Author: The Hippo Press

Covid-19 news

State health officials announced 99 new positive cases of Covid-19 on Aug. 2. The state averaged 107 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, an increase of 112 percent compared to the week before. As of Aug. 2, all but two counties in the state were at moderate levels of community transmission, according to state health officials, while Belknap County was at a substantial level and Sullivan County at a minimal level.

Due to the prevalence of the highly contagious delta variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended universal indoor masking for K-through-12 schools across the country. According to an Aug. 2 report from WMUR, New Hampshire Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut said that will be a decision made at the local level this fall, by either the school board or the superintendent. Because the state is no longer under an emergency order, school districts will not be required to offer remote learning, though they can if they choose to.

The New Hampshire Hospital Association announced in an Aug. 3 press release that it supports mandating Covid-19 vaccines for employees of all state hospitals and health systems. The release cited recent data from the Josiah Bartlett Center that vaccinated patients are less likely to fall ill or be hospitalized — since the beginning of February, according to the data, unvaccinated people have accounted for 99 percent of New Hampshire’s positive Covid cases and 98 percent of deaths. “As public health leaders, our mission is to protect the lives and well-being of both our patients and our staff, and the Covid-19 vaccine is the most effective way we can do that,” Don Caruso, President and CEO of Cheshire Medical Center and the current Chair of the New Hampshire Hospital Association’s Board of Trustees said in a statement. According to a press release issued the same day, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health will require vaccinations of all of its employees as a condition of employment, beginning Sept. 30. The requirements include all per diem employees and those working remotely, according to the release.

Eviction cases

The federal eviction moratorium ended July 31, and several state agencies have prepared for the anticipated rise in eviction cases. The New Hampshire Circuit Court, which handles eviction cases in the state, has seen a substantial decrease in the number of evictions filed since the moratorium started in September, according to a press release, and plans to restart eviction cases that were put on hold and have hearings for most of those cases by Aug. 11. For cases that were put on hold after a judgment had already been issued, the Court will begin issuing Writs of Possession Aug. 2, the release said.

The Circuit Court has been working with New Hampshire Housing, which administers the New Hampshire Emergency Rental Assistance Program, a $200 million federally funded rental assistance program that can pay for up to a total of 15 months of back and future rent and other housing-related expenses, such as water, sewer, trash, home heating and relocation expenses, for eligible tenants who can’t pay rent or utilities due to the impact of the pandemic. According to the release, landlords can start the application on behalf of tenants and are paid directly if the tenant is approved. The assistance is expected to be available through at least 2022.

Applications are being accepted by the state’s five Community Action Partnership agencies and can be submitted at capnh.org. Renters can call 211 for assistance or contact 603 Legal Aid (nhlegalaid.org), which provides free civil legal services to low-income people.

Primary date

Last week, Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed HB 98, which would have moved the date of the state primary from the second Tuesday in September to the first Tuesday in August. “I agree with the Secretary of State that House Bill 98 creates more problems than it solves,” Sununu wrote in his veto statement. He wrote that it would move the election, as well as the campaign season for that election, into the middle of the summer. “This is a time when many Granite Staters are enjoying their vacations and are far less likely to be involved in the electoral process,” he wrote. “This change could lead to depressed voter engagement in the election and reduced turnout.” He also wrote that the summer date could make it more difficult for towns and cities to recruit poll workers and Election Day volunteers, already a challenge for many municipalities. “New Hampshire’s elections are the gold standard for the rest of the country and our primary date schedule has stood the test of time,” he wrote. “Our Secretary of State, who has run our state’s elections for 45 years, believes this legislation will add significant challenges to a process that does not need to be changed.”

Animal protection

Gov. Sununu signed three new animal protection bills on July 25, including one that will require drivers to stop if they hit a cat and report the incident to the cat’s owner or local police, according to WMUR. The law currently applies to dogs and will be enforced for cats starting in 2022. The other two bills will increase penalties for stealing dogs and tampering with a dog’s collar or microchip, and establish criminal penalties for acts of cruelty done to wild animals. The bills received bipartisan support from the House and the Senate, according to the article.

