CLAREMONT — Claremont Middle School dismissed classes Wednesday morning and will remain in remote learning mode until Monday after officials learned of a confirmed case of COVID-19 at the school, according to a letter SAU 6 Assistant Superintendent Donna Magoon sent to the school community.
Magoon said school officials are following guidelines from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and that contact tracing had been completed and “all families that are affected have been informed.”
Remaining in remote learning mode will also allow extended time “to disinfect large common spaces,” her letter said.
If any student who attends Claremont Middle School tests positive for COVID-19, their family should email school nurse Jackie Sevigny at jsevigny@sau6.org, the letter said.
A fifth worker at Sullivan County nursing home has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the facility’s administrator.
State officials listed the Sullivan County nursing home among the new outbreaks they announced during a news conference on Tuesday. Ted Purdy, the Unity facility’s administrator, said in an email that one resident tested positive in a rapid test on Dec. 27, but that resident — who had upper respiratory symptoms — subsequently tested negative in three PCR tests. No other residents have tested positive.
A corrections officer in the Sullivan County Department of Corrections also has tested positive, according to a Tuesday Facebook post from County Manager Derek Ferland. An administrator in the corrections department had previously tested positive in late December. The two employees had not had contact with each other, Ferland wrote.
The corrections officer last worked on Jan. 1 and 2, but did not have direct contact with inmates and “only limited contact with other staff members,” Ferland said.
The officer was tested on Monday after developing symptoms including the loss of taste and smell on Sunday. Other Department of Corrections workers were tested on Tuesday and inmates also were “offered a chance” to be tested, Ferland said. DOC employees are screened for symptoms before each shift, required to wear masks and socially distance, he said.
Meanwhile, two employees at the Grafton County jail in North Haverhill also tested positive this week. They both last worked on Saturday, according to Grafton County Corrections Superintendent Thomas Elliott.