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This story was updated at 7:02 p.m.
The Vermont Department of Health reported 20 new coronavirus cases Saturday, the highest single-day total to date.
The uptick came as seven new residents at the Burlington Health & Rehab skilled nursing facility tested positive for the virus, bringing the total at that facility to 12. There are a total of 90 patients at the Burlington facility. One resident who tested positive, a woman in her 80s, died on Thursday. Two are hospitalized.
No staff members have tested positive, according to department spokesperson Ben Truman.
The new positive tests bring the total number of identified cases in Vermont to 49, according to the Vermont Department of Health, more than double the number reported Thursday.
On Friday, Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced that he had asked the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention to investigate at the facility. Staff members and residents who have symptoms are being tested, Levine said.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger also said he had “deep concern” about the patients and workers at Burlington Health & Rehab.
“All of us at the Health Department are deeply concerned with the news of these additional positive cases” Levine said in a press release. “Unfortunately, this new coronavirus can be very serious, especially for vulnerable Vermonters, and we have seen long-term care facilities across the country struggle to contain the virus.”
Nine people in five counties also tested positive on Saturday. Three of those patients were hospitalized — two Franklin County men over the age of 80, and a woman in her 50s from Windham County, who was sent to Cheshire Medical Center in New Hampshire. The other patients are self-isolating at home.
The other patients include residents of Chittenden, Windsor and Addison counties.
The department could not provide details about the cases of four individuals whose positive test results came in late Friday afternoon.
In an interview on Saturday, Levine said all personnel at Burlington Health and Rehab must now go through an infrared temperature check before entering the facility. A dozen residents of Burlington Rehab have tested positive for COVID-19. One woman in her 80s died Thursday. Another individual has been hospitalized.
The state has not considered mandating this new procedure for all health care workers.
On Friday, a provider at Central Vermont Medical Center tested positive for COVID-19. The provider has been in self-isolation since experiencing symptoms, but previously interacted with patients and staff.
Researchers in the Netherlands started testing health care workers in hospitals last week and found that many workers “were mildly ill and infectious.”
