NASHUA – Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health provided an update on COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon and reminded folks to vote safely on Tuesday.

Chief clinical officer Edward J. Merrens, MD, MHCDS said that the months since the pandemic began have been long for healthcare and frontline workers.

“We’re all feeling it in different ways,” he said. “I think as we reflect over the last eight months, this was initially marked by a time when we needed to work on training and getting necessary PPE to provide safe and effective care.”

Merrens stated since March, Dartmouth Hitchcock has had adequate supplies, training and protection for staff and more importantly, their patients.

“Now we’re either in this new normal or new reality,” he said, “in which we’re having to do all the things that COVID requires, alongside all the normal work that we do. And we feel really proud around the resumption of normal services and procedures and care that has now gone on for months.”

It was noted that those normal procedures range from mothers having babies to patients receiving essential cancer care.

“We’ve even done our first CAR-T therapy, managing the care of highly immune-compromised patients,” Merrens said. “This is a testament to our teams, our labs and our clinicians.”

Merrens said the question that many people ask is what can be expected as winter quickly approaches and colder temperatures set in.

“As the modeling shows, looking across the United States, we do expect to see a surge,” he explained. “We’ve had an increase in the number of cases in New England on the order of what we were experiencing in the spring. But not the same degree of hospitalizations.”

Not letting down their guard is at the forefront on the line of defense as D-H prepares for surges in cases as more people stay indoors.

“We’re staying prepared and vigilant for what might come,” Merrens said. “And being able to take care of patients and our system if that’s the case.”

Dartmouth-Hitchcock is constantly re-examining its visitation policies and stated that if someone is considering visiting a patient at D-H, it is recommended that they check the website, DH.org, for any visitor updates.

“We know that across the United States, 12 million Americans are unemployed,” Merrens said. “We know people have lost healthcare and there are rising rates of anxiety, depression and suicide. We’re keenly aware of the impact across the U.S. and our community.”

Merrens also stated that D-H is aware that people are facing food insecurities and lapses in healthcare.

“We want to be there for all of this,” he said. “We understand this. And the efforts that we’ve made in terms of coordinating through with communities through our Population Health group and through psychiatry and outreach. These are designed to understand these efforts and understand the impact on your health.”

D-H recognizes that COVID-19 has become a politicized issue as well as a medical and health issue.

“This has not helped anything,” Merrens said, “as we continue to battle a pandemic, as a country, and as a region. We’ve had the worrisome subjugation of scientists and healthcare leaders in this process and I would ask all of you to do whatever you can, to understand that science requires understanding, and is not a subject of belief.”

Merrens urged the wearing of masks, hand washing and social distancing as means to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“I think it’s really important for all of us to reach out and maintain social connections,” he continued. “We know the clocks will have gone back and we’ve lost that hour that we were counting on for maybe that walk outside or for a little bit of light. We know that with everything that’s happened that this is a challenging time.”

Merrens acknowledged that many individuals suffer from the winter “blues,” and maintaining those social connections is imperative.

“Reaching out to friends and family is really important,” he said.

He stressed flu immunizations, stating that many flu-like symptoms can mimic the similar symptoms of COVID-19.

“We want to make sure that people that can get a flu shot, get a flu shot,” Merrens said, “to reduce both the severity of illness or actually contracting influenza.”

Merrens urged people to vote in Tuesday’s election but asked that people consider their health as they cast their ballots.

“As part of an academic health system, we want you to think about your health as you vote,” he said. “And know that it’s safe going to polling places and exercising your right to vote and encourage you to do so.”

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