January 2022 was the second-deadliest month of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Vermont Department of Health.
The health department reported 64 people died of Covid in January 2022, slightly more than the 62 deaths reported for December 2021.
December 2020 remains the deadliest month of the pandemic with 71 fatalities, many of which were connected to outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
Omicron is generally considered less severe than previous strains of the Covid-19 virus, and the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation reported Tuesday that Covid fatality rates had dropped from 0.9% in October to about 0.4% in January.
But even so, Vermont reported record-high case counts and hospitalizations in January. Vermont hospitals had more than 100 Covid patients for about two weeks, reaching a peak of 122 Covid patients on Jan. 19.
As of Wednesday, 88 people with the virus were in Vermont hospitals, the health department reported. That includes 23 patients in intensive care, in line with recent numbers.
[Looking for data on breakthrough cases? See our reporting on the latest available statistics.]
The health department also said 677 more people tested positive for the virus, leading to a seven-day average of 688 new infections per day. At a press conference Tuesday, Vermont officials predicted that case counts would continue to decline in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday, the health department also released its latest week of data on coronavirus cases among children. Children under 18 continue to report higher infection rates than the adult population, although that rate has declined in recent weeks as overall cases have declined.
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