At a press conference Friday, Dr. Mark Levine, head of the Department of Health, noted that cases nationwide have remained mostly steady in the past few weeks, neither going up nor down.
There are two possible reasons that cases are not declining, he said: The loosening of social distancing restrictions in many states, and the rise of multiple variants that are more transmissible than the original virus.
Although it’s hard to say whether Vermont’s case numbers are due to either factor, the state has also experienced relatively flat numbers, particularly in towns where Covid cases have surged recently.
Franklin County, which began reporting rising case numbers in February, has several communities that are rated in the highest category for case numbers in the state. Franklin, Enosburgh, Fairfield and St. Albans City, plus Belvidere in neighboring Lamoille County, are all in the highest category of cases compared to their population, according to health department data.
Franklin and Chittenden have reported variant case strains, although Levine has said it’s impossible to estimate how many cases in those areas are due to the variant, because so few cases are tested to see which Covid strain they are.
In nearby Orleans County, Jay and Newport City are also in that highest category. Newport has remained in the top spot for multiple weeks partly due to a coronavirus outbreak at Northern State Correctional Facility.
Jay, a ski town, joins several other ski towns placed in the highest category of case rates. Burke, Killington and Stratton all reported high case rates compared to their population — although it should be noted that the underlying population numbers probably don’t take seasonal homeowners into account.
Along with those communities, Guildhall, Ferrisburgh, Hancock and West Haven were also in the highest category of case rates.
See the chart above to compare how case numbers are rising in different towns, or check out the state health department map to see how cases compare to a community’s population.
