Governor announces $50M fund to help hospitals

CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu announced Thursday that a $50 million fund is being set up to support hospitals as they gear up for a potential surge in patients associated with the coronavirus epidemic.

“We must support the entire system from the top down, so that individuals can receive the best care possible from the ground up,” he said. “We won’t let the doors of health shut to anyone.”

The money will come from the New Hampshire General Fund.

Sununu said the state is doing “surge planning” to be ready in case the number of cases of the disease in New Hampshire rises quickly. He said the state has 1,000 private ventilators.

He also said a state emergency declaration has been approved, freeing up loans through the Small Business Administration.

Sununu was joined in the afternoon news conference by New Hampshire State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan, who said 44 people in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with the virus out of 1,400 people tested, while 800 tests are pending.

Chan said domestic or international travel has been the primary risk factor for those with positive tests, but added there have also been instances of community spread, or people who picked up the virus from an undetermined local source.

Additional such instances are expected, he said.

“It is critically important for people to stay home if they are sick,” Chen said. “It’s a very infectious virus. It can spread easily person to person and can spread early on with very mild symptoms. Not everybody will have severe symptoms.”

He said it is important that people with even mild cases to remember that others, particularly the elderly or those with major health issues, could have more serious outcomes if they were to be infected.

Chan said testing has been prioritized for the more seriously ill and health care and long-term care workers who would be at risk of greatly spreading the disease.

He said the state has an adequate number of tests but there are concerns regarding not enough personal protection equipment for those administering the tests or sufficient materials for collection of samples, such as the proper type of swabs.