GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Boy, the weather's capricious. Just like the... nah, let's not go there. We've got another low pressure system barging through, this time to our south. It's bringing a chance of rain and snow showers this morning, turning to rain as the temps rise into the 40s. Otherwise it'll just be cloudy. Then as that clears out, we get a wet warm front, bringing rain overnight, with lows only into the high 30s. Police charge 29-year-old Royalton man in shooting. Francis Phelps was arrested yesterday on second-degree murder charges in the shootings of George Sun (who died) and Dakota Fielder, who was in fair condition at DHMC yesterday. Police "learned that Sun and Fielder were involved in a dispute with Phelps and another man, who was staying at the residence at 4497 Vermont Route 14," the state police said in a press release. "Sun and Fielder traveled to the residence, at which point Phelps began shooting, striking both men."First Dartmouth undergrad tests positive. College spokesperson Diana Lawrence told The Dartmouth last night that the student and close contacts are in self-isolation off campus. The college will update the campus community this morning. "For now, I simply want to issue a call for unity and compassion." That was Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon in an online town hall meeting yesterday with Provost Joe Helble. They outlined the steps the college is taking, plans for ensuring the "continuity of education," fielded questions about commencement and reunions, and said that though the college won't be charging room and board for the spring term, tuition charges will remain in place. Article at the link, video here.King Arthur Flour makes changes. It's warning mail-order shoppers, "Due to unprecedented levels of ordering through our website, maxed capacity on national carriers (including our shipper, FedEx), and more caution applied to all procedures," there will be shipping delays. It's also gone to take-out only, and is closing its baking school at 5 pm today.And speaking of food places:
The Skinny Pancake in Hanover closed yesterday. "These are head-spinning times, to say the least. We are going to take the next week to assess where we're at and how to move forward with a new takeout and/or delivery program." Their Quechee location, though, is still open for takeout.
Boloco is doing something interesting: They're going to a flat rate of $5 or less for burritos. "Today, we are expanding our efforts to include all frontline workers and professionals in Greater Boston and the Upper Valley of NH/VT. Think hospital workers, restaurant and retail workers, municipal employees, utilities, and so many more." At the end of this week, they're shifting to a slimmed-down menu.
Marsh Brothers Deli in Leb yesterday put up "a reminder we are stocked with deli items (sliced meats, steaks, salads) as well as taking orders for hot entree items like Shepard’s pie, lasagna, Mac and cheese." Also, they say, "we have access to great food and paper products through our vendors."
And Stella's in Lyme says it's still offering its full lunch and dinner menus for carry-out.
Jewel of India in Hanover is open for takeout and delivery, and is taking orders through Snackpass as well.
And the Hartland Diner will open for takeout starting tomorrow, though it has only one "employee": owner Nicole Bartner. "Because right now The Hartland Diner has no income and so we have no employees and that is the stark reality for MOST restaurants out there," she writes. Though promises, "Your food will be cooked/prepared fresh from scratch when you order it and I will be the only person who touches ANYTHING."
Thank goodness! Seven Days is developing a statewide list of which restaurants in Vermont are still open and offering takeout. It's searchable by region, and is a definite work in progress: the Upper Valley still has nothing listed. But the staff promises "lots more listings and details about what each restaurant is doing coming in a few days!"DHMC asks for donations of personal protective equipment. They're looking for masks, face shields, isolation gowns, gloves and hand sanitizer. "As this situation gains momentum we will need to address our depleting stock," Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health President Joanne Conroy said in a statement. "No donation is too small."On the other hand, DHMC is blessed with extra ventilators. It bought all new ones recently and stored the old ones, which still work. This is, needless to say, good news. Though one D-H doc notes that they're not a panacea: some patients develop failure of other organs and/or complications that ventilators can't help.(Note: the link is to a Facebook thread, which I verified independently.)WRJ VA adding ICU beds as two vets test positive. It has seven at the moment, and wants to add seven more. “We are acutely aware of the statistics of how many and what kind of patients are going to need that higher level care,” associate director Becky Rhoads tells Seven Days' Derek Brouwer. The crisis, Brouwer notes, "is testing a VA health care system with a documented workforce shortage, among other problems."In the Valley News:
First two Covid-19 hospitalizations in the Upper Valley are at DHMC and Valley Regional in Claremont.
Advance Transit ADA driver tests positive. “There was limited exposure and we were able to identify anyone who was possibly exposed,” AT director Van Chesnut told the paper.
