Local and regional news

,

NH DHHS Identifies First Mosquito Batch in 2020 to Test Positive for West Nile Virus

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has identified the first batch of mosquitoes to test positive for West Nile virus (WNV) this season. The batch was found recently in the city of Manchester. DHHS is working in partnership with the City of Manchester Health Department on providing additional risk mitigation information to Manchester residents and surrounding towns.

“West Nile virus is transmitted to humans from the bite of an infected mosquito,” said NH State Epidemiologist, Dr. Benjamin Chan. “The best way to prevent WNV and other mosquito-transmitted infections is to take steps to avoid mosquito bites by using an insect repellent effective against mosquitoes, avoid being outdoors between dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active, and remove any standing water from around the home, where mosquitoes reproduce.”

WNV is an arbovirus transmitted from the bite of an infected mosquito. WNV was first identified in New Hampshire in August of 2000. For the last decade, WNV activity has been detected every year in NH. The most recent human case of WNV in NH was in an adult in 2017. Typically, WNV activity increases in years where drought conditions exist. Even though we have been experiencing cooler fall weather, the risk for WNV and eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) will continue to increase until there is a statewide mosquito killing hard frost.

Symptoms of WNV usually appear within a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito, although many people can be infected and not develop any symptoms, or only develop very mild symptoms. Symptoms can include flu-like illness including fever, muscle aches, headaches, and fatigue. A very small percentage of individuals infected with WNV can go on to develop more serious central nervous system disease, including meningitis or encephalitis. If you or someone you know is experiencing flu-like symptoms, including fever and headache, contact your local medical provider.

Prevention guidelines for WNV, and other arboviral diseases of concern, can be found below. Anyone with questions about arboviruses can call the New Hampshire Bureau if Infectious Disease Control at 603-271-4496. Fact Sheets on these diseases are available on the DHHS website at www.dhhs.nh.gov. For more information, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at www.cdc.gov.

# # #

Prevention Guidelines for Mosquito and Tick Diseases

NH Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services

  1. Eliminate habitat and breeding locations.

Mosquitoes

  • Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water. Remove outdoor items that hold water (old tires, cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots).
  • Drill holes in the bottom of outdoor recycling containers, clean roof gutters and ensure proper drainage.
  • If not in use, empty and/or cover swimming pools, wading pools and hot tubs.
  • Turn over wheelbarrows and change water in birdbaths at least twice weekly.

Ticks

  • Minimizing areas where hosts for the ticks, such as rodents and deer, can congregate to eat, sleep or feed.
  1. Be aware of where mosquitoes and ticks live.
  • Weeds, tall grass, and bushes provide an outdoor home for mosquitoes and ticks, alike.
  • Make sure that doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace all screens in your home that have tears or holes.
  • Resting mosquitoes can often be flushed from indoor resting sites by using sweeping motions under beds, behind bedside tables etc. and once in flight, exterminated prior to sleeping at night.
  • Avoid tick-infested areas. If in tick-infested areas, walk in the center of trails to avoid contact with overgrown grass, brush, and leaf litter at trail edges.
  1. Protect yourself from bites.
  • When outside, wear protective clothing such as socks, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants (preferably tucked in socks). Light-colored clothing helps you spot ticks.
  • Consider avoiding outdoor activities in the early morning and evening, when mosquitoes are most likely to be biting.
  • Wear insect repellents, such as one containing 30% or less DEET (N,N-diethyl-methyl-meta-toluamide), Picaridin, para-menthane-diol, IR3535, or 2-undecanone or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Treat clothing with permethrin, which is odorless when dry.
  • Vitamin B, ultrasonic devices, incense, and bug zappers have not been shown to be effective in preventing mosquito bites.
  • Shower as soon as possible after spending time outdoors.
  • Check for ticks daily, on you and your pets. Ticks can hide under the armpits, behind the knees, in the hair, and in the groin.
  • Wash and dry clothing after being outdoors. Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing. If the clothes are damp, additional time may be needed.
  • Early removal of ticks can reduce the risk of infection. Inspect all body surfaces carefully, and remove attached ticks with tweezers. Monitor your health closely after a tick bite and be alert for symptoms of illness. Contact your physician to discuss testing and treatment.

 For more information on mosquito-borne diseases, visit the DHHS Website at www.dhhs.nh.gov.

,

15 Tire Slashings in North Conway Under Investigation

On Wednesday (09/02/20) morning at approximately 7:00 am the Conway Police Department was dispatched to 781 Kearsarge Road in North Conway for a report of two (2) vehicles that were found in the driveway of the residence with tires slashed. The officer arrived on scene and, upon further inspection, it was discovered that the tires on three (3) additional vehicles at the same residence had also been slashed. As the officer was investigating the incident at 781 Kearsarge Road, a resident at 568 Old Bartlett Road called to report that five (5) vehicles at that residence had also been discovered with slashed tires. After taking these reports, officers performed a check of other vehicles in the area locating one (1) at 761 Kearsarge Road, two (2) at 734 Kearsarge Road and two (2) at 640 Intervale Cross Road. In total, 15 vehicles were found with slashed tires in the area of Intervale Cross Road and Old Bartlett Road near Kearsarge Road.

