Sununu: Parents Right To Be Upset Some Schools Aren't Reopening

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire residents can now see more information and data about the state of COVID-19 in the state after its health department unveiled a new data dashboard.

The updated COVID-19 Overview Dashboard was unveiled by Gov. Chris Sununu at a news conference Thursday along with new vistation guidelines for long-term care facilities, child care student expansion, and other information. The new dashboard features trend charts, more interactive maps, and also an expanded interactive equity chart. The maps feature metric choices such as rate of cumulative cases per 100,000 population and tests per community, too, although after being unveiled, much of the information was not readily available.

Sununu said he was "very aggressive" about using data to try and track the virus to make the best decisions for the state. He called the new charts "really exciting" because it included expanded information at both the local and county level.

"It's a great, great new tool," he said. "Whoever wants to use it can really dig in."

Public Health Update

Lori Shibinette, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said the state was reporting 34 new cases bringing accumulative cases to 6,921.

While there were no new hospitalizations, two new deaths were being reported in the state.

Health officials were also closing a long-term care facility outbreak at Ridgewood Genesis in Bedford leaving only two outbreaks in the state.

Long-Term Care Visitations

The state is moving into a four phase approach to creaking the door open on visitations at long-term care facilities in the state to assist in improving not only the physical health of residents but also their psycho-social well-being and "create a path forward," Shibinette said.

Facilities must meet certain metrics and the county where the companies are located must also meet those criteria. Currently, all of the non-outbreak facilities have Phase 2 visitation which allows for limited indoor visits, outdoor visits, and support staff. Eventually, nonessential personnel, like hair stylists, will be able to visit facilities again. Currently, only Coos, Grafton, and Merrimack counties meet the less than 10 cases per 100,000 infection for criteria to move into Phase 3. If, during the next 14 days, they stay in that phase, the facilities can allow a single family member or loved one to have indoor visitation. The visits, Shibinette said, require no touching and are in a designated place.

"But, it really gives residents the chance to visit with their families," she said.

If there are future surges, both the state and facilities can pull back, Shibinette said.

School Reopenings

Sununu unveiled a contact tracing strategy for schools that reopen offering guidance as well as a commitment to parents that the state and school districts will be as transparent as possible about cluster infections and outbreaks.

Similar to contact tracing now being performed, after the state finds out about a case, it will contact the family of the infected student as well as the school district. The district will then communicate with the school population about the incident and take the necessary action to clean schools and isolate the spread. Each school needs to have its own communication plan in place. After that, anyone in close contact with the student will be notified. The process will be the same for educators, Sununu said.

All known infections will be required to stay at home and be quarantined similar to infections found outside of schools. Educators and students will be allowed to return to school when cleared by the public health department.

Officials are separating the incidents into clusters or cohorts and outbreaks. Clusters are fewer than three cases in a classroom or a cohort whereas an outbreak is three or more infections as well as community transmission within a classroom, grade, or school.

"When an outbreak is identified, public health may recommend that the school transition into more of a remote learning model for a period of at least 14-days," Sununu said.

The governor is also finalizing a school emergency order which, he hoped, would ensure susceptible students are not left behind during the 2020-2021 school year. Sununu said the state had the resources and technology to track gaps and fix them. Special education requirements are not being waived regardless of the instruction model approved by local districts, he said. Those needs will be met and provided by the school district, Sununu said, adding, "it's a moral commitment we have to keep to these students and families." The challenge, Sununu said, was that districts cannot stand in the way of delivering the best education possible for students with individualized education plans.

"It's about these kids," he said. "This has to be done. We will work with districts in any way possible."

The Medicaid to Schools Funds have also been fixed, Sununu said.

View the full .pdf file of the press presentation from Aug. 13.

Child Care Guidance Updated

Class sizes at child care centers can now expand from 10 to 20 students and churches can also reopen their centers.

Sununu said the expansion was needed due to many school districts moving to fully remote education for the 2020-2021 was requiring more daycare services. A number of new centers have opened up in the state, too, in order to provide the need, he said.

The state has had "very little" incidents of COVID-19, Sununu said.