Starting today, the Lebanon schools will make bagged breakfasts and lunches available for school-age children at the SAU office or Hanover Street School. Starting next Tuesday, they'll be delivering to school bus stops. Signup at this link.
Curbside delivery, online resources, livestreaming children's reading times, that wifi signal out in the parking lot... The
VN
's Liz Sauchelli has a roundup.
That would be Martin Wahl, a 70-year-old Canaan man who contracted Covid-19 from "Patient 2," a fellow-congregant at Hope Bible Fellowship. Wahl's been in isolation at home — along with his wife and seven-year-old grandson, both symptom-free — since he tested positive on March 6. He's been taking walks in the woods, reading up on Civil War history, and spending time with the Gospels. "We just commit our ways to the Lord and it will work out,” he tells Lippman.
And just as there's advice on how to work from home, there's advice on how to school from home. Plainfield's Margaret Drye, a veteran home-schooler, has a column on how to approach it. You can set your own schedule, she writes, and there's more free time — for thinking deeply, for going over things until you've got them down, for learning new skills...Sununu issues new executive order allowing restaurants to sell beer and wine for takeout or delivery. It applies to businesses that already hold a liquor license, and allows them to distribute sealed containers only. In addition, the NH governor expedited state approvals of digital education tools. Meanwhile, NH state liquor stores say they'll remain open. Patch NH reports that they posted yesterday they're committed to staying open at all 77 locations — and that this move followed on a call by Democratic executive councillor and gubernatorial candidate Andru Volinsky to close. The state's "liquor profit motives" should not be a motive to stay open, he said.And VT's Phil Scott orders school districts to provide child care for the kids of "essential" workers. Those include health care workers, first responders, and members of the Vermont National Guard.The Norwich Bookstore's Liza Bernard and Twin Pines Housing director Andrew Winter will be on Vermont Edition this morning. They'll be talking about how Vermont businesses are adapting to the crisis. The show airs at 11 am.Oh, and a quick correction. The prime moving forces behind the creation of Upper Valley Strong after Hurricane Irene in 2011 were Sarah Kobylenski of the Haven and Anne Duncan Cooley of the Upper Valley Housing Coalition, not Vital Communities. These days, Vital Communities is intimately involved in re-activating it, and Twin Pines' Andrew Winter is chairing the steering committee.We live in a stunning place to be outdoors — but it looks like we'll really have to be outdoors. It's not just that ski areas have closed. The Dartmouth Outing Club has closed its cabins. The Appalachian Mountain Club has closed all its huts, including the two high mountain huts and Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch. So has the Randolph Mountain Club, which runs four huts in the northern Presidentials. How Vermonters on the front lines are approaching all this. In a series of profiles, Seven Days talks to the state epidemiologist, a hospital doc, an eldercare nursing director, the director of the United Ways of Vermont, a health department translator, a Fire and Rescue volunteer, and the owner of a commercial cleaning-services provider. "I think that the average person probably doesn't think about all the things that they actually touch in a day," the last says, "like, the underside of the edge of a counter [or] the door handles on your house."What social distancing atop Mt. Mansfield looks like. Pretty darn great, actually.And someone seeking distance and solace in a Keene cemetery found... a librarian's tombstone that has to be one of the most inventive you've ever likely to see.Front Porch Forum emerges as vital tie for many Vermonters. If you don't know FPF, think of it as the listservs, only on the web and pretty much everywhere in Vermont except the core Upper Valley. Its membership numbers have skyrocketed in recent weeks, and posting is running 50 percent above normal. So is misinformation, but FPF employs moderators who screen each post and keep the dubious ones from circulating.Oh, hey: It's getting time to take in those bird feeders. VT Fish & Wildlife says it's best to have them down by April 1 to avoid attracting bears. They're fond of suet and bird seed, especially black oil sunflower seed, which they can smell from far away. And, the agency notes, bringing feeders in at night doesn’t keep bears from feeing on seed that's been spilled on the ground. Cut flowers are growing as a specialty crop in NH. The number of farms producing field-grown cut flowers in the state grew by 60 percent from 2007 to 2017, a release from UNH Extension says. But no one's ever studied how the flowers actually do in these parts. So the extension program is launching a study of three cold-hardy hydrangea species to gauge their suitability for both landscape and cut flower use."I don’t know the owner, or who crafted and executed the idea for this, but it certainly sparked joy in my soul." That's a reader who was out for a walk in Lyme the other day and ran across this piece of fine culvert craftsmanship. "What a fantastic response to what would normally just be a weedy area containing runoff."And speaking of sparking joy... You may already have seen Edward and Annie, the two penguins at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, out exploring the now-closed exhibits. But it's so worth seeing again. And if you haven't, do it now.And not to be outdone: 46 seconds of the Montshire's painted turtles chowing down on kibble. To ragtime.News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
#UVTogether
Staying Sane
The good folks at Junction Maghave pulled together a Google doc of virtual events and resources that they'll be updating. It's got some fine things on it, like:
NPR's list of virtual concerts to watch live.
