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Two people affiliated with a senior living facility Essex have died, in what officials said Monday was a second outbreak in Vermont associated with facilities for the elderly.
Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said the two deaths are related to COVID-19 spread at the 104-unit Pinecrest at Essex apartment complex.
WCAX first confirmed the coronavirus outbreak at the facility.
At the Scott administration’s Monday press conference, Levine announced 21 new individuals have tested positive for the virus in Vermont, bringing the total caseload to 256, along with 12 deaths (there have been no new deaths since Sunday).
Levine announced that a resident at Pinecrest and the significant other of an employee at the facility have both died in recent days. Levine said one other resident has tested positive and 10 more are being monitored after “intense exposure.” Everyone who has been identified at Pinecrest as a possible contact is self-isolating, he said.
Levine said residents of the facility are 55 or older.
“So needless to say, there are some people that are in the greater category, and some more frail and may have chronic illnesses as you would expect,” Levine said.
Responding to a question from a reporter, Levine said health officials believe a staff member at Pinecrest may have continued working after contracting the virus.
“We believe previously there was a staff member who was unaware of their status who may have been infectious for a couple of days,” Levine said.
There is no plan for wide-scale testing of every individual at the facility, Levine added.
“Testing will occur for those who become symptomatic in consultation with their health care providers,” he said. “Everyone who has been identified as a significant contact is, by definition, doing what they would do if they were a positive test, which is self-isolating.”
Levine added that the health department has been working for the past five to six days to trace the contacts made by the first person who brought the disease into the facility and made sure those residents “are connected with their health care providers if they become symptomatic, and make sure they are all isolating as is appropriate.”
The facility has rooms where residents get mail, do laundry and engage in social activities. “We’ve advised people not to congregate in those areas of the building,” he added.
Testing and preparedness
Levine said the state has “many irons in the fire” in its attempts to stand up more efficient testing systems that can return results within 24 hours.
A number of hospitals have set up drive-through testing sites in recent days, and the Department of Health and Vermont National Guard opened a new testing site at Putney’s Landmark College on Sunday.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling said six truckloads of personal protective equipment for health care workers were dropped off in Vermont over the weekend. He said the state’s warehouse for the equipment ran out of space, requiring the National Guard to set up an overflow warehouse.
The Scott administration announced last week that a “friend” in the federal government helped Vermont secure additional testing supplies that would allow the health system to pursue a more aggressive mitigation strategy. (Scott’s chief of staff, Jason Gibbs, said Friday the friend was someone working in homeland security, but he declined to name the individual.)
Patients with “mild or moderate” symptoms can now coordinate with their doctor to get tested, Levine said.
There were 19 inpatients being treated for the coronavirus in Vermont hospitals as of Sunday, according to Human Services Secretary Mike Smith, who said the Scott administration would begin reporting daily hospitalization figures this week.
Vermont has some 530 hospital beds statewide, and the exponential increase in cases in nearby New York has officials worried that the medical system here could quickly become overwhelmed.
Scott was asked repeatedly Monday when he expected coronavirus cases in Vermont to peak. He said he didn’t want to “get ahead” of the state’s modeling. That information will be available this week, he said.
