Schools feeling ripples of COVID-19 surge

November 12, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti

As Vermont continues to see record-setting daily COVID-19 case counts, local schools have been dealing with their own surge in new infections as the first 12 days of November now account for half the COVID cases for the school year so far. 

As of Friday, Nov. 12, the Harwood Unified Union School District had reported 11 COVID-19 cases for November alone for a total of 22 since the school year began. From late August through October, the district reported its initial 11 cases. The reports focus on cases in individuals who were considered to be contagious when they were at school.  

Seven of the new cases this month were reported in individuals at Harwood Union Middle and High School. Two others were in second graders at Brookside Primary School in Waterbury and a single case was reported at both Waitsfield and Fayston elementary schools. Two of this week’s cases at Harwood involved students who rode the middle/high school morning Bus 6, according to the school announcements.

When cases are reported, those who were in close contact with the infected individuals are not required to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and have no symptoms. Those not vaccinated, which includes children under age 12, are required to get a COVID-19 test which is available daily at the Waterbury Ambulance Station on Guptil Road. 

A shift is coming soon, however, in how the school district will handle cases and those in close contact with people who test positive. 

This week’s school Community Bulletin (available on the district’s website home page at HUUSD.org) explains that steps are being taken to put a new testing protocol in place in coordination with state public health and education officials. The “Test to Stay” effort will be implemented soon involving rapid tests that will “screen unvaccinated, asymptomatic students identified as close contacts at school and provide more immediate information on any symptomatic individual identified at school.” 

Families were sent information and consent forms to fill out to be ready should their students be identified as a close contact or have symptoms so that a rapid test could be done without delay.   

Schools will be provided testing supplies to conduct those tests on site, school officials said. 

In the meantime, weekly voluntary surveillance testing is ongoing to identify asymptomatic cases early. 

Students at Brookside Primary School work on art projects outdoors on a sunny fall afternoon. Photo by Gordon Miller

Vaccines for 5-11 year olds

A game-changer for families with elementary school students and those working with younger children was last week’s announcement of the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11. 

The two-dose Pfizer vaccine is now available in child-sized doses to be administered similarly to the adult version three weeks apart with full immunity a couple of weeks after the second dose. 

Kaiya Korb, the Waitsfield Elementary School principal who is a lead administrator on COVID-19 matters for the school district, said the district is looking to schedule vaccination clinics for children in this age group soon.

Crossett Brook Middle School Principal Tom Drake said the vaccine approval for younger children was welcome news. The school to date has had to manage at least four cases where individuals were infectious in school which results in multiple absences while students and staff are tested and cleared to return to school. 

“In my humble opinion, the more vaccinated bodies we can get at CBMS, the healthier we will be,” Drake said.  

Parents do not need to wait for a school vaccine clinic. Appointments are available using the state COVID-19 website at healthvermont.gov/covid-19/vaccine; pediatricians’ offices are scheduling vaccine appointments as are pharmacies such as Kinney Drugs, Shaw’s, CVS, etc.  

Cases in young children are the fastest-growing categories for the virus spread during the latest surge that began mid-summer. Since August, cases among children up to age 9 have increased 132% with more than 4,300 infections reported as of this week. Cases among those ages 10-19, have grown by 65% to over 6,200 to date, according to Vermont Health Department data.

According to the state’s weekly report of cases in Vermont schools released Tuesday, 1,502 COVID-19 cases have been recorded among students and staff in schools so far this school year. 

To help answer questions parents and caregivers may have about COVID-19 vaccine for children, pediatricians with the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics will be hosting a series of forums via Zoom. A list of them is on the chapter’s website here.  

Harwood schools continue to operate with masking required of everyone indoors and on school buses. Staff are required to be vaccinated or test regularly. School officials have said nearly all district staff have been vaccinated. 

In the local communities within the school district, COVID cases reported weekly have continued at low levels. Waterbury continues to see the most new cases weekly. In the past two weeks ending Nov. 10, Waterbury saw 22 new cases reported. That’s compared with about 40 cases each in October and September.

In the past two weeks ending Nov. 10, Moretown and Waitsfield had 9 and 10 new reported cases respectively; Warren had four and Duxbury one, according to the Health Department. 

UPDATE: This story was updated on Nov. 12 to reflect two new COVID-19 cases at Harwood Union Middle and High School on Nov. 11 and 12 along with new community case data reported by the Vermont Department of Health on Nov. 12.