By Jim Sabataso
RUTLAND HERALD
As cases of COVID-19 rise across the country as consequence of the highly transmissible omicron variant, state officials said Tuesday they are working to get more rapid tests to Vermonters.
But as omicron surges and the Biden administration struggles to make good on its recent pledge to make 500 million at-home antigen tests available to Americans, Vermonters are facing empty shelves and long lines at test distribution sites around the state.
Gov. Phil Scott acknowledged the high demand at his weekly news conference Tuesday, stating, “We’re doing the best we can with what we have until the federal supply chain starts flowing.”
He said the majority of recent shipment of tests has been reserved for K-12 schools and long-term care facilities. Any excess, he said, is going to Vermonters as fast as the state can manage.
Michael Smith, Agency of Human Services secretary, reported that on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 the state distributed more than 25,000 rapid at-home antigen and LAMP test kits, either by appointment or at walk-in and drive-thru sites.
Smith said he expected the state to give out at least that many kits again this week at locations around the state, including eight Agency of Transportation sites.
Test distribution will begin again at 8 a.m. Wednesday and continue until all kits have been given out at the following Agency of Transportation sites around the state: 359 Bowen Road, Bennington; 5 Barnes Ave., Colchester; 870 U.S. Route 5, Dummerston; 61 Valley View, Mendon; 4611 U.S. Route 5, Newport; 680 Lower Newton Road, St. Albans; 1098 U.S. Route 5, St. Johnsbury; 223 Beswick Drive, White River Junction; and Springfield Fire Department (Dec. 29 only, starting at 9 a.m.) 77 Hartness Ave.
The tests are free and no registration is required. Tests will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a limit of two test kits per car or person walking in. Each kit contains two tests.
On Tuesday morning, Mendon’s AOT site gave out its entire allotment — more than 864 test kits — within 30 minutes of opening, according to Vermont Department of Health spokesperson Ben Truman. The site will have the same amount available Wednesday, he said.
Smith added that PCR testing, which requires an appointment, is still widely available. (Visit bit.ly/testing1229 to find out where to make an appointment to get tested around Vermont.)
Scott also announced on Tuesday a new plan to get more than 80,000 rapid test kits to families before K-12 schools reopen next week.
He said more details would be released later this week.
Expanding on Scott’s announcement, Education Secretary Dan French announced plans to evolve the state’s Test to Stay program when schools reopen next week in order to make antigen tests more broadly available.
Launched this fall, Test to Stay allows unvaccinated, asymptomatic students identified as close contacts to stay in school if they test negative for COVID-19 for seven consecutive days using a rapid antigen test.
While the program has helped to keep students in school, school districts around the state have struggled to manage it due to large numbers of close contacts and a lack of staff — in some cases, leading to school closures.
“Essentially, schools will become a distribution point of antigen tests for students and their families, not administrators of a testing program,” French said.
He acknowledged, however, that the change will result in a loss of data for positive cases reported within schools.
“We saw these data lose some of their currency with the delta variant and we expect omicron will further challenge the timeliness of these data,” he said.
French added that weekly in-school surveillance testing will continue but will transition from PCR tests to the faster and equally reliable LAMP tests by late January.
The state reported 201 COVID cases in K-12 schools during the past seven days as it headed into the holiday break for a total of 3,208 since the start of the school year.
Smith clarified that the antigen tests are not intended to be a requirement for students returning to school, nonetheless, he urged families to take advantage of them.
“Vermont is committed to keeping students in schools as much as possible,” he said.
On Tuesday, the state reported 416 new cases of COVID, with 55 hospitalizations, including 15 people in intensive care. Four new deaths brought the death toll to 465.
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