Vermonters urged to order at-home COVID tests

A trail near Lake Pinneo in Quechee, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday strongly encouraged Vermonters to order at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests at covidtests.gov.

This Biden Administration’s initiative – which launched this week – is similar to a program piloted by the State, according to a Thursday statement from the governor. Through this new federal program, each household is eligible to receive four tests, which are expected to ship within 7-12 days of ordering, state officials said. Supplies are limited. 

“Rapid at-home tests are a useful tool that will help us continue to move forward,” Scott said in the statement. “Vermont has worked hard to gain supply of these tests, and I appreciate President Biden’s recent efforts to do the same. The USPS website is up and running now, but federal supplies remain limited, so Vermonters should act fast.”

Any Vermonter without internet access can call the Governor’s Constituent Services Office at 802-828-3333. “My team will help complete the online request form for you,” the Governor continued.

The federal effort is similar to the state of Vermont’s pilot partnership with the National Institutes of Health, which sent 350,000 tests to Vermonters. Many of these tests have already arrived at Vermonters’ homes.

As the state awaits the arrival of an additional 150,000 tests it ordered for the pilot program, it is reevaluating the best use of these tests – including potentially allocating them directly to schools, child care programs and long-term care facilities – now that the general public has access to the new federal program.

Vermont is the national leader in both PCR testing and the distribution of at-home tests, according to state officials. They noted Vermont has consistently performed the most PCR tests per capita of any state. Since late December, the state has also distributed about one million at-home tests directly to Vermonters, schools, child care programs, long term care facilities and other community partners.

States’ access to supplies of at-home tests continues to be a challenge, and the state of Vermont will continue to work to acquire more. The nation’s governors are working with the federal government to improve coordination in procurement and distribution, according to the governor’s statement on Thursday.

— Gareth Henderson

Governor: We must ‘work together’ to defeat COVID

The sun brightens up Route 4 and its environs in West Woodstock, Vermont. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

With vaccines nearing possible final approval, Vermont officials said it’s still crucial to follow public health guidance in order to slow COVID-19 infections.

At a Friday press briefing, Gov. Phil Scott offered words of encouragement, acknowledging how difficult the pandemic has been on everyone, especially not being able to see loved ones due to a recent gathering restriction. Today, Vermont remains with one of the lowest test positivity rates in the nation. 

“Vermonters, all of you, have proven to be the best in the country in following the guidance and managing this virus, so I’m asking you to please come together for what we hope will be a final push and get us through this latest surge,” Scott said. 

Vermont saw 224 new coronavirus cases on Thursday — a single-day record. Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported that day, both at skilled nursing facilities. For Friday, total new cases were down to 73. 

The state remains under a ban on multi-household gatherings, which it implemented about two weeks before Thanksgiving to curtail virus spread during the holiday season. State Health Commissioner Mark Levine said it wasn’t possible yet to fully know the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings or travel on case count, adding that the best data would come at least 10 to 14 days after the holiday. But he was optimistic, because contact tracing data has not pointed to Thanksgiving activity as a big factor in the recent surge, so far.

“We have lots of reasons to believe Vermonters were very compliant with the executive order,” Levine said.

In response to recent outbreaks, the state has implemented more frequent testing in long-term care facilities. Testing and contract-tracing operations continue to ramp up throughout Vermont. On Friday, state officials shared some optimism due to recent news of vaccines, with Levine saying a vaccine is “literally weeks away.” Priority groups to get Vermont’s first available doses would be health care workers and the residents and staff of long-term care facilities, he added. Those could arrive in the state by mid-December. Most national experts say widespread vaccination in the U.S. won’t be achieved until late April to May, with some estimating farther out to late summer or early fall, according to Levine. 

“So, (that is) still a fair amount of a time frame, which is why we’ve been really emphasizing adhering to all of the things we do every day now is a must, even when people start to get vaccinated,” he said. Those practices include mask-wearing, social distancing, avoiding non-essential travel, and not gathering with other households.

In response to media questions, the governor said the vaccine news gave him optimism. 

“We’ve been talking about this for quite some time, and now it’s becoming real,” Scott said. “If we can see the finish line, I’m confident we’ll get there, but we’re all going to have to work together, and help each other and support each other.”  

— Gareth Henderson 

Vt. probes COVID testing incident as capacity ramps up

The Ottauquechee River near River Road in Woodstock, Vermont. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

It's been a tough news cycle this week for Vermont's COVID-19 testing operation. While the state's testing capacity is improving, officials are looking into errors that caused over 200 COVID test samples to be spoiled and exposed Vermonters' private emails.

At a Tuesday press conference, Vermont Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said the incident involved 246 tests that were collected at the Barre Auditorium last Friday and were to be delivered to a Massachusetts lab to be tested. However, upon arrival in Massachusetts, Smith said the samples sat for over 50 hours and therefore could not be tested.

Then, a letter went out to impacted individuals asking them to get new COVID tests, but the letter informing them of the mistake also listed all of the available emails of everyone who had been tested. Smith said this was followed up by another letter apologizing for the error involving the emails.

"First, let me apologize personally for this incident," Smith told the media on Tuesday. "None of this should have happened."

He said a legal review is underway to determine what happened with the UPS delivery of the tests, whether any federal privacy rules were broken regarding the emails, and how to remedy any such violations. All COVID-19 testing and reporting procedures will be reviewed to identify any changes that need to be made, Smith added. All notification procedures will be reviewed as well, to avoid any correspondence in future that could identify individuals.

Smith said this is the first time an error of this magnitude was made related to the state's COVID-19 testing. He also said it's of the utmost importance that Vermonters have trust in the testing process.

"This incident can erode trust, but in addition to an apology, which I again give, actions need to happen to ensure that this incident isn't repeated."

On the other hand, Smith also had good news to share about testing in Vermont. He said COVID-19 testing capacity in Vermont is expanding, which includes some "on-demand" testing sites with day, evening and weekend hours. A total of 14 on-demand sites are available throughout Vermont, with the aim of giving working people more flexible hours to be tested. The state will continue to add to its overall testing capacity in the coming weeks, Smith added. A list of testing sites is available online.

In his Tuesday remarks, Gov. Phil Scott said it's too early to tell how many Vermonters kept their Thanksgiving gatherings limited to one household, as state guidance requires. But recent data shows a slight decline in case growth and daily cases, which Scott said makes him "cautiously optimistic."

"It's my hope that if the majority of Vermonters followed the latest guidance, we'll be able to ease some of the restrictions in the not-too-distant future," he said.

Meanwhile, the state is continuing to ramp up its testing and contact-tracing operations, to "go on offense" against the virus, as the governor put it. The state tested over 9,000 school teachers and staff last week, and will now begin testing about 25% of school employees each week on a rotating basis.

Furthermore, Scott pointed out the continued good news on the vaccine front. Moderna told the New York Times the first doses of its vaccine could be available as soon as Dec. 21; like Pfizer, it is requesting emergency use authorization after highly promising vaccine trials. Priority would be given to the highest-risk populations, such as health care workers and nursing homes.

"Our teams are ready for their first shipment of vaccine whenever those are distributed by the federal government," Scott said.

The governor said we can see "light at the end of the tunnel," but he was also cautious.

"I want to be clear, we have tough days and months ahead, and we're not out of the woods yet," Scott said. "But we are at a point where we can see that light more clearly than we have throughout the pandemic, and we have to keep focused on it, so we can get through this dark tunnel as strong as possible."

He added, "I want to again thank Vermonters for their perseverance and their commitment to each other. We can and will get through this together."

— Gareth Henderson