To The Editor:
I'm sharing this information from the Vermont Health Department Daily Update on Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) October 1, 2020.
Vermont continues to have a low number of COVID-19 cases, a testament to how well Vermonters have done to prevent the spread of the virus. But we can learn from experiences elsewhere how easily that progress could be reversed.
As part of his modeling presentation last Tuesday, Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner Michael Pieciak mentioned a wedding held in Millinocket, Maine, that has been in the news.
Held August 7, the wedding exceeded the state's event limit of 50 people, with about 62 attendees. It was held indoors, with few masks and little social distancing. Eighteen people who attended later tested positive.
Officials in Maine began to discover additional outbreaks linked to the wedding -- at a rehabilitation center, a county jail, a church and a number of other places in York County.
So far, 180 cases and eight deaths have been connected to the wedding. New cases in York are being identified at nearly twice the rate as the previous surges in early April and close to triple the current statewide average, Pieciak reported. None of the deaths were among people who attended the wedding, they were people who were later infected by someone who did.
The Maine CDC director, Dr. Nirav Shah, said "Virus has achieved a certain level that it's everywhere in wide circulation across [York] county… I am extremely, extremely concerned."
The Maine CDC noted the major risk factors in the outbreak included a lack of social distancing and mask wearing by people, institutional failures in following guidelines and regulations and complacency.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci said, a surge of cases is not inevitable here in Vermont. Let's not let our guard down.
Fred Messer
Waitsfield
