Monday, March 23, 2020
A prison employee who works at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport has coronavirus, Department of Corrections Interim Commissioner Jim Baker said Monday.
The staffer did not work in the secure portion of the facility where inmates live, Baker said, declining to specify the individual's role as a matter of privacy. The individual, who last worked on March 17, was in proximity to other employees who would work with inmates, Baker acknowledged.
Upon learning of the test result, the department took “immediate" steps, including deep cleaning the employee’s work area, Baker said. The department is also tracking other staff who had contact with the individual, a subsequent press release stated.
Baker said no inmates had been tested for COVID-19 as of Monday, but that the department is monitoring several who have fevers. There are just over 400 people incarcerated at Northern State Correctional Facility and 128 work there.
Tags: Department of Corrections , Jim Baker , Northern State Correctional Facility , coronavirus , covid-19 , Web Only , Image
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Albert Petrarca has been holed up for weeks on the third floor at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center, where he has been recovering from foot surgery. He is acutely aware that coronavirus is sweeping through the building, and he’s a nervous wreck.
In recent days, 12 elderly residents on the fourth and fifth floors above him have tested positive for COVID-19. One has died.
Petrarca, who is 70, is doing all he can to keep from getting sick. He keeps his door shut day and night. Naturally, the Burlington firebrand, known for his dogged protests against a Church Street mural, is also grilling the staff about their response. He has even summoned the facility’s director to demand that each of the 90 patients and 130-plus staffers be tested for the deadly virus.
So, as the case count rises, Petrarca is fuming.
Tags: Burlington Health and Rehabilitation Center , coronavirus , covid-19 , outbreak , Vermont Department of Health , Genesis HealthCare , Albert Petrarca , Web Only , Image
Saturday, March 21, 2020
The Vermont Department of Health on Saturday announced 20 new cases of coronavirus, including seven more residents of a Burlington nursing home that's been hard hit by the disease.
At least 12 elderly residents of the Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center have now tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak there was identified on Monday. The Pearl Street facility is home to about 90 total residents and rehab patients.
Tags: Coronavirus , covid-19 , Vermont Department of Health , Burlington Health and Rehab , Outbreak , Pandemic , coronavirus testing , Web Only , Image
Friday, March 20, 2020
The coronavirus outbreak at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center widened as confirmed cases there jumped and state officials sought federal help to contain the spread.
Four more residents of the Pearl Street nursing home have tested positive, officials said Friday, just a day after an elderly resident died from the infection. And at least 25 other residents and staff were being tested, a Vermont Department of Health spokesperson said.
The latter figure means that many more at the facility are exhibiting respiratory symptoms, though health officials cautioned that other viruses such as the flu are also prevalent.
During a Friday afternoon press conference, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger described the unfolding situation as “the largest outbreak in the state.”
Tags: Coronavirus , COVID-19 , Burlington Health & Rehab , nursing home , outbreak , Genesis HealthCare , Gov. Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Speaking by phone to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Baker said that the outbreak has worsened the Department of Corrections' preexisting workforce crisis. "By the middle of next week, our staffing will be stressed inside the facility," he said.
To make up for a projected shortage of corrections officers, the department plans to train and certify some of its 143 probation and parole officers to work inside the state's six prisons.
According to Baker, the department has managed to reduce Vermont's prison population from 1,671 to 1,628 over the past three weeks, but he cautioned against opening the gates too wide.
"I hear from a lot of folks about who should be let out of jail," he said. "But I gotta tell you, I'd be worried about the level of care that they'd get outside. The system would be stressed even more. It's not as simple as people [are] making it sound. And in some case, folks have nowhere to go."
Tags: coronavirus , Jim Baker , Phil Baruth , James Lyall , Sarah George , Matthew Valerio , John Campbell , Brian Grearson , Web Only , Image
Service at the crossing between Grand Isle and Cumberland Head, N.Y., is scheduled to continue.
The Burlington-based company announced the decision on its website Wednesday, saying traffic at both crossings was down due to the COVID-19 threat and said it wanted to preserve at least one route.
"Our highest priority is to continue ferry service between Vermont and New York. With the traffic significantly reduced at both crossings, it is necessary to mobilize all of our resources to sustain service at the Grand Isle/Cumberland Head Crossing," the statement said.
The announcement said the suspension was temporary and would continue until further notice: "We recognize that this is not an ideal situation, however, these are highly unusual times."
Tags: Lake Champlain ferry , Vermont , coronavirus , Web Only , Image
“We are acutely aware of the statistics of how many and what kind of patients are going to need that higher level care,” associate director Becky Rhoads said.
Tags: Veterans Affairs , VA Healthcare , White River Junction Medical Center , Becky Rhoads , Coronavirus , COVID-19 , positive tests , veterans , hospital capacity , ICUs , Web Only , Image
Monday, March 16, 2020
The wheels of justice turned Monday at the Edward J. Costello Courthouse in Burlington, though each rotation seemed squeakier than the last.
“Why am I here?” one defendant in Judge Gregory Rainville’s second-floor courtroom wondered aloud, after learning that the state prosecutor and her public defender would be appearing for her hearing by telephone. “That’s a waste of time.”
Minutes later, a public defender walked in and vented to court officers after a judge required her client in a different case to attend an uncontested hearing, even as coronavirus shuttered schools and public gatherings statewide.
“He's going to come in and contaminate all of us,” she said of her client, before she rushed off to a different proceeding.
Tags: Vermont Superior Court , U.S. District of Vermont , Department of Corrections , Prisons , Inmates , Coronavirus , Matthew Valerio , Tom Dalton , Jim Baker , Web Only , Image
Sunday, March 15, 2020
The visitors, it seems, consider sparsely populated Vermont a safer place to hunker down than wherever they live full time.
The influx hasn't gone unnoticed by state legislators and many of their constituents.
"We just want to make sure that the governor understands that some of our weekend residents may not be leaving," Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) said on Sunday.
The closure of the resorts does not remove the incentive for people to "be here," she added: "It's Vermont. It's clean and safe and rural."
Tags: Vermont , second homes , coronavirus , ski resorts , closures , Web Only , Image
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Levine told lawmakers from the legislature's Joint Rules Committee that the Vermont Department of Health has been "strongly encouraging" hospitals to set up such testing facilities and may possibly even be "facilitating" some starting Monday. Hospital CEOs from around the state have voiced interest.
"This would greatly alleviate a lot of the concerns that facilities have about doing testing on-site, and how cumbersome and complicated it could be," Levine said during a conference call Saturday afternoon.
Tags: coronavirus , Health Department , Mark Levine , testing , Web Only , Image