NH State Representative Steven Smith

I had more unemployment questions this week. Most were regarding the stimulus checks and the federal unemployment program for people who don’t qualify for regular unemployment. This is from the Dept. of Employment Security:

“Regarding the Federal stimulus payments of $1,200 per individual, please note these are NOT considered wages and do NOT need to be reported for purposes of determining either your initial or weekly eligibility for purposes of calculating unemployment benefits.”

Some were nervous about not be able to file continuing claims. After being denied for monetary ineligibility, it tells you to file claims every week, but the system doesn’t let you. This is from Employment Security Deputy Commissioner Richard Lavers:

“If you are denied for insufficient earnings you will receive a denial and will be unable to file your continued claims. This is ok and you do not need to do anything. We will review your claim for PUA eligibility and will back date your claim to cover any payable weeks.”

• Governor said reopening NH beaches will be done in conjunction with neighboring states
• Full video: Hearing in NH for COVID-19 funding dispute
• NH Hospital Association: Statewide, hospitals losing $200 million a month
• Governor offers to send birthday cards to Granite State children

• Worth Reading:

• High stakes power struggle fought over COVID-19 money
• $600 federal jobless payments coming this week
• Medical leaders coping with COVID-19 plea for more relief
• Coronavirus Forced A Chaotic Transition To Telemedicine; N.H. Doctors Hope It Sticks
• N.H. Doctors Worried People Avoiding The ER Out Of Fear Of COVID-19
  

NH DHHS COVID-19 Update – April 20, 2020 

On Monday, April 20, 2020, DHHS announced 56 new positive test results for COVID-19. There have now been 1,447 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire. Several cases are still under investigation. Any additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates. Of those with complete information, all are adults with 64% being female and 36% being male. The new cases reside in Strafford (17), Rockingham (9), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (6), Cheshire (1), and Merrimack (1) counties and in the cities of Manchester (14) and Nashua (5). The county of residence is being determined for three new cases.

Hospitalizations

 

Three new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 201 (14%) of 1,447 cases.

Community Based Transmission

Two of the new cases have no identified risk factors. Community-based transmission continues to increase in the State and has been identified in all counties with cases. Most of the remaining cases have either had travel to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis

Deaths

 

DHHS has also announced one additional death related to COVID-19, a female resident of Rockingham County who was 60 years of age or older.

Cases by County

Belknap 26

Carroll 30

Cheshire 30

Coos 2

Grafton 45

Hillsborough – Other 197

Hillsborough – Manchester 272

Hillsborough – Nashua 135

Merrimack 96

Rockingham 489

Strafford 111

Sullivan 10

County TBD 4

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report

(data updated April 20, 2020, 9:00 AM)

NH Persons with COVID-191 1,447

Recovered 521 (36%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 42 (3%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 884

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 201 (14%)

Current Hospitalizations 78

Persons Tested Negative at Selected Laboratories 12,848

Persons with Specimens Submitted to NH PHL 6,671

Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL4 244

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 2,400

Information above, and archived daily updates are available here: https://www.nh.gov/covid19/news/updates.htm

 

Regional Information (total positive test results, deaths)

Look-back period is now 1 week.

 

NH: 1,447 positive test results 42 deaths  (1 week ago: 985 positive test results 23 deaths)

MA: 39,643 positive test results 1809 deaths (1 week ago: 25,475 positive test results 756 deaths)

ME: 875 positive test results 35 deaths (1 week ago: 633 positive test results 19 deaths)

VT: 816 positive test results 38 deaths (1 week ago: 727 positive test results 27 deaths )

CT: 19,815 positive test results 1331 deaths (1 week ago: 12,035 positive test results 554 deaths )

RI: 5,090  positive test results 155 deaths (1 week ago: 2,665 positive test results 63 deaths )

NY: 247,543 positive test results 14,347 deaths (1 week ago: 188,694 positive test results 9385 deaths)

I know people are getting frustrated with the shut down. I know each of you probably does not know anyone who is sick, so it all seems like an awful lot of economic damage for nothing. This is the problem with a strategy that is successful when nothing really happens. These same strategies were used to different degrees in the 1918 pandemic, so we can see what worked. A naysayer said that a lot has changed in the last 100 years, so it doesn’t matter. They are wrong. Viruses still spread the same way. The things that have changed have actually made it worse. More goods are shipped internationally and more people travel internationally than 100 years ago. More to the point, they travel much faster. If a virus can live outside the human body for 72 hours, you can get anywhere in the world in that time span. This article from National Geographic is worth reading – How some cities ‘flattened the curve’ during the 1918 flu pandemic

~ Steve

• NH impacts from Covid-19, by the numbers & business sectors
• 500,000 more face masks arrive in NH
  

Worth Reading:

• State House Dome: COVID-19 lawsuit is bound to become contact sport
• Sununu moves to dismiss legislators’ suit
• Survey: Most N.H. Residents Prioritize Social Distancing Over Restarting Economy
• Hundreds protest governor’s stay-home order
• Reasons many for fewer NH infections than Mass.
• N.H. court system attempts to chip away at backlog caused by COVID-19
  

NH DHHS COVID-19 Update – April 19, 2020 

On Sunday, April 19, 2020, DHHS announced 50 new positive test results for COVID-19. There have now been 1,392 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire. Several cases are still under investigation. Any additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates. Of those with complete information, all are adults with 52% being female and 48% being male. The new cases reside in Rockingham (13), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (4), Merrimack (2), Strafford (2), Cheshire (1), and Belknap (1) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (17) and Nashua (8). The county of residence is being determined for two new cases.

Hospitalizations

 

Six new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 198 (14%) of 1,392 cases.

Community Based Transmission

Seven of the new cases have no identified risk factors. Community-based transmission continues to increase in the State and has been

identified in all counties with cases. Most of the remaining cases have either had travel to domestic or

international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

Deaths

 

DHHS has also announced three additional deaths related to COVID-19. We offer our sympathies to the family and friends.

• One female resident of Hillsborough County, 60 years of age or older

• One male resident of Rockingham County, 60 years of age or older

• One female resident of Rockingham County, 60 years of age or older

Cases by County

Belknap 26

Carroll 30

Cheshire 29

Coos 2

Grafton 45

Hillsborough – Other 192

Hillsborough – Manchester 258

Hillsborough – Nashua 131

Merrimack 94

Rockingham 479

Strafford 94

Sullivan 10

County TBD 2

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report

(data updated April 19, 2020, 9:00 AM)

NH Persons with COVID-191 1,392

Recovered 521 (37%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 41 (3%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 830

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 198 (14%)

Current Hospitalizations2 79

Persons Tested Negative at Selected Laboratories3 12,726

Persons with Specimens Submitted to NH PHL 6,472

Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL4 298

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 2,300

Information above, and archived daily updates are available here: https://www.nh.gov/covid19/news/updates.htm

 

Regional Information (total positive test results, deaths)

 

NH: 1,392 positive test results 41 deaths

MA: 38,077 positive test results 1706 deaths

ME: 867 positive test results 34 deaths

VT: 812 positive test results 37 deaths

CT: 17,962 positive test results 1127 deaths

RI: 4,706  positive test results 150 deaths

NY: 242,817 positive test results 13,869 deaths

I’ve been getting questions regarding unemployment payments. I will get clarifications for you this week. In the meanwhile, please do not use Facebook messages to ask me questions. I get tons of spam and may miss your message. You can call me at 603-826-5940, or even better email me at nhfirst@gmail.com. That lets me group messages by category, and then I can get the same information to all those who are affected by it.

~ Steve