Tuesday afternoon, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu issued a new mask mandate for gathering of 100+ people. This new order comes at a time right before Laconia's upcoming Bike Week. Based off of the nationwide criticism over what happened at Sturgis' Bike Rally this summer, where there was no mask mandate in place and hardly anyone was seen wearing a mask, with crowds in the thousands, Gov. Sununu is not taking any chances when it comes to protecting New Hampshire residents. Gov. Sununu had this to say about Sturgis' Bike Rally: "Sturgis was a real clear warning sign to us. I don't think anyone saw the photos out of Sturgis and said, 'That looks safe.' No, I think it just brought a second level of awareness to us on all these different matters."
As of today: August 12, 2020 these are the stats for New Hampshire's battle with COVID-19:
Total people with COVID: 6,861
Recovered: 89%
Deaths due to COVID: 419 (6%)
Hospitalizations: 710
New cases: 21 reported
As of right now this mask order is not required for smaller gatherings under 100, although the governor strongly urges people to take caution and wear a mask whenever you cannot social distance from others.
This is Governor Sununu's recent press conference about COVID-19: (the video starts at the Gov. announcing a new executive order)
Are you content with this new mandate? I am, I think that makes sense if you are going to gather with over 100 people. I personally live in NH and I'd like the number of cases to remain low so I back Governor Sununu's efforts here.
Read the Governor's full executive order here:
-Producer Lightning