Vermont Health Department says Winooski COVID outbreak over

WINOOSKI, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Health Department says an outbreak of COVID-19 that began in the city of Winooski is over.

Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said Wednesday the outbreak is considered over because 28 days have passed since any new infections connected to it have been reported.

“Now keep in mind this isn’t really a celebration,” Levine said during an online briefing with local officials. “The pandemic is far from over.”

The outbreak was first identified in June, primarily in the immigrant community in the densely packed city of Winooski.

The outbreak included 117 infections - 77 in Winooski, 22 in Burlington and 18 in other towns in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties. Two people were hospitalized, but there were no deaths.

Statistics showed that 65% of the cases were among adults and 35% were among children. The health department says 60% of the people who tested positive didn’t report symptoms.

To help confront the outbreak, between June 8 and the end of July, the Vermont Health Department conducted about 10,000 tests at pop-up sites in Burlington and Winooski.

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FREE MASKS

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says the state is going to be distributing 300,000 free cloth face coverings this month to the public, emergency responders and selected agencies.

On Aug. 1 it became mandatory for people in Vermont to wear face coverings in public.

Vermonters may access the masks through their towns.

The State Emergency Operations Center procured the masks from those donated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A list of distributors is on the website of Vermont Emergency Management.

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NUMBERS

The Vermont Health Department reported six new cases across the state Thursday of the virus that causes COVID-19. Three of the new cases were in Chittenden County and in each in Rutland, Bennington and Orange counties.

Two people are hospitalized.

The number of deaths remains at 58.