Health officials say EEE risk high in some areas

A blood-sucking creature that comes at dusk is frightening Vermonters this summer. 

Bob Fischer, water quality superintendent for South Burlington, remembers when researchers first realized that they could track the health of a population through its sewer system decades ago. 

About 26,000 Vermonters have gotten the Omicron booster, putting the state on a slower pace than previous booster campaigns, according to data from the state Department of Health.

A new COVID-19 vaccine booster targeted at Omicron strains, called the bivalent vaccine, is coming to Vermont this week, according to the state Department of Health.

Vermont plans to begin providing at-home antigen tests for COVID-19 at state-run testing sites, rather than PCR tests, officials said at a press conference Tuesday.

January 2022 was the second-deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Vermont Department of Health.

With about 350,000 at-home antigen tests on their way to Vermonters’ mailboxes, readers wrote to VTDigger to ask how the antigen tests would hold up if left for an afternoon or overnight in cold weather.

So far only a handful of Vermonters have tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19, state health officials said on Dec. 21. But that won’t be true for long.

Within only 10 days, Vermont’s seven-day average has gone from about 200 cases each day to over 300 cases per day, Department of Health data shows.

COVID-19 cases have declined 7% in the past two weeks, state officials reported Tuesday, but they reminded Vermonters it’s not the first time cases have begun to slow under the Delta wave, only to come back in force shortly after. Vermont reported 90 new … (read more)

VERMONT — Chittenden County’s population grew 7.5% between 2010 and 2020, the most of any county in the state, according to newly released 2020 census data.The new numbers, the first local-level results of the 2020 decennial census collection, form the ba … (read more)

Health Commissioner Mark Levine told Vermonters on Tuesday that the best way to create a wall of protection against COVID-19 this fall and winter is to get vaccinated — and to talk to their family members about getting the vaccine, too.Roughly 82.4% of Ve … (read more)

The number of Vermont COVID cases each day has fallen 61% since April 1, the steepest drop in daily numbers in a year, officials said at a press conference Tuesday. The state reported 504 cases this week, down from 797 last week. Cases are dropping in eve … (read more)

MONTPELIER — Gov. Phil Scott last Friday lifted some COVID-19 restrictions on Vermont restaurants, bars and clubs. The policy was due to take effect on Wednesday, March 24. Bars and clubs were allowed to sit people of different households together with a … (read more)

With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine coming online and the federal pharmacy program ramping up, Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday that school staff, child care workers and more Vermonters with high-risk conditions would become eligible to receive the Covid- … (read more)