Town and county officials and safety officers in Rockingham County have been working nonstop over the past three weeks preparing for an increase in the cases of active infections in the county.
Many are volunteers. Together with their counterparts throughout the state, they have been working out the nuts and bolts of a complicated rollout requiring an unprecedented level of coordination under pressure. They have been navigating large-scale planning with state and federal agencies: New Hampshire departments of Safety, Health and Human Services, Public Health and Justice, and FEMA, Homeland Security, the surgeon general and the National Guard, to name a few.
They have been sorting out major issues facing first responders, and local fire and police departments regarding protective equipment and testing. Town governments face challenges as large as safely continuing necessary daily governance with adequate quorums and as seemingly small as handling the mail or marriage licenses. They have been dealing with all those things and much more.
Regarding Rockingham County, it would be in terrible shape without all that effort because our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has been unlike that of any other county in the state. We have more cases than any other county in the state, despite having no major city with a high population density. There is every reason to expect these trends to accelerate.
As of March 30, the county had 100 confirmed cases in a population of about 306,000. We were home to almost 40% of the cases in New Hampshire. In contrast, Hillsborough and Merrimack counties, including the cities of Manchester, Nashua and Concord, had 46 cases in a population of about 550,000, accounting for only 18% of the cases in the state.
The total number of new cases in the state increased daily over the past week. Rockingham County has accounted for more than a third of these new cases, despite having less than a quarter of the state’s population. For practical purposes, we are the COVID-19 “epicenter” of New Hampshire, without the center.
For two weeks we have been living with mandated daily restrictions none of us have experienced before. Without first-hand experience of COVID-19, it can be hard to see why these restraints are so critical. Keeping track of the basic things like hand washing and a six-foot bubble of separation is a challenge in the midst of work and family life, disappearing income and our worried nights.
All along, we have had no way of knowing who has COVID-19 with only mild symptoms and no testing. Every one of those folks accelerates the spread of the virus. It could be any one of us or anyone we spend time with.
Those putting in so much effort over the last three weeks have understood this. They have been very serious about making the best preparations possible for the rest of us. We owe them as much.
Every one of us who takes the safety precautions and the restrictions just as seriously over the next three weeks respects and builds on their work. The more of us, the better for all of us.
(David Coursin of Northwood is a doctor and state representative in Rockingham District 1.)