Author: The Hippo Press

Covid-19 news

On Jan. 26, the first vaccine doses to Granite Staters in Phase 1B of the state’s distribution plan began. “New Hampshire’s rollout of Phase 1B has been very successful with over 300,000 individuals registering to receive their vaccine in just one week,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a Jan. 29 press release. According to that release, the state sent out emails to people in Phase 1B who have received their first dose of the vaccine but had not yet scheduled a second dose, or scheduled an appointment that is several weeks away. “We are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to speeding up the process, including opening up additional appointments for individuals to receive their second dose,” Sununu said in the release.

As of Feb. 2, additional second dose appointments were made available at vams.cdc.gov. “In order to accommodate the entire statewide vaccination campaign, we’ve added additional locations in partnership with our hospitals,” Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, said during a Jan. 26 press conference, “so we currently have 22 sites that are open to the public.” During the same press conference, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said that, while the test-positivity rates and hospitalization numbers due to Covid-19 continue to be on the decline over the last several weeks, the overall level of community transmission remains very high statewide. The following day, Jan. 27, New Hampshire surpassed 1,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic last March, according to the daily public health update.

On Jan. 29, Sununu and the governors of each of the five other New England states and New Jersey issued a joint statement extending the suspension of all interstate youth hockey competitions for public and private schools through at least March 31. A regional suspension had previously been in place through Dec. 31 before it was then extended to Jan. 31. The prohibition does not impact interstate collegiate, professional or national hockey team activities, according to the statement.

Details on Sununu’s emergency orders, executive orders and other announcements can be found at governor.nh.gov.

Support local

The state has launched a marketing campaign called “Support Local: Go the Extra Mile” to help boost the local businesses as they struggle through the economic fallout of the pandemic, according to a press release. Economic development and tourism officials will run the campaign through March via ads on billboards, television spots and social media. The ads encourage residents to eat, shop and stay local, and there’s a new website with listings of New Hampshire businesses: supportlocal603.com. “While the resiliency, resourcefulness, and fierce determination of our industry has been on full display during these challenging times, we need the support of everyone in the state right now,” Mike Somers, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association, said in the release.

Housing assistance

On Jan. 26, the City of Manchester launched the Manchester Emergency Housing Assistance Program, which will allow residents with low or moderate incomes who have lost income due to the pandemic to receive grants of up to $4,500 to cover rent, mortgage payments or utilities, according to a press release. “Preventing and ending homelessness starts with making sure that those who are struggling to make ends meet remain housed,” Mayor Joyce Craig said in the release. Eligible applicants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. According to the release, the program is being funded with a Community Development Block Grant and federal funds provided to the city through the CARES Act.

Interim supers

The Nashua Board of Education voted last week to hire Garth McKinney as Superintendent of Schools and Mario Andrade as Assistant Superintendent for Elementary, according to a press release. They are both serving in an interim capacity until June 30. McKinney is taking the place of Jahmal Mosley, who has taken a job as a superintendent in Massachusetts; he will continue in an advisory capacity to the Office of Superintendent until the end of the school year. McKinney is the current Assistant Superintendent for Elementary for the Nashua School District, and Andrade started the school year as Principal of Elm Street Middle School in an interim capacity, according to the release.

The Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon announced last week that registration is now open for the 40th annual Prouty, a fundraising event that combines cycling, walking, rowing, golfing and more. According to a press release, this year’s event will be virtual, with potential in-person options depending on safety and health guidelines. In honor of its 40th year, the Prouty will take place over the course of 40 days — June 1 through July 10 — and virtual participants can do whatever activity they want anywhere at any time. Visit theprouty.org.

The Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin became available for pre-order on Jan. 28, the 35th anniversary of the Challenger tragedy, at catalog.usmint.gov. According to a press release, the coin honors Christa McAuliffe, the Concord teacher who died aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, and proceeds will promote STEM education.

The SEE Science Center in Manchester is hosting its adult science discussion series, Science on Tap, virtually on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The informal discussion this month is Covid-19: Lessons Learned. According to a press release, local science and health care professionals will talk about the virus and the vaccines, and how the response to this virus will impact the medical field in the future. Admission is free, but sign-up is required at see-sciencecenter.org.

Covid-19 news

New Hampshire surpassed 60,000 overall cases of Covid-19 with its daily public health update on Jan. 21, according to state officials. Despite numbers continuing to climb, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said during a Jan. 21 press conference that overall test-positivity rates have been trending downward. “It’s at 6.8 percent, which is … at the same level that we saw back at the end of November,” he said. Hospitalizations have also been on the decline — 230 people were hospitalized as of Jan. 25, down slightly from the previous week.

