Oral history interview with Daniel Daltry

Oral history interview with Daniel Daltry

Dan Daltry discusses his role in the Vermont Department of Health's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, explaining the work of their disease investigation specialists and particularly focusing on his time interviewing folks that had been diagnosed with COVID. He also recalls preparations in 2020 for the virus' arrival in Vermont and describes how the lines between his job and life quickly "became very blurry" with both his professional and personal life centering on COVID. He reflects on his experience through the lens of his background in social work and compares it to a mentor's work in the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. He also touches on his wife's work as an art therapist and his mother's experience as a new widow who had recently entered an assisted living facility when the pandemic began.

Daniel "Dan" Daltry began work at the HIV, STD, and Hepatitis C program at the Vermont Department of Health in 2006. At the time of this interview in 2023, his title at the health department was Infectious Disease Program Manager. He previously worked as a case manager and housing specialist for people living with HIV and AIDS in Philadelphia.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2023-10-31

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-070

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Johnson, Mark

Daltry, Daniel

1 hr., 14 min., 59 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215