A friend in Boston recently described New Hampshire as “the Florida of the North.” Clearly, she wasn’t referring to climate but to retrograde politicians.
New Hampshire is one of those states, like Florida, that has decided to minimize the significance of COVID. Actions have consequences.
CONCORD — A House member is claiming she was infected with COVID19 at a sub-committee meeting last week.
Rep. Nicole Klein Knight, D-Manchester, in a posting on Twitter Friday morning, said she was infected and in turn has infected her family and she blames House Speaker Sherman Packard for allowing sick members to participate without masks.
Her Twitter posting reads, “I’m positive for covid. Most due to the fact the @NHSpeaker allowed sick members to participate unmasked and come into contact and furthermore did not notify me, I since infected my entire family. If there is any legal action I can take I would appreciate help.”
Packard has insisted committees meet in person and has not allowed members who believe their lives would be at risk to meet remotely rather than physically appear at the State House or Legislative Office Building.
Democrats have pushed for remote access since the session began in January. Remote access to committee meetings was allowed this spring, but once meetings began again this fall, Packard said members would have to attend committee meetings to participate and to vote.
A number of disabled or health compromised Democrats including House Minority Leader Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, sued the Speaker seeking to participate in House session remotely, but lost the initial ruling in US District Court. That decision was overturned by the 1st Circuit Court on appeal and sent back to US District Court to determine if the House members qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act for special accommodations.
The Speaker asked the appeals court to reconsider and another hearing was held with a three-judge panel, but no decision has been released to date….
“I feel like I don’t have a right to be protected,” Klein Knight said, “the Speaker has made it impossible to protect myself.”
“This could wipe out my whole family,” Klein Knight said, “and the least the Speaker could do is notify me.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A KEY item was left out.
She was *VACCINATED**.
She was infected and in turn has infected
her family and she blames the lax attention
of OTHERS,
to public health protocols.
How many cross-over cases need be reviewed
before the masses “get” the fact that the
jab is NO substitute for social distancing,
masking, staying out of confined spaces,
on and on. From the onset, person to person
was defined as the means of spread.
Ignoring that public health protocol, and in turn
blaming the “others” makes no sense.
No, the point of the story is that the legislative leaders refuse to wear masks. Of course, there are breakthrough cases where vaccinated people get COVID, but in a milder form than the unvaccinated. She didn’t give COVID to herself. She was exposed to someone else who had it.
Of course, there are breakthrough cases where vaccinated people get COVID
Diane, with her usual sagacity, understands that science is inductive and typically about probabilities, not certainties. Yes, there will be breakthrough cases. But as Diane said–so perfectly–she didn’t give Covid to herself,. I would add: just as Jeffrey Epstein didn’t hang himself.
Did she say she was symptomatic ? She was tested and found to be positive because of her contact with an infected unvaccinated sick person. There is a big unknown about breakthrough cases. They may not transmit the virus easily.
Or they may transmit the virus easily. As you said, it’s a big unknown. But there is this: “Rep. Nicole Klein Knight, D-Manchester, in a posting on Twitter Friday morning, said she was infected and in turn has infected her family….”
dienne77
Perhaps she infected her family ?
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/12/1044553048/covid-data-vaccines-breakthrough-infections-transmission
Unbefreakinglievable. I catch occasional Congressional committee meetings/ hearings on C-SPAN. Attendees are distanced and masked except when speaking, and a good 1/3+ of the congressmen & senators participate remotely. SMH, NH govt.
Wow! sounds like a public school in Tennessee. Or perhaps the White House.
Did you catch your case of Covid at school, Roy?
Without a doubt. I was rarely around others in any other situation.
I was horrified to learn that you had been through this, Roy! So grateful that you survived the ordeal!
Even though people have had the vaccine, they still need to observe the Covid protocols. Many are suffering from “Covid fatigue,” and they are not wearing masks. Mask wearing and social distancing are proven ways to help stop the spread of Covid.
We are at about a 58% vaccine rate, and the concern is that we may not be able to achieve herd immunity which requires a 70 to 85% vaccination rate to achieve. Vaccine mandates are helping to get us closer, but there are numerous lawsuits that are fighting vaccine mandates. As a nation vaccines have helped us eradicate a number of childhood illnesses including polio. We require children to be vaccinated before they start school. Vaccination is the way for our country to forward despite all the refusals and protests around mandates.https://news.umich.edu/vaccine-hesitancy-rooted-in-institutional-mistrust-could-stand-in-way-of-covid-19-herd-immunity/
Traitor Trump isn’t human. He is really a souless Grim Reaper harvesting as many souls as he can after he corrupts them.
What an awful tragedy? I can tell you from experience that having Covid is TERRIBLE. Here’s hoping that she and her family recover OK, and without the long-term consequences that often accompany this illness.
And the irresponsibility of the idiots who subjected her and her family to this!!!!! @#&@$@#(@#(@#(#(@#(*~~~!!!!
The brilliant and inimitable and ever-civil Diane Ravitch doesn’t allow cursing in her salon. She more civilized than I, who can be counted on for an occasional barbaric Yawp.
Yikes. that was supposed to be an exclamation mark, not a question mark, at the beginning!
“Even though people have had the vaccine,
they still need to observe the Covid protocols.”
If one has observed others ignoring the protocols,
(maskless, the lack of social distancing, gathering
in confined spaces,uncovered sneezes and coughs…)
Rest assured, the closer you are to others ignoring
the protocals, and the more time you spend
with those people, the higher the risk of COVID-19
spread, to you.
You may say you didn’t give the COVID to yourself,
BUT you chose to spend time in the danger zone.
In effect, YOU ignored the protocals as well.
Blame doesn’t stop the person to person spread…
New Hampshire’s motto:
Live free or die.
We don’t know the details, but when she said she infected members of her family, I pray it didn’t involve children of an age that couldn’t be vaccinated.
I’m not sure what I would do if I was required to attend a meeting where I was exposed to non vaccinated coworkers who weren’t masked.
Luckily I’m retired and can limit my activities and control the people i hang around.