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Vermont travel restrictions

Skivt2

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Jilly that is a silly question. My true home is in Vermont. It’s where I live more nights a year than anywhere else. I’m home sick. I kind of thought group was OK before this but the lack of empathy is absurd. Obviously we are going to move back to VT for the winter and he is going to go to school in CT one day a week. It just sucks that we will face the attitudes I see here and everywhere else on the internet from people in Vermont who don’t know our situation unless I go through the hoops to change our license plate. As a reminder, we have stayed home for 6 months while everyone else and his brother has gone to Vermont but I’m the bad guy. Nice.
 

elemmac

Angel Diva
it actually does matter. Vermont residents are permitted to travel for essential travel which includes work for example having to go to another state for one day of work.

As far as I can tell on their website, it allows residents that live on the border, and travel across states lines "regularly" to bypass the quarantine, but it doesn't seem to distinguish otherwise between essential and non-essential travel.

I could be wrong on this though...just what I saw on their website. My company does a lot of essential travel to VT, so I've dug through their site a few times, but may have missed it.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I don’t need to do that. Legally you need to live somewhere 185 days or more to be a legal resident. I dont live anywhere 185 days a year.

Oh, sorry, I honestly thought you were asking for help. My bad.

I’m not feeling understood or welcome here. I’m out.

Sorry you're upset about this. Clearly, not everyone agrees on the right course of action, and it's caused a lot of confusion and hurt feelings all over the place. We're pretty much sailing in uncharted waters and everyone is doing the best they can. I hope you can find a way to deal with your situation that works for you.
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Skivt2 , the unfortunate sentiment expressed on that homemade sign was something we saw quite a bit here this past spring. However, as the early-days fear abated and Vermont's situation stabilized (due to high mask compliance and effective distancing behavior among other factors) it is thankfully much less common. Visitors are welcome to come to Vermont, but are expected to abide by the health department's quarantine rules.

The issue here in this discussion is not one of legal state of residency except insofar as that impacts your husband's eligibility for an emergency-travel waiver. The issue is that it is important to minimize moving around of any type during a pandemic. Nobody here is questioning your membership in your Vermont community or disputing the number of days you spend here. What is being discussed is the problem of wanting to travel back and forth on a weekly basis from one state to another. As I said earlier, I sympathize with the difficulty of your situation. But it is not unreasonable for a state health department to be concerned about weekly long-distance travel, since it renders quarantining ineffective.

If your husband wants to try to live here this winter and go back to CT once a week, there are avenues forward. As Wendy said, contacting your town would be a good start. You could also contact the health department. You could contact your state rep and ask for help with the process of gaining atravel waiver. Your husband's employer or his school could advocate on his behalf with the health department.

I'm afraid I'm not in sympathy with the view that Vermont's travel restrictions are unreasonable, but at the same time, I do hope that reasonable accommodations can be made in unusual cases such as yours.
 

Skivt2

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
A 2 hour drive is long distance travel?? You say the fear is in the past but I still see horrible things being said On line. I believe i hear fear in your post. Please explain how I am a threat to you? We almost qualify as quarantining here now. I have no intention of going to stores, socializing inside or going restaurants there. So I Have no opportunity to infect anyone there. Why in the world would I jump through hoops when everyone else is traveling like there is no quarantine? I’m not going to beg and plead for some exception. I have three Vermont resident friends sitting at a bar in key west right now. And from early December to late January the only time we will have to leave VT is to see our parents (in their 80’s) at Christmas. Are you going to tell me that all Vermonters, most of whom grew up somewhere else, will refrain from seeing family this December? I’ve got some swamp land you might be interested in buying too. Again, I have not traveled. Im not your problem. The Airbnb next door to my place is renting short term like it’s christmas holidays to all comers. Only the responsible are being punished by the quarantine which frankly is unnecessary within New England. Pffff. I’ve become a target for all your anger and fear of outsiders. Nice friendly place this is lol.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Why are you arguing with people that have no control over the situation?

I think others have been very reasoned and offered some interesting ideas for moving forward, and you have met these with hostility and personal attacks. If I was running this board you'd be banned at this point.
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't understand the assumption of ill-will. I expressed the hope that you could work out your situation and offered some possible ways forward that would allow you to come to Vermont with the explicit permission of the state. You and I also seem to share a wish that more people would comply with social-distancing and travel guidelines.

As I said, I am a first-responder in a region with a higher-than-average elderly population. I want the best possible chance of good health for my patients and my neighbors. For that reason, I appreciate the state guidelines. The best public health response to a contagious pandemic is always going to be to minimize a population's movement. If you feel that you and your husband are taking adequate precautions then by all means, travel as you wish; you are not likely to be bothered by authorities.

But if you came here hoping for broad agreement that Vermont's policies are unreasonable, I'm afraid that doesn't seem to be the consensus. Support for state health policies does not, though, equate to malevolent localism.
 
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ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
:chillpill:

Man oh man, @Skivt2. I see a lot of anger in your posts, and none being exhibited by the other members here. @Christy is right; this is state policy and nothing any of us here can control. We've tried to offer explanations as to why it might be in effect, sympathy for your situation, and some suggestions about what you can do. I understand you're frustrated, but if you want to discuss this further, dial it down or I'll shut down the thread.
 

