The Vermont Department of Health reported 482 new Covid-19 cases and two more deaths Friday.
Hospitalizations also remain elevated: As of Friday, 81 people were hospitalized for Covid, with 22 in intensive care.
Vermont’s seven-day average test positivity rate was 5.1%.
In recent days, the state has broken pandemic records for daily cases, hospitalizations, intensive care patients and test positivity. But longer-range data shows that indicators of severe outcomes have been elevated for several months since the Delta variant began spreading in July.
September, October and November were the worst months of the pandemic so far for hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19, according to the health department’s latest two-week data summary. (Due to a reduction in contact tracing, the department scaled back this report in November to include only statistics on cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccine breakthrough.)
Over the past three months, Vermont has reported the highest number of hospitalizations during the pandemic, with the highest monthly total, 214, reported in November.
December 2020 remains the state’s deadliest month of the pandemic so far with 71 deaths, but the past three months have all had the next-highest monthly counts. Collectively, September, October and November 2021 had more deaths than the worst three-month period last winter.
The November total of 38 deaths is subject to increase, as the department routinely reports deaths retroactively.
The health department data summary is also the only regular report of post-vaccination infections, hospitalizations and deaths, commonly known as vaccine breakthroughs. The data shows that unvaccinated Vermonters are still far more likely than vaccinated Vermonters to get infected or hospitalized with Covid-19.
Over the two-week reporting period, the state reported 1,677 new breakthrough infections, compared to 3,082 infections among those not fully vaccinated.
Experts stress that breakthrough data should be analyzed by the rates of infection among the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. In Vermont, where 73% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, some portion of breakthrough cases is to be expected.
Unvaccinated people were roughly 4.4 times more likely to contract Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people over the latest reporting period. That ratio has remained mostly level since the Delta variant became dominant in July.
Vaccines provided greater protection against hospitalizations over the two-week period. The state reported 37 breakthrough hospitalizations compared to 73 among those not fully vaccinated. Comparing the hospitalization rates for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, unvaccinated Vermonters were roughly 4.8 times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid.
The state Department of Financial Regulation released data Tuesday that showed an even more pronounced effect among Vermont adults who had received their booster dose of a vaccine. In November, six people who had received their boosters were hospitalized, compared to 81 unvaccinated people — a 13.5-fold difference.
Unvaccinated people also made up 81% of intensive care hospitalizations in the previous seven days, according to the Tuesday DFR report.
Deaths, however, have continued to occur in older Vermonters regardless of vaccination status.
The state reported 10 more deaths among vaccinated Vermonters compared to four among those not fully vaccinated. All of those deaths were among people 60 and older. Trends during the Delta wave, in Vermont and nationally, have indicated that age remains a critical factor in mortality risk despite the protections offered by vaccines.
Experts have cautioned against drawing conclusions from Vermont’s fatality data, given that the numbers are small.
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