Vermont reported 460 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, for a seven-day average of 394 cases per day.
That’s a steep decline from the seven-day average of 485 cases 10 days ago, but officials have cautioned that cases could rise again after Christmas and New Year’s. And, on Friday, Burlington officials confirmed that traces of the highly transmissible Omicron variant have been found in the city’s sewer system, though no cases have been reported yet.
Sixty people are in Vermont hospitals with the virus, including 19 in intensive care units, the same number as on Thursday.
The department disclosed three more deaths in its data. In total, 33 people have died so far in December, and 451 people have died since the beginning of the pandemic in Vermont.
New health department data also shows that the gap in outcomes between Vermont’s vaccinated and unvaccinated populations appears to be widening.
The department’s data summaries, released every two weeks, are the only regular report of post-vaccination infections, hospitalizations and deaths, commonly known as vaccine breakthroughs.
Over the latest two-week reporting period, the state reported 2,221 new breakthrough infections, compared to 4,056 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 76% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, some portion of breakthrough cases is to be expected.
Unvaccinated people were roughly 4.9 times more likely to contract Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people over the latest reporting period.
[Looking for data on breakthrough cases? See our reporting on the latest available statistics.]
That gap is even wider for people hospitalized with the coronavirus. The state reported 39 breakthrough hospitalizations compared with 92 among those not fully vaccinated. Comparing the hospitalization rates for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, unvaccinated Vermonters were roughly 6.6 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 the prior six weeks, people who were not fully vaccinated were 30 times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid than people who had received their booster dose of a vaccine.
While death numbers are small, they also show a significant gap based on vaccination status over the past two weeks. The state reported eight more deaths among vaccinated Vermonters compared to 26 among those not fully vaccinated.
The mortality rate among vaccinated and unvaccinated people has varied widely during the Delta surge, with some reporting periods showing more deaths among vaccinated people than unvaccinated. For the Delta surge as a whole, dating back to July, unvaccinated Vermonters were roughly 2.4 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than fully vaccinated Vermonters.
Get the latest statistics and live updates on our coronavirus page.
Sign up for our coronavirus email list.
Tell us your story or give feedback at coronavirus@vtdigger.org.
Support our nonprofit journalism with a donation.
