The Vermont Department of Health said Monday officials are investigating an outbreak of COVID-19 cases associated with people who attended a private party in Killington on Aug. 19.
So far officials have identified 14 cases among people who attended the event at the Summit Lodge and their close contacts. The state says Summit Lodge followed state protocols and guidance and has been a cooperative partner.
Contact tracing teams are working to reach more than 40 people who attended the party. People who attended the party who have not been in touch with the Health Department are asked to call.
People who attended the party should take steps to limit exposure to others because it is possible to spread the virus without developing symptoms.
A pop-up testing clinic is scheduled for Wednesday in Rutland.
“We appreciate the cooperation of everyone who has responded to our contact tracing team,” Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said in a statement. “I particularly thank the management of the Summit Lodge — for their adherence to the state’s guidelines for protecting their guests and employees, and for their assistance and support of our efforts to contain and minimize this outbreak.”
School is continuing as scheduled in a New Hampshire school district after one student tested positive for COVID-19, triggering a contact tracing effort and cleaning at the school.
WMUR-TV reports the Riddle Brook School student in Bedford who tested positive is suspected to have contracted the virus at a sports camp in another town. The student had been in the building on Friday. Half of the class was at the school, which is on a hybrid learning system.
The test for the student, who was asymptomatic, came back positive on Saturday. Families were notified Sunday with an email and voicemail.
“We worked with the school principal, the teacher and DHHS worked with the family to be able to determine who, if anyone, would have been within 6 feet for a cumulative time of 10 minutes within a 4-hour period,” Bedford School Superintendent Mike Fournier said.
None of the students at Riddle Brook met that criteria. Administrators believe protocols in place such as masks, distancing and reduced class sizes prevented further transmission.
Hand-sanitizing stations with art and music are welcoming patrons into some Brattleboro businesses and reminding people to take public health precautions during the pandemic. The Handy Stations are part of Open Artful Streets, an initiative of the Human Connection Project and Brattleboro Housing Opportunities.
The Brattleboro Reformer reports the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance is also participating in the pilot project, which received seed money from the Arts Council of Windham County. The hope is that other communities will begin using them as well.
“This project came out of me thinking how I could be useful at this time as our society is experiencing some severe changes,” Erin Maile O’Keefe said during a remote meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary Club.
The first prototype, made of plywood, went in front of The Void on Main Street in June. It featured a button on a skateboard that triggered a jingle lasting 20 seconds, or as long as someone should allow hand sanitizer to dry.
O’Keefe says the hand sanitizer comes from Saxtons River Distillery of Brattleboro.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved funding for three Handy Stations. The goal is to raise enough money for 15 more. Each station costs $1,500.
On Monday the Vermont Health Department reported eight new confirmed virus cases, all in Chittenden County.
Since the pandemic began there have been more than 1,600 cases in Vermont. One person is currently hospitalized in Vermont with COVID-19. The number of deaths from the disease remains at 58.
As of Monday, 7,275 people had tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, an increase of 22 from the previous day. The number of deaths remained at 432. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire decreased over the past two weeks, going from 22 new cases per day on Aug. 16 to 21 new cases per day on Aug. 30.
BOSTON — Candidates for the U.S. Senate and House scrambled to make their final pitches to voters on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s Massachusetts primary in a campaign held under the shadow of the coronavirus.
U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, is challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Edward Markey in the Democratic Senate primary.
Kennedy is hoping to become the next member of the famed political family to claim a seat in the Senate. He was on a tour Monday of communities from Western Massachusetts to the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.
Markey planned a bus tour Monday with “get out the vote” events mostly in the eastern part of the state.
Kennedy has promised “a new generation of leadership” in the Senate if elected. Markey has pitched himself as the true progressive, pointing to his introduction of the Green New Deal climate change initiative.
A number of recent polls have given Markey an edge in the race, but a Kennedy has never lost a campaign for Congress in Massachusetts. Both candidates have wrestled with the safest way to hold campaign events during the pandemic.
Tuesday’s primary will also decide the winner of the Republican senate primary pitting Kevin O’Connor, a lawyer, against fellow Republican Shiva Ayyadurai, who ran a failed campaign for Senate in 2018.
Primary candidates in four of the state’s nine congressional districts were also making a final appeal to voters.