No More Visitors!

[TiltonBB]

CONCORD, NH — Gov. Chris Sununu announced Monday the state would be closing all hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts in the state that are not performing essential business like renting to first responders or medical workers. The decision, he said, came after speaking with business owners, members of the hospitality industry, and hearing concerns of Granite Staters about the influx of out-of-state visitors coming to New Hampshire from states with high infection rates. Last week, Sununu said he couldn't physically block people from coming to New Hampshire to visit parks and recreate.

But this was one way to discourage visitors.

"We can't emphasis it enough, you're safer in your own home," Sununu said.

New Hampshire will be allowed to stay in the state until the end of their current reservations. The closure includes AirBnbs, VRBO, Homeaway, hotels, motels, and other facilities. At this time, it does not include campgrounds.

When the new coronavirus pandemic ends, the state will be open for business again, Sununu said, and visitors will be welcome to come back to the state.

Sununu also commended Granite Staters for having a good time with his Home Hike Challenge initiated as a way for residents to enjoy the outdoors in their own communities instead of going to busy recreation areas around the state.

Sununu said the state was working on a plan to come to deal with the state's homeless population — an issue that officials were working on before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor said most of the state's shelters were full but positive cases were being self-isolated. Since the problem of homelessness is multifaceted, including issues around housing, public safety, crisis centers, mental health assistance, and other resources, there wasn't one policy the state could take to fix the problem. Sununu said officials were "monitoring the situation through the crisis." He added that federal funds, and possible future relief funds, would be available for community development block grants, and there would be opportunities in the future to address the housing issue.

"We have to get back to where we were before the crisis," Sununu said.

Sununu said officials were expecting a surge of cases in the state between mid-to-late April to early May. He said the surge may not be a single dip but longer, "at the back end of the curve," and it is unknown how broad the drop of the consistency will be. Sununu said he felt confident there would be a backend at the end of the curve and it was based on what was going on in "the high density areas and how those models play out" and different demographics of affected populations.

Sununu said it was an understatement that the next two weeks were going to be bad. I don't think any of us understand how different it's going to look in the coming weeks or the coming months, he said.

"There's nothing that isn't impacted by this," Sununu said. "It's astounding, actually. I think the roughness of it comes in the speed that we have seen it. You don't have days and weeks to (react)."

The state is expected to release new models later this week.