Ripple effects of 9:30 p.m. curfew hitting New Hampshire

NASHUA, New Hampshire — When Massachusetts implemented a 9:30 p.m. curfew, there were ripple effects.

Nashua is now looking at copying the curfew because it is seeing an influx of people coming from the Bay State.

“It’s nice to have that injection of cash but at the same time we know why they’re coming here and we know the possibility of catastrophe it brings,” said Brandon Laws who can speak from two different perspectives.

He’s a bartender at Penuche’s Ale House seeing the influx. He’s also Nashua’s Alderman-At-Large and part of the discussions with other city leaders and community members about implementing the similar curfew in a city with a higher infection rate than all of Massachusetts.

“Will they go to other towns? You’re not going to do it here. Okay. Well, then where else can we go? A curfew, may not necessarily stop them from getting together they just won’t get together out in public,” said Bobbie Bagley, director of public health. “The governor there has taken some action to try and mitigate proactively how you can keep the numbers down in Massachusetts. We need to think about the same thing for us just over the border in Nashua. How do we bring the numbers down? We’re past containment.”

City leaders are looking to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.

Nothing has been decided yet because there are a lot of factors to consider.

“We have 10 employees so if one person has to quarantine because of COVID, that’s bad enough but if there is even a slight outbreak, we will likely have to close down,” said Laws. “I think it’s an arbitrary measure. I’m not sure it’s going to do much it will be a death sentence. I’m already making 40% less than I was in February so it’s tough. I just wish people would wear their mask and follow the guidelines.”

Laws says his biggest fear is not knowing when the curfew would end. He says workers there make most of their money after 9:30 p.m. so if they close early, that’s just further crippling an already crippled industry.

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