Details: Written by Patrick R. McElhiney; Category: Articles; Published: 21 March 2020

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has issued the following update for March 21, 2020, on the new coronavirus, COVID-19. DHHS will continue to issue COVID-19 updates each day to provide media and the public with current information about the State’s efforts.

New COVID-19 Cases in New Hampshire

On Saturday, March 21, 2020, DHHS announced 10 new positive test results for COVID-19. There have now been 65 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire. The new cases are all adults, including five males and five females. County or city of residence are Rockingham (5), Grafton (1), Manchester (1), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (1), Merrimack (1), and Strafford (1). This is the first positive case of COVID-19 identified in Strafford County. Six of the cases have either had travel to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Four of the cases, including in Rockingham and Hillsborough counties, have no identified risk factors, indicating additional community-based transmission of COVID-19 in New Hampshire. Community-based transmission has been identified in Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Rockingham counties and the city of Manchester. One new case is hospitalized; thus far, three patients out of the 65 positive cases (5%) have been hospitalized. The other new cases are isolating at home.

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report
(updated March 21, 2020, 9:00 AM)

NH Persons with COVID-191	65
Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL2	959
Total Persons Tested at NH PHL3	2212
Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time)	750

1Includes specimens presumptive-positive at any laboratory and those confirmed by CDC confirmatory testing.
2Includes specimens received and awaiting testing at NH Public Health Laboratories (PHL). Does not include tests pending at commercial laboratories.

3Includes specimens sent to CDC prior to NH PHL testing capacity.

NH DHHS Daily Update on COVID-19 Archive

For more information, please visit the DHHS COVID-19 webpage at https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/2019-ncov.htm.

Details: Written by Patrick R. McElhiney; Category: Articles; Published: 20 March 2020

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has issued the following update for March 20, 2020, on the new coronavirus, COVID-19. DHHS will continue to issue COVID-19 updates each day to provide media and the public with current information about the State’s efforts.

What’s New

· New Positive Cases of COVID-19 in New Hampshire

On Friday, March 20, 2020, DHHS announced 11 new positive test results for COVID-19. The new cases are all adults, including six males and five females. Counties of residence are Grafton (3), Rockingham (2), Manchester (1), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (1), Carroll (1), Merrimack (1), Coos (1) and Cheshire (1). The positive test results are the first cases in Coos and Cheshire counties. Four of the cases, including in Cheshire, Merrimack, and Rockingham counties and the city of Manchester, have no identified risk factors, indicating additional community-based transmission of COVID-19 in New Hampshire. The other seven cases have either have traveled to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. The community-based transmission has been identified in Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton, Merrimack, and Rockingham counties and the city of Manchester. There have now been 55 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report
(updated March 20, 2020, 9:00 AM)

NH Persons with COVID-191	55
Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL2	942
Total Persons Tested at NH PHL3	1970
Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time)	550

1Includes specimens presumptive-positive at any laboratory and those confirmed by CDC confirmatory testing.
2Includes specimens received and awaiting testing at NH Public Health Laboratories (PHL). It does not include tests pending at commercial laboratories.

3Includes specimens sent to CDC prior to NH PHL testing capacity.

NH DHHS Daily Update on COVID-19 Archive

For more information, please visit the DHHS COVID-19 webpage at https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/2019-ncov.htm.

Details: Written by Patrick R. McElhiney; Category: Articles; Published: 20 March 2020

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has announced new recommendations to help healthcare providers determine who should be tested for COVID-19. These new recommendations acknowledge that providers and first responders nationwide lack the equipment they need to safely and accurately test any person who may be exposed to the novel coronavirus. The recommendations also acknowledge that more than 80% of people who have COVID-19 have mild symptoms and current inventory in all states should be directed to people with severe illness as well as healthcare workers.

Given the nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other testing supplies, healthcare providers in New Hampshire must preserve the State’s existing inventory of these materials to care for patients who will develop severe COVID-19 illness, as well as exposed health care providers and exposed first responders. Any significant decline in the healthcare workforce will have a negative impact on residents’ access to treatment for COVID-treatment and other health needs.

