The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed Washington County back on the list of counties with “high” Covid-19 community levels on Thursday. Bennington County made the list as well.
Washington County had been in the high category in mid-March, prompting the Washington Central Unified Union School District to briefly reinstate masking in schools despite a state recommendation to end mask mandates.
The CDC said seven other counties — Essex, Orleans, Franklin, Grand Isle, Chittenden, Orange and Windsor — had “medium” levels of Covid-19, while the rest of Vermont was rated as “low.”
The CDC levels are based on the rate of new reported Covid cases, the number of new hospital admissions for Covid and hospital capacity in the area.
The CDC recommends that people in areas with high levels take broad, community-wide precautions such as masking and social distancing. People in medium counties should consider precautions if they are at high risk of severe outcomes from the disease.
On Friday, Burlington released its latest data on Covid levels in its wastewater treatment facilities. One facility in Burlington reported a new high in its level of virus in samples, according to the data.
The two other facilities, which had high values in previous weeks, reported a drop in viral load but remained at higher levels compared with their average before the BA.2 variant came to Vermont this spring, according to the city data.
CDC data from wastewater facilities in St. Albans and Winooski show rising viral levels, while a facility in Springfield reported a more modest increase.
Vermont reported 331 new Covid-19 cases, 57 hospitalizations and three additional deaths Friday.
The state’s seven-day average for new reported infections is 271, up from 264 on Thursday, according to the Vermont Department of Health dashboard.
Vermont’s seven-day average test positivity rate was 11.5% on Friday, the same as Thursday. The test positivity rate includes only PCR tests, not at-home antigen tests.
The health department reported that 57 people were hospitalized with Covid as of Friday, up from 50 on Thursday. That includes five people in intensive care, up from three on Thursday.
The health department reported three additional Covid deaths on Friday. In total, 629 people have died since the beginning of the pandemic, including eight in April.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how many Vermonters have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
