At least one person attended a church service in Irasburg, Vermont, while infected with COVID-19, health officials have learned.
As such, health officials are asking anyone who attended a service at New Hope Bible Church on Sunday, Nov. 22, to get tested for the coronavirus.
It can take as many as 14 days from exposure for symptoms to show, so the Health Department wants people who attended to take precautions now to help limit the spread.
"Even if you are feeling well and don't have symptoms, consider getting tested,'' Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said in a written statement. "If you do have symptoms or concerns about your health, call your primary care provider.''
Everyone associated with the church who's tested positive thus far has been contacted by the health department, but contact tracers have been unable to get all the information they need to inform other people who may have been exposed, officials said.
Health officials also stress the need for the public to provide full information to contact tracers.
"This is how outbreaks can start, and why it’s important for people to cooperate and be forthcoming when our contact tracing teams call," Dr. Levine said.
Testing is available daily at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vermont. To register or to find other testing sites, go to healthvermont.gov/covid-19/testing.
On Saturday, the Vermont Health Department reported 29 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, bringing the state's total since the virus began to just over 4,030. The seven-day rolling average of daily new confirmed cases in Vermont has risen over the past two weeks from 59 on Nov. 13 to 78 on Nov. 27.
