HANOVER — Dartmouth College officials said that they expect that employees currently working remotely will continue to do so through March.
In addition, as a result of the increase in community transmission of COVID-19, Dartmouth dining locations have moved to takeout service at least through the end of this week, according to an update Wednesday from Dartmouth COVID-19 Task Force co-chairs Dr. Lisa Adams and Josh Keniston.
There were six active cases at Dartmouth as of Tuesday; five students and one employee. An additional 83 people (73 students; 10 employees) were in quarantine and 25 (10 students; 15 employees) in isolation.
State officials announced 279 new cases on Tuesday, including 12 in Grafton County and four in Sullivan County. There were 42 current cases in Newport; 17 in Hanover, 12 in Lebanon, Claremont and Charlestown; seven in Canaan and New London; and five in Sunapee, as of Tuesday.
COVID-19 testing at Leverone Field House in Hanover and the Williamson Translational Research building on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus in Lebanon will continue through this month and next for asymptomatic members of the Dartmouth community who remain in the Upper Valley during break.
Dartmouth’s final exams for this term end Dec. 4, and Dartmouth will not resume classes again until Jan. 7, according to the school’s calendar.
The Vermont Agency of Human Services ordered hospitals to once again bar visitors, for the most part.
The new directive, issued Monday, still allows for a support person to accompany patients who are giving birth, as well as pediatric patients, people undergoing same-day surgery, people who need help with communication or have cognitive disabilities, and patients at the end of life.
Several hospitals in the Twin States, including in the Upper Valley, had already implemented similar restrictions.
NEWPORT, N.H. — One additional staff member at Woodlawn Care Center tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, but the Newport nursing home reported no new resident cases.
A total of 54 people have been involved in the outbreak, the largest thus far reported in the Upper Valley. The total includes 33 residents, three of whom have died and three others who remain hospitalized, but as of Wednesday 18 had recovered, according to an update from Chris Martin, Woodlawn’s administrator.
In addition, 10 of the 21 affected staff members have so far recovered.
The facility’s staff members are arranging visits with residents via Zoom, while visitation in person remains restricted.
RANDOLPH — The tally of new COVID-19 cases affecting Randolph-area schools is up to at least four.
School officials are tracking five different groups, affecting all of the Orange Southwest School District’s schools, including those in Randolph, Brookfield and Braintree, according to a Tuesday update from Superintendent Layne Millington.
As of Tuesday, about 24 members of the school district’s community were in quarantine. Additional tests are pending, Millington said. Results can take between 24 hours and seven days. The district won’t have a “full picture” of the situation until testing and contact tracing are complete, he said.
Students in OSSD schools are learning remotely at least through this week.
The OSSD School Board is scheduled to have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss the district’s “learning modality” moving forward, Millington said.
The meeting will be held remotely via Google Meet at meet.google.com/zng-qiuq-bki, and by phone at: 413-300-1750 PIN: 817 564 127#.
School Board members in the Fall Mountain Regional School District, which includes the Upper Valley town of Charlestown, were slated to meet Wednesday evening to discuss COVID-19-related updates. That district on Tuesday announced three cases in the high school and middle school but said the affected people had not been in school since Nov. 5.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
