Vermont’s Covid-19 community levels fell to “low” in the past week, the Vermont Department of Health reported on Wednesday.
Hospital admissions have come back down after nearly doubling in last week’s report, raising community levels at the time to “medium,” the department reported. Forty people have been hospitalized for Covid in the past week, compared to 67 the week before.
The number of Covid patients currently in Vermont hospitals also declined. As of Wednesday, the department reported 27 Covid patients, including one in intensive care. That’s compared to 49 Covid patients, with two in intensive care, as of last Wednesday.
At the same time, the rest of the nation has reported a surge in Covid hospitalizations, although they remain far lower than the peak of the virus in January 2022, according to The New York Times.
Northeast states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, have some of the highest hospitalization rates in the nation, but Southern states such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama have reported the largest increases in the past two weeks, The Times reported.
In Vermont, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Bennington County had “high” Covid levels and Windham County had “medium” Covid levels. The other 12 Vermont counties had “low” levels.
The CDC bases its ratings on case rates, hospital admissions and the percent of inpatient beds taken up by Covid patients. For Bennington County, the agency groups the county into the hospital service area around Albany, New York, so high hospitalization rates in northern New York could also affect the county’s rating.
The health department reported an uptick in Covid cases, with 432 Covid cases in the past week compared to 391 the week before. Covid case data is primarily based on PCR testing and does not include at-home antigen tests.
The department also added a new section on monthly Covid deaths after revealing on Thursday that it had failed to report 86 fatalities, most of which occurred in 2022.
According to the department, Vermont had 21 Covid deaths in December, a decline from the more than 30 deaths reported for both October and November. There have been four Covid deaths reported so far in January. In total, 881 people have died of Covid in Vermont since the pandemic began nearly three years ago.