Name: COVID-19 cases in Nashua youths doubling each month
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COVID-19 cases in Nashua youths doubling each month

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Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.Please to continue reading.×Thank you for reading!We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.×Thank you for visiting!For full access, please log in, register your subscription or subscribe.Try for 99¢ a month for two months, cancel or pause anytime.You have reached the limit for free access to our important and valuable work.Your subscription does not provide access to this content.You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.As Nashua public schools prepare to return to in-person learning, the city is reeling from a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases among its school-age population, which city health experts say won’t subside soon.“Our cases under the age of 19 have essentially been doubling themselves month-to-month, and it is highly likely that this trend will continue,” Angela Consentino, an epidemiologist with the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services, told school board members on Monday night.In August, 18 people ages 10 to 19 tested positive for the disease, followed by 30 in September, 70 in October, 158 in November and 298 in December.As alarmingly, the next-youngest age category — 20 to 29 — now has the highest case count in the city, Consentino said. The latest numbers underscore that not just the elderly and those in long-term care are at risk for the virus, she said.The increased incidence of COVID-19 among Nashua school-age children is occurring even with most grades in remote learning since the start of the school year. The exceptions were special education, kindergarten and first-grade students who have been in hybrid classes until recently.“We are hoping as we come into 2021 that we will start to see a shift as we have always talked about flattening the curve,” Bobbie Bagley, director of public health in the city, said Monday night. That may not happen until March or April or until the vaccine is more widely available to the general population, she said.Bagley said that despite the increase in COVID-19 cases among Nashua youth, no deaths have been recorded among those 10 to 19.Of the 4,171 cases reported in Nashua so far, 556 are active.The 56 total deaths includes six in the past week. Consentino said.She said the city’s hospitalization rate is at 2.6%, compared to the state average of 1.9%. Among those being tested in the Gate City, 12.2% are testing positive, also well above the state, according to Consentino.Coming off the holidays and with people spending more time inside because of the cooler weather, community spread is substantial, Bagley said.“I think Nashua is really faring well when you look at the populations and the cases here,” said school board member Paula Johnson. “If these students are going back into the classroom with these numbers, are we going to keep having this fear-mongering at this point in time? We flattened the curve.”“The curve is not flattening, it is actually spiking, and we are setting new records in New Hampshire and in Massachusetts for infection rates,” school board member Raymond Guarino said.Last month, school officials in Nashua adopted a hybrid plan designed to get students back in the classroom, though concerns remain about teacher staffing.Under the tentative hybrid plan, additional grade levels will begin hybrid learning in either January or February. The plan calls for sixth-grade students to begin hybrid learning on Jan. 20 or Jan. 21, grades two, three, seven and eight to start on Jan. 25, ninth grade to begin on Jan. 27 and grades four, five, 10, 11 and 12 to start on Feb. 1.“Everybody just wants some kind of normalcy,” said Elizabeth Brunelle, student representative from Nashua High School South.Although Brunelle supports a hybrid structure, she expressed reservations about whether the potential health risks are worth it.“We have to be safe, but students want to go back. I know teachers feel less connected lately,” said Spencer Dunn, student representative from Nashua High School North.Although it might not be 100% safe, in-classroom learning will be safer with face masks, social distancing and limited time in the hallways, he said.Sonia Prince, a Nashua resident, told school board members she does not support in-person learning in Nashua when nurses are working double shifts at local hospitals to try to manage the pandemic.“I don’t have any faith at the state level, so it is up to you to help out the community — and the aldermen and the mayor and everybody involved,” she said.LONDON - An international trial testing convalescent blood plasma in cases of moderate and severe COVID-19 has halted enrolment of severely ill patients requiring intensive care after finding the plasma was of no benefit, trial investigators said on Monday.© Copyright 2021 , 100 William Loeb Drive Manchester, NH&nbsp;| &nbsp;|Powered by from .

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.As Nashua public schools prepare to return to in-person learning, the city is reeling from a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases among its school-age population, which city health experts say won’t subside soon.“Our cases under the age of 19 have essentially been doubling themselves month-to-month, and it is highly likely that this trend will continue,” Angela Consentino, an epidemiologist with the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services, told school board members on Monday night.In August, 18 people...

COVID-19 cases in Nashua youths doubling each month

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