Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update April 11

As the numbers grow, we must not forget that these figures are someone’s mother or father, sister or brother, friend or neighbor. If you don’t maintain social distancing for you, then please do it for our families, friends, and neighbors. #StaySafe

Key changes from yesterday’s report:

  • Salem’s Emergency Operations Center team will make a presentation at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, April 13.
  • As of today, Manchester has had 147 confirmed cases,  Nashua has 86, Haverhill MA has 142 cases and Methuen MA now has 227 confirmed cases. The city of Lowell has had 445 cases, while Lawrence has had 659 confirmed cases. Yikes! (Salem has “over 50” confirmed cases.)
  • NH had results from 432 tests today. We need more testing!
  • There is a dispute amongst NH government officials about who will have control over the disbursement of federal funds.
  • The City of Rocester NH’s School Department has canceled their April vacation. The last day of school will be May 15.
  • Stay home! There is a parking ban along Rte. 1A.
  • The first of the stimulus checks have been deposited into bank accounts.
  • In addition to tests at the NH PHL,  NH residents are also being tested daily in Massachusetts. Those results are only being reported to NH Health and Human Service (HHS) on a weekly basis which really skews the daily information. While we need to have hope, we can’t have false hope. Therefore, I have decided to discontinue sharing the chart that shows changes per day. (That chart can still be seen on WMUR). I have substituted a chart from NHPR in its place.

 

Click to enlarge the calendar:
https://www.bonnie4salem.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/april11-calendar.jpg


Chart from NHPR

 

Source: June Garneau, of Mapping and Planning Solutions (MAPS)

Added since the last share:

COVID Symptom Tracker: This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, let’s let them know how we are doing.
https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y

Disclaimer:

On April 7, NH scientist and politician, Mindi Messmer, PG, CG wrote on her Facebook page: “… testing has pretty much stopped at the NH PHL. The testing penetration is so low in NH, only 1/2% of the 1.3M people, meaning 99.5% of the 1.3M have not been tested, that I am not putting up projections or tests for NH because the graphs would be meaningless and I don’t want to give the false impression that we know what’s going on in NH.”

On April 11, the National Academy of Sciences reported that 16 out of 51 tests were inaccurate. (False positives and false negatives).

We are under-reporting. We need more testing. We need more accurate tests. #StayHome
Please keep this in mind as you review the information on this page.

 

Today’s COVID-19 news:

Salem’s confirmed cases:

  • April 3: 25 cases
  • April 6: 33 cases
  • April 8: 20-40 cases
  • April 9: 20-49 cases
  • April 10: Over 50

Salem, Manchester, and Nashua are the only NH municipalities with more than 50 cases. With 147 confirmed cased (up +3 from yesterday), Manchester continues to be the city in NH with the most confirmed cases. Nashua has 86 (+5) confirmed cases. Londonderry, Derry, Portsmouth, and Bedford remain as the only communities with 20-49 confirmed cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua, has had 367 (+21) confirmed cases. Rockingham County is close, with 314 (+9) confirmed cases.

 

TodayYesterdayChange from yesterday
Total Confirmed Cases929
885+44*
Recovered23626%
234+2
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19
232%22+1
Active Cases670629+41
Total Hospitalized14616%
134+12
Tested Negative9,9969,608
Persons with specimens submitted to NH PHL4,9524,826
+388
Persons with test pending at NH PHL11993+26
Being Monitored (Approximate)2,2753,350-1,075
Total Tested (Confirmed Cases + Tested Negative)10,92510,493+432

NH News relating to COVID-19

Note: Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services reported there were 929 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire, up 45 from yesterday’s 885. I’m presuming that the number of cases is correct, which means 44 new cases.

On April 9, NH’s state epidemiologist, Dr. Benjamin Chan, said that NH Public Health Labs (PHL) is testing about 400 people per day. Yesterday, the total number of results for NH residents, including results from other labs, was 535. Today I compute 432 new results. We need more testing!

The City of Rocester NH’s School Department announced today that they have canceled their April vacation and that its last day of school will be May 15. SAU57, Salem’s school district, still shows on their calendar that Salem will be on vacation from April 27 through May 1, and the last day of school for students will be June 12.

The Peterborough company, SoClean, donated 250,000 N95 masks to more than 200 health care facilities across the state.

Stay home! There is a parking ban along Rte. 1A. There is no parking at any of NH’s state beaches.

