Partisanship infects nation's vigorous response to Corona virus threat

CONCORD - New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Wednesday decried the "hyper-partisan circus" in Washington regarding the nation's response to a potential Corona virus outbreak, saying "now is not the time for partisan games and grandstanding."

His statement, sent in a letter forwarded to New Hampshire's all-Democrat Congressional Delegation, was followed by an evening press conference at the White House during which President Trump sought to calm a jittery nation after which Democrats and mainstream medial immediately blasted him for downplaying the virus's danger - even though the nation's top health experts detailed the specific dangers of the virus moments before the president took to the podium.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan told Granite Staters as of Thursday there were still no known New Hampshire cases of the Corona virus, now officially named COVID-19.

"We have not yet identified any cases of COVID-19 in our state, and we have been working closely with our health care partners to be able to rapidly identify any individuals suspected of having COVID-19 in order to prevent further spread of this new virus," Chan said in a statement sent news outlets.

Sununu outlined many of the precautions the state has already employed to prepare for any community outbreak including:

• Activated its Incident Management Team to coordinate public health response with emergency services, homeland security officials, and other public health partners;
• Communicated with local health departments on their preparedness plans
• Coordinated with Regional Public Health Networks on region-specific responses
• Prepared to implement testing for COVID-19 in New Hampshire when test kits are made available by CDC.
• Worked with travel officials to screen and monitor people in the state with recent travel to China.
• Established workgroups to plan for potential community transmission in the U.S.

DHHS has also Prepared and shipped specimens to the CDC for testing while working with CDC to do the testing locally.

"This is a rapidly changing situation and we are working closely with our federal, state and local partners to collectively address the challenges of COVID-19," Chan said.

In recent days health experts have said the public can do its part by treating this like a seasonal flu outbreak by doing the following.

Frequent washing of hands

Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough

Stay home if you feel sick

Avoid touching your mouth with your hands

Avoid shaking hands

Avoid being within six feet of a person who is sick

Avoid sharing drinks, smoking/vaping devices or other utensils.

In short, since this is an airborne virus and is transmitted by droplets from saliva, sneezing or coughing, the precautionary protocols are exactly the same as the flu.