E-ZPass card

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has announced that NH E-ZPass customers can now replenish their E-ZPass account with cash at participating retail locations with the E-ZPass Reload Card. According to a press release, customers who don’t want to use their credit or debit cards to automatically replenish their accounts can instead add funds to their accounts with the New Hampshire E-ZPass Reload Card. The wallet-size reusable card can be found on the gift card display at participating retailers throughout the state. It will add an initial reload amount from $10 to $500, plus a $1.50 retailer convenience fee, the release said, and the card can then be linked to the customer’s account by calling the phone number on the back of the card. To reload the card, customers must present the same Reload Card in-store, and cash payments will automatically be loaded to their E-ZPass account.

The Hooksett Area Rotary Club and the Queen City Rotary Club are looking for volunteers to help them assemble more than 3,000 backpacks for their Gear Up for School backpack drive. According to a press release, volunteers are needed on Saturday, Aug. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Memorial High School in Manchester to fill packs with back-to-school supplies. All ages are welcome, and you can sign up by searching for the event on signupgenius.com or email harcnh@gmail.com for more information.

Sales at the New Hampshire State Forest Nursery in Boscawen continue to grow, according to a press release. Total nursery sales rose 14.2 percent to $220,481 over 2020, which was also a record year. The nursery shipped 238,155 seedlings, an increase of 27,990 from last year, the release said. Nursery stock is grown on site at the nursery from seed and is not imported or transplanted from other sources.

The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire broke ground last week on the All Persons Trail at the Cedar Swamp Preserve in Manchester, according to a press release. The universally accessible trail is expected to be completed and open to the public in October.

Water Safety Day will be held Thursday, Aug. 5, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hampton Beach Seashell Complex in Hampton. According to a press release, the event will include rescue demonstrations and interactive discussions about staying safe on the ocean and in lakes or rivers. The event is hosted by the state Division of Parks and Recreation’s State Beach Patrol and Hampton Beach State Park lifeguards.

Covid-19 news

With its public health update on July 20, New Hampshire surpassed 100,000 overall cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic last year. As of July 26, there were 364 active cases, 23 hospitalizations and 1,385 overall deaths that have been attributed to the virus.

On July 21, Gov. Chris Sununu responded to the federal government’s extension of the non-essential travel ban between the United States and Canada through at least Aug. 21, calling the decision “absurd” to delay the border opening for another month. “It harms our small businesses and families, and does not follow the science,” Sununu said in a statement.

Also on July 21, the University of New Hampshire announced in a press release that it has obtained a federal grant to perform surveillance for Covid-19 variants in the state. The $757,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to a press release, enables UNH to perform testing in its lab in partnership with New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories and the state Department of Health & Human Services.

During a July 22 press conference, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan reported that the state has averaged about 40 new infections of Covid-19 per day over the previous week. “This is a small increase from about a month ago, when we were averaging around 20 or so new infections per day,” he said. “Similarly, the test positivity rate is also showing an increase, [at] around 1.9 percent over the last week.” Overall, however, Chan added that the level of community transmission statewide has remained low. “Despite some of the increases we’ve seen, New Hampshire has one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 currently in the country,” he said.

Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, also provided an update during the press conference on vaccine distributions in the state. “The number of new people getting vaccinated each day has slowed down over time, [but] we still have about 1,000 new people each week,” she said. While New Hampshire is no longer allocated a weekly amount of vaccine doses from the federal government, health care providers can order them on an as-needed basis.

According to a July 23 press release, Sununu signed HB 220, known as the “medical freedom” immunization bill, into law. Under the new law, New Hampshire residents cannot be required to be vaccinated in order to access public facilities, benefits or services. It also allows mandatory immunizations in prisons and jails. The new law does not apply, however, to county nursing homes, the state psychiatric hospital or other medical facilities operated by the state.

