COVID-19 Update 19 July 2021

COVID-19 Update 19 July 2021
The next planned update is scheduled for next Monday.

SALEM:

Salem since last update: 7 new cases
Total: 2,984 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem had a nice run with less than 5 active cases. We have had but one day with more than 5 active cases since June 1. We now have 7 active cases.
1 out of every 10 Salem residents has been infected.
Salem’s new cases per 100K for 14 days: Rate not calculated. (I question this. See below.)
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 3.7%. It was down to zero last week.
Salem’s new cases account for 3.7% of the new cases reported this week, and 6.7% of the new cases reported today for the past three days. (Salem has 2.2% of NH’s population.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Active cases rose by 27 to 224.
16 more people were admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19 this week. 5 more were admitted to the ICU.
7 more deaths were reported since the last update.
Total NH individuals fully vaccinated: About 55.2%, a one-week increase of only 0.1%. 60.3% are partially vaccinate, also a one-week increase of only 0.1%.
I am unable to find much info about the Delta variant in NH. The variant is being found in about 12% of the cases in the Northeast, with NH, “and in New Hampshire, it’s even lower.”(Last week, there were 15 NH residents who had been identified with the Delta variant.)

The full update can be found by following this link: https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-update-19-july-2021/

On Tuesday, July 13, 2021, DHHS announced 27 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 14 people who tested positive by PCR test and 13 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 200 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [New cases are from Rockingham County: 8 (29.6%); Salem: 0]

On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, DHHS announced 46 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 24 people who tested positive by PCR test and 22 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 213 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 7 (15.2%); Salem: 0]

On Thursday, July 15, 2021, DHHS announced 45 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 34 people who tested positive by PCR test and 11 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 238 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 5 (11.1%); Salem: 2 (4.4%)]

On Friday, July 16, 2021, DHHS announced 44 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 35 people who tested positive by PCR test and 9 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 249 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 11 (25%); Salem: 0]

On Monday, July 19, 2021, DHHS announced 27 new positive test results for COVID-19 for Sunday, July 18. Today’s results include 20 people who tested positive by PCR test and 7 who tested positive by antigen test. DHHS also announced 25 cases from Friday, July 16 (13 by PCR test and 12 by antigen test), and 23 cases from Saturday, July 17 (22 by PCR test and 1 by antigen test). There are now 224 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 13 (20.4%); Salem: 5 (6.7%)]

Each day, DHHS says that “Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.” Percentages shown are % of new cases.

• • • • • • TODAY’S SUMMARY • • • • • •

7 more Salem residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 this week. This brings our total to 2,984 Salem residents who have had confirmed case of COVID-19.
Salem’s active cases increased by at least three people this week. We now have 7 people infected, the same number we had in late May.
DHHS says Salem’s new cases for the past two weeks per 100K residents is too low to report. “Rate Not Calculated: For towns with cumulative cases between 1-4 in the last 14 days, data limited to protect the privacy of individuals.” This puzzles me, as Salem has added 7 new cases in the past week. Nashua is the only community with a number in this report, which makes me question the accuracy of the State’s numbers.
Salem’s positivity rate for PCR & antigen results in the past week is 3.7%. Salem’s positivity rate was up to 14.3% on Dec. 14.
There are 9 NH communities with a positivity rate of more than 0. (10 a week ago). There are 6 communities with a positivity rate higher than 2%. (6 a week ago). 2 communities have more than 5% (3 a week ago). No communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%. Only two communities have a positivity rate higher than Salem’s.
NH has added 196 new cases in the past week. (144 new cases the week before.) NH reported 162 more people have “recovered” since my last update (126 last week). After allowing for those who lost their lives because of COVID-19, NH’s number of active cases went down by up by 27 since my last report, to 224.
We were able to get down to 155 active cases, on June 28. When things reached the low point for active cases last fall, we got down to 209 on Sept 4.
Rockingham is now at 40 active cases, a decrease of 4 since last week.
NH has had 30.2 new cases per 100K residents in the past 14 days. One week ago, it was 26.3, and two weeks ago it was down to 22.9.
NH’s positivity rate for PCR & antigen results in the past week is 1.4%. One week ago it was 1.0%.
DHHS is reporting a total of 1,622 people who have been hospitalized because of COVID-19, an increase of 16 since last week. A total of 357 Rockingham County residents have been hospitalized because of COVID-19, which is 9 more than what DHHS reported last week.
The number of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 18 which is 3 more than we had one week ago. We were down to 6 on Sept 12, before things starting escalating. More recently, we were down to 12 on Wednesday, July 7.
The total number of ICU admissions is 483, an increase of 5 ICU admissions in the past week.
There have been 7 deaths in the past week, bringing the total to 1,382 people who have died in NH due to COVID-19. There has been a total of 268 lives lost in Rockingham County, which is one more than last week.

