Vermont reported 251 new Covid cases Friday, the highest ever one-day total and a significant rise over the daily numbers in the past week.
“This is a concerning number of new cases and should not be dismissed,” said Dr. Mark Levine, Department of Health commissioner.
“Our efforts to vaccinate Vermonters is a race against what the virus does best: move easily from person to person,” he said. “Throughout the country, including up and down the Eastern Seaboard, case numbers are up.”
Half of the cases announced in the past two weeks were in people under 30, which Levine attributed to multiple reasons. Young people being more mobile and social, warmer weather encouraging activity, and the spread of the variant, particularly on the University of Vermont’s college campus.
Vermont recently reopened restaurants and bars, loosening restrictions around the number of people who can sit at each table. Gov. Phil Scott said they haven’t been open long enough to affect the data.
He defended the reopening measures, pointing to data that shows hospitalizations in Vermont have remained mostly flat even as cases rise.
“Admittedly, the 251 caught me by surprise as well,” Scott said. “But in reflection, when you look at what our strategy is, we wanted to make sure that we prevented loss of life and to reduce the impact on our health system. That’s been our focus since Day One.”
It’s unclear exactly how many cases could be attributed to Covid variants that have been shown to be more transmissible than the original strain. The state sends a small percentage of samples of positive cases for sequencing, which has identified that four out of five UVM samples were the B117 variant.
“No one’s discovered a sort of a magic cure for the fact that variants are around, and we should accept the variant is just another aspect of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” he said.
Anne Sosin, a fellow at Dartmouth’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, questioned whether the variants were really to blame. “We should look to public health and policy decisions and not variants as a first explanation for increases in transmission,” she wrote in a message.
“Variants increase transmissibility, but don’t change the basic transmission dynamics of the virus,” she wrote. “Most young people with Covid-19 are occupationally exposed or are living in higher-risk settings. Congregate living and dining arrangements, and not simply noncompliance with rules, play an important and often underappreciated role in campus transmission.”
Lowered cases among the older population, Vermonters age 65 and above, is likely due to the higher rate of vaccinations in that age group. About a third of the population overall received at least one dose, including 86% among people 75 and older, 87% of people 70 to 74, and 70% of people 65 to 69.
Rutland, Chittenden County break records
Along with the statewide total, two counties broke records Friday for their one-day case total: Chittenden County with 102 cases and Rutland County with 41 cases.
Each has had its struggles to contain the virus at different points during the pandemic. Chittenden County’s previous total of 87 came in early December, attributed in part to a testing fluke that led the University of Vermont Medical Center to report many tests at once. It then rose again in early January but fell in February and early March.
Rutland County’s numbers rose in early February, with a previous record of 40. Officials at the time said it was unclear what could be causing the surge.
School cases rise
The state also reported 96 cases in schools while students were infectious this week, a higher number than has been reported in recent weeks.
Colchester High School reported the most cases, with 12 cases reported in a single week. Officials said they couldn’t confirm whether there had been an outbreak or instances of transmission in the school.
“I think we’re jumping to the conclusion that they spread within the school, and I’m not sure that’s the case in every situation. I think it’s actually coming from the outside in,” Scott said. “So it’s about the community, their families and they’re bringing it into the school.”
Vermont only reports K-12 school cases among students and staff if the person was infectious while spending time in person in school and therefore posed a risk to transmission.
Levine said he had confidence that school officials were taking appropriate action to respond to cases in their community.
“The schools are very quick to be on top of these as quickly as possible so that they can understand if there’s any staffing concerns that might arise, or if there are concerns about transmission within a certain setting,” he said.
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