5 Years After the COVID Shutdown

My remarks during the Senate floor session, March 13, 2025, on the 5-year anniversary of the COVID state of emergency shutdown.

Five years ago today, on March 13, 2020, the Vermont General Assembly voted to close the doors of the State House and adjourn for eleven days to ride out what we hoped would be a short-lived public health emergency. We later extended that shutdown for most of the next two years, as the COVID pandemic ravaged the world. Both legislative bodies didn’t come back fully in person until March 2022.

We all know now about the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most significantly, over 7 million people worldwide have died of COVID, touching the lives of nearly every person on earth. But before it was a pandemic, those of us in this building were trying to figure out what to do, and no option felt completely right. 

Of the senators currently serving, nine of us were here in 2020, an additional five were serving in the other body, plus the Lieutenant Governor was then a senator. But more than half of today’s senators weren’t here for that unnerving, surreal week.

As we try to solve difficult problems this session, and sometimes find ourselves in deep disagreement, I think it’s helpful to remember some of the unprecedented things we did together during the early days of the pandemic, like close State House doors that are always to remain open.

On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, in the spacious House chamber, Commissioner of Health Mark Levine gave his first COVID briefing. In his matter-of-fact, steady voice, Dr. Levine provided information and guidance, helping us feel a little bit calmer and safer, as he would hundreds more times over the course of the pandemic.

While watching this briefing, sitting in the red Senate chairs with Pro Tem Tim Ashe, I received word from my husband that Middlebury College was sending students home early for spring break. 

On Wednesday, March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, and a second Vermonter tested positive for the virus. Anxiety in the State House was high.

On Thursday, March 12, 2020 the Senate Democrats caucused in Room 10, which was packed with an unusual number of journalists. As the mom of an 8th grader, I made a plea to send the pages home for their safety, arguing that we should use “an abundance of caution,” a phrase that would be oft repeated in weeks to come.

Like this one, that week was Crossover. Committees were hurrying to finish bills that would be left on the calendar for the next six months, as the pandemic took precedent. Speaker Mitzi Johnson and Senator Ashe had also instructed committees to do what they could to prepare for a health emergency and a possible state shutdown. For the next four years, we would recycle and update legislation that committees began crafting during that week, protecting our health care system, running public meetings, conducting elections, and accessing government services.

On Friday, March 13, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency. Executive Order 01-20 limited visitor access to nursing homes and hospitals, restricted travel, prohibited large gatherings, and called out the National Guard for assistance. The Supreme Court would follow a few days later with Administrative Order 49, shutting down the Vermont Courts.

I remember this day clearly, but in slow motion. Like today, March 13, 2020 was my birthday. Today and that day was also the birthday of the Senator from Lamoille, Senator Westman. That morning he hosted a birthday breakfast for us at his house in Montpelier. The former Senator from Caledonia, Senator Kitchel, made us a coffee cake. As I left his house, Senator Westman gave me a hug, which I remembered for months as the last hug I received from a friend before hugging became dangerous and only elbow bumps were allowed. 

That afternoon we shut down the State House and said our good-byes. Sixteen senators would come back two weeks later, fully masked and socially distanced, to extend our time away. In some cases, we didn’t see each other in person for another two years.

I arrived home that evening to celebrate my birthday with my family, and as I remember the former Senator from Chittenden, Senator Pearson, saying, “All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around my family and never let them go.” The worry and fear were palpable.

I say all of this today because as eerie and anxious as that time was, it was also a time when this body and all three branches of government did hard things together. And we did it very well. 

The day after we shut down the State House, the Senate held its first remote caucus of the whole, by conference call, with the press and members of the public listening in. It was clunky at first, but effective. And soon, thanks to our incredible, award-winning tech staff and Senate Secretary’s office, we were running committee meetings and floor sessions via zoom.

While most other states left all decisions up to an executive with emergency powers, here in Vermont we worked together to pass legislation protecting Vermonters and our public institutions. We worked on health guidance for everything from farmer’s markets to childcare centers to polling places. 

We got online faster, reopened our schools sooner, executed mail-in voting successfully, and sustained fewer deaths than nearly any other state during that first year. And while, just like now, there was chaos at the federal level, in Vermont, there was teamwork and steady leadership from all three branches of government. We were a model for the country.

So much tragedy came as a result of the pandemic. So many people died, suffered long-term disabilities, or became chronically isolated. Many of us lost loved ones, missed out on special occasions or milestones, and had our lives turned upside-down. The problems we are trying to solve now, with our healthcare and education systems, have many roots in the rocky soil of the pandemic. 

It’s easy to forget difficult times. Human nature is to push tragedy aside and forge ahead without taking stock of what happened and all we should have learned. But, it’s important to remember collective tragedy and remember the brave people who stepped up to help others through it.  

So, on my birthday, I am reflecting on that time five years ago when so many people here, including our amazing staff, worked together to do hard things. And while disagreements would definitely come, during those early days and months of the pandemic, we were united across party lines and branches of government, and Vermont was safer for it.

Let’s remember that unity and fortitude, because we will certainly need it again soon.

Happy Birthday, Senator Westman and thank you.