Local and regional news

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Tuesday, May 12th is Voting Day in Conway!

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 12th, there will be “In-Person Voting” going on from
8 a.m. – 7 p.m. at the Conway Town Public Works Garage, at 1611 East Main St., Center Conway, next to the Center Conway Fire Station.
 
Under the drive-through voting plan developed by town officials, people will NOT have to get out their cars to vote. They will drive into a bay of the large town garage where they will check in and receive their ballots. They will then drive out the back of the building, park their car, and fill out their ballots using their own pen or a disposable golf pencil provided by the town. They will then drop off their ballots with election officials as they drive out of the complex. Sample Ballots are below.
 
Here’s a Sample of the Town Ballot – 2020-Sample-Town-Ballot
Here’s a Sample of the School Ballot – 2020-Sample-School-Ballot
 
For more details on the Town of Conway please visit CONWAYNH.ORG
 
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DENTAL OFFICES GIVEN THE GREEN LIGHT TO REOPEN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Most dental offices in the state shut down voluntarily in March except for emergency visits because of the risk of COVID-19 and its unknown factors.  They’ve now been given the green light to reopen in New Hampshire.  In previous discussions with the governor, he spoke about the invasive nature of dentistry and that he was working with individuals all over the industry in New Hampshire to create guidelines for safety and what may be mandated for patients and staff for them to reopen safely.  That day is here.

Governor Sununu announced today that dentists’ offices will be allowed to reopen in New Hampshire if they wish to do so beginning Monday.   There are now guidelines in place to reopen with safety precautions in place.  Governor Sununu shares the cooperation that went into making the decision to open this business category: “This was vetted and approved by the Department of Public Health.  It has stakeholder buy-in from folks across the industry, whether it be dental hygienists, oral surgeons, a variety of folks really came together, especially over this past week, working with our reopen New Hampshire task force to create a document working with the public health, gives, I think, a lot of folks of competence as we go forward to make this opportunity available to the citizens.” 

Last week alone there were thousands of online requests for millions of masks, part of the PPE help coming to help reopen businesses in New Hampshire.  The governor spoke about New Hampshire’s current orders for masks and says they’re steadily coming in.  He says, “The state is working directly with the dental offices themselves to offer assistance in securing PPE, to that they and their patients can work in a safe environment.”

 When asked, Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette said the guidelines are specific to keeping everyone that may be working or visiting a dental office safe and if there were any reason for concern about an outbreak of COVID-19 health officials would issue and alert. 

Patients should be in touch directly with their own dentists and see when their individual offices will open.

For more information on the dental industry guidelines, please visit nh.gov.

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SUPERINTENDENT KEVIN RICHARDS HINTS AT KENNETT GRADUATION PLANS

This time of celebration for high school seniors has been anything but ordinary; but behind the scenes there’s a special committee working hard to make graduation more memorable for all Kennett High seniors.   Kevin Richards, Superintendent of Schools tells Mount Washington Radio Group’s Ron Frizzell: “The committee has formed up of parents, teachers, administration and a school board member. We do have a few things that we’re taking a look at. Hopefully we’ll have a definitive answer here pretty soon.  Within a week we’ll know one way or another.  (it’s) Pretty exciting if we are able to pull off what I think we’re going to.”  He goes on to say that the plans revolve around doing something on site, practicing social distancing and mitigating any groupings.

At the School Board Meeting on Monday Kevin Richards and his special committee hope to put forth their plans to gain approval and start moving forward with organizing.   But for now Superintendent Richards says, “It’ll be very exciting if we can do what we hope to do. But, I don’t want to put it out there and have to reel it back because that would be bad.”

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SETTLERS GREEN IN NORTH CONWAY DEVELOPING A PLAN TO REOPEN MAY 11TH

Retail operations have been given the green light to open on May 11th with guidelines in place such as wearing face masks, limiting the capacity inside of store, practicing social distancing and strict sanitation schedules.   Rob Barsamian, President of Settlers Green is working with partners to start opening on May 11th and be fully open by Memorial Day weekend.

“Unless something changes, and unless the governor makes a different decision, that’s kind of our plan.  Now for us, behind the scenes, we’ve been working like crazy with all kinds of safety precautions.  You know more sanitization around the shopping center for the people.  Making sure the bathrooms are cleaned and sprayed down a lot more often. Doing sanitation night cleaning and  disinfectant, we’re buying spray machines for the furniture and the bathrooms.  Keeping seating areas at an appropriate distance from each other.”

The Settlers Green website hosts a statement about their reopening which includes outdoor dining for the restaurants within the shopping center.  The plan is to open May 18th as outlined by Governor Sununu’s Stay at Home 2.0 orders.  It also notes that a list of retailers that plan to be open can be found at: https://www.settlersgreen.com/covid-19 on or before May 11th. 

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AMC AND ITS REOPENING JULY 1ST

While the Appalachian Mountain Club has made the difficult decision to close their high huts hidden in the White Mountains, they hope to have their roadside lodges open by July first.  Chris Thayer, director of AMC’s Guided Outdoors says: “We’ll be navigating, you know, as we reopen our roadside lodges, Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch, and the Highland Center in Crawford Notch we hope to open those by July first and the lead up to that as with any other enterprise organization, small business, large business, non-profit, everybody’ sort of  navigating the guidance that’s provided by  federal and state authorities and working judiciously on plans for reopening and in our case what that looks like come July first because what we know from this spring, you’ve seen that already, just the amount of interest in getting outdoors during this pandemic is still here, still in our region and certainly land managing partners and AMC and others have had to navigate that, towns as well in terms of that visitation and growth of visitation and we certainly don’t necessarily see that going away in summer time and the peak season.”

