This virus has ravaged our economy, has taken innocent lives and there is no one here tonight
that has not been touched by what this virus has done in less than 1 year.
Taking data from the NYTimes this past Friday (12/18/2020), there are over 17.6 million positive
Covid cases and 314,000 deaths in the US with >75 million cases and 1.6 million deaths world-
wide.
Locally, our Nashua numbers reflect similar scary statistics that other members of the Public
Health Department who are on the line will be sharing with you tonight when | am finished.
Our 7day positivity rate is now 11% and cases are climbing daily, the hospital beds are filled to
the max and if not overloaded already, our 2 local hospitals will be soon and despite our
messaging over the Thanksgiving weekend around further education of how to potentially slow
the spread, the virus keeps coming closer and closer to all of us- regardless of profession, what
street we live on or where we go to school.
This virus, like all viruses, doesn’t pay attention to any rules or stop signs.
The train has left the station and this ordinance is simply a “short term” emergency measure to
see if we can try to decrease the rate of viral infectivity spread and lessen the speed that the
Covid 19 virus gathers each and every day on its path of increasing morbidity (illness) and
mortality (death).
As a physician, | fully endorse that the “Practice of Medicine” comes from the science before
us- hence the expression -from the Bench to the Bedside- and all the now standard universal
best practices that we live and endorse every day in the hospital or outpatient setting only
come to fruition from past extensive rigorous research along with a strong, unbiased,
accountable and reproducible academic review.
It has never been, nor will it ever be, the activity of the Board of Health to attempt to interfere
with or purposely disrupt or disregard the heroic efforts put forth over these past 9 months by
the hard-working Nashua business leaders with regards to trying to come to grips with the best
way to contain, control or combat this deadly virus.
| am amazed and humbled by the willingness of most everyone to do what is needed to try to
make a difference in its contagious spread.
| know | can speak for the 2 other voting members of the Board of Health and the many
dedicated professionals of the Nashua Public Health Department, who diligently helped to
frame and address this very serious issue, that the topic of early closure of many, already
struggling businesses at 9:30 pm was not taken lightly.
