Women continue to come down with COVID-19 at much higher rates than men in New Hampshire, but they don’t get seriously sick as often, and men are much more likely to die from the novel coronavirus.
As of last week, according to state statistics, 56.5% of all confirmed cases were in women, but only 41.5% of hospitalized patients were women and only 44.5% of patients who died were women. The latter fact is particularly striking because the 86% of deaths in the state have occurred in people over the age of 70, a group where women significantly outnumber men.
This pattern is found in many places and has been consistent since the pandemic spread in New Hampshire.
Scientists are still not sure what explains the gender difference in how the disease is hitting populations. Possibilities include different hormones, different lifestyles, and patterns of underlying health conditions.
The number of new cases of COVID-19 in New Hampshire is staying stubbornly high, with the 14-day average basically unchanged over the past week and a half. A decline in daily new cases is one of the markers used to signal whether the economy can continue to reopen.
As of Sunday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, there have been 4,651 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the state. Almost two-thirds – 63% – have recovered, while about 7% of current cases are hospitalized.
The state has seen 245 deaths, of which 212 or 86% have been in people over the age of 70. Virtually all of those were living in long-term care facilities.
Only one death has been reported in people under the age of 40, although they have come down with about one-third of all cases.
Seacoast beaches are officially open today, but not for sunbathing or building sand castles.
The reopening plan allows activities like swimming, walking or surfing but no loitering or eating food on the beach, to reduce the chance of strangers spreading the virus to each other. State parking lots are limited to 50 percent capacity.
Tattoo shops, massage parlors, small fitness classes and some other personal care businesses can open their doors today as long as they follow state public health restrictions. Gyms are still closed except for classes.
As Congress works through the next stimulus package, Gov. Chris Sununu and New Hampshire’s congressional delegation are raising new concerns about hospital funding.
In separate letters sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week, New Hampshire’s governor and federal representatives said that the money that has been distributed to hospitals has been inefficiently prioritized and slow to get out.
Without a course correction, hospitals in the Granite State could be “essentially left behind,” Sununu warned.
“Ultimately, to date, the disbursements that have been to the benefit of large wealthy institutions have been to the detriment of most New Hampshire hospitals,” Sununu wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
That’s the case for Catholic Medical Center, which is struggling to absorb deep financial losses at the end of the pandemic and the decision to shut down non-essential procedures for months.
“We need to stabilize ourselves financially,” said Alex Walker, CEO and executive vice president at the hospital. “We need to live to serve our patients another day.”
So far, the money has been distributed to hospitals in three rounds, each using different determining factors. The first round was distributed based on a determination of the hospitals’ percentage of Medicare fee for service payments.
The second targeted hotspots around the country, based on the number of COVID-19 positive patients. At the time none of New Hampshire’s hospitals qualified. Since the money was allocated, Manchester city hospitals have reached that threshold.
The third round of funding prioritized rural hospitals, which left out CMC, the Elliott, and other urban New Hampshire hospitals that are bearing the brunt of the state’s COVID cases, Walker said.
For CMC, the lack of significant federal support means the hospital is now bracing for losses. Given the loss of revenues from elected procedures, which have only partly begun to resume, the hospital will likely incur costs of around $220 million in coming months, Walker said.
That’s a much greater hole than the $8.5 million federal grant is so far able to fill, Walker noted.
CMC has already furloughed 423 staff people and put another 900 on “low census staffing,” meaning they are on standby as the patient population for non-COVID patients stays low.
At the same time, the money doesn’t seem to match the need, Walker argues. The hospital has seen 29% of the COVID patients but received only 4% if the total hospital aid to the state, Walker says. Combined with the Elliott, the two hospitals have treated over 60% of cases but received less than 10% of funding.
“One of the downfalls to the formula is that the law of unintended consequences kicks in and some people fall through the cracks,” Walker said. “And that is exactly what happened through the last two rounds of funding.”
Walker and Sununu are now pressing for the next round of hospital funding to include a minimum amount per state, to ensure that hospitals get something.
In their own letter to the department, New Hampshire Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen – as well as Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas – also pointed to the disparity between rural and urban grant funding and asked the Trump administration to adjust the formula and release more money.
“With revenues expected to continue to lag over the next several months for many health care providers, action now is critical,” they wrote.
