Teletown Hall: Drive-by Birthdays OK, But No Casual Sports

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – With a fifth person dead from COVID-19 and 64 new cases reported on Thursday, a top state epidemiologist weighed in on casual sports and drive-by birthday parties.

Sleepovers and casual sports activities in this state have got to stop now to slow the spread of COVID-19, but driving by someone’s house on their birthday is okay, said Dr. Michael Calderwood, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock epidemiologist and infectious disease expert.

Calderwood, two congressmen and an official for the New Hampshire chapter of the federal Small Business Association addressed listener questions on a statewide congressional telephone town hall meeting Thursday evening.

It was the fourth weekly teletown hall sponsored by U.S. Rep. Annie McLane Kuster and Chris Pappas. Thursday’s attracted almost 14,000 callers.

Callers asked questions ranging from health to economic concerns and political, health and business leaders stepped up to answer them.

Calderwood said pointedly that the sleepovers he has heard about and pick-up sports have to end.

“We need to put a stop to that if we are going to get on top of this,” Calderwood stressed.

Looking at the numbers from two weeks ago, when he was last on the telephone town hall, Calderwood said there are now four times as many cases of COVID-19 in the world with over 1 million cases. And people are dying.

During the call, the state-issued Thursday’s update on the COVID-19 crisis one month after the state’s first case was confirmed.

It showed a fifth resident has died and there were 64 new cases in a single day. The death was that of a male, under the age of 60 with underlying medical conditions, and a resident of Hillsborough County.

It showed 64 new positive test results for COVID-19 making the state a total 479 cases.

Dr. Calderwood said some models suggest a surge through April in New Hampshire but there is a lot of uncertainty with any of the reported models and it could take longer.

“New Hampshire has gone to great lengths,” Calderwood said, “to reduce the percent of the population that is infected.”

While some models at first showed that 50 percent of the state population could become infected, it could be closer to 15 to 20 percent if the efforts to social distance are seriously adhered to. The state has closed all non-essential businesses, schools, restaurants, and bars.

Certainly, he said, there will be a surge that will task the state’s health care to its seams.

The town hall was scheduled by New Hampshire officials in Congress.

Democrats Annie McLane Kuster and Chris Pappas hosted this as their fourth telephone town hall meeting since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They updated residents on progress in Washington to get economic relief to individuals and businesses and efforts to secure equipment the state needs to deal with the expected surge in cases.

Rachael Roderick, deputy district director for the New Hampshire office of the United States Small Business Administration was also on the call.

Kuster, speaking from her home in New Hampshire, said: “We are blessed to live in such a place,” where you can get outdoors, “but this is a highly contagious situation.”

She urged people to stay at home, stay remotely and socially connected and wash hands frequently to help reduce the spread.

Pappas, also in New Hampshire and speaking remotely on the call, said the landmark legislation passed last week, including $2 trillion to provide relief, is critical.

“It is critical to get the dollars out to the public to where they can make a difference right now,” he said.
He did not give a specific date on when people should expect to see relief funds in their accounts, but indicated it should be in a matter of “weeks.”

Three legislative packages have passed, most recently the CARES Act, passed last Friday which will also direct payments to adult individuals of $1,200 per person and $2,400 per couple for those who make under $75,00 each with $500 more for each child.
If the IRS has back account information, those funds will be directly deposited.

Unemployment insurance is also available, with an additional $600 per week for eligible workers who have lost their job. This assistance will continue through July, the Congressmen said, and urged people to apply for unemployment at www.nhes.nh.gov.

For small businesses, the legislation provides more relief and it would be worthwhile to talk to the SBA, attend one of the daily online briefings or call their local lender.

Pappas said: “We really have to think of it as a bridge loan to our families, workers, hospitals,” and predicted that additional legislation is going to be needed.

Calderwood said over the next few weeks the medical community will be put to the task. He said all hospitals have surge plans.

“We will be making adjustments week to week,” and he said to expect large population centers to be most impacted.

He said there is a chance we need to consider impacts from other states that could become overwhelmed.
Roderick said they are very busy at SBA trying to implement economic assistance.

First, they have the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program through sba.gov. which has gone through some transitions and the application is now very easy, she said.

It is a direct loan from the U.S. Treasury that includes up to a $10,000 advance. Part of the loan will be forgiven and the rates are at 3.75 percent and 2.5 for the non-profits interest rate for as long as 30 years.

“The whole purpose is to provide working capital,” Roderick said.

She said the SBA also has another program coming out, and applications begin Friday for a paycheck protection program.

“This program is designed to give businesses an incentive to bring the payrolls back to what they were before the COVID-19 crisis. It includes money for rent,” and other fixed costs such as salaries with 100 percent forgiven through SBA.

Caller Questions
Jen asked how many more months do you think this could possibly go on?

Dr. Calderwood said it depends on the modeling but it is possible it will go out through the summer and the big question is how will we relax some of these measures.

One caller asked about percentages of positives from the COVID-19 testing done.
Calderwood said of the tests done at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center about 3 to 4 percent of the tests are coming back positive.

Diane asked if there are studies that show that early patients develop antibodies so that they will not be infected again.

Calderwood said that is an area of active interest “but I am not sure we fully have the answer yet.”

John, a small business owner, told Roderick his revenue has been cut by 70 percent where he transports people to the airport.
Roderick said there are actually two programs he can draw from, suggesting he join a daily webinar at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. offered by her office.

Tracy from Nashua said she works part-time and is on Social Security. Would Social Security be impacted by taking any funds?
Kuster said it would not impact Social Security going forward in any way.

With regard to the unemployment security, she said one of the issues Congress addressed in the CARES Act was that independent contractors (who file 1099 forms) would be eligible for unemployment compensation.

“My staff is standing by and would be happy to get your information to help with your situation,” Kuster said.

Pappas agreed and said his staff is also ready and hoping to be helpful.

Jerry in Hampton asked about drive-by-birthday honking and whether that is in the spirit of social distancing?
Dr. Calderwood said there are plenty of people who continue to get out for things like exercise and it is good for their mental well-being and it is important at this time.

So long as one is not in social proximity, he said, finding an outlet, “I think could be quite reasonable.”