By Patrick Mcardle
RUTLAND HERALD
Vermont set a new record for the number of cases of COVID identified in one day with 940 cases reported by the Vermont Department of Health on Wednesday.
The total of new cases, reported on the health department’s online COVID-19 dashboard, comes from the day before they are posted to the website so the numbers posted Wednesday reflect cases identified on Tuesday.
Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday published a chart showing about 265,430 new cases in the United States which CNN reported was a “new pandemic high.”
For Vermont, the number of new cases at 940 is more than twice the number of new cases, 416, reported on Tuesday. The new high is also more than 25% higher than the previous single day high for new cases of 740.
On Wednesday, Dr. Mark Levine, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, was unavailable, but during a weekly press conference hosted by members of Gov. Phil Scott’s administration, Levine said in prepared remarks that an increase in COVID cases was expected because of the omicron variant of the COVID virus and the holiday gatherings.
“However, as the case numbers increase, I suggest we not focus too much on those figures. Case number data are important. But what I, and every person on this stage, will be watching closely are the data and metrics of serious outcomes among people — specifically, hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.
Levine explained that Vermonters who are “fully protected,” by having been vaccinated and gotten a booster shot, will “generally have mild cold-like symptoms, or at worst, flu symptoms, and the illness is short-lived.”
“Like having the flu, it’s not fun — being sick never is, but full protection means you should escape the worst of it,” Levine added.
The health department’s online vaccine dashboard said on Wednesday what 86% of Vermonters have gotten at least one vaccination shot and 79% are fully vaccinated.
Levine said information on the number of deaths resulting from COVID and the number of hospitalizations would help health care providers in Vermont make plans to protect the capacity of the health care system in order to continue providing care whether for COVID or other medical needs.
Meg Oakes, a nurse leader and senior director for quality and safety at Rutland Regional Medical Center, said she noticed, when looking at the latest COVID numbers, that new cases seemed more evenly spread across the state than they had seemed to be in the last few weeks when many of the cases were reported in Rutland County.
The Wednesday numbers showed 61 of the new cases were from Rutland County and 25 from Washington County. Over the last two weeks, 683 cases were identified in Rutland County and 416 in Washington County. In Chittenden County, which had the highest numbers, 168 new cases were on the dashboard on Wednesday and 1,801 during the past two weeks.
Oakes said the increase in cases was a little sooner than could likely be attributed to gatherings on Christmas and Christmas Eve but pointed out that unlike Thanksgiving, which is largely confined to one day, the end of year holidays tend to be marked through the extended “holiday season.”
She said higher numbers may continue for the next 10 days or so although she said she hoped they wouldn’t be numbers as high as reported on Wednesday.
But Oakes added the surge in cases could be a useful reminder to people about the importance of being vaccinated and getting a booster shot or, if unvaccinated, to avoid gatherings.
“Really, my main concern is, it’s not even that a high number of people have a COVID infection today as much as it is, how many of them are going to need high-level hospital care,” she said.
Oakes reminded Vermonters to continue to take safety measures like wearing masks, practicing social distancing where appropriate and frequent hand-washing.
By email, Dr. Nejat Zeyneloglu, chief medical officer for Central Vermont Medical Center, which is part of the UVM Health Network, offered advice for being safe as COVID cases increase.
“CVMC is closely monitoring the number of COVID-19 cases, and we are continuing to do everything we can to meet the ever-changing needs of our region. If you haven’t been vaccinated or boosted yet, you’re putting yourself, your loved ones, friends, neighbors and health care workers at risk. Please get vaccinated and boosted. It’s the best protection we have to keep you out of the hospital,” he said.
patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com
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