VPR News

Vermonters are still having a hard time filing their weekly claims for unemployment due to a slow system and backed up phone lines. This hour, we get an update from the state about what it's doing to streamline the process, and hear what the federal CARES Act is doing to provide relief to Americans.

Though you don't need to disinfect your groceries, a trip to the supermarket has taken on new importance — and requires new precautions — in the COVID-19 era. We talk to grocery store managers and retailers about keeping workers (and customers) safe and what you should keep in mind when you next get your groceries.

The Hub and Spoke drug treatment program brought international attention to how Vermont was addressing the opioid crisis. The model was built around the idea that patients would visit treatment centers every day to pick up their medicine and receive face-to-face support. But in these days of social distancing, that model has had to change.

Earlier this month in Wisconsin, primary elections were held despite the risk of contagion from the new coronavirus, after a bitter political battle ended with judicial rulings turning back the governor's attempt to delay the election. Residents, many of them wearing masks, braved long lines to exercise their right to vote. Here in Vermont, we're looking ahead to a primary election in August, and then to the general election in November. Vermont’s Secretary of State Jim Condos is already

Changes at hospitals and long-term care facilities, as well as restrictions on gatherings, have changed how people are dealing with death. Not just coronavirus-related death, but all kinds of more commonplace but no less heartbreaking reasons. This hour, we talk through grieving, as well as handling some of the logistics and processes of death and dying.

Christine Hallquist on her experience with the coronavirus. Plus, moving prisoners to St. Johnsbury, taxes, and telemedicine.

Corrections officials are trying to alleviate fears in St. Johnsbury after they relocated 28 inmates with COVID-19 to an “isolation facility” in the town.

Over 750 people in Vermont have now tested positive for COVID-19. One prominent Vermonter who’s contracted the disease is former Democratic nominee for governor, Christine Hallquist. She ran and lost to Governor Phil Scott in 2018, and made national headlines in the process for being the first transgender person to become a major party’s gubernatorial nominee.

In Rutland, city leaders are trying to fill the gap for students who don’t have access to necessary technology as Vermont schools conduct distance learning for the rest of the academic year. Plus, what it’s like to be a paramedic during a pandemic, and COVID-19 cases in Vermont start to plateau.

Over a century ago, Vermonters — and the rest of the world — faced another historic pandemic, the 1918 influenza pandemic commonly known as the "Spanish flu." We talk with historians about how Vermont weathered the deadly outbreak of the flu that year, and with historical organizations about how to preserve the digital and physical artifacts of our present-day pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching the resources of the health care system, both here in Vermont and around the country. Health care workers, especially in hospitals, must come in contact with patients who have the coronavirus, but so must emergency workers who run ambulances and other response systems.

Social distancing and self-isolation can be difficult for many, especially those recovering from substance abuse. This hour, from Zoom meetings to telehealth, we hear how recovery services are adapting to support Vermonters in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

A total of 32 inmates and 16 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at Northwest State Correctional Facility. The Department of Corrections has moved 28 of those inmates to Northeast Correctional Complex to help isolate the virus. This hour, we talk to to the Department of Corrections about what the state is doing to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in Vermont prisons.

How COVID-19 is impacting the specialty cheese industry in Vermont. Plus, what it’s like to be a home health care worker during the pandemic, the latest infection numbers and space medicine.

Laini Fondiller describes the scene in her Westfield barn as "organized mayhem." An excited goat chorus reverberates through her barn as the 30 or so Alpine and Saanen dairy goats – her “ladies” as she calls them – assemble for the morning milking.