NH State Representative Steven Smith

We had a communications failure and I need to address it. Over the past week, state, local, and county governments have been in uncharted territory on important issues. Can we still register cars, what happens with evictions, if I am self employed can I get unemployment? There is more, but these logistical issues have been occupying a large portion of our time. I sent an email entitled “NH State Resources” to the governments of my six towns that began:

“It probably does not feel like it, but the situation has stabilized greatly over the past few days. I am sure that you all know about the series of executive orders in place during this period. They can be found here – https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-media/emergency-orders/index.htm ”

The audience was the personnel in local governments, not the public. On Monday, we did not how to answer a lot of these questions. Now we do. For those of us responsible for getting this information out, in that sense, the situation has stabilized. We have most of the resources that we need and did not get a flurry of new executive orders today. The pandemic has not changed.

Unfortunately, it was forwarded to the public and some interpreted it as “crisis over”. It is not. You still need to practice social distancing. You still need to employ extra sanitary precautions. You still need to limit travel. You still need to be extremely careful to not expose the infirm and elderly. None of that has changed. What has changed is that we have more answers to questions and mechanisms to help people. I am sorry if the email was misunderstood. To be clear, when we are able to resume our previous normal lives, that will come from the appropriate state agency and the Governor, not me.

I want to thank the person who called me to let me know about this for being willing to listen even though she was pretty upset. That is a great model that we should all follow.

Steve

Concord, NH – Today, Governor Chris Sununu issued Emergency Orders 6, 7, and 8, as part of the state’s efforts to respond to COVID-19.

Emergency Order #6: Temporary authorization for take-out or delivery beer or wine.

All restaurants, diners, bars, saloons, private clubs or any other establishment that have both a restaurant license and on premise license from the New Hampshire liquor commission shall be temporarily authorized to allow for takeout or delivery of beer or wine. https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-media/emergency-orders/documents/emergency-order-6.pdf

“We appreciate the sacrifices many have made throughout COVID-19 developments,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “This emergency order will allow for patrons to also order beer and wine from their favorite restaurants when ordering pickup or delivery.”

Emergency Order #7: Temporary modification of data and privacy governance plans.

“This order will give school districts greater flexibility when developing remote learning software tools,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “Student privacy is paramount, and all applications and software still must meet rigorous Department of Education privacy standards.” https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-media/emergency-orders/documents/emergency-order-7.pdf

Emergency Order #8: Temporary expansion of access to Telehealth Services to protect the public and health care providers.

“Ensuring Granite Staters can receive quality health care without having to increase their exposure to COVID-19 is important,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “This order will ensure health care practices can continue.” https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-media/emergency-orders/documents/emergency-order-8.pdf

Many have been asking “why is this response so radical, when we didn’t do any of this for other viruses like swine flu or H1N1? This simple explanation comes from a fellow Representative who is also a doctor:

“Because there is no natural immunity, this without intervention will be like the 1918 flu, not like swine flu or H1N1 where at least some people had some immunity. Also compare the infection rates in Hong Kong and Singapore compared to the rest of the world. As very dense areas, one would expect rapid spread. But based on their experience with SARS, they adopted suppression from the beginning. This is why I believe our President and our Governor have made the right call in going to suppression, although I agree it is a hard call.”