By Patrick Mcardle and Holly Ramer
Associated Press, Staff Writer
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 HampshireDartmouth College has relaxed many of its COVID-19 rules, such as no longer requiring people who are fully vaccinated to wear masks, and lifting physical distancing and dining restrictions.
Provost Joseph Helble said Wednesday that Dartmouth was easing restrictions in light of the fact that 83% of the students who will be on campus this summer have been vaccinated, the Valley News reported. The college announced in April that all students will be required to be vaccinated ahead of the fall term.
Dartmouth also is requiring employees to be vaccinated by Sept. 1.
Employees can request religious and medical exemptions, but those who remain unvaccinated will be subject to wearing personal protective equipment, maintaining physical distancing and being tested more frequently.
Rescue Plan funds: Funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act are going to support child care programs and workers in New Hampshire, the state Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
Over the next 30 to 60 days, the department plans to launch stabilization grants to child care programs, workforce recruitment and retention efforts, and market rate increases for the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program.
Starting July 12, the grants will be open to all licensed and enrolled license-exempt child care providers. The scholarship market rate for tuition costs for enrolled families will increase as much as 10% for infants through preschoolers, and an average of 40% for school-age children.
The state also is increasing recruitment and retention efforts to increase the number of child care workers in centers, homes and after-school programs, including an internship program
The numbers: More than 99,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 30 cases announced Thursday. No deaths were reported, keeping the total at 1,369.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire decreased over the past two weeks, going from 29 new cases per day on June 8 to 24 new cases per day on Tuesday.
VermontThe Delta variant of COVID-19 has been found in Vermont, but doctors reminded residents on Thursday that vaccination remains a very effective protections against the virus.
Dr. Rick Hildebrant, chief medical information officer and medical director of hospital medicine for Rutland Regional Medical Center, said vaccinations that have been available for months are “incredibly effective against the Delta variant.”
“If people are vaccinated, they’re very protected. If they’re unvaccinated, though, they’re at a much higher risk than they were, just a few months ago against COVID because this is just so contagious, it causes people to get sicker and some of the treatments we use for COVID are not as effective,” he said.
Dr. Mark Levine, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, said the state is doing whole genome sequencing in its own laboratories now and used it to determine that the Delta variant had been found in Chittenden County, from a returning international traveler and in Central Vermont from a domestic traveler. The origin of the third case was unclear.
“The real bottom line is, it doesn’t matter where in the state because with the high vaccination rate, the hope is that even a person who is actively infected, with the Delta variation, that virus is going to run into a wall and get stopped because it won’t be able to get transmitted to the next person because 80-plus percentage of the time, if that person is over age 12, that person is already protected with the vaccine,” he said.
While many of the changes will have no effect, sometimes the mutation causes a change in the protein structure of the virus making it more effective at the purpose, which is to spread.
Variants have been tracked by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Hildebrant said the strain of COVID dominant in Vermont now is the Alpha variant.
The Delta variant was first identified in India and then spread to Europe, Hildebrant added.
The numbers: Vermont reported seven new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday for a statewide total since the pandemic began of more than 24,380 cases.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 9.71 new cases per day on June 8 to 4.43 new cases per day on June 22.
patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com
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