• • • • • COMMUNITIES • • • • • •

DHHS reports that the new cases this week reside in the following counties and NH’s two major cities:

Belknap: 14
Carroll: 9
Cheshire: 11
Coos: 9
Grafton: 13
Manchester: 11
Merrimack: 30
Nashua: 17
Rest of Hillsborough: 34
Rockingham County: 44
Strafford: 20
Sullivan: 6

The county of residence is being determined for 19 new cases. Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.

• • • • • COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION • • • • • •

Cases per 100K residents and difference from last week:
- NH: 30.2 (+3.9 this week, and another 3.4 the week before)
- Belknap: 37.5 (-11.4)
- Carroll: 28.6 (6.1)
- Cheshire: 34.2 (10.5)
- Coos: 123.6 (19)
- Grafton: 25.6 (6.7)
- Manchester: 17.9 (0)
- Merrimack: 28.4 (9.9)
- Nashua: 31.2 (-4.5)
- Rest of Hillsborough excluding Manchester and Nashua: 27.4 (7.5)
- Rockingham: 28.1 (2.3)
- Strafford: 17.6 (3.1)
- Sullivan: 20.9 (4.7)
Positivity rate:
- NH: 1.9 (was 1.0% last week)
- Belknap: 0.9% (-0.3%)
- Carroll: 1.8% (1.3%)
- Cheshire: 1.6% (0.5%)
- Coos: 3.1% (-4.0%)
- Grafton: 0.8% (0.2%)
- Manchester: 0.8% (-0.2%)
- Merrimack: 1.8% (0.9%)
- Nashua: 1.6% (0.5%)
- Rest of Hillsborough excluding Manchester and Nashua: 1.6% (0.3%)
- Rockingham: 1.8% (0.4%)
- Strafford: 1.6% (1.4%)
- Sullivan: 2.7% (2.0%)
- Unknown: 0.9% (0.3%)
Nine communities have a positivity rate higher than 0, only two are higher than Salem:
- Epping: 7.4%
- Hooksett: 6.0%
- Salem: 3.7%
- Bedford: 2.8%
- Derry: 2.2%
- Rochester: 2.1%
- Nashua: 1.6%
- Manchester: 0.8%
- Hanover: 0.6%

• • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

NH has 224 active cases.
At 40, Rockingham County has the most active cases of any county, except for Hillsborough County, which has 70 cases (53 last week), with 21 in Nashua (15 last week), and 10 in Manchester (11 last week).
All counties have active cases:
- Belknap: 13 (0)
- Carroll: 7 (2)
- Cheshire: 10 (1)
- Coos: 11 (-15)
- Grafton: 12 (3)
- Manchester: 10 (-1)
- Merrimack: 27 (16)
- Nashua: 21 (6)
- Rest of Hillsborough: 38 (11)
- Rockingham: 40 (-4)
- Strafford: 18 (14)
- Sullivan: 4 (-1)
- Unknown: 13 (-5)
10 communities have 5 or more active cases: Nashua (15); Berlin (12); Manchester (11); Lancaster (10); Hudson (8); Goffstown (7); Derry (6); Raymond (6); Londonderry (5), and Portsmouth (5). All others are down to less than 5 active cases.
Last week: Nashua (21); Manchester (10); Bedford (8); Hooksett, Hudson and Salem (7); Derry and Rochester (6); Epsom and Hanover (5). Derry (6); Raymond (6); Londonderry (5), and Portsmouth (5).

• • • • • CUMULATIVE CASES • • • • • •

Of the 30 communities with more than 10,000 residents:

1:7: Durham
1:9: Manchester
1:10: Pelham, Salem, Windham, Hudson and Goffstown.
1:11: Nashua, Berlin, Bedford and Hooksett
1:12: Derry, Londonderry, Raymond and Hampton
1:13: Dover, Merrimack, Somersworth, and Milford
1:14: Portsmouth and Concord and Rochester
1:15: Laconia and Conway
Others: Keene and Exeter (1:16); Claremont and Amherst (1:18); Hanover (1:22); Hanover (1:22) and Lebanon (1:38).

