A dozen new cases of coronavirus have been linked to a youth and adult hockey league in the Montpelier area, state officials announced Tuesday.
In addition, they report that five schools have also reported positive cases in the last several days.
The 12 cases were connected to a youth and adult hockey league that both use the rink at the Central Vermont Memorial Civic Center in Montpelier, though not at the same time. Health Commissioner Mark Levine said contact tracing was underway for the hockey cases.
The five cases in schools included South Burlington, Williston, Windsor and Manchester, Levine said. Essex Westford School District also announced a case at Essex Elementary School.
Levine said there have still been no instances of transmission of the virus in schools.
“School cases are associated with people getting the virus in the community, outside of school,” he said.
It’s unclear how many cases there have been in schools in total since the start of the year. The latest Department of Health data reports six cases in schools, but it only includes cases as of Oct. 9 and does not include several cases from over the weekend.
Levine said the hockey case total was “preliminary,” but that there were about twice the number of adult cases as youth cases. He did not know offhand how many teams were affected.
Officials are not sure if cases are connected to the rink specifically or to practices associated with the sport, such as carpooling and team gathering, Levine said. The health department is assembling team rosters and scheduling to create a timeline.
He said adult team members should get tested. They are not yet recommending testing for the community at large.
The young people who tested positive attend schools that use the pod structure, making it easier to do contact tracing, he said.
The health commissioner did not think the cases would change the coming winter sports guidelines for schools. Winter sports needs a broader look rather than a focus on just one case, he said.
Officials at the ice rink did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Outside of the press conference, another case was reported today at Northwestern Medical Center, according to a statement from the hospital.
The statement said the individual, a member of the Emergency Department Care Team, was asymptomatic and wore PPE while in the facility. Contact tracing is underway.
Cases in Vermont, Northeast and beyond
Cases across the Northeast continued to trend upward this week, a worrying sign even as Vermont remains relatively low compared to its neighbors, said Mike Pieciak, head of the Department of Financial Regulation.
Pieciak, who presented the state’s weekly model, said Vermont’s case count this week of 58 was lower than the previous week of 72, when 27 cases were reported at a Shoreham orchard. However, the total numbers were higher than the average during the summer.
Nearby, cases in other parts of New England, Quebec and New York rose 3% in the previous week. The number of people able to come into the state without quarantining once again went down, as more counties moved to the “yellow” or “red” level on the state’s travel map.
Levine urged Vermonters, particularly young people, to consider getting vaccinated for the flu in preparation for the winter. More Vermonters are getting vaccinated, data show, but young people are still behind in getting their vaccinations.
“By keeping flu out of the picture, we can avoid what I’ve termed a ‘twindemic,’ which we don’t want to see,” he said.
This story was updated at 1:25 pm Tuesday.
