Vermont changes the way it reports Covid-19 data in response to CDC rules
VTDigger
The Vermont Department of Health has been forced to find new ways to report Covid-19 data after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped requiring hospitals across the country to report their Covid admission counts.
For nearly two years, the health department has shared the number of new hospital admissions for the virus in its weekly surveillance report, along with metrics such as wastewater testing, case counts and deaths. Before two years ago, the department would report the number of Covid patients in Vermont hospitals at any one time.
Beginning with next week’s surveillance report, the department plans to use a new indicator that is similar to, but not quite the same as, the current one: the number of visits to emergency department settings that involve a Covid diagnosis.
According to department epidemiologist John Davy, this would include both emergency and non-emergency visits to 14 Vermont hospitals with an emergency department. This captures a “similar phenomenon” as hospitalizations, and the two are closely correlated, he said.