Of communities with less than 10,000 residents and high ratios of cases per population:

1:6: Waterville Valley
1:8: Plymouth and Stewartstown
1:10: Tilton and Plaistow
1:11: Clarksville, Candia and Auburn
1:12: Sandown, Seabrook, Litchfield, Epsom and Hampstead
1:13: 10 communities (including our neighbor, Atkinson)
1:14: 9 communities
1:15: 11 communities
The remaining communities have higher case per population ratios.

• • • • • • DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN NH • • • • • •

Total people who have tested positive: 99,966
New positive cases by my math: 196
New positive cases per DHHS: 237

• • • • • • ROCKINGHAM COUNTY (22.78% of NH’s population) • • • • • •

Total people who have tested positive: 24,505
New positive cases: 40
Percentage of today’s new positive cases: 20.4%
Positivity rate: 1.8% (1.4% last week)

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •

46 children under 18 are included in this week’s new cases.
19.4% of new cases announced by DHHS this week are kids under 18 years old. (35.4% last week)
Under 60: 142 new cases; 3 hospitalizations, 0 deaths
60+: 29 new cases; 13 hospitalizations; 7 deaths

(Totals showing changes since my last report, which was last Monday.)

10-19: 13% of Total cases: 12519 (+19); Hospitalizations: 10; Deaths: 0
20-29: 20% of Total cases: 20036 (+35); Hospitalizations: 34; Deaths: 1
30-39: 15% of Total cases: 14710 (+32); Hospitalizations: 67; Deaths: 7
40-49: 13% of Total cases: 13137 (+26); Hospitalizations: 117 (+3); Deaths: 12
50-59: 15% of Total cases: 15249 (+29); Hospitalizations: 225; Deaths: 35
60-69: 10% of Total cases: 9782 (+18); Hospitalizations: 370 (+1); Deaths: 142 (+1)
70-79: 5% of Total cases: 4829 (+12); Hospitalizations: 406 (+4); Deaths: 331 (+2)
80+: 4% of Total cases: 3972 (+6); Hospitalizations: 382 (+8); Deaths: 854 (+4)
Unknown: 0% of Total cases: 61 (-2); Hospitalizations: 0; Deaths: 0

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

Active cases in NH: 224
Active cases in Rockingham County: 40

• • • • • • RECOVERED • • • • • •

Total recovered: 98,360
Recovered this week: 162
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 98.4%

• • • • • • HOSPITALIZATIONS IN NH • • • • • •

Currently hospitalized: 18
New people hospitalized from NH: 16
Total hospitalized patients: 1,622
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.62%
Total admitted to ICU: 483
New ICU admissions this week: 5
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 9 since last week
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 357

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 1,382
Lives lost this week: 7
Persons over 60 years of age who died this week: 7
Persons under 60 years of age who died this week: 0
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.38%
Lives lost in Rockingham County this week: 1
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 268

These are not simply numbers. We must not forget that these are all someone’s husband or wife, mother or father, sister or brother, son or daughter, friend or neighbor.

Hello, Salem!

As the number of new cases increase, and additional breakthrough cases are reported, I find it puzzling why masks aren’t being worn in the stores. The pandemic isn’t over. Why do we continue to feed it and keep it alive?

Here are some random thoughts from this past week:

Vaccinations:

NH DHHS reports 818,113 NH residents have been partially vaccinated, an increase of 1,080 people since last week. 749,249 people are fully vaccinated, an increase of 1,384 people since last week.

Outbreaks in NH:

NH DHHS reported institutional outbreaks on Thursday, July 15. Laconia Rehabilitation Center is the still on the list, with no changes: 10 residents and 2 staff are affected. One new outbreak was added to the list: Epsom Health Center, which has 4 residents and one staff. All other outbreaks, which can be seen here, were closed as of the 15th.

Variants:

Concerns continue to grow for the Delta variant of COVID-19. Some of the symptoms of the new Delta variant are different than the traditional COVID-19 symptoms. They can include:

Sore throat
Runny nose or congestion
Fever
Headaches
Stomach pain
Loss of appetite
Vomiting
Nausea
Joint pain
Hearing loss
Diarrhea
Small blood clots

Additional suggested reading:

Some studies suggest that up to 1/3 of all COVID-19 victims have some degree of Long COVID. Months after “recovering” they are still feeling the effects of this virus.