As more New Hampshire businesses reopen, health leaders across the state are taking a measured approach. Experts say the state is trending in the right direction in slowing the spread of COVID-19. That allows more parts of the economy to reopen, and more people are going outside in warmer weather. But officials caution that the virus is still with us.“We really have to have a different mindset and think about other people other than ourselves who may be immunocompromised or who may become sick,” said Phil Alexakos, chief operations officer of the Manchester Health DepartmentHealth officials from the state’s two largest cities say reopening will continue to be a slow and calculated approach.“We’ve tried to take it in a two-week-by-two-week approach, because whatever we do in terms of flexing … we need to make sure that we don’t unintentionally cause a ripple in the wrong direction,” Alexakos said.“We want people to wear those face coverings. We want people to wash their hands. We want people to maintain as much social distancing as they can,” said Bobbie Bagley, director of the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community ServicesA couple of weeks ago, Nashua made it mandatory to wear a face covering in public areas where social distancing isn’t possible.“If we can get the majority of people to get the face coverings, it helps us reduce the virus in the community,” Bagley said.Amid reopenings, people can continue to break the chain of infection.“Let’s be mindful of each other,” Bagley said. “Let’s take care of each other. Let’s care for one another by doing those things and making sure that we can keep the most vulnerable in our population safe by doing those things.”Officials said it’s also important to remember that people can still spread the virus before realizing they have any symptoms.
As more New Hampshire businesses reopen, health leaders across the state are taking a measured approach.
Experts say the state is trending in the right direction in slowing the spread of COVID-19. That allows more parts of the economy to reopen, and more people are going outside in warmer weather. But officials caution that the virus is still with us.
“We really have to have a different mindset and think about other people other than ourselves who may be immunocompromised or who may become sick,” said Phil Alexakos, chief operations officer of the Manchester Health Department
Health officials from the state’s two largest cities say reopening will continue to be a slow and calculated approach.
“We’ve tried to take it in a two-week-by-two-week approach, because whatever we do in terms of flexing … we need to make sure that we don’t unintentionally cause a ripple in the wrong direction,” Alexakos said.
“We want people to wear those face coverings. We want people to wash their hands. We want people to maintain as much social distancing as they can,” said Bobbie Bagley, director of the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services
A couple of weeks ago, Nashua made it mandatory to wear a face covering in public areas where social distancing isn’t possible.
“If we can get the majority of people to get the face coverings, it helps us reduce the virus in the community,” Bagley said.
Amid reopenings, people can continue to break the chain of infection.
“Let’s be mindful of each other,” Bagley said. “Let’s take care of each other. Let’s care for one another by doing those things and making sure that we can keep the most vulnerable in our population safe by doing those things.”
Officials said it’s also important to remember that people can still spread the virus before realizing they have any symptoms.
