Still logging double-digit COVID-19 cases, Waterbury leads neighbors
September 17, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti Waterbury continues to lead its neighbors in logging COVID-19 cases based on the latest information published by the Vermont Department of Health on Friday.
Fifteen new cases were reported for Waterbury in the week ending Sept. 15, bringing Waterbury’s total for the pandemic to 317.
That’s up from last week’s 10 cases but still lower than the recent high of 27 logged for the week ending Sept. 1.
The moderate level of local cases comes as Vermont saw the most cases reported in a single week this week with 1,406, according to VTDigger’s weekly tally. That topped the previous week’s high of 975 cases.
Thursday and Friday saw record single-day cases announced for the state with a caveat from the Health Department saying that there had been glitches in the system for recording cases resulting in some delays that led to the high numbers those days.
A statement from the Department of Health on Friday said:
“The Agency of Human Services and the Agency of Digital Services determined on Friday that an outside vendor’s [information technology] issue delayed the delivery of test results, artificially inflating Thursday’s report of 314 new cases of Covid-19 by 109. The IT glitch has been resolved and the state has identified the number of cases affected. State officials, however, emphasized that although the glitch impacted the one-day total, the cumulative number of cases over these days is accurate.”
The Health Department tracks and monitors the time it takes from when specimens are collected for testing to when the results are reported to the department by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The glitch involved EllKay, an IT vendor working for Broad. As a result of the irregularities, state officials found that that nearly 11,300 Vermonters experienced delays in receiving their test results, the department said.
As of Friday, the Health Department also reported two new deaths among those age 80 and older for a total of 296 deaths of Vermonters during the pandemic. September already has had 18 new deaths recorded.
The Health Department also listed 41 people in hospital with 12 in intensive care.
In the Waterbury area, other communities have also had new COVID-19 cases recorded in the past week. Moretown had six cases; five were listed for Warren. Stowe had two new cases and one was reported for Bolton, according to the Health Department.
Harwood Union Unified School District reported just one new COVID-19 case this week at Waitsfield Elementary School. Although many students have been sidelined for testing and quarantine, no new cases have emerged from the four single cases at Waitsfield, Brookside Primary, Warren Elementary and Crosset Brook Middle schools since the start of the school year on Aug. 26.
Local testing and vaccines
Waterbury Ambulance Service continues to offer daily testing at its ambulance station at 1727 Guptil Road and COVID-19 vaccines several days a week. Through September, the schedule will be: Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Mondays and Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1-7 p.m. for vaccines and testing; Thursdays, 1-5 p.m.; Fridays testing and vaccines, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Walk-ins are welcome; appointments for testing and vaccines are appreciated and can make visits go more quickly. They can be made online at healthvermont.gov/covid-19.
COVID-19 vaccines also are available at local pharmacies such as Kinney Drugs and Shaw’s. In addition to its hours on Wednesdays and Fridays, Waterbury Ambulance will hold a vaccine clinic on Sunday at Crossett Brook Middle School from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The clinic will be open to all community members age 12 and up for either first or second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.