Coronavirus In NH Schools: Limited Spread Inside Buildings

CONCORD, NH — Coronavirus cases inside K-12 schools in New Hampshire have been limited to less than 800 cases with only a dozen clusters and one outbreak — with daily counts both rising, and falling, due to recoveries, for many months.

But what has consistently been increasing is staffers and students infected outside of schools.

K-12 schools in New Hampshire have 66 active cases of coronavirus as of Tuesday which is down by more than a third in less than a week. New cases were reported at the Weare Middle School, the New Boston Central School, the Boscawen Elementary School, and the Matthew Thornton Elementary School in Londonderry. At the same time, hundreds of children have become infected in the last week in New Hampshire.

Active school cases in Patch communities include one case each in the Amherst Middle School and Souhegan Coop High School; one case at the Riddle Brook Elementary School in Bedford; single cases at Trinity Christian School in Concord, Concord High School, Merrimack Valley High School in Penacook, St. John Regional School in Concord, Concord Christian Academy, and two cases at Bishop Brady High School in Concord; a single case at the Reeds Ferry School in Merrimack; a single case at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua; and single cases at the Windham Middle School, Windham Central School, and Golden Brook Elementary School, also in Windham.

According to state officials, only coronavirus cases confirmed to be connected to a school setting or activity are reported on the data dashboard.

But students and educators are becoming infected outside of school — which is requiring isolation and burdening districts.

In Amherst, as an example, SAU 39, which includes Mont Vernon's elementary school, there are 11 active cases but only two connected to the school setting. Those cases though as well as infections outside of the schools required 67 students and staffers to be quarantined.

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In Concord, which has two school districts and a number of nonpublic schools, SAU 8 recently moved its middle and high schools to remote learning as well as an elementary school due to lack of staffing after educators became infected by the coronavirus and needed to be quarantined. Cases in Concord have grown from five to more than 260 in a little more than three months, raising concerns in the community about transmission.

But inside the schools, only 52 cases have been reported inside the school setting. There are seven active cases and 45 recoveries.

In SAU 46, the Merrimack Valley School District, Superintendent Mark MacLean said new infections were a daily occurrence. He announced five new staff and student cases Tuesday. But the "silver lining" was that "school-based transmissions still appear to be non-existent." The ability for the district to sustain its current model of education though, "is certainly being tested" — and he is preparing to change learning models, if need be, if the district can not adjust staffing to accommodate the quarantines.

It is a similar situation in Exeter where Superintendent David Ryan moved the Cooperative Middle School to remote learning for 10 days Monday due to the coronavirus's impact on staff capacity and personnel availability. There are no active cases as of Tuesday connected to the school setting and 14 recoveries. Exeter has 48 active cases with nearly 1,500 around Rockingham County.

Hampton is openly requesting applicants for substitute teachers to come forward.

Schools in Portsmouth are working toward planning for the second half of the school year in an effort to maintain and possibly expand in-person learning, according to Stephen Zadravec, the school's superintendent.

The Salem school system has had a trickle of cases during the past six weeks. But Salem High School moved to remote learning for all classes for two weeks Dec. 2 due to lack of staffing and quarantines.

"This move is necessary due to the unavailability of a number of key staff members as a result of testing positive or being identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive," said Michael Delahanty, the superintendent of schools. "While the number of cases and affected individuals remains relatively low overall, the responsibilities of those affected have necessitated this decision."

Other schools in SAU 57 are in their current models. Delahanty hoped high school staffers and students would return to in-person learning Dec. 17.

In Windham, the district has 21 positive coronavirus cases — an increase of 10 since Dec. 2, according to Superintendent Richard Langlois. It is more than any surrounding community, he said. Most of the cases were not connected to in-school activities. But the latest cases led 182 students and staffers to be quarantined from four of the district's schools.

Langlois said in a letter to parents Tuesday that the district hoped to return to hybrid learning in the four schools next week. Windham High School returned to hybrid learning Monday.

"We're continuing to evaluate the situation on a daily basis to determine how best to move forward with the changing impact of cases within our schools which affects the ability to provide in-person education," he said.

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