And a virtual concert in our own backyard, the Upper Valley Music Center's faculty concert, which will be taking place Saturday, livestreamed from various faculty members' homes. (Info coming...)
NHPR's got a great list of ways to "find connections and community" with a very helpful set of links, including to the Hop's archived performances.
CATV's got a nice ante-(and anti-) pandemic video about young, often high school-age, artists who are exhibiting at AVA Gallery.
"When was the last time you played Capture the Flag?" That's photographer and writer Nancy Nutile-McMenemy, who's up with her own list of things to do (and some lovely photos of flowers.)
And if the penguins and turtles weren't enough, here's a dog who is very into leaf piles. (Thanks, SL)
Okay, okay. Equal time. Kittens. (Thanks, AG!)
"Facetime or similar connection with kids who are home (assuming you aren't the adult home with kids)," writes Hope. "Read stories to them, just talk, play car games like A is for Apple etc. Distraction for both generations!"
And look: Get out of the house! Here's the Upper Valley Land Trust's list (and map) of public access trails all over the Upper Valley.
Helping Out
There's a new FB group called "How Can I Help #prepare" that's Vermont-centric (but not exclusive), designed "to crowdsource how we can help our neighbors." (Thanks, DW!)
You could think about helping musicians. Tomorrow, Bandcamp is donating its share of all sales to the musicians you support through downloads or buying swag.
Chris Healy, the moderator of the Upper Valley VT/NH Facebook group, has a pinned post that's filling up with offers of help — people who'll get groceries and bring them by, someone offering to buy and deliver breakfast/lunch for kids who were on free/reduced lunch at school and are now home...
And if you're not a Facebook subscriber, Dartmouth student Janice Kai Chen (you may remember her from "the geography of milk") has created a Google doc where people can sign up if they're willing to help run errands, do childcare, etc. She intends to "print and distribute these contact lists as best as I can to different towns' food pantries, libraries, mailboxes, etc."
Thoughts and Comment
"On our adventure motorcycle forum, we all realized that motorcycling is the ultimate 'social distancing' activity. 'Honey, I'm gonna go do some social distancing.' It's our new code word for ditching everything and going out for a ride. Tacit permission, really. At least we can still enjoy something that gives us joy." (JP)
Go Deeper
If you're curious about the paper from Imperial College in London that seems to have turned the thinking of certain key figures in the US government who'd appeared to be in denial, here it is. Among other things, they say, "The major challenge of suppression is that this type of intensive intervention package – or something equivalently effective at reducing transmission – will need to be maintained until a vaccine becomes available (potentially 18 months or more) – given that we predict that transmission will quickly rebound if interventions are relaxed." (Thanks, BB!)
Building on this work, the editor of MIT's Technology Review says this isn't going to end anytime soon. "All of us," he writes, "will have to adapt to a new way of living, working, and forging relationships."
And an intriguing interview by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman with the 17-year-old who built one of the most widely used coronavirus trackers on the web — in December, before the virus had even been found outside China. (Thanks, LL!)
Keeping Up
In addition to the usual list below, the weekly Randolph/White River Valley Herald has dropped its paywall for coronavirus-related stories.
The Upper Valley VT/NH Facebook group has emerged as a crowd-sourced venue for information, suggestions, inspiration, requests, and conversational tidbits. It's Facebook, so there's chaff amid the wheat; be sure to double-check info that you see in comments.
The Valley News has removed its paywall for coronavirus coverage.
The VN's UV Calendar page on Facebook is keeping up with cancellations.
VTDigger's rounding up news west of the river.
The Concord Monitor's coronavirus coverage is free to all readers. And here's NHPR's.
The VT Department of Health is updating its official page with the latest.
So's the NH Health Department (sort of).
Whew. I think we'll go shorter tomorrow. See you then!
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