Anti-discrimination

Guidance related to the new discriminatory practice prohibitions for public employers and government programs that were passed as part of House Bill 2 was issued last week by Attorney General John M. Formella, Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and Commission for Human Rights Executive Director Ahni Malachi. Two frequently asked questions documents are now available at doj.nh.gov that further explain the new anti-discrimination laws, one for public employees and government programs and one for K-12 educational programs.

According to the guidance, HB2 was passed on June 25 and includes sections 297 and 298, Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education. “There has been much discussion about this law and what prohibitions it imposes on public employers, government programs, and schools,” the document reads. “The purpose of these FAQs is to provide guidance to public employers, government program administrators, and school systems as they review their compliance with this new law.”

Questions address things like what public employers and government programs are prohibited from training and advocating: “In short, do not train or advocate that a person or a group is inherently oppressive, superior, inferior, racist, or sexist. Train and treat all equally and without discrimination,” the document reads. In the K-12 educational programs FAQ, one question asks whether the law prohibits teachers from teaching U.S. history. “No. Nothing prohibits the teaching of historical subjects including, but not limited to: slavery, treatment of the Native American population, Jim Crow laws, segregation, treatment of women, treatment of LGBTQ+ people, treatment of people with disabilities, treatment of people based on their religion, or the Civil Rights movement. Nor does anything prohibit discussions related to current events including, but not limited to: the Black Lives Matter movement, efforts to promote equality and inclusion, or other contemporary events that impact certain identified groups.”

The documents note that the term “divisive concepts” is not found anywhere in the new law, and that nothing in the new law prohibits these entities from examining issues related to equity, diversity, inclusion, equality and other related topics. They also recognize that such topics may make people uncomfortable, but that does not mean that the training has violated New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination laws and does not give employees or participants the license to refuse to participate in the training without consequence.

Auto insurance

The New Hampshire Insurance Department has issued a reminder to consumers to notify their auto insurance company immediately after getting a new vehicle. “Recent complaint investigations have shown that not all consumers are notifying their carriers when they are purchasing used or new vehicles,” Keith Nyhan, Director of Consumer Services at NHID, said in a press release. “The failure to notify their carrier has created situations where consumers are unknowingly uninsured.” According to the release, people typically have only a short grace period to notify their carrier. If they miss that window and the vehicle is not insured, they could be held financially responsible for injury and property damage caused while driving that vehicle.

Coppal House Farm in Lee is hosting its annual Sunflower Festival from Saturday, July 31, through Sunday, Aug. 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. According to a press release, the 4-acre field of sunflowers is only open during this festival. There will also be live music, food vendors, a wine garden, a craft fair and more. Tickets are available at the farm stand or at nhsunflower.com

On July 22 the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services issued an advisory after observing a cyanobacteria bloom on Governors Lake in Raymond. The previous day it issued a cyanobacteria advisory for Marsh Pond in New Durham. According to a press release, the advisories are intended for people who use the water bodies for recreation, as the blooms can release toxins that can cause acute and chronic health problems. See updated advisories at twitter.com/NHDES_Beaches.

Peter Holland, a longtime race team coach at Pats Peak in Henniker, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award during Ski New Hampshire’s annual business meeting earlier this month. According to a press release, the award was presented posthumously to his wife Roberta Holland. Peter Holland began his ski career at Pats Peak as a ski instructor in 1980 and dedicated decades to teaching and coaching skiers of all ages, the release said.

The Merrimack Fire Department was called to the Merrimack Premium Outlets on July 24 after employees of one store received what they thought was a suspicious package, according to a report from WMUR. The hazardous materials team in Nashua was also called in, and the package was determined to be safe, but all shoppers and employees were evacuated, and the outlets remained closed for the rest of the day, the report said.