Hide Transcript Show Transcript

OFFICIALS ARE MEETING EACH DAY AS THE NUMBER OF CASES CONTINUES TO GO UP. DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE WITH STATE OFFICIALS MONDAY... A GRIM ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE. SINCE THE START OF THE OUTBREAK HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE... THE STATE NOW HAS ITS FIRST DEATH FROM COVID-19 A MAN OVER THE AGE OF SIXTY FROM HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY WITH CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS. <CLIP 713 13:14:58 13:14:08 THIS IS THE EXACT GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO I AT HIGHEST RISK FOR SERIOUS COVID 19 RELATED COMPLICATIONS SUCH AS HOSPITILIZATION AND EVEN DEATH> THE STATE STARTED TESTING FOR THE VIRUS THREE WEEKS AGO. SINCE THEN 24- HUNDRED PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TESTED. THERE ARE NOW ONE HUNDRED ONE POSITIVE CASES.... ELEVEN OF THEM REQUIRED HOSPITALIZATION. <CLIP 713 13:13:43 13:13:58 THE MAJORITY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE TRAVEL RELATED, EITHER DOMESTIC OR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL BUT WE ARE SEEING A NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS IN COMMUNITIES AND COUNTIES ACROSS THE STATE WHO HAVE NO CLEARLY IDENTIFIED RISK FACTORS> AND BECAUSE OF THAT... GATHERINGS IN THE GRANITE STATE ARE NOW LIMITED TO TEN PEOPLE OR LESS. PEOPLE OVER SIXTY AND THOSE WITH MEDICAL PROBLEMS SHOULD BE STAYING HOME AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. <CLIP 713 13:19:55 - 12:20:08 WE ARE TAKING WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE APPROPRIATE AND AGGRESSIVE ACTION FOR TRYING LIMIT COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION, BUT WE NEED TO, ALL OF US, COLLECTIVELY TAKE STEPS TO DISTANCE OURSELVES FROM OTHERS> ...AND THAT DISTANCE SHOULD BE AT LEAST SIX FEET AWAY FROM SOMEONE EL

Advertisement 1 in NH dies of COVID-19, health officials say Governor announces plans to build out surge capacity for hospitals Share Shares Copy Link Copy

One person in New Hampshire has died from COVID-19, health officials announced Monday.>> Download the FREE WMUR appThe patient was a man over the age of 60 from Hillsborough County. He had multiple underlying health conditions, officials said.>> COVID-19 in New Hampshire: What you need to know"This is an unfortunate situation and one that we certainly want to try to avoid," said Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist. "But we know that this virus can cause serious illness and even death in those who are more susceptible to serious infection.">> Latest COVID-19 coverage from WMURChan said 23 more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in New Hampshire, and 11 have been hospitalized. Overall, 101 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the state.Gov. Chris Sununu said he was limiting all gatherings to no more than 10 people, in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He urged Granite Staters to stay home whenever possible and continue to practice social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. He said anyone over 60 and those with underlying medical conditions should stay home. He said more measures might have to be taken in the future, but he didn't announce any new restrictions.Chan said more than 2,400 people in the state have been tested, and 870 tests are currently pending. He said most of the cases have been in people who have traveled or who had contact with someone known to be infected with COVID-19. But some cases had no identified risk factors, indicating that community transmission of the virus was continuing.The state expects to triple its testing capacity over the next 24 hours, which means the number of confirmed cases will also rise, Sununu said.Anticipating a sharp increase in the number of serious cases, Sununu announced plans to build out surge capacity for hospitals, with the first such surge treatment area to be set up at Southern New Hampshire University. "Clinical operations will be led by Catholic Medical Center and Elliot Hospitals, with support from all stakeholders and partners," Sununu said. "New Hampshire expects to implement similar models at seven other clinical -- what we're calling our 'flex areas' across the state, established at appropriate spaces currently not in use because of the pandemic within the Granite State."The additional locations have yet to be announced.Public health officials said Granite Staters should be prepared for the numbers of cases and deaths to increase in the coming weeks."We are taking what I believe to be appropriate and aggressive action for trying to limit community transmission, but we need to, all of us, collectively take steps to distance ourselves from others," Chan said.The governor said he has given providers flexibility to decide how the clinical flex areas will be used, so it's not clear yet if they'll have COVID-19 patients or if hospitals will shift some operations to open up space in their own facilities.State employment officials said they were working to process the wave of unemployment claims that have come in since the state allowed more people to file for benefits if they were financially affected by COVID-19.The state's unemployment website became unresponsive because of the thousands of people who filed claims. Richard Lavers, deputy commissioner of New Hampshire Employment Security, said 34,000 people registered for benefits, 10,000 through the unemployment system hotline at 603-271-7700.Lavers said benefits for those who first filed should begin arriving by Wednesday. For any new claims, the expectation is payments will be made beginning eight days from when the claim is filed, he said.Lavers reminded those filing claims that they need to login again for each week of continued eligibility and file a continued claim.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