On Friday the 13th we learned that yesterday NH had a record 323 new COVID-19 cases. Surely we will see new records every day. Yesterday saw 4 new hospitalizations, 3 deaths and a record 2,538 active cases. No mask mandate from the Governor. And now reduced contact tracing!

Governor Sununu has enjoyed the limelight of his hours on WMUR when things seemed under control. And now? He delegates the giving of bad news to the DHHS Commissioner and state epidemiologist: contact tracing will be reduced while the virus is surging. There aren’t enough contact tracers. The state hasn’t found or trained enough to do the work that the surge requires. Poor planning for what has long been predicted?

Has the state given up? Governor Sununu’s cut in this service forces towns to provide it. And pe go your property taxes. Hard hit by COVID, Nashua announced it will find 4 additional contact tracers for its health department. There are communities in NH that can’t afford to do that.

How many virus cases will it take for our state government to say, “Enough.” How many deaths are too many? What will the governor say to families who’ve lost loved ones? Will he have a news conference broadcast on WMUR to apologize for mishandling the spread of COVID now? For not doing enough to protect us? For not mandating masks? For not having planned for sufficient contact tracers despite months of warnings that virus cases would increase this fall and winter?