Two of the new patients are Vermont residents. One is a man “over the age of 80” who resides in a long-term care facility and is being treated at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The second is a Windsor County woman in her 70s who is hospitalized at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, according to health department spokesperson Ben Truman.
The remaining three cases are not Vermont residents, he said.
The health department didn’t include these patients when it posted updated numbers Tuesday afternoon. At that point, the department had adopted a new protocol to only post cases among Vermonters; data on nonresidents would be collected but not reported publicly, Truman said then.
“A lot of this has to do with the evolving nature of the spread of COVID-19 in the state,” Truman said Tuesday evening, explaining the decision to post more data. “And as we can see how everything has been going simply in the last 24 hours, this is a vastly changing situation.”
“Someone from out of state could be here, they get sick, they get tested, they go home,” Truman said, adding that publishing the data could cause Vermonters to unfairly and inaccurately blame out-of-staters for the infection’s spread.
On Sunday, nonresidents comprised half of Vermont’s total eight cases. Seven Days and other outlets reported that ski towns were bustling with out-of-staters despite resorts being closed for business.
“The effort is to be as transparent as possible, respecting people’s personal health information and providing the information that Vermonters need to have,” he said.
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I consider myself a rational person, but to a large degree, I do blame some out of staters for spreading this virus. We are human beings up here, same as them, not some barren place to escape to. It’s not like we’re talking about emergency staffers volunteering to help out, etc. This is mostly folks w/ second homes, as near as any info has been released. “oh, there’s a worldwide pandemic, let’s go skiing”
How about mandating that a scarlet “A” be sewn on the jackets of non-vermonters who tested positive ( for “alien”)?
Last I read, the nonresidents had not in fact left the state, but were either convalescing in their Vermont homes or being treated in Vermont hospitals. Everyone must be counted and the public should be informed of where these patients are located.
People are still traveling for leisure and staying in hotels here in Burlington despite discouraging all discretionary travel. It is absolutely maddening that people will not stay home!
Yeah, let’s blame out of staters.
What a stupid sentiment in tiny state where cross-state border traffic is so easily done.
The next words after the ‘but’ in statements like:
I am not a racist, but….
I am not a homophobe, but
I am not a xenophobe, but
Always prove otherwise.
A British friend noted (after hearing that the Outer Banks of NC is closing access by non-residents:
—Even in medieval times the wealthy moved out of London to their country houses in times of plague. Read Pepys, he’s a fascinating diarist.
Of course people may find themselves here for many reasons but the privilege of second homes is one of them, in a state mostly served by tiny hospitals and doctor shortages.
“Truman said, adding that publishing the data could cause Vermonters to unfairly and inaccurately blame out-of-staters for the infection’s spread.”
We see here that we don’t have transparency, so how can we trust what we’re being told?
Publishing the data could also cause Vermonters to fairly and accurately assign responsibility to out-of-staters for the infection’s spread, and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s also not racist, xenophobic or homophobic to fairly and accurately assign responsibility, unless you’re a clueless liberal.