Tara Hines: Arrive in N.H fully stocked, hike safe & donate to food pantries

To The Daily Sun,

An open letter to second homeowners retreating to New Hampshire:

Welcome. We understand you are here because it’s where you and your families feel safe, yet it makes Granite States are apprehensive the strain the non-resident population puts on our resources. The ultimate and grave concern is we’ll run short on health care staff and supplies, and that the people whose only home is New Hampshire, who have no where else to go, are afraid they’ll die because they’re waiting behind someone who had options, and chose to come here.

Our hospitals are small, in proportion to the year-round population. We don’t use property tax money to build in rural areas large with the capacity to treat the state’s population at peak tourist season. The community you left when you came here staffed its hospital with your household size in mind, the town where you spend your holidays didn’t.

New Hampshire needs more supplies, more funds, and more manpower to accommodate your household. Please volunteer and donate to the COVID-19 response efforts, visit nhresponds.org to find out how you can help us help you if you get sick.

Enjoy the outdoors responsibly by re-acquainting yourself with hiking safety best-practices and buy the Hike Safe Card through the N.H. Fish and Game. For $25 per person or $35 per family, cardholders are not liable to repay rescue costs if they need to be rescued. Understand that with the card, while you won’t be liable to repay rescue costs from getting off the mountain, the ER might be full with COVID-19 patients, so it’s best to simply hike safe. See (https://wildlife.state.nh.us/safe/) for details.

Restaurant workers are delighted to have you back in town and ordering take-out. Please match our enthusiasm with your tipping.

Most importantly, at the grocery store, please remember other people shop there, too, especially for what’s on sale. Unlike where you’re from, we don’t have options like Costco, Market Basket and Trader Joe’s to stretch our dollar further. We have weekly sales and food pantries (accepting donations). The state asks that you quarantine for 14 days when you arrive here. That means no one leaves your house and no one comes in for 14 consecutive days. Shop at home and stock up before you come here, and order deliveries if you need anything for those 14 days.

Take all care to stop the spread so that the scale of pandemic in New Hampshire doesn’t escalate to what it is in the community you chose to leave. Come fully stocked, hike smart, volunteer with us, donate to hospitals and food pantries, don’t touch your face, stay safe and away from us. As Robert Frost said, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Tara Hines

Ashland