Governor Declares Coronavirus State Of Emergency In NH: Watch

CONCORD, NH — Gov. Chris Sununu declared a state of emergency in New Hampshire Friday in an effort to battle the spread of the new coronavirus even though the state is considered a low risk and only has six patients that have been tested confirmed or presumptive positive. Sununu, who was flanked by department commissioners, the attorney general, and health officials, said the declaration was being made so they could utilize all state resources to respond to the outbreak "at a moment's notice." While he was taking the unprecedented action, the governor urged residents to "remain calm," to help others, and continue to act in a communal manner with one another.

"It's not an action that I take lightly," he said. "And we have taken the time to thoroughly assess all of the different options before taking such extraordinary step … we know that at this time that there is a very low public risk to New Hampshire when it comes to COVID-19. There is no evidence to suggest that there is any widespread community transmission. But that being said, as state officials, we must make tough decisions."

Some of the steps being taken by the state via the declaration are barring any non-medical visitors from assisted living, nursing home, and long-term care facilities beginning Sunday night. The declaration also allows state agencies to enter into contacts for materials, goods and services, and other items connected to fighting COVID-19 via administrative rule. All unnecessary travel outside of the state is banned for all state and municipal employees, and public-school-sponsored travel for students and teachers. State and local governmental bodies will also be able to conduct meetings and make decisions via email or phone outside of the rules designated by the state's open meeting law so long as officials do their best to make sure the public was informed about the information. Health and fire prevention officials may also allow temporary child care facilities to open around the state without meeting licensing requirements.

Sununu said these were not the full range of actions that could be taken due to the declaration. He said the state was not closing public schools — those decisions would be made at the local level. But the state was working to allow remote learning for schools that did close or parents who decided to keep their children home, he said.

Sununu thanked all the health employees working on the front lines to stem the outbreak in the state and reminded residents that there was a 211 information number to assist the public with information and a new COVID-19 website.

"We understand this is a rapidly evolving situation," Sununu said. "The actions we're taken today will undoubtedly help save lives and ensure that health care facilities will remain nimble and adequately staffed and resourced to help ensure that New Hampshire properly responds to the outbreak. One of the biggest responsibilities of government is to keep the public safe and that's exactly what we're doing."

The emergency declaration will last for 21 days when it will be reassessed.

Health officials said the number of confirmed positives remained at two and presumptive positives remained at four. Three of those positives live in Rockingham County and three in Grafton County. Around 150 people in the state have been tested. Five hundred additional testing kits are expected next week.

Currently, health officials are monitoring nearly 300 people but will not be releasing a breakdown of what communities those people live in due to privacy laws and the risk that the general public could discover who was being monitored. They will continue to only release positive tests by county.

State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said officials took privacy laws "very seriously." At the same time, the nearly 300 people being monitoring were "asymptomatic" and were being "asked" to self-quarantine because they do have some sort of risk factor either from places where they have traveled recently or they have contacted someone with COVID-19 even though they may not be a risk.

"If they ever do develop symptoms, they haven’t been out in public places, and we can immediately get them into testing," he said.

At the same time, Chan said there were bound to be more cases in the state given the "expanded global pandemic," people traveling to and from different states, including Massachusetts, which has a high number of positives. People in New Hampshire work there and people from the Bay State recreate and work here, so there will be more exposure, he said. The public, Chan said, needed to "expect" that there would be additional coronavirus detections in the state.

"We have not identified wider spread community transmission at this point despite increases in testing that we have been doing at our public health laboratories," Chan said. "I think, over the last two weeks, we've tested close to 150 or more individuals for COVID-19 throughout the state and have not found additional positives. But likely, going forward, there will be additional positives and part of the reason that we communicate with our partners in other states and communicate with partners within the state is to conduct these public health investigations so we can rapidly try and respond to these detections of COVID-19 to minimize and limit the spread to other communities."

Reaction To The Declaration

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a former governor herself, said she supported Sununu's decision and would work "closely with the governor and our New Hampshire Congressional Delegation to support our public health professionals on the front lines and keep our communities healthy and safe."

District 2 Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, another Democrat and a gubernatorial candidate, said he was "glad" the governor declared a state of emergency — something he requested that he do Wednesday. However, it fell short, he said. Tests, Volinsky said, should be free and freely available, especially for the thousands of uninsured in the state.

"We are only as safe and healthy as the most vulnerable people in our communities," he said.

Volinsky said it was also "concerning" that the governor didn't have anyone from the business community or state business development offices at the press conference with him or that he didn't mention small business disaster relief available to New Hampshire businesses.

While Taylor Caswell, the commissioner of Business & Economic Affairs wasn't a part of the press conference, he was in the audience.

What You Can Do

COVID-19, not unlike the flu and other respiratory illnesses, is spread through respiratory droplets, usually through coughing and sneezing, and exposure to others who are sick or might be showing symptoms. Take the same precautions as you would if you were sick:

• Stay home and avoid public places when sick (i.e. social distancing).
• Cover mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing.
• Wash hands frequently.
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces.

More information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services about coronavirus can be found here on the department's website.

• Guidance to schools can be found can be found here.
• Instructions for returning travelers to self-observe for symptoms of COVID-19 are available are available here.
• For more information on COVID-19 in NH, visit its site here.
• For the latest information from the CDC, visit its site here.

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