The vandalism is believed to have occurred sometime between 10:00pm Tuesday night and 7:00am Wednesday morning. The Conway Police Department is asking the public for their assistance in this matter. Anyone with information please call 603-356-5715. We would also ask that if anyone has surveillance cameras facing towards the roadway in the area of Kearsarge Road near Old Bartlett Road and Intervale Cross Road, please contact the department so we may view any relevant footage.

Thank you,

Lt. Christopher Mattei

,

Third Virus Vaccine Reaches Major Hurdle: Final US Testing

In this Aug. 14, 2020, file photo, laboratory technicians work at the mAbxience biopharmaceutical company on an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and the laboratory AstraZeneca in Garin, Argentina. AstraZeneca announced Monday, Aug. 31, its vaccine candidate has entered the final testing stage in the U.S. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

 

(WASHINGTON AP) – A third leading candidate COVID-19 vaccine has entered a final stage of human testing in the United States. AstraZeneca announced Monday its potential COVID-19 vaccine has entered final trials in the U.S. to test the effectiveness and safety of the product. The Cambridge, England-based company said the trial will involve up to 30,000 adults from various racial, ethnic and geographic groups. The potential vaccine was invented by the University of Oxford and an associated company, Vaccitech. Meanwhile, a U.S. advisory panel is suggesting a way to ration the first limited doses once a vaccine does prove safe and effective.

Click here for more information.

,

Memorial Hospital Reminds Parents to check Children’s Immunization Status

Vaccination Program Manager Zach Sevigny, RN, prepares a patient to receive a vaccination

 

NORTH CONWAY, NH – The COVID-19 pandemic has led many families to postpone regular activities. For many families keeping up with immunizations and health visits for their children was one of those activities.

Dr. Wenda Saunders, a pediatrician at Memorial Hospital’s Mt. Washington Rural Health Care is encouraging families to get caught up with immunizations. “There has been a world-wide drop off in childhood immunizations and regular well-child visits because of COVID-19,” she says. “It is important for keeping your child healthy and for the health of your child’s classmates, day care mates, and friends.”

The Hospital and the Rural Health Center reduced access to hospital services during the early stages of the pandemic, including postponing some check-ups and other visits not deemed critical. Saunders notes that as the hospital has begun increasing access for patients, clinicians are making well-child visits and immunizations a priority. “We’re calling parents whose child had a visit affected by the hospital’s temporary reduction in services. To help schedule everyone we’ve added evening and weekend appointments to make it easier for parents to bring in their children.”

The Centers for Disease Control lists fourteen diseases preventable through vaccinations. These include the familiar measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), and meningitis. Also on the list is polio which, though uncommon in the United States, is still seen in Africa, Asia and other areas of the world. While younger children receive most vaccines, Saunders also recommends the vaccination for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, for both girls and boys. The HPV vaccine is given in two or three doses beginning as soon as age 11. “The HPV vaccine reduces the risk of multiple types of cancers later in life, including cervical in females and oral cancers in males and females.”

Mt Washington Rural Health Practice Manager Lucy Williams says promoting health and preventing disease is the practice’s core mission, and her team has been working for several weeks to reschedule postponed appointments. “Reducing in-office appointments during the early stages of COVID-19 was the right thing to do to ensure patient safety. When we were able to increase access to services, we placed a high priority on well-child visits and immunizations as well as patients who missed appointments for chronic conditions.”

Health care providers, Williams says, learned more about the virus and how it spreads and made necessary adjustments to operations to safely increase access to in-person services. “We have transitioned our efforts to focus on preventive healthcare and have placed a high priority on routine well-child visits and immunizations.” 

Williams adds that Mount Washington Valley Rural Health also expanded access by adding evening and weekend hours, and is now open seven days a week for appointments. Appointments can be requested through MyChart or by calling the office 603-356-5472.

,

New Hampshire to Receive $28 Million in Funding for First Year of Two-Year State Opioid Response Program

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has received an award notification for the second phase of the State Opioid Response (SOR) Program. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will provide the first year of funding as part of a two-year, $56 million award to New Hampshire to continue the successes achieved during the State’s first two years of SOR funding, which launched the Doorway system and increased rural access to care.

New Hampshire received more than $55 million during the initial phase of SOR funding. Over the past two years, New Hampshire has rapidly deployed SOR funding to establish a sustainable access and delivery system to ensure better outcomes for residents with an opioid or substance use disorder. The Doorways-NH launched on January 1, 2019, to provide comprehensive, 24/7 statewide access to services and ensure that no one in New Hampshire has to travel more than 60 minutes to begin the process toward recovery.

