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State Senator Tom Sherman and State Representative Bill Marsh, both working physicians, participated in a virtual press conference yesterday where they called on Governor Sununu to take action to address the COVID surge in New Hampshire which has resulted in New Hampshire leading the nation in per-capita COVID-19 cases for over a week. President Biden and New Hampshire’s congressional delegation have delivered millions of dollars in federal funds to help the state combat the pandemic, but Governor Sununu has failed to effectively use those resources to prevent or mitigate the crisis. As a result of his failure, New Hampshire currently has the most cases of COVID-19 per capita of any U.S. state with 93 cases per 100,000 residents, and has had to move National Guard troops into New Hampshire hospitals to deal with the surge in patients. Read more. "Right now is when we need to be moving people from the hospitals who have recovered to a point where they can be moved to rehab facilities — move them now. Make that plan, now. If we don't have those facilities, build them,” Sen. Thom Sherman, D-Rye, said. - WMUR’s Adam Sexton, [12/15/2021] WMUR: Adam Sexton: State rep, senator – both doctors – say NH needs to take more dramatic actions to combat COVID-19
“Two doctors — one Democratic state representative and one Democratic state senator — said on Wednesday that New Hampshire needs to take more dramatic action to fight COVID-19 and protect the Granite State's health care system.”
“Among several suggestions, the doctors said the state needs a revamped data dashboard and more fixed vaccination sites to meet the demand for booster shots.”
Sherman and Walsh said they understand the state was constrained by the Executive Council's initial rejection of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine funding, but they contend some of the actions needed to fight this surge should've been initiated months ago.
The current surge of COVID-19 Delta variant in New Hampshire was preventable and caused by a lack of leadership that has delayed booster shots and had real health-care consequences, said two physicians who are also top Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday.”
State Sen. Thomas Sherman, a retiring physician and a leading Democrat from Rye, and state Rep. William Marsh, a former Republican and now Carroll County Democrat who earned his M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School, called for more booster shots to be available now, not weeks from now.
They pointed to the success in Berlin when a recent citywide mask mandate turned around the rates of infection significantly over two weeks easing the burden on local hospitals.
Marsh said the immunization rate would reveal over the past six months the number of people who had gotten newly vaccinated, received a booster shot or had immunity because they recovered after coming down with COVID-19 during that time.
“When we set up statewide vaccine sites, we had a very high vaccination rate. These same people need to get boosters and they can’t, and their children need the vaccine and may have to wait until mid-January to get it,” said Sherman
Sen. Tom Sherman of Rye said the state should bring back the statewide network of fixed sites used to deliver the initial rounds of COVID-19 vaccines last spring.