The town hall follows Pappas's visit to Elliot Hospital in Manchester which has seen its ICU surge to 162% capacity with 90% of COVID-19 patients unvaccinated
On Wednesday, December 15, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), hosted a telephone town call attended by over 3,200 Granite Staters to share information and resources about state and federal COVD-19 response efforts. This event was one of many telephone and virtual town halls that Congressman Pappas has hosted this year, attended by over 20,000 Granite Staters.
"As cases and hospitalizations surge in New Hampshire and hit record numbers, we must continue to lean on science and public health," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "We have to do all we can to get more people vaccinated because that is the single best tool we have to keep people safe, keep our economy moving, keep our schools open, and keep life as we know it functioning properly. That's why I asked state and federal health experts to join me to share resources and answer questions from Granite Staters about the COVID-19 pandemic and our response efforts. The more information we can get out to people to encourage them to make the decision to get the vaccine the better, and I remain committed to lifting up the voices of our health and science communities to get the word out as far as possible."
Pappas was joined on the telephone town hall by state and federal health and medical experts including Dr. Pragna Patel, MD MPH, a Principal Deputy Incident Manager for CDC's COVID-19 Response; Dr. Benjamin Chan, State Epidemiologist with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services; Dr. Michael Calderwood, Infectious Disease and International Health at Dartmouth- Hitchcock Hospital, and Tricia Tilley, Director of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health Services.
Rep. Pappas and the experts on the call answered questions ranging from vaccinations, boosters, federal support for hospitals, help for frontline workers, and how to have a safe and healthy holiday season.
A full recording can be found here.
Earlier this year, Rep. Pappas fought to pass the American Rescue Plan Act which provided billions in federal funding for New Hampshire's COVID-19 response efforts. This included funding to stand up a nationwide testing and vaccination program, bolstering small business supports, providing flexible funding for local and state governments and schools, and expanding the Child Tax Credit - a middle-class tax cut for 77% of New Hampshire families. In 2020, Congressman Pappas voted to pass a number of COVID-19 relief bills, including the CARES Act, which funded critical elements of our pandemic response including supporting hospitals and health care systems and establishing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and other small business lifelines.
Original source can be found here.
