By Patrick Mcardle
THE RUTLAND HERALD
While there has been an increased number of COVID-19 cases during the last week, Dr. Patsy Kelso, of the Vermont Department of Health, said she wouldn’t call it a “surge” and said state officials aren’t recommending new precautions.
On Friday, 417 new COVID cases were reported to the state health department, according to their online COVID dashboard. There were 60 people hospitalized and eight being treated in an intensive-care unit. Three new deaths had been reported on Thursday.
The numbers posted on the dashboard during the week, reflect information recorded the previous day so the numbers posted Friday reflect data from Thursday.
On Tuesday, 327 new cases were reported with 52 hospitalizations and five patients in intensive care. One death had been reported. On Wednesday, 424 new cases were reported with 51 hospitalizations and six treated in intensive care. No deaths were reported Tuesday. On Thursday, 399 new cases were reported with 64 people in the hospital and eight patients in intensive care. There were four new deaths reported.
Vermont has reported almost 640 deaths due to COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.
“The numbers are ticking back up. Thankfully, they’re nowhere near what they were during the delta or the omicron surge, and I wouldn’t call what we’re seeing right now a surge. We are seeing an uptick in cases. It’s not entirely unexpected because the variants of omicron that are circulating now, BA.2 and sublineages of the BA.2 variant … each new variant seems to be a little bit more infectious even than the last so it spreads easily,” said Kelso, the state epidemiologist for infectious diseases at the Vermont Department of Health.
While state health officials are “very watchful,” Kelso said concerns were eased by the availability of effective treatments and vaccines.
“We’re seeing more cases but predominantly milder illness,” she said.
However, Kelso said even if fewer patients need hospitalization, some people will have a stronger case and need more care.
“But the vaccines do prevent the need for hospital treatment in the vast majority of cases and even for those who have milder illness but feel really crummy, and especially if they’re at risk for progressing to more severe illness, there are treatments that are available,” she said.
Officials at the health department are looking at the data on a daily basis to help them determine the best guidance for Vermonters but she pointed out that there is a little less reliance on the number of reported cases because home testing kits make it impossible to truly know how many people have COVID.
“We’re looking at other things too, like hospitalization rates and whether the health care systems (are) overwhelmed and the importance of kids being able to be in-person (for) education and all kinds of other things,” she said.
On Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. was “out of the pandemic phase” but clarified on Wednesday, that the country has “now decelerated and transitioned into more of a controlled phase.”
“By no means does that mean the pandemic is over,” he said.
Asked if the latest increase in Vermont cases reflected the speculation from some health care professionals that the public would have to learn to accept that COVID was not going to completely disappear, Kelso said COVID is “definitely not going to go away.”
Kelso added this didn’t mean the U.S. was still in a pandemic phase. She said there was no real demarcation or distinction between pandemic and endemic phases.
While Kelso said she was not comparing COVID to the flu or the common cold, she pointed out that every year, during the winter, there are more viral illnesses. Kelso said what COVID and the flu have in common is that they’re viruses that easily spread from person to person and “They’re never going to go away.”
Kelso said there could be multiple reasons that cases are increasing in Vermont. She said people are moving around within the state and beyond, more than they might have a year ago. The variants predominant in Vermont and the northeastern United States are more transmissible than the original COVID-19.
She said Vermont’s early success in the pandemic may be a factor as well. The state has a high vaccination rate and some of the masking and social distancing policies kept the transmission lower than it was in other areas so there might be lower “natural immunity” in Vermont than in other areas of the United States.
“It’s hard to know how much of a factor that is, but I think it might be one of the contributing factors,” she said.
The Vermont Health Department also maintains a vaccine dashboard, which showed on Friday that 88% of the state’s population, who are 5 and older, have received at least one vaccine shot and 82% of the same population are completely vaccinated.
Only 59% have gotten all recommended vaccinations, which would include boosters.
As summer nears and more people are expected to be going outside or taking vacations, Kelso said she doesn’t see a need for new or different precautions.
“What we’ve continued to say all along is, assess your own situation. Some people are at higher risk and they may choose to take additional precautions like wearing a mask. That’s perfectly reasonable and we support that,” she said.
patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com
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