Vermont’s Covid-19 levels are “low,” the state Department of Health reported this week — but hospitalizations for the virus nearly doubled in a single week.
The department reported 60 new hospital admissions for Covid in the past week, compared to 31 the week before. As of Wednesday, 34 people were hospitalized with the virus, including three in intensive care.
The statewide surge in Covid hospitalizations comes amid a national rise in hospitalizations and case counts related to the virus, according to The New York Times. Cases are rising more slowly than during the early phase of the Omicron surge at this time last year, but all but four states have reported a recent increase in hospitalizations.
Vermont is also reporting “moderate” levels of flu activity, up from “low” levels last week, according to the health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have warned that influenza, along with Covid and other respiratory illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), may continue to pose a threat in the coming weeks.
For the first time this week, Vermont’s health department reported the presence of the BQ.1 Covid subvariant, the strain that has already become dominant at a national level. Experts say the strain’s ability to evade previous immunity to the virus is partly responsible for its rise.
Studies from Pfizer and Moderna suggest their bivalent booster vaccines are effective at producing an immune response to BQ.1, although the sample sizes of both studies are small. Only 28% of Vermonters age 5 and older have received the bivalent booster, according to the health department.
The department also reported 448 Covid cases in the past week, a slight increase from 439 the week before. Case data relies primarily on PCR testing and does not include at-home antigen testing.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 13 of the state’s 14 counties had “low” Covid levels, while Rutland County had “medium” levels.
The health department reported no additional deaths due to Covid this week, meaning that December has had no reported Covid deaths so far. In total, 781 people have died of Covid since the beginning of the pandemic in Vermont in March 2020.
