CANAAN — Mascoma Valley Regional High School and Indian River Middle School moved to fully remote learning for the rest of the week after school officials learned that someone in the district had tested positive for COVID-19.
The schools will learn remotely on Thursday and Friday, according to a Facebook post from Superintendent Amanda Isabelle. School officials learned of the case on Wednesday. The move will allow time for deep cleaning and disinfecting of each facility and for contact tracing. Students are scheduled to return to in-person learning on Monday and no other schools in the district are affected.
The person who tested positive, now in isolation, was last in the high school and middle school on Monday, Isabelle wrote. Due to state and federal privacy laws, Isabelle said “no further information is available about the individual.”
School officials have determined that the person likely had close contact with 17 other people. Two of those individuals went home early on Monday, and the other 15 possible close contacts went home on Wednesday. A person is considered a close contact if they have been within 6 feet of the infected individual for 15 minutes or more up to two days before the positive test result.
RANDOLPH — Gifford Health Care implemented a “no visitor” policy this week as cases of COVID-19 are increasing across the region and country.
The policy means that the Randolph medical center and the health system’s clinics, including those in the Upper Valley towns of Bethel, Chelsea, Sharon and White River Junction, are restricted to patients only, according to Gifford’s website. One support person is allowed for patients in the birthing center and same-day surgery. Only ADA service animals are allowed, not therapy dogs or support animals.
The Randolph health system’s change, which went into effect on Monday, comes after similar policies also have gone into effect at Springfield (Vt.) Hospital and Rutland (Vt.) Regional Medical Center.
As of Wednesday, Gifford had had one positive case of COVID-19 in an inpatient, according to its website. Vermont announced 27 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state to a total of 2,267 cases since the pandemic began. There have been 13 new cases in Windsor County in the past two weeks and nine in Orange County, where Randolph is located.
There were 1,454 active cases in New Hampshire as of Wednesday. Of the 120 new cases announced on Wednesday, eight were in Grafton County and one was in Sullivan County.