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Some 650 Manchester area residents swarmed two Covid-19 pop-up test sites Wednesday as the region awaits state verification of a suspected coronavirus outbreak.
“We anticipate that confirmed positive cases will increase substantially over the next several days,” said Trey Dobson, chief medical officer of Bennington’s Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, which operates an outpost in Manchester.
The hospital set up dozens of state-approved test kits outside the nearby Riley Rink, only to face a nearly half-mile line of 100 vehicles — some holding entire families — upon the site’s 9 a.m. opening.
“It’s a record for us,” hospital spokesman Ray Smith said. “Usually we test around 400 in a week’s time. Here we’re approaching 400 in a single day.”
The Manchester site and a Vermont Health Department location that drew 250 people to Londonderry’s Flood Brook School came after the state acknowledged about 60 of what it considers to be “presumptive positive” diagnoses in the last several days.
“The cases are regional in nature and not isolated to one community,” the Town of Manchester added in a Facebook post. “More than half of the cases reported are from mountain communities along Route 11 and Route 30.”
Manchester Medical Center, a private urgent care practice whose doctors include town health officer Thomas Sterling, started to see a potential problem over the weekend. By Tuesday it reported about 40 positive antigen rapid-detection test results. On Wednesday it added another 21.
“This outbreak is a serious situation that requires prompt action,” Dobson said at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
The state, however, doesn’t include antigen rapid-detection tests in its official counts but instead requires the more time-consuming polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests administered Wednesday at the two pop-up sites.
“We are working hard to ensure the most accurate test is available for patients,” Dobson said. “We need all of the information we can get and everyone’s cooperation to limit the impact.”
Although many area businesses are open this week, several others — from the Northshire Bookstore to the Winhall Market adjacent to the access road for the Stratton Mountain Resort — have returned to curbside service only.
In Londonderry, town clerk and state Rep. Kelly Pajala usually can cast light on local matters large and small. But after receiving news that a municipal office visitor recently tested positive for Covid-19, she’s as in the dark about the suspected outbreak as everyone else.
“We really don’t know anything yet,” Pajala said after closing her quarters as a precautionary measure. “Now that a red flag has been raised, everyone has to take a deep breath and wait for more information.”
Although social media speculation is rampant, the state isn’t expected to report anything official until Friday at the earliest as it awaits test results and its next Covid-19 press conference.
“I really can’t give you what you’re asking for until I have these cases in front of me and can be very definitive about who’s involved and where they live,” Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine told reporters Tuesday at Gov. Phil Scott’s most recent media briefing.
The Manchester test site at Riley Rink will remain open for free drive-up visits from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily until volume subsides, at which time it will move to the nearby SVMC Northshire Campus.
Doctors are asking anyone who believes they’ve been exposed to the virus to stay home and monitor their health for 14 days, and everyone else to wear a mask in public, stay at least 6 feet apart, wash and sanitize their hands often and limit travel.
“Easing up on these very important aspects of controlling the virus puts everyone at risk,” Dobson said. “The most important way to care for our communities right now is by behaving in ways that reduce the spread.”
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