Nursing home ventilation investigated after virus outbreaks

By Holly Ramer And Wilson Ring
Associated Press
Here are the latest developments regarding the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic throughout New England:

New Hampshire

Ventilation systems at nursing homes are getting a closer look, and Dartmouth College is preparing to keep students in their dorm rooms for at least 48 hours after they arrive on campus as New Hampshire responds to the coronavirus pandemic.

New Hampshire health and fire safety officials will spend the next two weeks investigating whether ventilation systems have contributed to coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes, Gov. Chris Sununu said Tuesday.

More than 30 long-term care facilities have experienced outbreaks, and their residents account for 82% of the state’s deaths from COVID-19. As of Tuesday, only four outbreaks remained active, said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette.

The review by her department and the state Fire Marshal began Monday and will initially focus on facilities that have had outbreaks to see whether ventilation and other infrastructure affected how the virus spread.

“And then we’re going to take what we learn from that evaluation and apply it to other facilities that have not had outbreaks,” she said. “We don’t know that we’re going to find anything but we’re leaving no stone unturned.”

Sununu, a Republican, earlier this month vetoed a Democrat-backed bill that would have created an independent review of long-term care facilities. The bill also would have allocated $25 million in federal funding for the facilities, but he noted that $30 million already has been earmarked for long-term care.

Schools seek federal aid: Education officials struggling to line up transportation, technology and teaching staff for the upcoming school year in New Hampshire told U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan on Monday that they need more money from Washington to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hassan, a Democrat, held an online discussion that included a superintendent, principal, teacher, parent and others involved in the reopening of schools. Several said their communities are working on plans that would involve either remote learning or hybrid models in which groups of students would take turns being in their classrooms.

Mark MacLean, superintendent of the Merrimack Valley and Andover school districts, said the next relief package from Congress should help parents — including school employees — who can’t work if their young children remain at home. The districts are spending their first allotment of federal funds on technology, cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, but, he said, “We know that we need more money.”

Kevin Carpenter, principal at Kennett High School in North Conway, agreed.

“The CARES Act funds don’t go very far at all,” he said. “We’ve already exceeded what we’ve been allocated.”

Transportation is a big issue, he said, because eight towns send students to the high school. Officials are considering offering high school students a fully remote option, while grouping elementary school pupils into small groups. Having enough teaching staff also likely will be a challenge, he said, if teachers can’t work because their own children are home.

“We don’t live in an area where we have a ton of teachers floating around,” he said.

Rachel Borge, director of student services in Hudson, echoed concerns about funding for technology, sanitation and other areas. But she also raised a new concern: teenagers from low-income families who got jobs during their spring semester of remote learning to help their parents.

“Now that we talk about returning to school, we have these teenage kids who are struggling with competing motivations,” she said. “That’s a new struggle we’re trying to problem-solve.”

Hassan said money for education, from preschool through college, should be “a huge part” of the relief package.

“We need to make sure all students, including students with disabilities or who have other particular needs, have their needs addressed at a time when it is so critically important that our kids know that we’re supporting them through this challenge,” she said.

Absentee ballots: New Hampshire cities and towns are now ready to send absentee ballots to voters who want to avoid polling places this fall because of the coronavirus.

The state has temporarily changed eligibility requirements for absentee voting and created a separate box to check on the absentee ballot noting the virus as the reason for voting absentee.

The secretary of state’s office said Monday that ballots for the Sept. 8 primary and Nov. 3 general election have been sent to communities and can be requested through city and town clerk offices. Officials urged voters to make requests as soon as possible.

On campus: Dartmouth College students will face strict quarantine rules when they arrive on campus this fall.

According to guidelines released Monday, students will be tested for the coronavirus upon arrival, and those living on campus will be allowed to leave their rooms only to use the restrooms for the first 48 hours, or until the test results come back. Food will be delivered to their rooms, and no visitors are allowed.

For the rest of their first 14 days on campus, students will be permitted to leave their rooms to pick up meals three times per day, go outside for solo walks or other exercise or participate in college-organized outdoor activities in groups of no more than nine. Students will receive a second test for the virus seven days after their initial tests.

Officials said last month that about half the undergraduate study body will be on campus for each term. The majority of classes will be conducted remotely, given the reduced classroom space because of social distancing requirements. Face coverings will be required in all but private spaces.

Meanwhile, Plymouth State University and Keene State College became the latest campuses to cancel their fall sports competitions because of the virus.

Scholarship funds: New Hampshire is increasing funding for K-12 and college scholarships to help families struggling financially because of the coronavirus, Gov. Chris Sununu said Tuesday.

Adding $8 million to the UNIQUE college scholarship program fund will allow an additional 3,000 students to receive aid, and the amount allocated to existing scholarships will increase by 25%, Sununu said. Another $1.5 million will go to scholarships for students attending private elementary, middle and high schools.

The boost in K-12 funding comes after minority business owners and community leaders wrote to Sununu saying they are being left behind in efforts to repair the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus. Among the group’s suggestions was spending $1 million for minority student scholarships. While the funding announced Tuesday won’t go to minority students specifically, 22% of current recipients are from minority families, Sununu said.

“Education, we know, is one key factor in the social determinants of health, specifically for minority families,” he said. “So merely addressing the health care system in isolation is not sufficient in decreasing and eliminating racial health disparities.”

Working out: The “Judgement Free Zone” won’t be free of face masks starting next month.

