Updated at 5:58 p.m.
Private insurers are now required to reimburse Vermonters for at-home Covid-19 test kits, Gov. Phil Scott said at a press conference Tuesday.
The at-home test kits are antigen tests that use a self-administered nasal swab and return results within 15 minutes. Although they are slightly less accurate than the conventional PCR test, their high accuracy level, quick turnaround and ease of use have made them a commonly used tool in schools and health care settings.
Antigen tests have become increasingly available at pharmacies and local retailers, but demand for the tests has increased as well, causing complaints about a national shortage. President Joe Biden announced plans last week to begin reimbursing Americans for at-home tests in the coming weeks, but Scott’s reimbursement to Vermonters applies to tests from Dec. 1 onward.
Scott said he hopes to expand reimbursements to people without private insurance in the near future.Â
The governor’s office said in a Tuesday evening press release, “Although Vermont lacks authority to extend the emergency rule to self-insured plans, the State is encouraging those plans to voluntarily follow the rule in anticipation of new federal regulations recently announced by the Biden Administration.”
Mike Pieciak, head of the Department of Financial Regulation, said the ultimate goal was for Vermonters to be able to walk into pharmacies and get an at-home test for free.
For more details on how to use an antigen test and what to do if you test positive, check out VTDigger’s video on antigen testing.
Risk to unvaccinated Vermonters spikes
Almost two weeks since Thanksgiving and the holiday weekend after, the data is clear: Vermont is in a “true post-Thanksgiving surge,” said Mark Levine, commissioner of the Department of Health.
Cases are up 31% in the past 14 days, far outpacing the increase in cases following Thanksgiving 2020, Pieciak said. Vermont is now fifth-highest in the nation for its case rate.
That surge “is being driven by those who are not fully vaccinated,” he said.
Not fully vaccinated Vermonters are now 5.1 times more likely to get sick than fully vaccinated Vermonters, the highest gap in those rates since July. Cases among not fully vaccinated Vermonters have increased 95% in the past seven days.
Unvaccinated Vermonters are more than three-quarters of hospitalized Covid-19 patients and critical care patients, Pieciak said. The state’s hospitalization rate has risen recently, hitting a record of 90 people currently in the hospital with the virus Tuesday, including a record 31 people in intensive care.
Levine said his department has noticed a trend of unvaccinated Vermonters showing up in emergency rooms, severely ill with Covid-19, without getting tested.
“They are essentially first learning of their Covid-19 diagnosis as they are wheeled up to the ICU or general hospital bed,” he said.
He urged Vermonters to get vaccinated and to get their boosters, but “if you’re choosing and continue to choose to not get vaccinated, I asked you to at least prioritize getting tested for Covid-19,” Levine said.
Pieciak said the forecasts that cases will remain elevated or increase in the coming weeks. Scott said getting through the holidays is “going to be, probably, our most difficult time. … Small gatherings, family gatherings are going to impact the rate of transmission.”
[Looking for data on breakthrough cases? See our reporting on the latest available statistics.]
Levine said Vermonters should keep gatherings small and wear masks in public spaces. More tips for protecting yourself at holiday gatherings are available on the Department of Health website.
Officials said the booster dose of the vaccine, now open to all adult Vermonters, and the vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old were key components of fighting the Covid-19 surge.
Roughly 84% of eligible Vermonters have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, including 47% of children 5 to 11, the Department of Health reported. Seventy-six percent of eligible Vermonters 5 and older have completed vaccination, and 42% of the eligible booster population — adult Vermonters — have received a booster dose.
Still, Secretary of Education Dan French said child vaccinations are not likely to change the situation in schools until January at the earliest. K-12 schools are still reporting hundreds of cases each week, according to health department data.
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