The Vermont Department of Health reported that 66 people were hospitalized for Covid-19 as of Monday — the lowest number of patients since Jan. 2, when the Omicron variant began to cause a surge in hospital stays.
But the state also reported eight more deaths related to Covid, putting February on track to rival January in Vermont’s pandemic death toll.
Although the number of people hospitalized varies from day to day, seven-day trends also indicate that hospitalizations have fallen from their peak of over 100 in mid-January.
The number of patients in intensive care also fell, to 15 ICU patients as of Monday. There were 28 ICU patients at the height of the Omicron surge.
The Department of Health reported 120 new Covid cases Monday, but case counts tend to be lower earlier in the week, since fewer tests are generally recorded over the weekend. The department also reported 283 new infections on Saturday and 247 on Sunday.
The seven-day test positivity rate dropped to 6.4%, which suggests that the lower number of cases is not solely due to lower testing demand. However, that accounts only for PCR tests and does not include at-home antigen tests.
The state is now reporting an average of 308 cases per day, according to department data. That’s the lowest seven-day average since Nov. 7, although Thanksgiving weekend came close with 311 cases per day.
There have been 29 Covid-related deaths in February thus far, compared to 65 during the entire month of January. Officials have warned that deaths would remain elevated even as cases declined, as the delayed effects of infections and hospitalizations take their toll on Vermont.
In total, 574 people have died in Vermont since the pandemic began.
