CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire House isn't prepared to run an election for speaker or conduct its business for adopting rules in a remote meeting or hybrid situation, the acting House speaker said.

Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, expressed his opinion in a message in the House calendar on Friday after talking to staff.

Packard said a drive-in style meeting that's under consideration for January “will satisfy our need to meet in-person for the purpose of balloting and voting. It will dramatically reduce or even eliminate the need to interact with each other. We will be protected from unnecessary risk and from the elements by our vehicles, and we will meet or exceed every CDC and Public Health recommendation."

Packard is acting speaker of the 400-member, Republican-majority House.

Democrats have advocated that legislators meet virtually, and the state Supreme Court found that holding House sessions remotely would not violate a constitutional provision about what constitutes a quorum.

“Representative Packard and I both have seen the effectiveness and accessibility of meeting remotely, as recently as this week we we met together on Zoom with the House Rules Committee," Democratic Leader Renny Cushing, of Hampton, said in a statement Friday. He also noted the court ruling, saying that meeting remotely is a “legal and effective way to continue operating while the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic persists."

The House had been meeting at the University of New Hampshire's ice arena to allow for greater social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. Packard has discussed meeting at a UNH parking lot.

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CURRIER MUSEUM

The Currier Museum of Art is planning to close for a month during the coronavirus pandemic, but it will hold its traditional “Noon Year's Eve" event for children online this year.

The Manchester museum said Friday it will be open through Sunday, and then close until mid-January, when it will evaluate whether it's safe to reopen.

“Our region has recently experienced an alarming spike in cases and the Currier Museum is doing all it can to contain the spread of COVID-19 and avoid burdening local health resources," museum officials said in a news release. “Many museums in Massachusetts and Maine have also temporarily shut their doors as a precaution."

The museum usually has over 600 guests for its Noon Year's Eve celebration. Participants in the virtual program this year will get a guided tour of an exhibit called “Open World: Video Games in Contemporary Art," with performances. Participants also will get art kits to make a pixilation-inspired collage, party hats, festive masks, and bubble wrap fireworks.

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THE NUMBERS

Nearly 35,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, with 697 cases announced Friday that included results from several days earlier in the week. The state announced nine new deaths, bringing the total to 638.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire has risen over the past two weeks from 593 new cases per day on Dec. 3 to 856 new cases per day on Thursday.