The Branch Covidians of NH

 

Part Two is so that you can see the date stamp:

Then Chris Maidment made sure to let us know who is behind all of this:

For anyone who has been wondering about these groups, we see now that they're pretty much one in the same. 

Former State Rep. Joe Hoell attempted snark:

That tweet had a pretty short half life in light of today's revelation:

It sure would be sad if some of the infected were at the Covid Policy Summit. 

This would all be more amusing if December 2 weren't Organization Day for NH legislators. The NH GOP had no intention of letting the Democrats know anything about this super spreader event. They found out because the story was in the media. 

House Minority Leader Hinch is quite pissy about having been caught out.  NHPR

"In a statement, House Republican Leader Dick Hinch said he would not share details on the cases, including the number of lawmakers who tested positive, because “we’re dealing with private and personal health information.”

And

"He said Republican House leadership is working with state health officials to notify people who may have been exposed to the virus. As for Wednesday’s scheduled Organization Day, Hinch said, “we have a very small number of people affected and we have no reason to believe that the folks who tested positive will attempt to attend the event.”

Then there was this:

“We are less than 24 hours from Organization Day and the Republican Leadership in the House purposefully neglected to tell the Speaker’s office or their Democratic colleagues of an outbreak within their caucus,” Shurtleff said in a statement. “We were with Republican Leadership just yesterday for Organization Day and the COVID-19 outbreak was not mentioned to anyone.”

That translates as, "NO, we aren't going to tell you how many were infected, or who they are. We don't think they'll show up for Organization Day - but they might. And no, we weren't planning to tell anyone about it." 

Shouldn't everyone who was there be self quarantining for 14 days? That would, by the way, include Dick Hinch, who was at the event. An elderly, unmasked man, at a super spreader event. Can I be the one to shove the swab up his nose? 

One further note from the anus brigade: 

AFP-NH Koch mouthpiece Greg Moore would like to encourage all the sick reps to attend Organization Day. 

There are days, and today is definitely one of them, when I ask myself, what the fuck is wrong with these people? 

Shibonunu

                 

 


NH Governor Chris Sununu held one of his bi-weekly COVID-19 press conferences on Monday, August 18. You can watch the entire video here, or just look at the highlights I'll be referencing. 

From about 13:33 - 17:07, the governor answers questions from reporters about voting. He's asked if he'll be voting absentee or going to the polls. At about 14:10, you'll hear him tell voters they can take their absentee ballots and "walk them over to a safe drop box." Sununu has just told folks to break the law. Absentee ballots can't be left in drop off boxes, and they're not likely to be counted if they are. David Brooks at the Concord Monitor gives the straight dope on drop off boxes. 

Sununu is also asked if he thinks the issues with USPS will affect absentee voting, at about14:25.  He tells reporters that he's not worried, that he has spoken to Regina Bugbee , the District Manager of USPS Northern New England District. For some reason, he refers to Ms. Bugbee as, "a lovely woman." Patronizing? Patriarchal? You decide. He did not, however, make any references to lovely men at any point during the press conference. 

After the post office, he was asked about issuing a mandate that masks should be worn at the polls. He isn't going to. He is asked about towns mandating masks, and says that's fine, "it's on them." 

At 28:48, the topic of nursing home outbreaks is brought up, and the governor deferred to DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibonette. The Commissioner was very unhappy with an NHPR story by Casey McDermott on a long term outbreak at a nursing home that is still not under control. NHPR Josh Rogers was at the press conference, and was the target of Shibinette's wrath. She accused them of leaving out information because of a pre-determined narrative. The commissioner tried to make the case that even though the Greenbriar nursing home in Nashua has been cited numerous times for deficiencies over the years, that had nothing to do with the Covid outbreak, because many other nursing homes had outbreaks. Some were facilities that had no reports of deficiencies. That is true. 

BUT, what no one mentioned is that those nursing homes with no deficiencies cleared up their outbreaks quickly. The Covid outbreak at Greenbriar has been raging since May. More than 150 staff and residents have been infected, and 28 residents died. 

Shibinette was defensive. She was also strangely blasé about deficient nursing homes. One might expect the Commissioner of DHHS to voice concern over the long term history of deficiencies in those homes, and reassure us that the state was going to turn this situation around. She didn't do that. 

 There were questions about the lack of a mask mandate at large events, like Bike Week. The governor is sure that people will be responsible. He spoke of how much better New Hampshire's unemployment numbers than those of Massachusetts. NH has a population of 1.3 million and MA has a population of 7 million. (One of these things is not like the other.)

The last question  came at 47:30. The media personality is Michael Graham, from Massachusetts, who writes commentary for the Boston Herald. Graham is also the voice of an online publication called NH Journal. In a state where right wingers regularly make disparaging comments about people from MA and urge anyone they disagree with to "move back to Massachusetts," the irony of the media personality from Massachusetts writing the NH Journal is worth mentioning. 

Graham tries to spin the issue of USPS mailboxes disappearing and sorting machines being shut down (and even sold off) as a conspiracy theory by the Democrats. Governor Sununu refused to take the well-timed, baited, softball, and so was able to end the press conference on an upbeat note. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sununu has benefitted from flattering, even fawning media coverage. Six months later, hard questions are being asked, and he and his minions don't like this very much. The next press conference is Friday, August 21, at 3 PM. If you vote, you should watch these! 


* Be sure to read Casey McDermott's story about 
nursing homes.  This is good reporting.