The Vermont Department of Health reported 145 new Covid cases Thursday, a total roughly in line with the latest seven-day average as the state battles a wave of the Delta variant.
The department also added two new deaths to its data, the first two Covid patients reported to have died in the state in September. In August, 17 people died from the disease in Vermont. In total, Covid has claimed 279 people in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
Twenty-nine people were hospitalized with the virus, including eight in the ICU, according to the department’s latest figures. That’s similar to the number of people in the hospital in recent days — down from a peak of 35 in late August.
Pownal Elementary School closed to students Thursday to complete contact tracing after two people associated with the school tested positive for Covid, Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union superintendent James Culkeen wrote in a statement posted on the supervisory union’s website. Students were not expected to join for remote learning because not all students had received Chromebooks for the year, Culkeen wrote.
Pownal is at least the third school to have closed or sent students to remote learning since the start of the school year. Others have included Twinfield Union in Plainfield and East Montpelier Elementary School.
Other schools have reported multiple Covid cases that have sent close contacts home for quarantining and testing. Montpelier shut down three classrooms this week — two at Main Street Middle School and one at Union Elementary — in response to three cases in the district, according to an email to parents from superintendent Libby Bonesteel.
Center for Technology in Essex has also reported at least two cases, but remains open for the time being, according to an email to parents from Beth Cobb, the district superintendent.
The state does not currently report Covid totals for schools. You can share information about Covid-related closures with VTDigger by filling out our tip form.
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