Preliminary death certificates provided by the Vermont Department of Health reveal new information about 19 Vermonters who died with COVID-19.
In total, the state has reported 23 deaths from the novel coronavirus. The documents, obtained by
Seven Days through a public records request, included death certificates that had been processed as of Tuesday, April 7.
The 19 who died were between the ages of 64 and 95; a majority were over the age of 80. Eighteen were listed as white, while one was listed as Asian Indian.
In two cases, COVID-19 was not listed as a primary cause of death but under "Other Contributing Conditions."
Also in the documents provided by the Department of Health were two additional
death certificates: one of an Addison County resident who was presumed to have the disease but who was never tested, and one northern New York State resident who died at Southern Vermont Medical Center.
Seven of the deaths occurred at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and seven at the Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center,
a nursing home at the center of Vermont's outbreak. According to Genesis HealthCare, which owns the facility, a total of nine Burlington Health & Rehab residents have died from the disease.
Four Vermonters who died with COVID-19 were listed as residents of Essex. Three were listed as residents of Shelburne, though two of those died at Burlington Health & Rehab, suggesting that they were staying at the facility at the time.
Sixty-three percent of those who died were male. Though Vermont's current sample size is extremely small, the disease appears to disproportionately affect men; the majority of COVID-19 victims nationwide have been male.