Questions And Answers

Sununu was asked if an outbreak would require a school to close. He said not necessarily. Larger schools could have a cluster or outbreak of illness in sections of the schools without having to close the school especially if there was no community transmission.

"Each case will be a little bit different," he said. "A cluster of illness is not an outbreak; outbreak can be a scary word."

Shibinette was asked about testing of out-of-state college students and how that will be reported. She said some students involved with pretesting have been found to have been positive before arriving onto campus. Although the state will be performing contact tracing, colleges and universities will also be working with the state to make sure that all exposure is tracked. Those institutions, Shibinette said, are going to know which students were in contact with each other. She said there have been some positive cases with new college students, some who may be out-of-state, and they were quarantined before being allowed on campus. Part of the allowed attendance requirement is to test negative, she said.

"Stay home if you're sick," she said, "and get tested."

Sununu was asked about new federal legislation that expands the timeline for usage of the CARES Act funds and whether New Hampshire would benefit. He said the broadband expansion being funded would benefit since the construction would not be done by December, the deadline for usage of funds. Each state is different, he said, but more time was needed on spending the funds. Sununu also hoped for another stimulus package.

Sununu was asked about unemployment updates and expansion of outlays. He said more guidance was needed and President Donald Trump's executive order was a "curveball" and unexpected, especially when it came to the $100 match by states. Since the funds were coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state would figure it out. But, flexibility, would allow the officials to move forward, without issues.

Shibinette was asked about testing for students being called "health care theatre" because a person tested at one point can get sick not long after being testing. She called it "an interesting phrase" not spoken by anyone who was involved in the process. The commissioner said regular testing tracked a student spreading the virus in three days versus 14-days and tracks the spread sooner.

Sununu was asked about studies showing the academic impact in the state was "dismal" and why he was calling it a success. He challenged the "dismal" comment as "a horrible disservice" and said remote learning was not as good as being in a classroom.

"Of course, it doesn't match up," he said.

Some states though, Sununu added, did not even try to educate children. New Hampshire put together a plan within a week to get remote learning up and running, he said, while some students fell through the cracks, many more accomplished a lot and did so on a little more than a week's notice when the state locked down and moved to remote learning.

"The kids have to be the priority ... every single time," Sununu said.

Sununu was asked about rapid test results for schools as well as the mask mandate on gatherings of 100 or more people and the dashboard showing people of color being affected by the virus at higher rates than others. He said the rapid test was "advantageous" and needed. Testing rates in New Hampshire have been halved to about three to four days whereas a few weeks ago, it was more than a week. Sununu said state officials were working on recommendations on equity in health care based on ethnicity. The data would help them address the issues whether regional, rural, and what to do about them.

Sununu and Shibinette were asked whether all of the state's deaths were due to underlying health conditions and not from COVID-19 alone. They said, the vast majority of deaths were due to underlying health conditions or people being over 60, and they did not know of any cases where people died due to only COVID-19.

Sununu was asked about the mantra of political interests and others who have been calling for people to follow the science, data, and facts, and yet, when it has come to school reopenings, many decisions are being made based on fear and not science, especially communities with limited cases. He was given Concord, as an example, which has gone to fully remote despite having only a handful of active cases and less than 150 cases across these many months. At the same time, 11 percent of residents are collecting unemployment and many more people, including working families and single parents, and will be put in more difficult financial situations again.

Sununu said the thesis was legitimate but did not want to say it was all school districts. He said it was not the governor's role to force schools to reopen. The districts really need to work with the parents, principals, teachers, and, school boards, and "hopefully, and do what is right by their students." Sununu said he had been watching school board meetings and was surprised by some of the comments. He said there were "so many incidences," and he had to "bite his lip," claiming the state was doing everything it could. Sununu said the criticism was not true.

"We don't have any cases of districts officially coming to us requesting more money," Sununu said. "It's not true."

Sununu said many districts appeared to "not be trying" and were "searching for excuses not to come back" and parents were "very upset right now ... and districts aren't even trying." He added that there were "great hybrid models out there; I give districts a lot of credit … (some have done) awesome job, being innovative (but) those decisions are really best made at the local level." Districts, he added, had to make the decisions.

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