Nursing home workers to receive $300 weekly stipend

CONCORD — Front-line workers at Medicaid-funded nursing homes and other long-term care facilities will get a weekly $300 stipend in an effort to retain people in increasingly important jobs that also carry an element of risk during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Chris Sununu said Tuesday in an afternoon news conference that he approved the executive order for the stipends to stem the outflow of workers from these jobs.

“A lot of workers realize there is a lot of opportunity with unemployment and they are making the choice to not be there,” he said. “These are critical facilities for our most vulnerable citizens.”

He said more than 20,000 people could be eligible for the extra $300 per week, which will come from state money that will be backfilled with federal funds.

People over 65 and those with underlying conditions are particularly vulnerable to severe complications after infection with the coronavirus. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been hard hit by the disease.

In announcing new COVID-19 statistics Tuesday, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said there have been four new deaths, three from the Hanover Hill nursing and rehab facility in Manchester and one from the Huntington senior facility in Nashua.

This brings the number of people who have died of the disease in New Hampshire to 27.

A total of 1,091 people in New Hampshire have tested positive for COVID-19, up 73 from Monday’s numbers.Thirty of the new cases were part of a batch provided by Massachusetts authorities.

Sununu also said there will be expanded COVID-19 testing of front-line workers at long-term care facilities in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties. A Convenient MD mobile until will test as many as 6,600 people at these facilities, where the disease has been more prevalent compared to other areas of the state.

The governor said he was working closely with other Eastern governors in planning for the eventual reopening of businesses that have been closed to limit the spread of the disease.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” he said. “We’re not coming out of this in the next couple, but we hope during the summer.”