Editor’s Note: Covid-19 doesn’t care about town lines. The virus doesn’t care if you live in a city or on a farm. It can infect anyone and the lives of all Granite Staters, no matter where they live, have been changed. So why not look to each other for solutions? Is there something happening in Nashua that could work in Conway? Did a manufacturer in Salem come up with an idea that could take work for another on the Seacoast? The Granite State News Collaborative partners are hoping to find out with a semi-regular series we’re calling: Steal This Solution. The idea will be to highlight something that has worked in one part of the and then give a how-to guide for how the public, business leaders and officials anywhere might try it themselves.
By Peter Nakos
Granite State News Collaborative
Countless hotels, just like so many restaurants, movie theaters and other small businesses across the country, are losing money at a rapid rate due to the coronavirus pandemic as the United States tries to slow the spread of the virus for the foreseeable future.
And while that obviously means business across the country and New Hampshire have been forced to layoff workers, it also means hotels have come to a standstill with the nationwide effort to limit travel.
In the state alone, hotel demand is down 95 percent. The other 5 percent only exists because of the need to house government contractors and federal officials.
So, how do hotels put their countless rooms to use and could it be done in other parts of the state?
Concord-based developer Steve Duprey has offered up his brand new Tru by Hilton, located near I-93’s Exit 13, to the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. National Guard as a potential site for a flex area.
Flex areas are starting to be designated across the Granite State as locations that hospitals can depend on to house COVID-19 and non-COVID patients if hospitals become overwhelmed.
Southern New Hampshire University’s Stan Spirou Field House has already been setup as a flex area thanks to the cooperation of multiple entities.
“This was a collaborative effort with the City of Manchester Emergency Operations Center of which SNHU has been a part of for years,” said Lauren Keane, who serves as SNHU’s assistant vice president of communications. “We were able to quickly act on those plans to make collaborative decisions. Early planning before the pandemic even occurred allowed us to plan and implement quickly.”
Duprey’s 85-room hotel was supposed to open on April 1, but due to the circumstances the opening date has been delayed.
“I just offered the hotel to the state and local hospital,” Duprey said in an email. “It seemed like a reasonable use of the space. It is a bit unique in that it is new and has no contaminants in the air handling systems.”
The appeal of no contaminants in the air handling systems exists because it would save time during the setup process. Another draw is that Duprey’s building has tile, not carpet, which is ideal when working in a clinic for sanitation.
Each room is outfitted with its own air system and certain rooms come with a kitchen. Duprey said it would only take a maximum of five days to set up for use and all that would be needed are beds, linens and supplies — all things the state could easily do.
The idea could be moved to other hotels, but they would obviously need to be closed to the public and would need to be hospital cleaned first. Since Duprey’s hotel is new, it has no history of bed bugs or contaminants.
“No one wants COVID-patients mixing with other guests and some franchisers have prohibitions in their franchise agreements,” he said.
Still, the idea is a good option if hospitals become overwhelmed. And even if hotels are not used specifically for the use of coronavirus patients, they could be used to non-COVID patients seeking treatment or others in quarantine.
The ability of SNHU to transform its fieldhouse so quickly is promising for other public spaces that may need to be transformed.
During the setup stage, the university had a representative from IT, three reps from athletics who knew the space well and a group of 10 people from facilities — electricians, housekeepers, plumbers and management — to help speed along the process.
The National Guard set up the cots, moved in supplies, and had a planning team on-site. Both local hospitals team members and the Manchester Emergency Operations Center were on site, too.
The medical staff from the hospitals worked with the National Guard to develop the requirements needed. The space was outfitted with 250 cots, nurse stations, a command center and hazardous waste storage and collection.
While The National Guard ran point on the setup, the hospitals and the EOC will really lead if the facility needs to be opened. Sodexo provided food and will provide meals should the care facility be brought on-line.
“We augmented our electrical infrastructure with generators and distribution boxes to provide power to the spaces,” Keane said. “This way we weren’t relying on an older distribution center. We also needed to add temporary bathroom facilities.”
The challenges of the setup was the space itself. Setting up a flex area where a basketball game is meant to be played resulted in a need for space for essential items, such as hazardous storage, and the separation of clean and contaminated spaces.
Along with the rest of the country, the flex area had trouble gathering supplies to suit the demand, but found enough supplies for the time being. That may change if the flex area is put into use.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.