Planet Fitness said Monday will require all members and guests to wear face masks starting Aug. 1, joining a growing list of companies and retailers enacting such mandates to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

The New Hampshire-based company already required masks for employees at its 1,450 locations in 46 states, Washington, D.C., Canada and Australia.

“Gyms are part of the solution and a key element of the healthcare delivery system, providing much needed access for people to exercise and stay healthy,” CEO Chris Rondeau said in a statement. “Given our leadership position within the industry, we believe it’s our responsibility to further protect our members, employees, and communities so that we can all safely focus on our health, which is more important now than ever before.”

In the bag: Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on Monday lifted a ban on reusable shopping bags at grocery stores and other retail outlets.

The bags had been banned since March because of concerns that they’d be a vehicle for transmitting the coronavirus. Stores were required to provide new, single-use bags instead.

“We looked at the latest data, consulted with officials at public health and ask individuals to be courteous and respectful to retail/grocery workers by cleaning your reusable bags,” Sununu said on Twitter.

Telehealth: New Hampshire’s rural hospitals are getting help caring for COVID-19 patients through a telehealth program based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

The hospital’s Tele-Intensive Care Unit allows doctors in rural hospitals to confer with critical care specialists and anesthesiologists at Dartmouth-Hitchcock via video until the patient can be transferred to the larger facility. Officials say the advice being given to more than 20 hospitals includes information about sedation, pain management, ventilator management and other issues.

The numbers: As of Tuesday, 6,500 people had tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, an increase of 59 from the previous day. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen to 33 new cases per day on July 27 from 22 new cases per day on July 13. The number of deaths stood at 409.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness and can lead to death.

Vermont

Gov. Phil Scott and Vermont’s top health and education officials said Tuesday the level of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the state is low enough that schools can resume in-person instruction this fall.

During a Tuesday news conference, Scott said he planned to issue an order allowing schools to open Sept. 8, a week later than usual, to give local school districts more time to prepare.

Many Vermont school districts are already planning to reopen this fall, with hybrid, in-person and remote instruction. A few are planning to resume full-time instruction, the governor said.

In-school instruction is especially important for the youngest children who are less likely to contract or spread COVID-19 or suffer extreme outcomes if they do contract it, Scott and the other officials said.

“We have to recognize and plan for the reality that our data could change before the start of school,” Scott said. “And the other reality is we will continue to see cases of COVID-19 in Vermont and we will also see some in our schools.”

He says each of the hundreds of schools across the state are different and there is no one-size-fits-all plan or timeline for resuming full-time, in-person instruction.

“The more we prove ourselves, the more confidence we have in the system, and if things go well, I would think that they would evolve into in person, five-day … instruction.”

In a statement, the president of the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association, the teachers’ union, said the delay on school opening until Sept. 8 was a good first step.

“The governor has paved the way for an orderly, phased-in approach to reopening our schools,” said Don Tinney, a high school English teacher who serves as president of the 13,000-member union.

The numbers: On Tuesday the Vermont Health Department reported three new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, two in Chittenden County and one in Caledonia County. The statewide total since the pandemic began is now just over 1,400.

The number of deaths from the disease remains at 56. The state has not had a COVID-19 fatality in over a month.

“Vermont essentially looks more like Europe than the rest of the United States,” Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said during the press briefing with the governor.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness and can lead to death.

Maine

One of Maine’s largest hospitals is reinstating strict visitor restrictions after 10 staff members and two patients tested positive for the coronavirus.

Central Maine Medical Center is also suspending outside food, flowers and gifts for hospital patients. The hospital gift shop and fitness center will remain closed instead of reopening this week.

The infections stem from exposure to a patient from a long-term care facility who initially tested negative for coronavirus before being admitted to the hospital. The patient was later retested as positive.

“Exposures such as this underscore the reality that we are not out of the woods yet with this novel virus, which spreads quickly and in ways we still do not fully understand,” said Dr. John Alexander, chief medical officer for Central Maine Healthcare, the hospital’s parent company.

It was only the second outbreak at a hospital in Maine since the pandemic began, said Dr. Nirav Shah, Maine CDC director.

Central Maine Healthcare is working closely with the Maine Center for Disease Control. Anyone who came into contact with the infected patient is being contacted. The staff members are all self-isolating at home.

The numbers: Two more Mainers died over the previous 24 hours, the Maine Center for Disease Control reported Tuesday, while the total number of people who’ve tested positive grew to 3,838.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Large gatherings: Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said the state is considering whether to loosen the limit on gatherings.

The state released some guidelines for gatherings at outdoor spectator venues on Friday, allowing up to 200 people in four sections of 50 at athletic competitions and concerts with certain stipulations. Those would apply to sporting events, concerts and theatrical performances.

Lambrew said Tuesday that health officials are examining whether the governor can lift the current limit of 50 people for additional events. “We’ll get back to you on this soon,” she said Tuesday.

Health center grant: A medical center that serves two of the hardest-hit counties in Maine is slated to receive a boost from the federal government to offer more coronavirus testing.

Community Clinical Services in Lewiston has been awarded more than $320,000 to expand testing and training capacities, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said Monday. The center serves Androscoggin and Cumberland counties, which are two of the three hardest hit counties in the state of Maine in terms of caseload.

The senators said the money has been awarded via the Paycheck Protection Program & Health Care Enhancement Act. They said Community Clinical Services will be able to use the money to expand its range of testing and testing-related activities, including contact tracing.

Maine has had more than 3,800 cases of the virus, mostly in the southern part of the state.