Moultonborough responds to virus in myriad ways

MOULTONBOROUGH — As we head into winter, and coronavirus infections increase throughout the state, some look at the data, and what is happening with the people around them, and have different reactions. Sometimes, those reactions can cause conflict.

During a budget workshop last Friday evening, selectmen met without wearing masks. At the end of the four-hour meeting, the board asked if Karen Nelson, from the Milfoil Committee, cared to speak to her budget request. On a video stream of the meeting, Nelson can be heard, but not seen, declining to take a seat at a table before the selectboard.

“Frankly, I’d just as soon stay back here. I’m a little nervous seeing all you people without masks on. I’m a little disappointed that you’re not wearing them, frankly, especially considering the signs outside and our governor’s mandate,” she said, before explaining her committee’s request.

By the raw numbers, there aren’t a lot of positive cases in Moultonborough. But, according to the state’s online COVID Dashboard, the town has had 26 new cases within the last 14 days – about the same per-capita rate as more urban areas such as Laconia, Portsmouth and Dover, though less than places such as Concord or Manchester – less even than the neighboring town of Meredith, which has seen 67 new cases in the past two weeks.

Selectboard Chair Kevin Quinlan didn’t return a call for comment. However, Hope Kokas, administrative assistant to the selectboard, explained that the town leaders felt that they were in compliance with state guidelines because those without masks were spaced at least six feet apart from one another, and attendance at the meeting room, which normally holds 50 people, was limited to 18.

“We’re doing all we can to keep everyone safe,” said Kokas.

At Moultonborough’s schools, mask wearing and social distancing has been replaced by remote learning. Late last week, the district learned of a number of positive cases involving students and staff members and decided to send students home, not to return until January 6 – provided there isn’t wider community spread by then.

Moultonborough school superintendent Patrick Andrew said the reason for sending students home through the holiday break was twofold. First, the contact tracing school nurses did revealed that 14 staff members – about a quarter of the district’s teachers – would have to quarantine. He could have found enough substitutes to put “bodies in the rooms,” he said, but he felt the loss of instructional quality would have been too great.

“That created a staffing shortage that wouldn’t have been educationally meaningful,” he said.

The other concern for Andrew was that the circumstances surrounding last week’s positive cases – a fifth and sixth grader student and a student and staff member at the high school level – couldn’t be explained by contacts outside of the school. Therefore, it was possible that the virus was spreading within the school building. Some of those who tested positive shared the same space in the school, he said.

“We have no evidence that there was in-school transmission,” Andrew explained. “What I didn’t want to do was to stay open and find that there was (in-school) transmission.”

In-building transmission can happen even when following all the guidelines, in Megan Mills’ experience. Mills, along with her husband, owns The Bob House and Reel’N Tavern, which, under their ownership of the past seven years, has become one of the town’s more popular eateries and watering holes.

This year has been challenging, to say the least, Mills said. The Bob House is the kind of place where people take a table or seat at the bar and hope to run into friends while they enjoy comforting food. They had to pivot to take-out only for a while, then outdoor dining was possible, and indoor dining, with certain restrictions and precautions, came back. Mills said they were able to retain some of their critical employees thanks to a combination of community support and forgivable government loan programs.

Takeout business especially was brisk – so brisk, in fact, that she had to hire an additional employee just to help with to-go orders. In order to make dine-in patrons feel safe and comfortable, Mills said she insisted that her staff follow the state’s safety guidelines “to a tee,” wearing masks, cleaning and sanitizing surfaces and menus. “We definitely went above and beyond, even when we were seeing other people not doing that. We wanted to take it seriously for our customers.”

It all came to a stop, though, with a phone call last month. A recent diner said she had just tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Mills looked at her records and told the server who waited on that table to go get a test. The server called in the middle of a Friday dinner service with the news that the test came back positive. Mills immediately stopped seating new arrivals.

The day after, Mills’ husband tested positive. Two days later, she did, too, and all three of their young children. Other employees of the restaurant also learned they were infected.

For Mills, 35, it was “the worst cold I ever had,” and her husband, 37, landed in the emergency room. They have all since recovered and, following a deep cleaning, The Bob House is now again welcoming diners.

“We were going to be closed for a week for Thanksgiving, anyway, so it happened at a perfect time, if it was going to happen,” Mills said, adding that their commitment to safety measures is now stronger than ever. “Now that we have been shut down – we aren’t forcing anyone to do anything, but we will hand them a mask when they come in if they don’t have one. We have seen how fast it can spread… We have seen, firsthand, wow, this can close our business down.”

While Mills has reopened, another restaurant in town, with a similar atmosphere, has had to close its doors. Buckey’s Restaurant and Tavern announced in a Dec. 8 Facebook post that “a couple crew members have tested positive for Covid,” and that the restaurant would be closed for cleaning, testing and contact tracing. A week later, the Facebook page announced, “Boy has Buckey missed y’all! We are opening back up on Thursday! Feel free to come dine in, order take out, or even call for FREE delivery!”

Even as evidence of community spread has grown, Mills still wants to see her kids in school, she said.

“Despite us being closed down for two weeks, and Buckey’s being closed down, knowing what I know about COVID, I don’t feel that they should shut the schools down,” Mills said, though she said she understood the problem that this particular round of infections has caused in regards to school staffing.

And Mills likely speaks for many when she expressed hope for a brighter 2021.

“Let’s hope that Moultonborough stays strong,” she said. “We’re doing what we have to.”