By Holly Ramer And Wilson Ring
Associated Press
Here are the latest developments regarding the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic:
New HampshireNew Hampshire’s least populated county is seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin began to see an increase in cases late last week when the city’s COVID-19 count jumped from zero cases to eight, said James Patry, a hospital spokesperson.
“There’s still not a large number, but given that our positive cases had trailed off so dramatically over the last several weeks, it feels like a large increase,” Patry told WMUR-TV.
Patry said it’s his understanding that a number of the cases are associated with an outbreak at a day care center.
Berlin is in Coos County. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 52% of county residents are fully vaccinated, and 57% of residents have received at least one shot.
Gov. Chris Sununu said such upticks are expected.
“You’re going to see little spikes here and there, I think, for the next three or four months, and you may see a decent surge come November among the nonvaccinated population,” he said.
The numbers: More than 99,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 46 cases on Wednesday. No new deaths were announced, keeping the total number at 1,381.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire has risen over the past two weeks from 19 new cases per day on June 28 to 25 new cases per day on Monday.
VermontStudents arriving at the University of Vermont for the fall semester must be vaccinated against COVID-19, even if the vaccines have not yet been given final approval by the Food and Drug Administration, officials said Friday.
The move was endorsed by the executive committee of the university’s board of trustees.
The decision goes one step further than the requirement announced by the school last month that vaccines would be required only if any of the three vaccines in use now in the United States had been approved by the FDA.
UVM Vice President for Operations and Public Safety Gary Derr said when that decision was made last month it was expected at least one of the three vaccines would have been given final approval by now.
“We decided it was important not to wait for that full FDA approval to assure a safe and healthy fall semester for our students, for our faculty and staff and the Burlington community,” Derr said.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said Friday he welcomed the requirement.
“Having the entire student body inoculated will help keep community infection rates at very low levels this upcoming fall and winter,” Weinberger said in a statement.
The move comes as the delta variant of COVID-19 is causing increases in virus cases across the country.
As of Friday, about half of the 13,500 students from across the country and the world expected to arrive in late August have provided proof of vaccination, including about 1,000 in the last week.
UVM staff will not be required to be vaccinated. Derr said that’s because the counties around Burlington where most employees come from all have high vaccination rates.
UVM will allow for religious and health exemptions from the vaccine requirement.
Unvaccinated students who arrive on campus next month will not be denied admission to the school, although they will be prevented from registering for the second semester.
Students who are unvaccinated will be required to be tested for COVID-19 at least weekly and they will be required to wear masks.
For international students, UVM will accept any vaccine approved by the World Health Organization.
Some of the international students who will be arriving might not have had the opportunity to be vaccinated in their home countries. In those cases, the school will help them make arrangements to be vaccinated in Vermont, Derr said.
“I think its going to be overwhelmingly positively accepted,” Derr said. “I think that out students are anxious to return to a normal campus and not have to go through the restrictions and requirements that they did last year. I think our employees want the same.”
The numbers: On Friday, the Vermont Health Department reported 22 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, bringing the statewide total since the pandemic began to 24,550.
There were three patients hospitalized with COVID-19, including one in intensive care.
The number of deaths remains at 258.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont has risen over the past two weeks from 3.86 new cases a day on June 30 to 12 new cases a day on Wednesday.
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.
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