Updated at 5:01 p.m.
The Vermont Department of Health reported 314 Covid cases in a single day Thursday, the highest daily total the state has reported since the start of the pandemic.
In a press release Thursday morning, the department suggested that the record number could be the result of information technology problems — and not due to a true spike in Covid cases.
“At this time, we believe the issue has been resolved,” the statement read. “We are therefore investigating whether or not the IT glitch and subsequent fix may have impacted today's case count, as well as our previous days' case counts.”
The department indicated it was possible, but not confirmed, that case counts could be artificially inflated in the coming days as older cases are processed.
Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith said later Thursday in an interview with VTDigger that the state was still trying to track down exactly when the additional cases were detected. The computer glitch appears to have started on Sept. 9, he said, suggesting that they were relatively recent.
“Not all labs had a delay,” he said. “So that's what makes it more complicated is that only a portion of the last [batch] had a delay on them. And so we're just trying to figure out what the mix is.”
Smith said the state began receiving complaints about long waits for testing results on Sept. 14, which prompted the department to look into the issue. Officials believe it originated with an IT vendor that works with the Broad Institute, a Massachusetts-based laboratory that contracts with the state and provides the bulk of its testing.
The lab had been turning out results at its typical speed, Smith said, but its IT system had a problem connecting to Vermont’s.
The state's previous daily record, set on March 31, was 266 cases. The latest data also set a new record for the state’s highest seven-day average: 190 cases per day over the past seven days.
At a press conference on Tuesday, state officials said that cases appeared to be declining but warned that it was too early to identify a trend.
Smith said that once the state has a clearer picture of when the delayed cases actually were detected, the department would provide the data to Financial Regulation Commissioner Mike Pieciak to determine how it could affect the state’s pandemic modeling.
But even after the state sorts out the problem, Smith said, it would probably leave Thursday’s total as it is, rather than revise the data.
Vermont does retroactively add cases when testing delays cause a one-day lag in reporting. The department on Thursday revised case numbers for Wednesday. Those rose from an initial 136 cases to 159 cases.
The frequent revisions are not a result of this particular IT glitch, Smith said. Instead, they are due to general lab turnaround delays that have led to results coming in later than the state’s 11 a.m. daily update. Smith said more staff had been hired to tackle the problem.
Smith said Vermonters had also complained about wait times for walk-in tests, leading him at a recent press conference to call on people getting tested to book an appointment. Vermont paused its plans this summer to create 14 permanent testing and vaccination sites and instead opted to keep its 33 testing centers and 21 pharmacy providers open.
The state also added two new Covid deaths to its count — one of a person between 70 and 79 years old, and another over the age of 80. In total, 294 people have died so far in the pandemic, according to the Department of Health, including 16 so far in September.
Forty-two people are currently hospitalized with the virus, up from 39 yesterday. Ten of those people are in the ICU.
Fourth school closure reported
Derby Elementary School announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that it planned to go remote through next Friday after a review of its most recent cases.
It did not report the number of cases it’s had so far, but the Department of Health reported Wednesday that it has had at least four cases in the past week, and six in total.
This is the fourth school closure that VTDigger has learned of since the start of the school year. The three others were in central Vermont, while Derby is in Orleans County. No official state source tracks schools that have closed or gone remote.
