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
