Staff reports 8:28 a.m.
Saturday, October 10, 2020 8:26 am

Rochester's William Allen School, where one student tested positive, it was announced on Friday. (Rochester Schools photo)

ROCHESTER - School officials reported that Rochester Public Schools were informed on Friday of a positive case of COVID-19 at William Allen School.

The student is self-quarantining in accordance with New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocol, officials said.

They had not been in school since Monday and will be able to return to school on Oct. 20, as long as they have been cleared by DHHS to do so. Under state and federal privacy laws, no further information is available about the individual.

Those in the one affected classroom will be contacted and given instructions for remote learning, which remain in place until Oct. 20.

The district is actively working with and following guidelnes from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The district will be working with DHHS to identify and contact all close contacts of the positive individual. Those who are identified as a close contact (anyone who was within 6 feet of the infected individual up to two days prior to the positive test result) will be contacted by DHHS and required to quarantine for at least two weeks.

Specific quarantine plans will be provided to those affected. Those families and staff will be directed to get tested and keep themselves or their children quarantined until 14 days following their last possible exposure. For those not contacted by DHHS, this means they have not been identified as a close contact and are not required to quarantine, school officials said.

Locally, active case numbers continue to trend downward, with Rochester now at 10, Dover at 12, Somersworth and Farmington at 1-4 and Barrington, Strafford and Milton all with none.

Meanwhile in Concord, DHHS announced 97 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 0.9%. The newly identified cases include 27 under 18 and none from Strafford County.

One new hospitalized case was identified for a current total of 13.

DHHS has announced one additional death, a Hillsborough County woman 60 or older.

Current Situation in New Hampshire

NH Persons who have contracted COVID-19 8,970

Recovered 7,935 (88%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 450 (5%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 585

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 748 (8%)

Current Hospitalizations 13

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 3,050