 

Massachusetts

Since Salem is a border town, I am watching some of the numbers for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our abutting towns.  (See my report on April 9 for details).  As of April 9, Massachusetts was running almost twice as many tests per person as New Hampshire is testing.

Haverhill has 142 cases as of April 11. (April 3: 84 confirmed cases. April 9: 125 confirmed cases.) Our other neighbor, Methuen, had 227 cases on April 11. (April 3: 94 cases. April 9: 175 confirmed cases). Today, April 11, the City of Lowell has had 445 cases;  Lawrence has had 659 confirmed cases.

We need proper testing to fight COVID-19
“The COVID-19 outbreak isn’t almost over now. Nor will it be in two weeks. We haven’t “almost beaten this” because we haven’t even started properly measuring it yet. We want to measure success in lives saved, not by celebrating an ongoing low death rate.” https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/we-need-proper-testing-to-fight-covid-19/article_acd86517-86cd-5b87-9ce5-e314ffbe5019.html


NH Government

There is a dispute between Gov. Chris Sununu and lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, which is a 10-member joint committee of both House and Senate members. Gov. Sununu wants to use his emergency powers to oversee the rapid distribution of the $1.25 billion in COVID-19 relief funds heading to New Hampshire. Gov. Sununu has created a bipartisan Legislative Advisory Board, intended to bypass the Fiscal Committee. Members of that committee point out that NH state law says the Fiscal Committee shall provide “advice and consent” on expenditures even in an emergency. 

When will NH Peak?

On April 9, NH‘s Dr. Benjamin Chan stated that he believes there is a high likelihood for a peak in New Hampshire sometime within the next several weeks.

Per the Institute for Health Metrics (IHME)  updated its prediction that the strain on NH’s hospitals peaked on April 9,  provided we continue to follow the government-mandated social distancing. They predict that, unlike some of the major hot spots, NH will have adequate beds and ICUs, again, providing that we follow the social distancing guidelines. (On April 1, they predicted NH would peak on April 16. On April 5, they adjusted their estimate to April 15.)

But there is also this: “IHME is trying to do the right thing by “incorporating the accuracy of predictions from the early days of its model,” but this is not the best practice in model refinement”
https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/we-need-proper-testing-to-fight-covid-19/article_acd86517-86cd-5b87-9ce5-e314ffbe5019.html

Salem Government

The Town of Salem’s Emergency Operations Center Team (EOC) made another public address on COVID-19 on Monday, April 6. These reports can be seen at http://sctv-17.com/CablecastPublicSite/?channel=1

Other Salem Government events coming up:

  • The EOC is on the agenda to make a presentation to the Select Board at their meeting on Monday, April 13.
  • The Planning Board is scheduled to have a virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00.
  • I see not see any further meetings that have been scheduled.
  • Since the Stay-at-Home order, the Select Board met on Monday, April 6, and the Zoning Board met on Tuesday, April 7.
  • These meetings are available to be seen on  Salem Community TV — Channel 23 on Comcast.

Other options to watch past or live viewings include:

State Representation:
Salem has nine State Representatives. If you are having issues connected to COVID-19, they have access to the people who can get you the help you need. You can find contact info for our reps here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/default.aspx

Our Senator, Chuck Morse, can be contacted at Chuck.Morse@leg.state.nh.us His Concord office phone is 603.271.3207.

Resources to help in these challenging times:

Do YOU think you have COVID-19?

To report suspected cases, contact the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control at  603-271-4496, (603-271-5300 for after hours), or nhbidc@dhhs.nhs.gov.

How You Can Help Others:

Masks:

Salem:

New Hampshire:

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services:

Office of the Governor: https://www.governor.nh.gov

Mindi Messmer: A scientist who is reporting frequently on COVID-19, Mindi is also a candidate for Executive Council, District 3 (including Salem). https://www.facebook.com/Mindi4NH/

More info about COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:


COVID Symptom Tracker:
This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, let’s let them know how we are doing. https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y

Trackers (Cases)

The World Health Organization:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Media with NH COVID-19 news:

Housing

Unemployment

Financial Assistance

Link to other  NH benefits:

Businesses and Employers: Guidance for Small Businesses 

 

Sources for data included in these reports:

Please report any errors or omissions to bonnie@bonnie4salem.us. Thank you.