Covid-19 community levels rose to “medium” this week, the Vermont Department of Health reported Wednesday.
The department reported that the number of hospital admissions was mainly responsible for the state moving from “low” to “medium.” It reported 67 new hospital admissions for Covid in the past week, compared with 33 the week before.
As of Wednesday, 49 people were hospitalized for Covid in Vermont, including two in intensive care, according to the department.
Case counts remained in the “low” category in the past week, with 391 Covid cases reported, compared with 412 the week before. But the positivity rate for PCR tests, which case data is mainly based on, has risen to 8.6% from 7.7% in the past week, suggesting that the case decline may be the result of lower testing.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that two of Vermont’s 14 counties — Windham and Bennington — had “medium” Covid levels, while the rest of the state had “low” levels. The latest update is based on data through Dec. 29.
The city of Burlington, which runs its own wastewater testing program, reported a dramatic spike in Covid viral concentration at its East Plant for the week of Dec. 27. Other wastewater testing programs reported more moderate changes or did not report data for the most recent weeks, according to the CDC.
The state health department has not reported a new Covid death since Dec. 15. In total, 791 people have died of Covid in Vermont since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Along with Covid, flu activity was “very high” in the latest report from the health department. Schools and universities have been particularly hard-hit by the virus, with the department reporting 43 outbreaks in those settings so far this year.
XBB on the rise
A new Omicron subvariant, XBB, has become the dominant strain in New England, according to CDC data.
The strain made up about 75% of recent samples taken in the region. It also accounted for 40% of samples nationally, up from just 10% two weeks ago, the CDC reported.
Experts believe XBB has mutations that make it more able to evade immunity from previous variants. It’s unclear if the strain is more contagious, as well. No evidence suggests that it is more dangerous or deadly than previous strains.
In a conversation with VTDigger this week, Anne Sosin, a health equity researcher at Dartmouth College, recommended that Vermonters get the bivalent Covid vaccine booster and use well-known tools, such as masking and antigen testing, in the coming weeks to prevent transmission.