Weekly number of new COVID cases declines in Vermont

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Vermont decreased over the last week from the week before, according to data released Tuesday, with state officials remaining cautiously optimistic that a recent surge will continue to decline.

Vermont reported about 86 fewer cases this week compared to last week, said Michael Pieciak, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation who has been handling the virus data for the state.

“When you look at that seven-day average the trend is down but it’s a not clear trend down and it hasn’t been sustained yet so that’s a point of caution certainly that we want to take into account,” Pieciak said during the governor’s weekly virus briefing.

Washington County, which had a high number of cases last week, has seen some improvement, said Pieciak, dropping from 339 cases to 209 this past week.

Vermont is about nine weeks into a surge in cases from the delta variant of the coronavirus, a time when other jurisdictions had started to see cases slow and then drop, Pieciak said.

"We’re still cautiously optimistic about whether we’re going to see that downward trend,” he said.

In other pandemic-related news in Vermont:

CONTACT TRACING IN SCHOOLS

The state is revising its recommendations for the contract tracing process in schools, Education Commissioner Daniel French said.

The changes will allow schools to more quickly identify students who are vaccinated, he said. Under guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Vermont, a vaccinated student who is asymptomatic is not a close contact, French said.

Previously schools had wait for a student’s vaccination status to be confirmed by the health department, he said. The changes allow schools to use their local vaccination information to determine if a student is...