The Vermont Health Department said Friday it’s only confirmed two cases of COVID-19 among nearly 60 potential positive tests in the Manchester area.
A clinic in the town reported 59 positive antigen tests this week – a different test than the one the state uses to confirm cases of the new coronavirus.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first antigen test for use in May. Results from antigen tests are available more quickly than from the PCR tests used by the state health department.
More to come from Vermont Edition: The Latest On Manchester's Potential COVID-19 Outbreak
However, antigen tests have a higher chance of detecting false negatives than PCR tests, according to reporting from the New York Times.
But in Manchester, the preliminary investigation by the health department seems to indicate the opposite problem: getting false positives, said Health Commissioner Mark Levine.
"We continue to investigate the situation and are treating all positive antigen tests as a positive case - reaching out to each person, giving them guidance to isolate, trace their contacts and above all, recommending they get a confirmatory PCR test." - Mark Levine, commissioner of the Department of Health
The health department has conducted PCR tests on 17 of the 59 individuals in Manchester who had positive antigen tests, but only two of those individuals came back positive for COVID-19.
“We continue to investigate the situation and are treating all positive antigen tests as a positive case – reaching out to each person, giving them guidance to isolate, trace their contacts and above all, recommending they get a confirmatory PCR test,” Levine said during the governor’s Friday press conference.
More from VPR: 'Our Bubble Is Popped': Apparent Outbreak Puts Manchester, Vt. Area On Edge
Contact tracers have reached all but 11 of the 59 individuals who tested positive with the antigen test, Levine said. He said so far the health department has not “found connections to call this an outbreak” but said the investigation was still ongoing.
The health department said 405 people in the region were tested at a pop-up site this week and all those tests were negative.
No mask mandate yet
Gov. Phil Scott said he still doesn’t think the state should mandate masks, but he said Friday that everyone should be wearing them.
Scott has said repeatedly he’s wary of putting in place a statewide mask mandate if there’s not a good way to enforce it.
He also said that given Vermont’s generally low-rates of the virus, he doesn’t think a mask mandate is needed at this time.
“[With] what I’m seeing across the country and certainly what’s happening as it migrates across the northeast it's another measure that we could put in place if we have to and we might just have to,” Scott said. “But again no disagreement on the use of masks, I think everyone should be wearing a mask.”
A number of states, including Massachusetts, Kansas and North Carolina, require residents to wear masks in public spaces.
More from Vermont Edition: How A Statewide Mask Mandate Is Playing Out In Massachusetts
