A downtown hair salon intends to distribute roughly 1,000 N95 face masks to local hospitals and health centers after raising about $2,000 from supporters last week.
Salon K put out a call to Facebook followers Friday morning requesting money to help purchase protective equipment for local medical providers facing shortages.
At the time, the business said it intended to purchase a case of masks from manufacturers who also produce salon and spa equipment.
But enough donations came in to purchase four cases, which will arrive Tuesday. The Pleasant Street salon will then begin doling them out health care facilities — such as Concord and Eliot hospitals — as well as local nursing homes.
Kae Mason, who owns Salon K, said she expects another four cases to arrive later this week.
“We’re just trying to do our part,” Mason said Sunday. “We don’t have truckloads, we don’t have semis, but we’re doing whatever we can to help.”
Mason said she’s been overwhelmed by the donations, some of which came from families struggling under the economic downturn.
“People are stepping up and making some good-sized donations,” she said. “That just breaks my heart; that just warms me up.”
New Hampshire officials reported the highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases Saturday, mirroring a trend in neighboring Vermont.
The Granite State was dealing with 621 cases of the novel coronavirus by Saturday afternoon, with the hardest-hit counties in the southern part of the state.
Rockingham County saw 213 cases, while there were 97 cases in Manchester and 60 in Nashua, New Hampshire’s two largest cities.
There were 39 reported cases in Merrimack County.
ClearChoiceMD is now offering COVID-19 testing to high-risk patients at select locations in Vermont and New Hampshire.
People experiencing symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, and persistent cough would first be examined and evaluated to first rule out seasonal flu, the New London-based company said in a news release.
If the flu test is negative, ClearChoice staffers may recommend COVID-19 testing at one of its facilities or another local test site.
Testing at ClearChoiceMD’s Miracle Mile facility in Lebanon starts on Monday. The urgent care company also is also offering testing at its Alton and Tilton, N.H. locations, according to its website.
Only high-risk patients will be recommended to test for the novel coronavirus because of a national shortage of testing supplies, the company said.
Low-risk patients who have mild symptoms and test negative for the flu will be directed to self-quarantine for 14 days, per federal health guidelines.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.