VDH: COVID hospitalizations continue to decline

Report Timeframe: October 28 to November 3, 2025. Current Vermont Department of Health recommendations on preventing COVID-19.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations fell again after an increase in cases that began in August and ran into early fall. Other indicators like wastewater virus and outbreaks also declined. Neither the VDH nor the CDC are any longer reporting COVID fatalities or total cases in Vermont or in the US. WastewaterSCAN testing of treatment plants indicates that in Vermont both COVID-19 and Norovirus levels are moderate to low but recently have been higher in Vermont than they are nationally.

The hospitalizations dataset contains day-level data reported from all Vermont hospitals each Tuesday. Reported numbers are subject to correction.

Laboratory-confirmed and diagnosed COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 outbreaks must still be reported to the Vermont Department of Health. 

There were 0 outbreaks last week (1 the week before), with 0 in Long-Term Care Facilities and 0 in schools. Like hospitalizations, outbreaks increased slightly from mid-summer and have since fallen.

WastewaterSCAN

Below is the latest national and Vermont state-wide data from WastewaterSCAN. This reflects information from participating wastewater treatment plants through October 31, 2025. We are moving into respiratory virus season and we're closely watching wastewater data for early signals of flu, RSV, and COVID.

Of note, COVID-19 levels have decreased nationally, down 74% compared to September. However, levels remain high in Vermont.

A few updates:

• Nationwide, Norovirus is in the “Medium” category in the South and “Low” in other regions, though levels are increasing.
  • Vermont sites are currently in the “Medium” category.
• Nationwide, Flu A and Flu B levels are in the “Low” category.
  • Vermont sites are currently in the “Low” category for both Flu A and Flu B.
• Nationwide, RSV is in the “Low” category and well below the threshold for seasonal onset. There is a slow, early uptick in the South.
  • Vermont sites are currently in the “Low” category.

Respiratory Viruses

COVID-19

• Vermont
  • COVID-19 is in the “High” category in Vermont.
• National
  • COVID-19 is in the “Low” category with aggregated measurements showing low concentrations and a downward trend over the last 3 weeks.
    • The median concentration across all sites in October 2025 was 17.1k copies/gram (cp/g), a decrease of ~74% compared to September 2025, suggesting that a peak occurred in early September.
       

Influenza 

• Vermont
  • Influenza A is in the “Low” category in Vermont
  • Influenza B is in the “Low” category in Vermont
• National
  • Influenza A  is in the “Low” category nationally and not in seasonal onset.
  • Influenza B is in the “Low” category nationwide and not in seasonal onset.
     

RSV

• Vermont
  • RSV is in the “Low” category, with no trend over the last three weeks.
• National
  • RSV is in the “Low” category and not in seasonal onset.
  • Current RSV concentrations across all regions remain lower than they were at this time last year. For context, the national onset for RSV during the last respiratory virus season did not begin until early December 2025.

Avian Flu

• Vermont
  • H5 has not been detected in Vermont in the last three weeks.
• National
  • H5 (the flu A subtype associated with H5N1 or avian influenza) has been detected at 80 WastewaterSCAN sites across 28 states.
    • In October 2025, there were 7 positive H5 marker detections (4 in CA, 1 in NJ, and 2 in TN).
    • A heat map of H5 detections is linked here.

Gastrointestinal Viruses

Norovirus

• Vermont
  • Norovirus is in the “Medium” category in Vermont.
• National
  • Norovirus remains in the “Medium” category nationally, with aggregated measurements indicating medium concentrations and no trend over the last three weeks.
  • Norovirus was detected in 100% of the samples analyzed in October
  • Last year, we observed an increase in Norovirus concentrations starting in early October and a peak in early February 2025.

Other Pathogens

Measles

• Vermont
  • As of June 2, there have been zero measles detections in Vermont wastewater.
• National
  • Measles is in the “Low” category nationally.
  • In October, there were 12 positive measles detections: 2 in Alaska, 1 in Georgia, 1 in Illinois, and 8 in Minnesota.

Since the measles data were made public, there have been detections at 19 sites across 17 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, and Utah.

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