Our Turn: A titanic failure of leadership
Published: 12/24/2020 6:00:47 AM
‘I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.” (Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic)
Epic failures, like the sinking of the Titanic, are the result of negligence on the part of the leaders, not the sentinels. That was the case in the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912, and it is just as true in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic.
Captain Edward Smith had plenty of warnings about icebergs prior to the fateful collision. Those warnings came from reliable reports from other ships in the area and finally from his own alert lookouts. Failure to heed those warnings cost the life of Captain Smith as well as most of the passengers on board the Titanic.
Detainees at Strafford County jail cope with COVID outbreak
DOVER The number of symptomatic people has increased by two inside the Strafford County House of Corrections but the total number of cases linked to the jail’s COVID-19 outbreak remains unchanged, jail administrators said Wednesday.
However, Superintendent Chris Brackett said the total number of active COVID-19 cases amongst people held at the facility has grown by one to 17, thanks to a new arrival who has tested positive. The results for that individual, a county inmate who was administered a PCR test when they arrived on Dec. 13, came back Wednesday.
Brackett said that individual’s case isn’t considered part of his facility’s outbreak.
COVID vaccine arrives in NH, Maine for highest-risk groups
By Karen Dandurant
Seacoast hospitals and nursing homes are expecting their first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which began arriving Monday in New Hampshire and Maine, hopeful this development marks the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Hampshire officials said the first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was unloaded, processed and prepared for immediate distribution to at-risk health workers, including front line clinical staff providing direct patient care.
“New Hampshire is ready to hit the ground running to do our part in delivering this game-changing vaccine,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a prepared statement. “It is an all-hands-on-deck effort for one of the most important undertakings in the history of our state. The state stands ready to get to work and distribute this life-saving vaccine to the citizens of our state.”