Spring Tracking Updates

Tracking friends and partners,

You may have heard the news that federal layoffs have heavily impacted the CDC Tracking program and many other Environmental Health programs. We are thinking of our partners at the CDC and state and local Tracking programs during this difficult time.

While we don’t know what these changes at the federal level mean for the Vermont Tracking program yet, we are continuing our work to provide data that informs program and policy action at the Health Department. Thank you for following our newsletter, using data from the Vermont Tracking portal, and for your partnership in helping to protect and promote the health of all Vermonters!

New Childhood Lead Poisoning Report

In 2020, Vermont updated its definition of an elevated blood lead result from 5 micrograms per deciliter to any reported level. Since this change was made, Tracking worked with the Health Department's Healthy Homes program to update the Childhood Lead Poisoning report.

The new report shows testing data and elevated blood lead levels across the state, for children under age 5 living in poverty, and by county and town housing.

There is no safe level of lead in the body. Check out the new report and learn more about preventing lead poisoning.

View Childhood Lead Poisoning Data

Historic Cold-Related Illness Data Report

The new Historic Data report for cold-related illness on our Climate and Health page shows visits to the emergency room or urgent care for cold-related illnesses from 2003 to 2022. This report was created due to requests for data from community partners and offices of local health. With an increase in climate data, we have split our reports into separate hot and cold data containers. See both on the Climate and Health page.

Tracking also published a new Cold-Related Illness Season summary with these findings about the 2023-2024 cold season:

Temperatures were generally warmer compared to recent averages
The percentage of emergency department visits was more than average
Factors like being outdoors with exposed skin, using alcohol or drugs and houselessness contributed to the uptick in visits despite a warmer winter.

Data Modernization

The Tracking program wrote a proposal for additional data modernization initiative funding that was available at the Health Department. The project will make data validation more efficient by automating manual (and potentially error prone) methods for checking data. This will ensure the data on the Tracking portal is accurate and suppressed appropriately, while freeing up staff time to do more involved or advanced analytic work.

NEW Vermont Department of Health Newsletter

Interested in taking a deeper dive into public health news? Check out the Health Department's latest newsletter, Vermont Public Health in Focus. Each issue will highlight our work and give insight into current health topics. Read the first edition and subscribe to receive the monthly newsletter.

About Environmental Public Health Tracking

The Vermont Tracking Program is part of a nationwide network of partners funded by the CDC. At the local, state, and national levels, the Tracking Program uses a network of people and information systems to deliver a core set of health, exposure, and hazards data, information summaries, and tools to enable analysis, visualization and reporting of insights drawn from data.

Visit the Vermont Tracking Program website