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I think feeling judged or perceived as unreasonable and incautious with the Covid situation creates anger. But this is a virtual place where it is easy for feelings or statements to be misinterpreted and misconstrued.
 

TeleChica

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I do think that unfortunately this whole situation has a tendency to stoke the whole "outsider" mentality in an unfortunate way. One of the things I love about New England is the size of it--I often feel like a resident of New England, not just Massachusetts, because it is so easy to travel around the region--and I feel a connection to many often-visited favorite places. It makes me sad and frustrated to feel cut off from places I consider part of my regional home.

Skivt2 is far from alone as someone who doesn't fit into a neat "resident" box. This has been a huge issue on Cape Cod, where many people own second homes. We have a friend who truly lives both on the Cape and in Boston--she splits her time between both places. Heck, even as a sea kayaker who only lives 30-40 minutes from favorite places to paddle, I've seen most put-ins shut down to residents only. I have to admit that it's been frustrating, even while I get it.

I completely understand why most NE states are so careful, and I am grateful for it. That said, I do sympathize with those folks who are affected. I also don't think it's fair to pass judgement just because a person has the means to have more than one home. But that's just me.
 

BackCountryGirl

Angel Diva
The economy. One of three things is going to happen 1) Everyone goes the Vermont like it’s nothing this winter 2) the quarantine is relaxed 3) the economy will be devastated. Cape Cod welcomed visitors this summer and it was fine. if you look at Vermont’s map it’s not a quarantine county even though it allowed all new Englanders to travel there all summer without quarantine. Vermont is just over the top. Vermont can open up to it’s safer neighbors, save its economy and it will be fine. Seriously. I’ve paid 10k in rent and utilities since the last time have been to my apartment in VT and it’s really starting to piss me off.
The economies of northern New England already have been decimated. I am really nervous about going to work at a Maine mountain if the mountain management turns a blind eye to the state's quarantine guidelines. I love my weekend warrior co-workers from outside Maine to death, but I am not sure I want to be indoors with them on weekends this season. And, I love my athletes from away and will miss them terribly, but if the state's CDC says they can't come, then they shouldn't. I am all for them moving here permanently for the season, however. But again, if they travel outside of Maine (subject to exceptions), they need to follow the rules.

I recognize that many out-of-staters will be unhappy, but it isn't personal to them. It is a freaking pandemic and the rules are in place for a reason. Look at the havoc caused in Maine by the idiots at a wedding in early August? They did not follow the rule about limiting the numbers of people at an indoor event and they also did not practice appropriate social distancing. Without widespread, quick-result testing, nobody can be sure they aren't carrying the virus, no matter how "careful" they've been. BTW, if I were to travel to a state such as MA, I would have to quarantine upon my return to Maine or show a recent negative test result or quarantine until I got one here.

CT folks could come to Maine -- they are exempted from the travel restrictions here and I am free to travel to CT and not quarantine upon my return.
 
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ilovepugs

Angel Diva
A colleague tells me that some people are really gaming the system in Vermont by going to a "red" or "yellow" zone out of state on vacation for a week and then quarantining at home for 14 days when they come home.

Under the law (I forgot if it's Vermont state or federal), employers have to pay for 14 days of quarantine even though the 7 days + test option is available. Employees don't have to use CTO for those 14 days of required quarantine.

I don't think that was what was intended by the original legislation! Oops. :booboo:
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
@BackCountryGirl - thanks for sharing. That is a very interesting article.

We continue to self-isolate in Connecticut, even though our town has had only 14 cases (in a town of 4000 people). I am in a high risk category (immunocompromised), so we are being ultra-careful. We mostly ski in Vermont and I have zero expectations for the ski season. This is the first year in 13 years that we have no ski passes.

We became landowners in Vermont In August with the purchase of a building lot outside of Middlebury. We started the design process today, remotely over zoom. I don’t imagine that we will be able to travel until next spring at the earliest.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
The economies of northern New England already have been decimated. I am really nervous about going to work at a Maine mountain if the mountain management turns a blind eye to the state's quarantine guidelines. I love my weekend warrior co-workers from outside Maine to death, but I am not sure I want to be indoors with them on weekends this season. And, I love my athletes from away and will miss them terribly, but if the state's CDC says they can't come, then they shouldn't. I am all for them moving here permanently for the season, however. But again, if they travel outside of Maine (subject to exceptions), they need to follow the rules.

I recognize that many out-of-staters will be unhappy, but it isn't personal to them. It is a freaking pandemic and the rules are in place for a reason. Look at the havoc caused in Maine by the idiots at a wedding in early August? They did not follow the rule about limiting the numbers of people at an indoor event and they also did not practice appropriate social distancing. Without widespread, quick-result testing, nobody can be sure they aren't carrying the virus, no matter how "careful" they've been. BTW, if I were to travel to a state such as MA, I would have to quarantine upon my return to Maine or show a recent negative test result or quarantine until I got one here.

CT folks could come to Maine -- they are exempted from the travel restrictions here and I am free to travel to CT and not quarantine upon my return.

How will you go about knowing what co-workers or clients are doing for the winter? I might be doing the adult Peak Performance group at SR this season and when I asked what I would need to provide as information of my testing status etc. I was just told that it is expected that participants will comply with state restrictions. Does the program your involved with require some further documentation?
 

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