NH Coronavirus Update: Nearly 1,100 Positives; Airports Get $15M

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services released more specifics about the state of new coronavirus infections in the state Tuesday. According to the state, 73 new cases have been identified bringing the total to 1,091 positive cases of COVID-19. Of the 73, several are still under investigation.

But of those with completed information, 63 percent are women and 27 percent are men. Forty-seven of the new cases live in Hillsborough County while 20 live in Rockingham County. Merrimack County has a single new case.

Eleven of the new cases were hospitalized bringing the total to 163 or 15 percent of cases. Sixty-three patients are currently hospitalized, as reported by hospitals.

"Sixteen of the new cases have no identified risk factors," according to the State Joint Information Center. "Community-based transmission continues to increase in the state and has been identified in all counties with cases. Most of the remaining cases have either had travel to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis."

Of the four new deaths in the state, three were men and one was a woman. All were older than 60, had underlying health conditions, and were residents in long-term care facilities in Hillsborough County.

About 30 percent or 329 of those who have been infected have recovered, according to the state, and 10,756 people or nearly 92 percent of those who have been tested were negative at the NH Public Health Laboratories (PHL), LabCorp, Quest, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and those sent to CDC prior to NH PHL testing capacity — with 5,245 being tested at the state lab. Around 73 tests are pending at the state lab with an unknown number of tests awaiting commercials labs.

Around 2,250 people are under public health monitoring.

Diving Into More Extensive State Data

Five weeks after the first positive case of the new coronavirus in New Hampshire, the Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Infectious Disease Control released a new weekly summary report featuring more data — including age breakdowns, gender, and even how many health care workers are infected in the state.

As of April 13, slightly more women than men — 54 percent compared to 46 percent — were infected by the virus.

Only 22 cases were children (under 19, for the purposes of the data). More than a third — 391 cases — were 60 or older while 380 are between the ages of 40 and 59. Another third — 296 — are between the ages of 20 and 39.

According to the state, 311 health care workers have been infected by the virus during the last five weeks. That's around 30 percent of all infected cases.

About 16 percent of cases, 164, had contact with someone who was infected. The state is reporting 328 or 32 percent of those infected contracted the virus through "community transmission." Another 28 percent, 290, contracted the virus by international or domestic travel. Nearly 19 percent of cases — 196 — are deemed "cluster-associated," or three or more cases within a workplace or facility with evidence of transmission occurring within that location. Another 42 cases were unclear or unknown.

Read the full report online here.

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Executive Council Candidate Calls For Morally-Grounded Stim Spending

Leah Plunkett, a Democrat running for the District 2 Executive Council seat, is calling on Gov. Chris Sununu to not only "follow the law" and allow the Joint Fiscal Committee of the Legislature and the Executive Council to "make spending decisions" with the state's $1.25 billion CARES Act relief funds but also called on spending the money in "morally-grounded" ways.

She authored a letter and had more than 100 other people from around 40 communities sign it.

When asked what she meant by other morally-grounded stimulus spending, she said, "using CARES Act funds in the service of social justice, not to reward special interests or play business as usual politics. Social justice requires us to spend to protect Granite Staters' lives and livelihoods in the face of daunting odds: today, the New York Times reported that the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund 'said that the loss of global output will be 'far worse' than the 2008 financial crisis and that policymakers are facing an unusual predicament in that traditional stimulus measures are little match for a pandemic that is being fought with shutdowns and quarantines.' We need to spend on those programs that will keep our citizens housed, fed, healthy, safe, and able to work — not to bail out big businesses or walk down familiar paths that have failed working people and families before."

#ReOpenNH Rally Called For Noon April 18

A "Live Free: End the Lockdown" rally is being called for Saturday in Concord.

The rally will be held at noon on Saturday, April 18, at the Statehouse plaza. The organizers stated that it isn't associated with any particular group beyond being "concerned citizens in New Hampshire." If more than 10 people show up, they'll be in violation of the emergency order to limit gatherings to 10 or less people at one time.

Another organization promoting the rally has started a petition calling on the governor and Legislature to end the shutdown and reopen the state.

As of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 1,300 people had signed the petition.

Discover WILD New Hampshire Day Canceled

The New Hampshire Fish & Game Department has canceled this year's Discover WILD day but it has booked next years.

Discover WILD New Hampshire Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 17 at 11 Hazen Drive in Concord.

Next year’s day, the org said, will be a fun way for the whole family to explore New Hampshire’s wildlife resources and outdoor traditions. See live animals, big fish, trained falcons, and retrieving dogs in action. More than 60 outdoor and conservation organizations from around the state will be on hand to share exhibits and demonstrations. Kids will love arts and crafts and other hands-on activities such as archery, casting, fly tying, and air rifle.

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$15.2M Coming To NH Airports

The state's federal delegation announced Tuesday that part of the CARES Act funds, specifically, $15.2 million, will go to the state's airports.

Most of the money, $12.1 million, will go to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Londonderry while Pease in Portsmouth will receive $1.6 million and Lebanon Municipal will get $1.06 million. Concord Municipal Airport will receive $30,000.

The rest will be divvied up by airports in Keene, Laconia, Nashua, Berlin, Claremont, Haverhill, Newport, Plymouth, Rochester, and Whitefield.

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center Has Activities

While it is closed, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord has a number of activities that can be utilized at home including astronomy, aviation, earth and space science, STEM activities and virtual exhibits, which are uploaded every day.

This week, new activities include the Discovery Center’s Mercury Redstone rocket, programming with Cubetto robots, activities on erosion, kitchen chemistry, space "crafts" and core samples. Find out more information on the center's website.

Volinksky Calls On Governor to Join Regional Compact

District 2 Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, a candidate for governor, is calling on the governor to join other Northeastern states in coordinating an East Coast compact when reopening the state.

"New Hampshire would greatly benefit from being able to share information and resources in coordination with other East Coast states in developing a plan to reopen the Granite State's economy," he said. "As governor, I would welcome the opportunity to coordinate rebuilding our economy with neighboring states. Social isolation is hard enough — we shouldn't be putting ourselves in the position of isolating economically too."

Social Security Scam Alert

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office is warning residents to protect themselves from COVID-19 scams — including new ones targeting Social Security recipients, medical scams including phony vaccines, stimulus scams promising information via text or email, and fake charity scams.

For more information on how to protect yourself and loves ones from scams, visit the attorney general's scam site.

Stop The Spread Of COVID-19!

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.

Health officials emphasize residents should follow these recommendations:

• Avoid any domestic and international travel, especially on public transportation such as buses, trains, and airplanes.
• Practice social distancing. Stay at least 6 feet from other people, including distancing while in waiting areas or lines.
• Anybody who is told to self-quarantine and stay at home due to exposure to a person with confirmed or suspect COVID-19 needs to stay home and not go out into public places.
• If you are 60 years or older or have chronic medical conditions, you need to stay home and not go out.
• Avoid gatherings of 10 people or more.
• Employers need to move to telework as much as possible.
• There is increasing evidence that this virus can survive for hours or possibly even a few days on surfaces, so people should clean frequently touched surfaces, including door handles, grocery carts and grocery basket handles, etc.

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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