Town meeting in the time of coronavirus: Don't overreact

Town meetings have been happening in New Hampshire for centuries, but this year is the first in recent memory to coincide with fears about an impending global pandemic.

Karen Ponton, a retired nurse in Center Harbor, said her medical training and her experience at past town meetings have her concerned.

“I just know what it’s like at our town meetings,” she said.

Townspeople attend to vote on important matters to the town, but also to see neighbors they might not have seen in months, or even since last year’s town meeting. Any other year, there might be lots of handshakes and embraces, but officials are urging people to be more reserved with their displays of affection.

Charley Hanson, moderator in Center Harbor, said the town asked a couple of other residents in town, also with nurse training, to advise them as to how to hold a town meeting in the year of coronavirus.

“We’re going to have lots of little bottles of hand sanitizers so that each individual worker can have their own,” Hanson said. They are also stocking up on bleach-treated wipes so that surfaces can be treated, and each voter is going to be given their own short, golf-style pencil, instead of sharing pencils between voters.

“We’ll be wiping down our voting booths periodically, just making people aware this is something going on in our country now. And it’s not just coronavirus, it’s flu,” Hanson said. “But I’m not concerned; I just think it’s prudent to be prepared.”

Dave Scanlon, deputy secretary of state, said the coincidence of infectious disease risk and town meeting season is something the office is keeping an eye on, but isn’t currently recommending any significant changes.

“We’re monitoring what’s happening,” Scanlon said.

The Secretary of State’s office is reminding towns to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control; otherwise, it’s business as usual.

“At this point, people should plan on town meeting, town elections taking place. If something significant changes, we will provide whatever guidance is necessary,” Scanlon said.

Even so, people attending their town meeting should alter their behavior, said Marge Kerns, vice-president for clinical services at LRGHealthcare.

The typical town meeting, where hundreds of voters join together in the same room, shoulder to shoulder, usually for hours, is exactly the kind of environment that leads to the spread of disease. Add to that the propensity for people to hug and shake hands, and the fact that many attendees will be older and therefore at greater risk, and there’s reason to be cautious, Kerns said.

However, she also said that there wasn’t enough of a concern for people who are healthy to stay away.

“Good hand hygiene, don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth. Avoid contact with people, if you can keep a little bit of distance, that’s good,” Kerns said. Those are her do’s, here are her don’t’s:

“If you’re sick, don’t go. Even if it’s minor symptoms, don’t go,” Kerns said. “If you haven’t seen someone in a long time, don’t shake hands, don’t hug. Don’t touch a lot of surfaces. If you don’t have to touch things, don’t touch things.”

Things may change between now and your town meeting, in which case she suggested people could check lrgh.org for updates.

For now, Kerns said, don’t overreact.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t be worried about going to town meeting. I would just be on my guard to be following the hygiene things we’ve been talking about,” Kerns said.