A private party in Killington has sparked an outbreak of 14 Covid-19 cases.
About 40 people, mostly from Rutland County, attended the Aug. 19 event at Summit Lodge in Killington, according to the Vermont Department of Health.
Positive test results started to trickle in from event guests last week, and the Department of Health identified the first signs of community spread, according to spokesperson Ben Truman. Contact tracers for the department have begun contacting all of the party’s attendees.
Truman didn’t know the specifics of the event, such as whether anyone was from out of state. Summit Lodge, a hotel and event space, had not violated Gov. Phil Scott’s executive order on state limits on gathering size, he added.Â
More cases and details of the event would likely emerge as test results are reported in the coming days. “When it’s community spread we want to make sure the word is out as fast as possible,” Truman said.
Vermont has had only a handful of coronavirus outbreaks since the state flattened the curve this spring. In June, 117 people in Winooski and Burlington tested positive for the virus, and Fair Haven reported a cluster of cases later that same month after 12 people at a work site came down with Covid. A UVM basketball game was likely a major spreading event early in the pandemic.
Earlier this month, 30 people who attended a wedding in Maine have tested positive for Covid-19 and have spread the infection to almost 100 more people. One person died, and cases recently spread to a rehabilitation center and a jail.
Health Commissioner Mark Levine urged all attendees at the Killington party, and their close contacts, to monitor themselves for symptoms.
The state will open a pop-up testing site in Rutland City on Sept. 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration is required. The department said it will offer other testing sites as needed.
Summit Lodge, a hotel and event space, has cooperated with the department’s investigation, Levine said.
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