With the state moving on to Phase 1B of its vaccine distribution plan on Jan. 22, opening up eligibility for roughly 300,000 Granite Staters to receive their first doses, Gov. Chris Sununu urged people to be patient during the registration process. “We put needles in arms as fast as we get them in … but we’re still only getting about 17,000 [doses] a week,” Sununu said. “As the federal government increases vaccines for the State of New Hampshire, we will add more reservation spots within our system and be able to move people up.” The online registration portal is accessed by visiting vaccines.nh.gov. As of Jan. 25, just under 200,000 Granite Staters have signed up to receive doses as part of Phase 1B, and more than 60 percent of those have already scheduled a location and time for their first shot. The first Phase 1B vaccines were administered Jan. 26. According to a press release issued by the state Department of Health & Human Services, the FAQs on vaccines.nh.gov have also been updated and clarified to note that only residents are eligible to receive the vaccine in New Hampshire.

On Jan. 22, Sununu issued Emergency Order No. 83, an order allowing local officials to postpone their 2021 town meetings and elections and to pre-process their absentee ballots due to Covid-19 concerns. The order, according to the paperwork, serves to “bridge the gap” by responding to timing challenges related to SB 2, which passed in the Senate on Jan. 6 but has an indefinite timeline for passing in the House. “The House of Representatives has scheduled a public hearing on Senate Bill 2 and expects to pass the bill in early February 2021,” the order states. “Some towns in New Hampshire have stated that an early February enactment date … would be too late for these towns to set their schedules.”

Also on Jan. 22, Sununu issued Executive Order 2021-1, extending the state of emergency in New Hampshire due to the pandemic for another three weeks through at least Feb. 12. It’s the 15th extension he has issued since originally declaring a state of emergency last March.

Details of Sununu’s emergency orders, executive orders and other announcements can be found at governor.nh.gov.

Education funding

Sixteen mayors and School Board chairs from cities across New Hampshire sent a letter on Jan. 21 to New Hampshire Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, Gov. Chris Sununu, Senate President Chuck Morse and House Speaker Sherman Packard regarding concerns over education funding. “Covid-19 has put tremendous strain on school districts across the state … and as districts begin the budgeting process for the next school year, there are three particular areas of concern that we … wanted to bring to your attention,” the letter starts. The first concern is lower enrollment in free and reduced lunch programs due to national expansion of program eligibility during the pandemic, which affects the amount of funding given to school districts. The second is that there has been an “unprecedented decrease” in school enrollment during the pandemic as many parents have chosen to send their children to private school or to home school until public schools are able to return to fully in-person education safely, the letter says. Since

adequacy aid is based on the enrollment of the previous year, districts are concerned that they will end up educating students for whom they did not receive adequacy aid. “For example, Nashua would see a reduction of $1.6M in adequacy aid in the 2022FY budget if enrollment numbers increase close to pre-pandemic levels for the next school year, as districts are anticipating,” the letter reads. The final concern is the rate increases for state retirement contributions. “This downshifting of costs from the State of New Hampshire to local municipalities and school districts will result in considerable budget shortfalls,” the letter says. The letter ends by asking the Department of Education and the state’s government to take the anticipated revenue shortfalls into account as they allocate funding.

Friends funding

On Jan. 24, the New Hampshire delegation — U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas — announced that the Friends Program in Concord has been awarded $149,811 in AmeriCorps funding. According to a press release, the funding is specifically in support of the AmeriCorps volunteers in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, which focuses on volunteers who are 55 and older. “These federal funds make important investments in New Hampshire’s community service programming, bolster volunteer opportunities for seniors and support the Friends Program’s mission to empower Granite Staters with the tools they need to give back to their communities,” Shaheen said in the release.

FIT grant

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health has given a $20,000 grant to Families in Transition in Manchester, to support the nonprofit’s work with people experiencing homelessness, providing funding for its adult emergency shelter program. “More than ever during Covid-19 members of our community are struggling to meet their basic needs for shelter, food and social contact,” Greg Norman, MS, director of Community Health for Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said in a press release. “D-HH can help community-based organizations like Families in Transition continue to meet the safety net needs of our patients and other members of the communities we serve.”

Winter gear

On Jan. 20, Girl Scouts in Manchester placed about 180 scarves, hats, gloves and blankets around Veterans Park. According to a press release, the items were left on trees, fence posts and other places throughout the park with tags to let people know they were free to take.

Two new specialty clinics, NeuroOncology and Gynecologic Oncology, are set to open at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock location at the Catholic Medical Center’s Notre Dame Pavilion in Manchester. According to a press release, the clinics will focus on specific cancer diagnoses, including even the rarest cancers.

OLLI — the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, for people ages 50 and up — at Granite State College in Concord announced in a press release that it will offer 81 non-credit courses via Zoom during the spring term, which starts Monday, Feb. 22. There will be classes on history, politics, arts and literature, computer skills, health and food and more. Visit olli.granite.edu.

Dr. Jahmal Mosley, superintendent of the Nashua School District, has announced his resignation, effective at the end of this school year. According to a joint statement from the District and the Board of Education, Mosley has taken a job as superintendent in South Hadley, Mass. The board thanked him for the services he’s provided since 2017.

The Bedford Police Department recently issued an announcement reminding residents not to leave remote key fobs unattended in their vehicles. According to the announcement, Bedford Police have responded to three incidents in the last month where vehicle owners left key fobs in their vehicles, “allowing criminals to easily steal their vehicles.”