“We are grateful for additional support from our federal partners to continue the success of all of the programs that have been stood up and enhanced, including the Doorways program,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “Since the Doorways launched, about 15,000 residents have received a clinical evaluation, referred to treatment or received naloxone. The system works, and this funding will be used to continue to ensure that these critical services will be available to help any resident seeking help for their substance use. Anyone who is experiencing substance misuse is encouraged to call 2-1-1 to get connected to people who can help.”

“According to a recent CDC survey, about 13% of adults have increased their use of substances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in New Hampshire, the Doorways have remained a valuable resource for individuals and families struggling with substance misuse,” said DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette. “The Doorways continue to see increasing requests for services, with almost 1,000 residents seeking help last month alone. Our State is fortunate to have this system in place to be able to offer around the clock access to anyone in need.”

The new SOR funds will allow the State to enhance existing investments to build capacity even further with the goal to establish stability and sustainability in the long term. The Doorways will be expanding in-person 24/7 coverage in high volume regions through this funding and additional needs will also be addressed, including overnight respite, stimulant misuse and expanding recovery support services.

For more information, and to view the State’s proposal submitted to SAMHSA, please visit https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/bdas/sor.htm. For more information on SAMHSA’s SOR funding announcement, please see https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/grants/pdf/fy-2020-sor-foa.pdf.

,

Census Takers are Easy to Spot Across New Hampshire

WASHINGTON — The United States Census Bureau is actively conducting Non-Response Follow Up operations across every city, town, and municipality in the state to ensure a complete and accurate count of everyone living in the United States. By law, the Census Bureau must provide the first results from the 2020 Census by December 31st. To provide complete and accurate results by that deadline, we are doing everything we can to collect a response from every household by September 30th. We are urging households to respond, maximizing staff and production hours, and ensuring data quality along the way. 

Following Health & Safety Guidelines 

To ensure safety of all employees and residents, census takers are wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines. In most cases, census workers will make up to six attempts at each address to count possible residents—this is the same number of attempts we have been planning all along. Census takers will still visit homes during the originally planned hours—between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., local time, including on weekends, to reach people when they are more likely at home. Census takers are also calling some households to help them respond to the census, providing one more way to count hard-to-reach communities and people who have not yet responded. 

We continue to urge households to respond through our multilingual advertising campaign and through the efforts of nearly 400,000 partner organizations. We urge everyone to respond now or when a census taker comes to your door—and to encourage everyone you know to do the same. We are even mailing an additional paper census questionnaire to many households that have not responded yet in low-responding areas. 

Identifying Census Workers 

The Census Bureau is attempting to complete data collection as quickly and safely as possible, while ensuring a complete and accurate count as it strives to comply with law and statutory deadlines. Identifying a Census Bureau employee can be accomplished by checking their ID badge, which includes:  

  • Their name 
  • Their photograph 
  • A Department of Commerce Watermark 
  • An expiration date
Employees will also have an official 2020 Census bag and Census Bureau issued iPhone. If you are still unsure, you can ask the census taker for their supervisor’s contact information or the phone number for the local Census Bureau regional census center. Also, census takers should NEVER ask for any of the following information: 
  • Your Social Security number 
  • Your bank account or credit card numbers 
  • Anything on behalf of a political party
  • Money or donations 
Measuring Quality of Work 

The United States Census Bureau has created a group of experienced field experts to closely monitor, evaluate, and resolve quality issues. Because census takers are using mobile devices instead of paper, we have a great deal of data about how long the census takers spend interviewing each respondent and​where they physically were when the interview was conducted. We are carefully monitoring this information and using it to identify outliers. Based on those outliers, we may re-interview a portion of the census takers’ work to verify quality standards are met. The best way to avoid a visit from a census taker at home is to complete the 2020 Census online at www.2020census.gov. 

 About 2020 Census 

The U.S. Constitution mandates a head count, every ten years, of all residents living in the United States and its territories. Census counts determine how many seats each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representative as well as how over $675 billion in federal dollars in distributed annually. Individual responses are protected by federal law, never to be shared with any other department, court, or law enforcement agency. Responding to the 2020 Census is easy with four ways to respond: online, by phone, by paper, or with the help of a census taker. 

,

Medical Emergency Rescue near Peaked Mountain in North Conway

North Conway:  On Thursday, August 27th shortly after 1:00 PM New Hampshire Fish and Game was notified that a hiker was in distress on the Middle Mountain Trail in the area of Peaked Mountain in North Conway.  The hiker was Theodore Clancy, 76 of Lake Hopatcong, NJ.  Theodore was hiking with his son, daughter in law and grandson.  After hiking for about an hour Theodore began having chest pain and they phoned 911 for assistance.  They were about a mile and a half from the trailhead.

Along with Conservation Officers members of North Conway Fire and Conway Fire departments responded.  Paramedics were able to assess Theodore, provided treatment and monitor his condition.  He was placed in a litter and carried to the trailhead.  He arrived at the trailhead shortly after 4:00 PM and was transported by ambulance to the Memorial Hospital in North Conway.  Ultimately he was transported by DHART to the Maine Medical Center for additional care.

Source: NH Fish and Game Press Release