“The coronavirus has placed an unprecedented burden on our healthcare system, and signs of strain are showing,” said DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette. “Everyone who works in healthcare wants to test New Hampshire residents who have symptoms of COVID-19. Testing capacity at the State Public Health Laboratories (PHL) and commercial testing companies is not the issue. However, the challenge for our providers and first responders is national shortages in PPE, nasal swabs and retesting agents. Healthcare providers require access to these supplies to collect a specimen for testing. Until national supply chains are able to meet the demand for testing supplies, New Hampshire, like all states, will be forced to limit testing to those most at risk of severe symptoms and those healthcare employees who are critical to ensuring we can serve our residents’ health needs.”

“COVID-19 continues to spread in New Hampshire, and while most cases continue to be identified in people with recent international or domestic travel, there is now evidence of community-based transmission occurring in several areas in New Hampshire,” said State Epidemiologist, Dr. Benjamin Chan. “As this outbreak expands, it is important for people to stay home when not feeling well, even at the earliest symptoms of illness. It is not possible to test everybody with respiratory or cold symptoms for COVID-19, so as this outbreak expands, people that develop mild respiratory illness should stay home for at least seven days after symptoms first appear and should not go out until at least 72 hours have passed after symptoms begin to improve and any fever has gone away off fever-reducing medications. Everybody should continue to practice social-distancing and frequent hand hygiene to help protect themselves and their communities.”

As COVID-19 becomes more common in our communities, testing every person presenting with mild symptoms of fever or respiratory illness becomes impractical and does not change how a person’s illness is managed. Therefore, DHHS has shared the following recommendations for COVID-19 testing:

People who are 60 years of age and older, or those with chronic medical problems are at higher risk for hospitalization and death from COVID-19 and should:

· Stay at home and away from public places.

· Avoid any domestic or international travel.

· Call a provider if you are experiencing symptoms. If not severely ill, please call ahead before showing up at a hospital or emergency department.

People who have mild symptoms of COVID-19, even if not tested, should stay home until:

· At least 7 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

AND

· At least 72 hours have passed since recovery; which is defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms.

People who do not have symptoms but have been notified that they may have been exposed through close contact with a person with COVID-19 or a person presumed to have COVID-19 (without testing), and any persons who have traveled from countries with widespread sustained transmission should:

· Stay home (self-quarantine) for 14 days from the last day of potential exposure. It can take up to 14 days from the time someone is exposed to develop symptoms of COVID-19.

· Not be tested for COVID-19 because it doesn’t change the need for a person to self-quarantine even if testing is negative.

· Help us preserve our medical supplies by not asking to be tested.

For information on the differences between isolation and quarantine, please see the following information: https://www.nh.gov/covid19/documents/terms.pdf.

Symptoms of COVID-19 most often include fever or respiratory illness, such as cough. Early mild symptoms can include fatigue, headache, and muscle aches. Fever may not develop until several days into illness, or not at all, but people can still transmit the novel coronavirus very early in their course of illness.

For more information on COVID-19 in NH, please visit https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/2019-ncov.htm. For the latest information from the CDC, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

Details: Written by Patrick R. McElhiney; Category: Articles; Published: 20 March 2020

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Taking a trip to Market Basket yesterday appeared like World War III was about to break out, and people were buying up everything in sight before rationing kicks in. Relax! there’s no shortage of food, overbuying has decreased food on the shelves. The only reason shelves were looking bare throughout the store was because everyone and their brother were stocking up on virtually everything. We did all our “normal” emergency event shopping when the news first broke about the virus reaching the United States – that was weeks ago. There was no frenzy to buy disinfectant supplies, hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol yet when we went and did our big shopping – it took two shopping baskets between my mother and me. We each spent over $200 that week, but that was normal preparation for an emergency event, like a snow or ice storm.

