Vermont’s health commissioner announced Friday that the state would relax its requirements for coronavirus testing to more quickly isolate patients who test positive.
Health Commissioner Mark Levine said only patients showing symptoms will be eligible for tests, but that patients showing mild or moderate symptoms “will have more opportunity to be tested now.”
Levine stressed that people will still need to coordinate with their physicians, who must order the tests. “You cannot just show up at a testing facility or a drive-thru,” he said at the Scott administration’s press conference on Friday.
The commissioner said the state is also increasing its procurement efforts to restock testing supplies as current resources will now be used up more quickly.
“While it’s true that an enhanced testing protocol will draw on our supplies much more rapidly,” he said, “I believe the benefit of more earlier testing significantly outweighs slowing the pace of tests later.”
Levine said Vermont had recently procured new testing and collection supplies making the change in policy possible.
“I won’t deny that there was a little bit of luck involved in how we got some of the extraction kits that we needed,” he said. “We have people in high places that actually have some connection to Vermont and actually have some understanding of what Vermont is going through.”
Levine said the Department of Health laid out a strategy about two weeks ago for increased testing to get a handle on the spread of coronavirus in Vermont.
“But we didn’t have the capacity to do that on a larger scale as we wanted to,” he said. “And that’s why the recent procurement of more both collections and testing supplies has made that more of a reality for us and it’s much more feasible for us to do.”
Vermont is above only Rhode Island among New England states in terms of total testing, according to public health data compiled by Vox.
While Vermont has conducted fewer total tests than its neighbor New Hampshire, it has a higher testing rate compared to its population. Its rate is slightly lower than Massachusetts, which currently has a far-reaching epidemic, and far lower than New York, which has been suffering from the largest outbreak in the U.S. to date.
Levine had previously said that Vermont was able to test everyone who fit the more limited criteria for coronavirus testing. He said on Friday that a more aggressive approach would help “flatten the curve,” which currently shows an exponential increase in cases in Vermont.
“The experience and other countries who have successfully flattened the curve show that early and broad testing is a proven strategy to slow transmission of this virus,” he said, “and Vermont is still early enough on the curve that the strategy may be effective.”
Public health officials across the country have said it may be too late for testing to help rein in the coronavirus, as “contact tracing” of potentially infected individuals has become impossible given the volume of infections.
Because people can carry the virus for days without showing symptoms, and in some cases are entirely asymptomatic, the current count of confirmed cases is likely far lower than the actual number of infections in Vermont.
Drug and alcohol treatment resources
Vermont has established a new call service and website to help people access drug and alcohol treatment recovery services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The website is https://vthelplink.org and callers can dial 802-565-LINK (5465) to access services. The call center is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.
The service is a “new single source clearing house” for people to get free, confidential and personalized information, including referrals to substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery services, according to a release Friday from the state Department of Health.
“It features a call center staffed by clinicians where callers can get information with resources and educational materials for themselves, family and friends,” Levine said at the Friday morning press conference.
“These are more than simply difficult times,” Levine added in a statement announcing the service, “and we have no more important a mission than to do everything we can to create an infrastructure that bridges the challenges we face during this pandemic.”
Many drug treatment providers and recovery centers say they are still providing services around the state, moving many of those services to over the phone or through video conferencing.
