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State's top doc unconcerned state, city cases differ; EOC chief begs to differ

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State epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan says he isn't concerned that state and town COVID numbers at odds. (Dr. Chan/Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - The city's COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center Chief expressed frustration on Monday over comments made last week by New Hampshire's top epidemiologist who told The Rochester Voice during a Concord press conference he was not surprised that Rochester and state numbers of current confirmed virus cases differed.

"I guess I'm not surprised that there may be a discrepancy between what a town official knows about and what is publicly reported at the town level," Dr. Benjamin Chan said.

It should be noted that The Rochester Voice identified the "town official" as the city's "Emergency Operations Center chief," currently held by Mark Klose, who is also the city's fire chief.

Klose has said the town has had either "one or no" cases for a couple of weeks now, while state DHHS town by town breakdowns have consistently shown Rochester with eight current cases.

Klose is most concerned with the varying numbers as they can affect the safety of first responders. He explained that every day he gets a list of the city addresses of known current coronavirus cases and passes that onto police and fire so they can properly protect themselves if they get a call to any of those addresses.

He said he reached out to Department of Homeland Security officials regarding the varying numbers on Monday, but was unable to get any immediate explanation or answers.

Dr. Chan said he was not aware of "any data issues or inaccuracies at the town level, specifically, in Rochester."

"I will say that we assign people infected with COVID-19 by their town of residence," he explained during last week's press conference. "And with each person identified, we do our Public Health investigation, but we don't always notify town officials when someone is infected with COVID-19 in their town, partly because we have to maintain confidentiality and there's not always action on the part of a town, or a community, or Town Officials."

The disparity between state and town numbers continues to cloud decision making at City Hall as well. During a discussion of whether to return to in-person meetings two weeks ago, some councilors voiced concerns since Rochester was the COVID "hot spot" in the county, according to state DHHS. Councilors will consider the same issue again tonight.

Klose said his numbers on Monday again show no current cases citywide, while the state shows eight.

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