I could have posted an article disclosing that we were preparing, while everyone else was going about their daily business, but the fact of the matter is that the fear that caused everyone to stock up on the products that are now out of stock was irrational, and I didn’t want to spread fear. We only purchased things that we needed for the following 2 weeks – not the next 2 months like I suspect many people have been doing. Also, an employee at Market Basket said the major issue right now is they haven’t had enough help to stock shelves, and they’re also having to disinfect the store during the night shift now.

There could be prolonged shortages of products that are imported from other countries, such as seasonal produce and specialty foods like Italian meats, however, there will not be shortages of toilet paper, paper towels, and other paper products. Eventually, everyone will be so stocked up on these items that there will likely be pallets of these products sitting in the storage room in every store, and there will be plenty of supply – just less demand to buy them for a while.

Products that are made in the United States, such as milk, cheese, eggs, and bread will not have shortages in the long-term. I was shocked to find almost the entire bread aisle completely bare other than a few loaves of Rye bread – but that won’t last for long. How much bread do you really need to stock up on during a crisis? If you’re out of bread right now, you can make your own by buying a bread maker. It doesn’t taste the same as store-bought bread, but it’s certainly a lot healthier, and the bread-making supplies keep for a long time. Plus, homemade bread doesn’t have all the unhealthy additives, like high-fructose corn syrup and sugar.

Frozen food aisles were looking bleak, including frozen meals, frozen fruit, and frozen meat. There was plenty of ice cream when we shopped yesterday. Everyone had to go to Market Basket and buy enough poultry for 2 weeks, it appeared, as there was an entire section of fresh chicken that was completely gone – even all the expensive non-GMO Organic chicken. Frozen chicken products were also looking low in stock, but there was plenty of beef available, and even some left-over corned beef brisket – we usually cook that for St. Patrick’s Day.

We were told that Seniors can come in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 5:30 AM to 7:00 AM before the store opens to the public, to ensure that the store is the cleanest for them, and also it’s ok to bring your Senior support staff or helpers, i.e. whoever is driving you, or helping you to shop. This is what we’re going to be doing next week because my mother is over 70 years old. I was telling UNH Administrators that they needed to shut the school down before they even realized there was going to be a crisis, and what motivated me was looking out for my mother’s health. It’s really important that we protect the Senior population from exposure.

I think people should realize that the social distancing may last for as many as 18 months, based on the government’s current plans, so it really doesn’t make any sense to go out and buy everything in the store for the next 6 months. You’re still going to have to go to the grocery store every week – just consider limiting the number of trips you take to the grocery store. If you don’t already, make out a list and a meal plan for the entire week, and figure out everything you need if you’re the type of person that frequents the grocery store multiple times a week.

A lot of what we bought in this week’s shopping trip was for End 68 Hours of Hunger because we really didn’t need a lot – we haven’t needed much since our big shopping trip. Still, we couldn’t find everything they were asking for. I personally felt bad knowing there are people that can’t afford to stock up on groceries to ensure they have enough food in case they’re put into self-isolation, or to have money to purchase cleaning supplies or face masks. I’m hoping the government’s stimulus checks will really help, and that there will be public health workers that can pick up food and supplies for people that come down with Coronavirus.

We aren’t rich, we have barely enough to support ourselves, but we help others as much as we can, like hosting this website and providing the news. It all costs money – it’s our low-cost way of helping the community out, especially in tough times like currently. I personally spend much more time volunteering for the newspaper than I do anything else, plus I support the company financially because we currently don’t have enough advertisers to support our overhead costs.

So if you’re looking for a way to help our business help you, you can use all of the various parts of our website, especially the Business Directory (https://directory.barringtontownnews.com/), and do business with our advertisers and be sure to tell them you heard about them on Barrington Town News. The more local businesses trust us with their advertising dollars, the more resources we’ll have to provide better news content, hire more staff, and have more giveaways.