Board of Aldermen 03-16-2020 Page 7
Director Bagley
So if we think about what we have seen with China, they had their first case in December and we are
now in March. 80% of the individuals who were infected with the Coronavirus in China have now
recovered. It is 2 % months and there are still some cases and so if we even look at some of that
data, the people or the numbers that we know about are those that actually had the opportunity to get
tested. So there are probably quite a few that were not tested either because they didn’t have access
to healthcare or they couldn’t afford to pay for it. And so for the numbers that we are seeing, there are
probably many others that we don’t know about. But we also see that in 2 % months there’s been an
80% recovery rate of those who were diagnosed. So | think as the Mayor described, the things that we
are doing with our mitigation is to try and flatten that curve. So for instance if we get a spike, there’s a
bell curve that looks like this and this is what you saw in China, you just say it just peak up like that,
you saw it just peak up in Italy. With the steps that we are trying to put in place, we want to flatten it
out so we want to spread a little bit longer over time, but we just cannot afford to have the kind of
surges that we’ve seen in some of these other countries, because we just don’t have the capacity with
our workforce, we won't have the capacity with our First Responders. We don’t have the capacity,
even right now, with our State being able to manage the volume of calls that they are getting. They
are at work until 12 and up until after midnight just taking calls and trying to go through the numbers of
investigations that they are doing. So we want to spread this out so that it remains manageable for us
here in Nashua and the Greater Nashua area.
Alderman Schmidt
And our hospitals are prepared for this?
Director Bagley
Our hospitals right now are prepared as they can be, we are not prepared for a surge. We won't have
enough ICU rooms if we need to have, you know, people in ICU especially in those most vulnerable
populations. We don’t have enough negative air pressure rooms and the emergency rooms are on the
floor, if we have a spike in this area, we just don’t have that.
Alderman Dowd
I’ve heard differing stories on when they think this is going to peak. At one point they thought it was
going to be in May but in the Globe, | guess they are epidemiologists, they say it is going to last well
through the summer. How does that impact a lot of things that we are doing right now? Are they
going to be in place for that long or do we not know?
Director Bagley
That’s an unknown. Unfortunately Alderman Dowd, that’s an unknown.
Mayor Donchess
One thing | didn’t mention is what we are proposing is that these policies remain in effect until at least
April 3“ which corresponds with the school closings or the remote learning ordered by the State of
New Hampshire and that we re-evaluate at that time. I'll let Ms. Bagley finish.