From their mission statement: “Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of America’s Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.”

To find current AMC conditions or updates, please visit: outdoors.org

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GOVERNOR SUNUNU UPDATES THE STATE ABOUT AT HOME 2.0

Today’s update from Governor Sununu and team included information regarding the distribution of 40 million dollars from the Federal Cares Act money.  It’s to be used for first responders, cleaning, social services, telework and childcare and how this takes some of the pressure off the state and towns.

Questions about what it would take for him to reconsider all of the Stay at Home 2.0 plans to slowly reopen the state came from the audience.  Governor Sununu mentioned that they are constantly reevaluating: the capacity of hospital beds available, testing capability, which is getting stronger, and the number of positive cases.  He mentioned that the reopening of some sectors will continue to be looked at as they happen and the team can see how it affects the population of New Hampshire.

Someone asked about a mandate for masks when in public places.  Governor Sununu said that constituents are doing a great job policing themselves and that at this time there’s not a need to go to that length.

Are there worries about stay at home fatigue and people moving about more freely without consequence? Sununu was proud of the job citizens are doing social distancing, wearing masks when they should and that the biggest concern was people traveling up from Massachusetts to the Seabrook and Hampton areas.  He said this is not the time to vacation or recreate and that to keep the spread of the virus down, people need to abide by their stay at home orders and that’s why we cannot open state attractions and public places that extensively right now.

There was a brief mention of agricultural relief efforts as well as long term care testing in the works.

There was a call with Vice President Pence recently that our governor was a part of and during those discussions they spoke about: increased capacity for testing, direct shipments of PPE to long term care facilities and how New Hampshire designed their guidelines for the initial efforts to get more surgeries and procedures happening at hospitals.

A question about dentists came up and the governor spoke about his works with the industry to reopen their practices safely.  The discussion was based around the invasive nature of the dentistry business and PPE for everyone involved.   Many practices gave hospitals and doctor’s offices their PPE during the initial wave of COVID-19. The guidelines are being worked on now in a very team driven manner.

State constituents were reminded of our at-risk groups, the older and compromised.  The need to protect these individuals is important and the need to remember social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks in public so they don’t get sick, hospitalized or expire.

The subject of pets being able to transmit COVID-19 was broached.  The suggestion is that pets remain leashed when in public and interaction with other pets and people be avoided.

A caller asked if Stay at Home 2.0 is mandatory or suggestive.  Governor Sununu made it clear that this is mandatory: that he feels good about the progress that’s been made because it was a cooperative effort with each industry to make sure that they were involved in the process and willing to uphold their suggestions that would become mandated.  Will police be used to enforce these mandates?  If necessary, police will look at violations on a case by case basis.

How will we continue to open up if the cases of infection level off or drop?  How soon do we open more?  The Governor said that there were two ways to look at it: one, geographically, and the other demographically.  Each of these has their drawbacks and it’s hard to enforce but both ways were doable when and if the decision has to be made.  He’ll continue to work with the Attorney General and the DPH to evaluate how to move forward safely.  The concern right now is how the current projected openings go and then take it day by day, week by week and see how that goes.

For more information on the above and the detailed guidelines, please visit NH.gov.

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STAY AT HOME 2.0 NEW HAMPSHIRE FLEXES FOR THE ECONOMY

Despite the still active stay at home order, Governor Sununu announced today that there will be certain sectors of the state that will be allowed to service the communities in a larger capacity.  Sununu said that these businesses are not required to open but should they want to, there have been guidelines put together by a large task force with safety being the first priority.

Beginning now, hospitals will be able to schedule time sensitive procedures and surgeries.  The types of procedures mentioned during the conference were MRI’s, CT Scans, knee and hip replacements for chronic pain and biopsies.   Please reach out to your provider for more information.

Campgrounds can open immediately and only for New Hampshire residents and members of private campgrounds.  There will be additional physical distancing restrictions in place.

Interior state parks can remain open and health and safety guidelines can be found online.  However the governor is keeping beaches closed due to their close proximity to Massachusetts and the chance of spreading the virus through out of state visitors.

Manufacturing is still considered an essential industry and no additional restrictions were mentioned during the conference however, the state will continue to provide guidance for safety.

On May 11th, the state of New Hampshire will provide guidance to allow golf courses to open in a limited capacity.  Like campgrounds, golf courses will only be opened to New Hampshire residence and with restrictions.  Golfing itself won’t look any different but there won’t be any clubhouses open and food and beverage service will have its own restrictions.

Also beginning the 11th, barber shops and salons will be allowed to resume operations with strict guidelines surrounding the number of occupants allowed in the building, appointments will be available by reservation only for simple cuts and coloring.  Face coverings will be required for the client and stylist.

Drive-in movie theaters will also be allowed to open beginning the 11th.  There will be guidelines for proper social distancing, no congregating in the bathrooms, or other areas and like golf, food and beverage will have its own set of rules to follow.

Last thing we can expect to see reopening is retail establishments on the 11th.  Face coverings will be required for employees.  Strict sanitation guidelines have been put forth.  Social distancing practices will also be required.

May 18th will bring us the opening of outdoor seating for restaurants.  The outdoor fresh air seating will be a safer step for restaurants and New Hampshire residents should people traveling from other states be patronizing the restaurants.  The governor saw it as a way to ease into the reopening of this category and hopes that cities and towns will go easy on their own restrictions so that restaurants can get creative about where to seat guests outside.  Tables must be 6 feet apart, there can be no more than 6 in a party, face coverings must be worn by servers and restaurants need to follow all DPH and NHRLA regulations.

For more information on the above and the detailed guidelines that are in place until May 31st, please visit NH.gov.