust in people, ”said Kurrle.

Scott emphasized at his press conference on Tuesday that it would take patience to work out these details, and urged all travelers who have been fully vaccinated to carry their vaccination card with them. A vaccination card is an easy way for travelers to show a hotel or restaurant owner that they have received the shots, Kurrle said.

Drevik is also concerned about the policing of vaccinated guests who may be able to avoid security measures due to a false sense of security.

‘We’ll have to keep asking guests to wear masks and social distance, and they’ll probably think,’ Why should I? ‘And the answer is one, because the governor and dr. Levine says it, ‘Drevik said. ‘But also because we can’t sit here and the traffic cop can say,’ OK, this is the man who said he had a shot, and this is the person who’s not had a shot yet. . ‘

These are difficult questions that businesses and people in general will have to navigate for the foreseeable future, Kurrle said, as the vaccine is not even offered to a large portion of the population at this point.

‘I think we all imagine that we do not intend to get to zero cases before we allow people to move more freely, and we need to take note of what policies we are introducing now, that it makes sense as we go continue to open, ”Kurrle said.

Unvaccinated people in families where some members have been vaccinated are expected to be quarantined before the trip, Kurrle said. For example, children whose parents received the vaccine but did not receive the vaccine themselves must remain in quarantine according to the new rules.

Prospective travelers adapt

By navigating the quarantine protocol, families have caused frustration and hope for families who want to go to work and reunite with loved ones.

Shauna Hill of Burlington, a single parent and manager of the Program for Behavioral Problems for Planned Parenthood, was planning to work a lot in other parts of New England this year. Now that she has received both vaccine doses, she said she would feel safe to move freely between states during the spring without being placed in quarantine. But she is still reluctant to do so about the possibility of exposing people to the virus through contact with her children, who regularly interact with other children while attending school in person.

“Until the vaccine is available to the general public, I would appreciate more guidance from the state” for parents with young children trying to navigate the new rules, Hill said.

For Greg Pask of Middlebury, who said his 3-year-old son barely remembers spending time before the pandemic with Pask’s parents, lifting the vaccination travel vaccine made a reunion between his children and parents a more convenient option. . His parents live in New Jersey and recently received their second vaccine doses.

Pask said he and his family may still be concerned about catching the virus when his parents visit, as it is unclear whether vaccines completely eliminate the possibility of Covid-19 transmission. But travel planning has become easier because they do not have to worry about the logistics of quarantine when they enter Vermont.

“It would be great to give my parents a hug, and to have it read to my children with a real, lively book in front of them would be great,” he said.

Tourism promotion?

Drevik said he and other hotel owners are “extremely grateful” for the early steps to facilitate travel to Vermont as the vaccine begins. But he would like to see the state spend money on advertising tourism as vaccines become available. Saving the travel industry from the state could depend on it, he said.

A year ago, we closed Vermont for three months. “Well, there are a lot of people who still think we are locked out,” he said. ‘If the state wants to save a large part of its tourism industry, it will have to spend money [on advertising] and let people in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire know that Vermont is open, it’s safe.

“People need to know that if you’ve done the right thing, you want it here,” Drevik said.

In all, about 91,000 Vermonters – just over 14% of the state’s population – have been vaccinated so far, according to a presentation at Scott’s press conference on Tuesday. From next Monday, any person 65 years or older will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

Along with lifting the mandatory vaccination quarantine, Scott’s office announced Tuesday that people who are two weeks out of their second vaccine dose may join two household gatherings – the first weakening of the restrictions since the holidays.