A visual history of Covid-19's path through Vermont

[erronis]

https://vtdigger.org/2025/03/14/a-visual-history-of-covid-19s-path-through-vermont/

“It was hard to anticipate the scale that this would go to,” said the state’s director of health surveillance. “So with every new piece of information, we were sort of pivoting and adjusting our approach.”
by Erin Petenko March 14, 2025, 6:52 am

This is an excellent presentation of that terrible period.

Patsy Kelso, Vermont’s state epidemiologist, remembers hearing about Covid-19 for the first time through the “routine channels.” The Centers for Disease Control and other public health entities regularly share information about emerging infectious diseases, from mpox virus circulating worldwide to Ebola outbreaks in Uganda.

But there was nothing, at first, that suggested Covid would be the one to shut down the world. “It did take me by surprise, personally, how quickly things ramped up,” Kelso said.

The spread of Covid within the United States was so misunderstood that the focus of many experts was on preventing transmission from international travelers. In reality, the virus had been spreading nationwide for months.

Vermont officials recommended hand washing and staying home when sick, but masking and social distancing were not yet on the horizon for the general public. In fact, only three days after Vermont’s first Covid case on March 7, 2020, hundreds of people attended a University of Vermont basketball game. At least 20 confirmed Covid cases were later linked to the event.

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