By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Gov. Chris Sununu toured one of a dozen COVID-19 facilities Friday – this one at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord – saying the state has enough flex beds to handle a surge, adding he hopes the need for them will be low.
Sununu also held an afternoon news conference that addressed federal monies that can be used to help stabilize long-term care facilities and Medicaid providers struggling to find workers.
Sununu said he would announce more next week on the issue of health-care providers including financial incentives “to ensure loved ones have the care they need.”
On Friday, the state announced one new COVID-19 death and 66 new confirmed cases.
The total death count now stands at 22, and 885 total cases reported in the state, said Lori Shibinette, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Between 25 and 30 percent of the confirmed cases involve health-care providers and at least half of the deaths – including the latest – occurred at one of three long-term care facilities where there have been outbreaks, Shibinette said.
The most recent death, announced Friday, was that of an elderly resident of Hanover Hill Health Care in Manchester. Shibinette said the death occurred prior to Friday. This one is in addition to four deaths previously reported at the facility.
The Huntington at Nashua, another long-term care facility, earlier in the week reported five deaths and Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield reported one death.
There are isolated cases of COVID-19 at about a dozen other long-term care facilities, Shibinette said.
Together with the National Guard, Concord Hospital and LRGHealthcare in Franklin and Laconia, the New Hampshire Technical Institute’s Concord staff, local first responders and a number of electrical and HVAC contractors worked around the clock to make the Institute’s Wellness Center’s basketball court and the Langley Hall dormitory a place for convalescing “COVID-19-only” patients.
The fold-up FEMA beds set up on the floor of the gym at NHTI will be used primarily for those recovering from the virus, said Dr. Chris Fore, associate chief clinical officer at Concord Hospital.
Together with Lenzi Clark, incident commander and a nurse at Concord Hospital, and officials from the National Guard, Sununu toured the facilities and asked questions about how they were going to provide the care, if needed.
Clark said the dorm rooms would be used first as they have more comfortable beds and resources for the sick. In total, 306 could be cared for at NHTI-Concord.
Fore described the 15-day effort to get the surge center completed as “monumental” and said it was a total community effort.
In all, an additional 1,600 beds have been created in school gymnasiums and public facilities to give the state nearly 5,000 beds to deal with the pandemic.
“My job is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Sununu said.
The Concord facility is among others in Berlin, Colebrook, Conway, Derry, Durham, Haverhill, Keene, Lancaster, Littleton, Manchester, Nashua, Plymouth, and Wolfeboro.
Sununu said that none of the communities would assume the costs for such surge flex facilities. There is federal money to cover that through FEMA.
During the afternoon press conference, Sununu said that federal resources to help the state weather the pandemic include about $82 million from the CARES Act, which is a “staggering amount of money” that will help schools, colleges, and individuals impacted by the closing of the campuses and buildings.
Sununu said about $36 million will go to colleges and universities and that there would be money to provide for technology, daycare, and food for students through September for children who need it.
Sununu lauded the Peterborough firm SoClean for making N95 surgical masks that will be delivered to hospitals and health-care facilities across the state, helping to reduce the shortage of personal protective equipment which is not only felt in New Hampshire but across the world.
The company hopes to make 20,000 masks a week.
He also thanked David Kruger and his team from the American Sign Language Interpreters who have helped get the message out at the press briefings to those who can read sign language.
Finally, Sununu said the state is going into the holy weekend of Easter and in the midst of Passover without the opportunity as in the past for extended family and friends to gather.
But we obviously have a lot to be thankful for during this holy time, he said, and hoped there will be opportunities for reflection.
“Hope is not lost here in New Hampshire,” Sununu said.