By HOLLY RAMER and WILSON RING
Associated Press
Here are the latest coronavirus updates around New England:
New Hampshire
A judge is considering whether Republican Gov. Chris Sununu can spend New Hampshire’s $1.25 billion in coronavirus relief aid without legislative approval.
The Democratic leaders of the New Hampshire House and Senate and its joint fiscal committee sued the governor last week to halt the new Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge David Anderson held a hearing on their request Monday, saying he will issue a ruling as quickly as possible.
Representing the governor’s office, Solicitor General Dan Will pointed to a 2002 law granting the governor authority to take immediate action during a statewide crisis.
In court documents, Assistant Commissioner of Safety Perry Plummer described missing a chance to purchase a large supply of respirator masks because he took 10 minutes to discuss it with his colleagues, or calling suppliers back only to find that prices had gone up.
“In many instances to wait an hour is to lose an opportunity, and in many instances, to wait 10 or 15 minutes is to lose an opportunity,” Will said. “It is a scramble.”
Democrats argue that the governor’s general powers under the law Sununu cites do not override a more specific law that says during an emergency, “the governor may, with the advice and consent of the fiscal committee, authorize such expenditures, by any department or agency, as may be necessary.”
Their attorney, Greg Silverman, said Sununu has tried to usurp the Legislature’s “power of the purse.”
“The governor has created a false choice between saving lives and restraining the governor from overreaching,” he said. “The governor can effectively manage an emergency as well as prepare spending requests for dealing with an emergency with fiscal committee advice and consent.”
The numbers: As of Monday, 1,447 people in New Hampshire had tested positive for the virus, and 42 had died.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
Financial fallout: Officials representing hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and nurses told lawmakers Monday the pandemic has caused widespread financial devastation.
After eliminating elective procedures and most primary care, hospitals are losing about $200 million per month in revenue, said Steve Ahnen, president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association.
Alex Walker, chief operating officer of Catholic Medical Center, said his facility lost about $11 million in March and expects that to nearly double this month.
“Right now, we’re waiting for a surge — it’s not come, we’re not sure it’s going to come — and that underscores this crazy, inverse relationship between public health and financial health,” he told a committee advising the Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery. “The longer this goes on financially, the worse it is for hospitals.”
In the nursing home sector, a recently announced $300 per week stipend for front-line workers was welcome news, but fearful staffers continue to quit, said Brendan Williams, director of the New Hampshire Health Care Association.
“Public and policymaker accolades have been reserved for hospital workers,” he said. “The singular focus of the state has been on hospitals during this pandemic, and if that doesn’t change, nursing homes will close.”
The group also heard from Tom Mee, CEO of North Country Healthcare, the parent organization for critical access hospitals in the state’s poorest and most rural county.
A number of hospitals are at risk of closing, he said, in part because even when the economy reopens, he expects lower demand for health care services because more residents will have lost insurance and there will be fewer summer tourists.
Hospitals shouldn’t even think about resuming elective procedures until everyone coming through the door can get tested, he said. One hospital in his organization recently acquired a rapid response testing machine but got enough supplies to run only 60 tests.
“It’s as if we were given a brand new, state-of-the-art toaster, but only one loaf of bread to feed an entire community,” he said.
Vermont
More than 8,300 checks for $1,200 were sent Monday to people whose unemployment claims were delayed due to a variety of administrative issues, the Vermont Department of Labor said.
The checks were prepared over the weekend after officials were unable to resolve stringent federal requirements that kept those people from receiving regular unemployment payments.
The money for the checks comes from the state treasury, and they provide two weeks of federal benefits approved to help people affected by COVID-19-related layoffs. The checks likely do not provide the full amount owed but serve as an initial installment, according to the department.
Late last week, the state had identified more than 34,000 unemployment claims that combined had more than 50,000 stop-payment issues. By Saturday afternoon, officials had resolved more than 20,000 claims.
“I personally brought them to the mail center this morning,” Gov. Phil Scott said of the checks during his press briefing. “We did this to get money to those in need.”
Reopening the economy: Vermont began Monday to gradually reopen the state’s economy, allowing single person-businesses with little contact with others and businesses that use crews up to two people who work outside to resume activity if the workers stay at least 6 feet apart.
Jim Smith, a partner in the Stowe property management company Yankee Home Solutions, said his business brought back five people Monday to do spring maintenance work, such as lawn raking.
Each employee had his own truck and tools, and the company provided masks and bulk sanitizer. The employees were also instructed to keep their distance, Smith said.
At the beginning of March, the company employed a total of 15 people, including Smith and his business partner. As COVID-19 expanded and the restrictions grew, they laid off all but two of the employees, but they also began to order emergency supplies such as hand sanitizer and face masks.
The two employees who remained were performing vital duties, such as trash collection and emergency home repairs.
“We are back up and running, so to speak, we are halfway there to going back to work,” said Smith, who estimated the business has been down 85% over the last month.
They plan to reopen slowly, based on demand but focused on the safety of the workers, Smith said.
“We understand the gravity of the situation,” Smith said.
The numbers: On Monday, the Vermont Health Department reported the number of new coronavirus cases in the state had increased by four to 816. There have been 38 deaths.
After the first Vermont case was detected in early March, the number of new cases increased to 30 to 40 a day and reached a high of 70 one day earlier this month, Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said Monday. But over the last week, the number of new cases has generally been less than 10 a day.
“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the slope of the curve has clearly changed,” Levine said.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
Testing: Vermont officials say the key to reopening the state’s economy will be the ability to test people who could have the virus and to trace the contacts of those patients to find others who may have been exposed.
Vermont officials say they have adequate testing capacity for several months at the current level of testing.
Officials said they built up the supply through coordination and cooperation so they now have the supplies needed to conduct the tests and have the system in place to test the samples. The state has also benefited because Vermont is experiencing fewer cases than feared.
At one point the state was down to two days of testing supplies, Scott said. During a call, Scott told Vice President Mike Pence of Vermont’s predicament.
“They delivered us tests to get over the hump,” said Scott, a Republican. “So, again, as much as I sometimes criticize the administration, I want to give credit when
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