Green Mountain Times

Vermont finds itself at 93 deaths per million making it 1st in the country when it comes to COVID-related deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The project found that when it comes to COVID-19 data, people have been looking at decontextualized data, which is causing hysteria like children staying out of school and businesses shutting down.

Vermont’s deaths and hospitalizations have not followed the same path as case increases. 

 “Vermont has the lowest death rate in the nation. At 93 deaths/million, Vermont has a death rate that is 1/15th the rate of Massachusetts, and 1/18th that of New York,” the commentary states. “With the 3rd best unemployment rate in the nation of 4.2%, it is clear whatever Vermont is doing it is doing right. Though, given its small and sparse population, it is hard to extrapolate its results into a model for other more populated states”

 Since Sept. 15, there has been a significant increase in testing for COVID-19 at 55 percent, which has also led to an increase in positive cases, leading many to assume the country is heading into a third wave of infections and deaths.

 Emily Burns with The Pragmatist writes that it’s important to put the new numbers into context so that people will make wise decisions regarding what to do about the pandemic. She writes that in May, cases were tracked at nearly the same as hospitalizations. She notes that deaths and hospitalizations are more reliable data when tracking than cases are. 

With COVID-19 testing up 70 percent since the second wave, Burns points out that the surge in testing is responsible for the increased number of new cases seen across the nation, not an increased infection rate many have been led to believe.