Vermont had “low” Covid-19 community levels over the past week, according to Wednesday’s report from the state Department of Health.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that 13 of Vermont’s 14 counties had “low” Covid levels, up from eight the week before. Bennington County was the only county to report “medium” Covid levels.
The city of Burlington reported rising Covid levels in two of its wastewater plants on Jan. 30. The wastewater levels were far lower than the record-breaking Covid readings of Jan. 17, but the data indicates a general trend upward in recent weeks. Other wastewater plants had mixed data, the health department reported.
The health department reported 42 hospital admissions for the disease, down from 48 the week before. As of Wednesday, 42 people were hospitalized for Covid in Vermont, including six in intensive care.
There were 509 Covid cases reported in the past week, about the same as the week before, according to the department. Covid cases are based primarily on PCR test results and do not include at-home antigen tests.
Covid cases and hospitalizations also declined nationally over the past week, according to the New York Times. Deaths have also dropped but remain slightly elevated compared with late 2022.
The health department reported seven additional Covid deaths in the past week, raising Vermont’s total Covid death toll to 901. The state has tracked 22 deaths in January from the disease and one so far in February.
The state has had 26 Covid deaths per month over the past six months, according to the department. That’s far below the high of 72 deaths reported in January 2022, but still enough to make Covid one of the leading causes of death in the state.
Final mortality data from 2022 is not yet available, but compared with 2020 statistics from the CDC, Covid’s death toll would rank as the fourth-leading cause of death — just behind heart disease, cancer and “accidental deaths,” which include drug overdoses.