press conference showing how cases are rising in Burlington and Winooski
compared to the rest of Chittenden County.
Covid-19 cases are slowly rising in Burlington and Winooski, but the number of tests is falling, which has prompted city officials to urge residents to use the walk-in testing that both cities offer.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said considerably more people were tested in December and January, but figures have dropped in February. At the same time, cases are slowly climbing for both Burlington and Winooski, largely driven by increasing cases at the University of Vermont.
“We don’t mean to be alarmist about this,” Weinberger said. “There are some explanations for this. But the seven-day average of new cases is creeping back up.”
Burlington’s seven-day average for cases is currently at 35. Today, 27 new cases were recorded in the city — which account for all new Chittenden County cases as of Wednesday afternoon. Vermont recorded 78 new cases in all on Wednesday, and its seven-day day average for positive test results is 1.5%.
State Health Commissioner Mark Levine, speaking at the press conference, echoed Weinberger’s caution. He said Burlington conducted about 12,000 tests in December and about 15,000 tests in January, but fewer than 9,000 so far in February.
“Now, my hope would be that’s because so many of you feel well and aren’t feeling ill and don’t feel the need to get tested,” Levine said. “There are plenty of reasons to get tested besides not feeling well. And in fact, this virus is notorious for not causing symptoms in everybody that it infects.” And anyone who’s infected, symptoms or not, can spread the virus.
Weinberger said that looking ahead, only about 1,000 people have made appointments for tests through the first week of March, leaving more than 6,000 open testing appointments available.
“And so today, we really want to call on residents of Burlington and Winooski to consider getting tested for Covid-19,” Weinberger said, “particularly if you have attended any small gatherings or traveled or have some other reason to think that perhaps you might have been exposed.”
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott, also at the press conference, urged more testing.
“We know from our last outbreak that the vast majority of folks that were positive did not have symptoms, did not know that they were ill,” Lott said. “So testing is really important.”
She said that because of particular residents’ living or working conditions, people may still be in regular contact with others and should be continuously tested to deter possible transmission.
Residents can schedule testing appointments at various locations through the Vermont Department of Health website. Walk-in appointments are offered in Burlington at the City Arts Studio at 405 Pine St. and in Winooski at the O’Brien Community Center at 32 Malletts Bay Ave. Both locations offer interpretation services.
Weinberger said he doesn’t know why testing has dropped off. He said the city had an uptick in testing this fall and the beginning of winter when people were gathering and traveling for the holidays. He said the state’s recent drop in Covid-19 cases may have made some residents think that testing wasn’t necessary.
Weinberger said the rising cases at UVM are, in part, driving the overall uptick in Burlington. He said he’s confident the university will execute the contact tracing and isolation tactics to contain cases, as it did during the fall.
As of this week, 144 students and staff have tested positive for the virus this semester. Last semester, just 99 students and staff had tested positive.
Weinberger said there’s no “magic number or threshold” of cases that would prompt the city to take further action. He said Burlington officials are in consistent communication with UVM about case counts.
Levine said the state continues to send Covid-19 positive test results to a Massachusetts public health lab, looking for the more contagious variant of the virus, known as B.1.1.7, that was detected in Burlington’s wastewater systems about two weeks ago.
Levine said the winter storm that hit the Northeast last week kept one of the most recent test batches from making it to the Massachusetts lab.