Another fine mess

Well that was quick. When spring appeared, it sure seemed like we were seeing light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to this Covid thing. Vaccination rates were rising, lines were long at the vax sites and cases were dropping like a rock.

But it just looks like the state, led by its duly elected leaders, pretty much declared victory and took their eye off the virus.

As Ollie said to Stan, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.

Vax resisters resisting, Covid coviding and folks who believe in small government small-governing.

But much of the state’s response has been to turn up the volume to say that we’re doing great, with at least public pronunciations that there’ll be no need to return to masks and other safety guidelines of the past (Which actually mostly worked, BTW.)

And that, even as Guv Sununu himself told WMUR on 7/9 that he’s been expecting a surge in the fall. But have no fear — it’ll be tiny, not even a third of the surge the state saw last year. (Which of last year’s surges he was referring to wasn’t made clear.)

His comforting words: “We’ve heard as many as maybe 90% of college students for example are going to take the vaccine. That’s going to provide extra levels of protection in those communities, which is great. We look at rural areas versus higher-density areas. So I don’t think you’re going to see a third of the surge, I think it’s going to be substantially less.”

Translated from Sununuese: “Durham, Hanover, Keene, Plymouth and all the other towns with colleges are in great shape because 90% of the students coming in will be vaccinated and that’s about all I can say to be reassuring, except to add, ‘Chill out. Trust me.’” But another way of looking at it, according to state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan, “there are places in New Hampshire that remain more susceptible to outbreaks and more dramatic increases in infection.”

In other words, take a deep breath, buckle your seat belt and keep your fingers crossed. It’s gonna be a wild ride.

Do as you do, not as I say

One thing’s for sure, even if NH returns to masks and other safety and health guidelines in re-Covid there will be no enforcement of the rules.

That ship sailed th’other day when NH decided not to enforce the stricter rules that were in place at the height of the pandemic.

If you recall, NH fined eight bizzes a total of $10k over the rules violations. Five paid and three refused. Now it turns out the five who coughed up the dough were suckers because they didn’t have to write those checks or Venmo the cash.

That’s thanks to the Free Stater/Screw Everyone Else caucus of the NH House, which insisted on putting into the state budget (yes, budget) a provision that refunds the fines. And, as F&J readers surely know by now, it takes more than one (or many) controversial, questionable provisions in a budget to prevent the guv from signing it.

That was even though, back in March, he huffed against the provision, saying, “rewarding the small handful who recklessly thwarted public health and safety after outreach and educational attempts is a complete disservice to the thousands of small businesses who worked tirelessly to keep their employees and customers safe while enabling our economy to stay open for business.”

On second thought, forget about it.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

There has to be another public health news source certain pols read that gives ‘em info nobody else has. Why else would Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, not to mention Guv Sununu, lambast the prez after he decided to extend the border closing with Canada ‘til 8/21 – because Covid cases are rising faster than they have since last Dec.?

Just for the record: Newly minted 1st CD GOP primary entry Karoline Leavitt says she still thinks the ex-prez was the real winner of the 2020 election. But “I recognize that President Biden was certified.”

Now that’s sticking your neck out in the pursuit of reality.

Surprise, surprise, surprise: Remember that 400-vote Windham discrepancy that was so important to investigate that the Legis. passed a special law to conduct an audit? The one that ended up with the folded ballot explanation? Well, it turns out it couldn’t have been that important to the peeps who voted for the bill because they never did put any funding into it. And so far the audit has cost $123k.

No offense, but the pro-ranked choice voting folks have a looooooong hill to climb when it comes to getting what they want I NH. Just ask the folks in NYC how happy they were with the slapstick antics election officials went through in determining the winner of the Dem mayoral primary, who was finally declared 7/6, two weeks after ballots were cast.