There were zero new coronavirus cases in Vermont on Tuesday, marking the first day in almost seven weeks where there have not been new infections.
Gov. Phil Scott made the promising announcement on Wednesday and called it “great news.” Scott, a Republican, also warned that “one day doesn’t create a trend, and we have to look at the trend lines to see where we’re going.”
The state, which has the fifth-lowest number of cases in the United States, has seen a steady decline in cases for the past few weeks, a positive sign as Vermont looks to reopen parts of its economy as the pandemic eases. There was only a single death in the state on Monday and no additional deaths on Sunday and Tuesday, according to Fox News.
Scott said at a Wednesday news conference that his goal is to increase testing levels to 1,000-per-day, about double what Vermont’s capacity is now. Despite hope that more businesses will be opening soon, the governor cautioned that reopening could lead to a resurgence in cases of COVID-19.
“What we need to do is manage that level,” he said. “And that’s why we’re doing this tracing and testing and becoming so heavily involved in taking a more proactive approach because we want to make sure that we control that.”
Vermont has had 862 cases of the coronavirus and at least 47 deaths since the pandemic began, according to a count by the New York Times.
