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CLAREMONT – The number of COVID-19 cases in schools in the Haute Vallée continues to rise as the delta variant crosses the twin states.
Officials at Stevens High School reported five cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Hartford school officials have alerted parents to at least four cases since Thursday. It is in addition to a some other cases in schools on the Vermont side of the Upper Valley which required the quarantine of around 200 students last week.
Unlike the Vermont schools approach and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for close contact quarantine, New Hampshire public health officials do not recommend quarantine for people exposed to a positive case outside. of a family setting and rather direct those who have been exposed to self-monitoring for symptoms, wear a mask when indoors with other people and get tested about five days after exposure.
“COVID is going to be with us for a long time,” said Beth Daly, chief of the Office of Infectious Disease Control at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, on a call with principals Wednesday.
The state is moving towards treating COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses as part of efforts to “keep children in school,” she said.
New Hampshire public health officials told school leaders in Wednesday’s phone call that they were conducting contact tracing for the clusters, which are at least three linked cases, and the outbreaks, which include two or more clusters. They do not conduct contact tracing for individual cases, but recommend that schools make an effort to determine who has been in close contact with a positive case in order to refer those people to self-monitoring for symptoms and get tested.
As of Tuesday, there had been 25 clusters, including 146 cases (92% of children) affecting K-12 schools in New Hampshire so far this school year, said Dr Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist. , to the principals during the call on Wednesday.
“It’s a remarkable number of clusters that occur over a two week period,” Chan said.
The number of cases affecting schools underscores the need to implement prevention strategies such as face masks, physical distancing, drug tests, ventilation, hand washing, staying at home in case of illness, isolation and quarantine and cleaning. , did he declare.
In line with DHHS recommendations, Patricia Barry, director of Stevens High, and Veronica Januszewski, senior nurse at SAU 6, asked members of the Stevens High community to monitor themselves for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 during 14 days from September 13. to September 26. Students who test positive should self-isolate for at least 10 days.
Their message was broadcast on Tuesday afternoon, the same day a football match between Stevens and Lebanon High School was postponed. Barry, reached by phone on Wednesday, declined to say whether the football cancellation and was linked to the COVID-19 cases. She questioned Superintendent Michael Tempesta, who did not respond to emails or voicemails on time.
“These students contracted COVID-19 outside of the school environment, so this is not a cluster situation,” Barry and Januszewski said in their post.
Symptoms of COVID-19 Barry and Januszewski have advised those who have been exposed to watch for: a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing; sore throat; runny nose or nasal congestion; muscle or body pain; tired; headache; new loss of taste or smell; nausea or vomiting; and diarrhea.
School officials have asked students to stay home if they have any of these symptoms, even if they are mild; if they share a home (temporarily or permanently) with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 within the previous two weeks; or have traveled abroad or on a cruise ship in the last 10 days.
Hartford Superintendent Tom DeBalsi did not respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment on the recent Hartford cases.
Hartford schools are requiring close unvaccinated contacts of positive cases to be quarantined for up to 14 days, according to messages sent to families. Hartford Memorial Middle School has had two recent cases of COVID-19 that do not appear to be related, resulting in a required quarantine for about 60 people in total, DeBalsi previously told the Valley News.
Due to the high number of cases in Vermont schools, Dan French, Vermont Secretary of Education, and Dr Mark Levine, Health Commissioner, announced in a memo Tuesday that school employees would take the lead in contact tracing for COVID-19 cases in schools and at school events until the number of cases declines, when schools will have an opportunity to ask to the Ministry of Health to do the research.
“The purpose of these strategies is to help find an operational balance between public health and education objectives: we want to protect students from COVID-19, but also to maximize their ability to attend school,” said the memo.
Claremont School Board President Frank Sprague, reached by phone Wednesday, had yet to hear of the cases affecting Claremont schools, but he was not shocked.
“I’m surprised not everyone has it (given the) way it all broke,” said Sprague, a former director of Stevens High, of how many COVID-19 precautions have been lifted. Claremont schools require employees and students to wear masks indoors, but do not require parents to wear them when entering school buildings, Sprague said.
Only 44% of Claremont residents and 15% of those between the ages of 12 and 19 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Wednesday, the city had 55 active cases, the most on the New Hampshire side of the Upper Valley.
Sprague, who is 68 years old and fully vaccinated, was preparing to come out of isolation later this week after falling ill for the first time with what turned out to be COVID-19 on September 3 on Wednesday.
“We have all let our guard down,” he said. Because a bowling teammate fell ill around the same time, Sprague said he thought he caught the virus from the bowling alley.
Sprague spent about a week with a fever of 102-103 degrees, but now he’s feeling better and his sense of smell is returning.
“It’s scary,” he said. “I hate to think about what it would be like if you didn’t get the vaccine. “
His wife and 26-year-old daughter, who lives with them, have also tested positive, he said. They have also been vaccinated and are in home isolation.
“It’s real,” Sprague said. “He’s over there, and you can catch him. It might not be fun when you do.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at [email protected] or 603-727-3213.
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