New England College requiring vaccination for fall return

By Holly Ramer And Lisa Rathke
Associated Press
All U.S. adults are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. To register for a vaccine appointment in New Hampshire, please visit vaccines.nh.gov or call 2-1-1. To register for a vaccine appointment in Vermont, please visit healthvermont.gov or call (855) 722-7878.

Here are the latest developments regarding the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic throughout New England:

New Hampshire

New England College in Henniker says it will require that students attending classes on campus this fall be fully vaccinated, as well as faculty and staff.

“With the COVID-19 vaccine now widely available throughout the country, we will add it to our list of required vaccinations,” President Michele Perkins said in a statement Friday. “With limited exceptions, all students attending classes on campus in fall 2021 must be fully vaccinated. Faculty and staff must also be fully vaccinated by August 1, 2021 if they work on campus.”

Perkins said vaccination of the on-campus community will allow more face-to-face classes, field trips, athletic competitions, and opening up its galleries and theater.

In April, Dartmouth College Provost Joseph Helble announced that all students must be vaccinated before returning to campus for the fall, or must be vaccinate shortly after arrival.

‘Pollyanna Glad Day’: A celebration in honor of an orphan girl who remains optimistic in spite of the many challenges she faces is back on schedule in New Hampshire after it was canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Pollyanna Glad Day” is a a go for June 12 in Littleton, paying tribute to the classic 1913 children’s book, “Pollyanna,” and author Eleanor Porter, who was from Littleton.

“We’re mostly celebrating that we made it through a rough year,” Veronica Francis, owner of Notch Net and the Go Littleton Pollyanna Glad Shop on Main Street, told the Caledonian-Record. “There will be a celebration all around downtown. We’re ready. It’s been a tough year and it’s fine to celebrate.”

There will be music, food, and souvenirs, such as a “Pollyanna Power” T-shirt depicting Pollyanna as a superhero in a cape.

“We are stressing the fact that Pollyanna Day is a good day to reset gladness and reset your optimism,” said Karen Keazirian, executive director of Pollyanna of Littleton Inc.

The numbers: More than 98,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 127 cases announced Friday. No new deaths were announced; the total remained at 1,341.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire decreased over the past two weeks, going from 208 new cases per day on May 5 to 112 new cases per day on Wednesday.

Vermont

Vermont will lift all remaining pandemic-related restrictions immediately ahead of the July 4 plan if the state reaches 80% of eligible people vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Phil Scott announced Friday.

Vermont leads the nation with over 70% of residents age 12 and older getting at least one dose, Scott said. To reach 80%, another 27,954 will need to get at least one dose, he said. The state is working to make getting vaccinated easy and accessible with numerous clinics, all taking walk-ins, around the state. They include 31 at Emergency Medical Services sites around Vermont this weekend, a pop-up clinic on Church St. in Burlington on Saturday and an event at Thunder Road in Barre on May 30, as well as clinics at state parks on June 12, officials said.

Employers also can help by hosting vaccine clinics, Scott said.

“Now the people who can help us accelerate this timeline the most are those between the ages of 18 and 29, who’ve lagged behind in vaccination rates,” Scott said. “I understand why some may not have felt the urgency yet, but now is your time to do the right thing. We’re counting on you to help us lift restrictions early.”

Those include gathering sizes, masks, social distancing and curfew at bars, restaurants and social clubs.

“So let’s keep our momentum going. Let’s finish strong. Let’s continue to show the nation and the world what this brave little state is capable of,” Scott said.

Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have all decreased because of vaccinations, said Health Commissioner Dr. Levine. There are currently no outbreaks in Vermont’s long-term care facilities or other congregate living settings, he said.

“So clearly the theme is that the more people who are vaccinated the fewer there are to transmit the virus to others including to our kids who are too young to be vaccinated yet,” Levine said. “This means we in Vermont can really suppress the virus, keeping it at such low levels it will have far less impact on all of our lives.”

The state will be in better shape in the fall and winter, when people are back indoors, he said. Variants are still circulating and things can change quickly with this virus, he said.

If the state does not reach 80% before July 4, the state will still drop all restrictions by the date, Scott said.

Unemployment: Some unemployed Vermonters recently had trouble filing for benefits after the state reinstated the work-search requirement earlier this month.

The Vermont Labor Department became aware of a couple of issues on Sunday that were partly caused by the way the mainframe computer and systems were designed, said Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington on Tuesday during the governor’s twice-weekly virus briefing.

“We also were prepared because we knew just maybe based on prior experience that things tend to not always go off without a hitch so we did have teams on standby both over the weekend and early Monday,” he said.

Most of the issues have been resolved and some were expected to be fixed by Wednesday, Harrington said.

“Everybody should be able to still file their weekly claim this week and get paid out,” he said. “So I don’t expect any long-term situation or delay in people receiving their benefits.”

The numbers: Vermont reported 37 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, for a statewide total to date of more than 24,060.

A total of nine people were hospitalized with three in intensive care.

The Associated Press is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the United States.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from about 67 new cases per day on May 5 to about 43 new cases per day on May 19.