A glimpse at how a rural Vt. town responded to COVID

ORWELL | The town of Orwell, Vermont, has fared surprisingly well during the COVID pandemic. But like every community, there have been ups and downs. Now with an official upbeat prognosis for the rural town, townspeople should be celebrated for their hard work. Orwell may be the embodiment of the much-ballyhooed local catchphrase, "brave little town." Local residents, health officials, town officials, fire-rescue-town personnel, performed "above and beyond" along with the community's emergency response team, Orwell Emergency Management. With a 2010 census population of 1,250, the small Addison County community owes a debt of gratitude to its first responders as well as to its four-person emergency management team. The team consists of Sandy Korda, director, Robert Arnold, deputy director, Alex Kansky, logistics officer, and Jess Krol, shelter coordinator. But to be fair, many townspeople on all levels were involved, in some way, in helping keep a lid on the coronavirus locally. The Orwell Emergency Management team recently submitted its 2020 report to the town's selectboard. The public report provides a glimpse into how one rural Vermont community responded to crisis during the pandemic's first year. Local response teams adapted quickly as a way to easily communicate safety guidance. Among the various tech tools, they used online resources, such as Facebook and smartphone applications. In early March 2020, statewide lockdowns and stay-at-home orders attempted to isolate the virus, but not before a half-dozen Orwellians took ill, some seriously, according to the Orwell Emergency Management report. "Sadly, we lost one of our town's own by mid-April," according to the report. "On March 18, within hours of Governor Scott's declaration of a State of Emergency, Tom Audet, Orwell Town Selectboard chairman, instructed Orwell Emergency Management personnel to help spread the health directives and daily briefings that impacted our community. To that effort, we set-up signs in front of the Orwell Town Clerk's office with two quick responses, or 'QR' codes - that are readable by a smartphone's camera app. One code takes you to the official Orwell Emergency Management's Facebook page that addresses strictly emergent issues. The other goes to the Orwell Community Network's group page - where people post things of local interest, along with updates on all-things-COVID, from what to do with kids on 'coronavirus break', to meal prepping/cooking/and drop-off, to online streaming of yoga, exercise, and dance classes; to working at home; to grocery shopping and medication pick-up and delivery; to local barter exchange; babysitting, childcare, and eldercare; and welfare check-ins of the homebound." Keeping the little community knitted together was successfully accomplished by employing modern technology as well as plain old-fashioned Vermont neighborliness. Town residents helped with placing posters around town inviting neighbors to check out services available and assistance where needed. "As the lockdown shuttered many in town, a community call tree was established, with volunteer road wardens assigned portions of their neighborhood to do regular check-ins," the team noted. A group of homegrown volunteers picked-up and delivered medications, groceries, and hot meals, too. The emergency management team and other volunteers organized local, professional culinary staff, food suppliers, and a secure food prep location, "ready to prepare meals and deliver same, if necessary." Free distribution of locally made face masks also was part of the volunteer effort. Several townspeople helped make hundreds of clear vinyl face shields. These shields were then given to rescue squads, fire departments, nursing homes, hospitals, supermarkets, restaurants, and fast-food-service station personnel all around Addison and Rutland counties. When several local families and individuals were reported going without food, Orwell Emergency Management, with help from other locals, built and installed four Orwell Community Share Sheds. These little sheds resemble those Little Free Library boxes you see on front yards around Vermont. Of course, there's more to the Orwell story, however, time, space, and the modesty of some participants involved limit reporting on how community members responded positively to the first major health crisis in the nation since the 1918 flu outbreak. You are likely familiar with the old African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child". Now, perhaps, is the moment to amend it, at least temporarily, to acknowledge Orwell and Vermont communities just like it: "It takes a village to fight a pandemic."

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A glimpse at how a rural Vt. town responded to COVID

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