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As the Covid-19 outbreak in Winooski continues to spread, state and city officials are facing questions about whether they have done enough to educate the city’s New American residents about the virus.
“We feel that we are not supported enough,” Bidur Dahal, a Winooski resident who works at the University of Vermont and as an interpreter for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont. “We feel that the state hasn’t been able to do much, or at least they could have done more.”
Dahal and other advocates and interpreters expressed frustration at a press conference Friday that non-English speakers in Vermont’s most diverse city don’t have adequate information about the virus. They don’t know why they have to self-quarantine for two weeks, and a task force created to address the issue has inadequate funding, they said.
As of Friday morning, 34 people in Winooski had tested positive for the virus, the largest single day increase in cases since April 9. The state Department of Health has tested 436 residents since the beginning of the week, and Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced that the state would keep the pop-up testing site open through the end of next week.
Gov. Phil Scott told reporters that the virus had spread within “one social network of families.” Because it had been confined to a social circle, “we expect to contain it from spreading more broadly across the city or state,” Scott said. One case in Burlington was related to the outbreak, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said at a separate event Friday afternoon.
Winooski, which has a population of 7,300 is the most densely populated city in all of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, said city manager Jessie Baker. It’s also diverse; about 18% of its population is foreign-born. Data has shown that Covid-19 has disproportionately affected people of color and minority communities.
Advocates said the cases stemmed, in part, from a lack of resources.
“One of the reasons why people are so infected may be because they don’t have the information,” said Virginie Diambou, a doctor who works at the University of Vermont and has helped with the translation efforts. “They don’t speak English, they speak their own languages, and they are being told there are no funds to be able to hire interpreters or translators.”
Diambou sits on the Vermont Multilingual Coronavirus Communication Task Force, a group convened to translate informational materials into at least 10 languages. Interpreters from the Association of Africans Living in Vermont had also put out messages via WhatsApp and by email, interpreter Baudouin Mulolo told VTDigger.
The city of Winooski had contributed $1,000 to the taskforce, according to Baker, and would be willing to pay more. The Department of Health had provided a $66,000 grant, according to spokesperson Ben Truman. The city of Burlington also helped fund the group.
But in mid-May, members told Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., that the taskforce had run out of cash. “We have no more money at all,” said Alison Segar, a task force member and social worker with the Howard Center, at the time. She called it an “equity issue.”
The lack of communication has created confusion for some in the community, particularly around why they need to self-quarantine, said Symphorien Sikyala, an AALV interpreter. “People say, ‘We need to pay rent, we need to pay utility bills, and more than that, we need to pay for food,’” he said at the press conference. “People are suffering. The state needs to take some steps to solve the problem.”
Some groups don’t have materials in their language, he added.
State officials have thus far refused to identify any specifics of the people who have tested positive in Winooski, including the race or demographics of those affected. At the press conference at City Hall Friday, state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso said the outbreak was “fairly well spread out” across the city and had affected “multiple households.”
In response to questioning, Department of Health officials and city leaders vacillated between defending their approach, and vowing to improve their response.
“The Winooski effort really illustrates the strength of public health and the strength of communities in Vermont,” Levine said. The department had “done a wonderful job with empathy,” he added.
Baker took a different tone. “We certainly can do better,” she acknowledged. Later in the day, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith also vowed to “make sure that we step up” and provide the information that’s needed.
In the meantime, Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott called on residents to get tested and do what they can to prevent the spread of the disease. “This is a call to action to wear your masks when out in public, social distance, keep washing your hands and do what you can to keep each other safe,” she said.
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Correction: The Winooski outbreak did not originate in Burlington, as was previously stated in this story. There is a Burlington case associated with the outbreak.
