HANOVER — Dartmouth College plans to hold an in-person commencement on campus in June this year, but attendance will be limited to graduating seniors only, Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon said Tuesday.
The ceremony will be streamed live online for family members and other guests to view, Hanlon wrote in a Tuesday email to the Class of 2021.
“Continued travel and quarantine restrictions and the lack of global availability of a COVID-19 vaccine necessitate this decision,” Hanlon wrote.
Participation in the event also will require testing, quarantining, masking and social distancing, he said.
Plans could change based on public health data, as well as college and state guidelines related to gatherings, he said. College officials will decide by the end of March exactly when the ceremony and related events will take place.
Dartmouth held a virtual ceremony last June for the Class of 2020.
CLAREMONT — Valley Regional Hospital had an employee and two patients in a single unit test positive for COVID-19 late last week, according to a spokesman.
The three have been isolated since their positive status was discovered on Friday and no others had tested positive as of Monday afternoon, spokesman Kris Richardson said in a Monday email. Since then, 58 patients and employees who had contact with the positive cases have tested negative, Richardson wrote.
As of Monday, Richardson said the hospital was “safe and operating normally.”
He said hospital officials are hopeful that COVID-19 cases will continue to drop in Claremont and the surrounding area as Christmas travel and gatherings become a more distant memory.
On Monday, the number of COVID-19 cases in Claremont fell to 79, three cases fewer than the previous day. Neighboring Unity, where outbreaks in the Sullivan County nursing home and jail are ongoing, had 35 active cases, while Newport had 26 and Charlestown 10.
UNITY — A COVID-19 outbreak at Sullivan County nursing home has grown to include a total of 124 cases, 80 residents and 44 workers, according to its administrator.
Most residents are improving, said Ted Purdy, the facility’s administrator, in a Tuesday Facebook post. Four residents have died in the outbreak, the largest the Upper Valley has seen thus far.
Of the infected workers, 27 have recovered and returned to work and two have resigned, Purdy said.
Elsewhere in the Upper Valley, an outbreak at Valley Terrace Assisted Living and Memory Care in White River Junction is down to two active cases in workers who are isolating at home, according to Angela Zizza, the facility’s executive director.
Health officials have begun allowing Valley Terrace to slowly move in new residents, said Zizza in her emailed statement Tuesday. The Christian Street facility held one vaccination clinic on Jan. 22, and is scheduled for a second round on Feb. 12, Zizza said.
There have been a total of seven cases associated with the Valley Terrace outbreak, according to the Vermont Department of Health’s list of outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
WELLS RIVER — Second graders at Blue Mountain Union School moved to remote learning beginning on Monday through Feb. 10, after school officials learned of a COVID-19 case in that age group, according to a school Facebook post.
Those considered a close contact of the positive case at the Wells River school were contacted. No other grade levels have been impacted by this case.
Elsewhere in the Upper Valley, officials at Westshire Elementary School in West Fairlee learned on Friday that a student there had tested positive, Rivendell Superintendent Barrett Williams said in a Tuesday email. As a result, students learned remotely on Monday to allow for cleaning and to ensure the school had the necessary staffing. Those not required to quarantine were expected to return for in-person instruction on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s snow day, Williams said.
Springfield (Vt.) High School also reported one case on Friday, according to the district’s dashboard of COVID-19 cases.]
In New Hampshire, there was one active case at Kearsarge Regional Elementary School at New London identified on Jan. 27, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services school dashboard.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
