COVID-19 Update August 26

COVID-19 Update August 26

Total: 298 confirmed cases in Salem
1 out of every 99 Salem residents has been infected.
Salem Today: 0 new cases, 10 active cases.

• • • • TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT• • • • • •

For two days in a row, no additional Salem residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Out of 1,964 tests reported today, there were only 9 new confirmed cases today, with a positivity rate of 0.48%, one of the lowest we’ve seen.
Over 6,500 people in NH have been reported as “recovered” from COVID-19, including 26 more today.
NH now has 219 active cases.
There are a number of communities that have between 1-4 people active and confirmed cases of COVID-19.
There are only 14 NH communities with five or more confirmed cases: Manchester (13); Brentwood (12); Derry (11); Salem, Nashua, and Concord (10 each); Exeter (8); Bedford, Milford, and Rindge (7 each); Merrimack (6); Londonderry, Dover, and Winchester (5 each).
Two of the communities that had more than 50 confirmed cases now have no active cases: Plaistow and Weare.
There were no new hospitalizations today.
The count of current patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is still 8, unchanged from yesterday, which was the lowest number since the count started going up.
Another NH person has lost their life because of COVID-19.
Today we saw the biggest jump in new infections across the world than we’ve had in two weeks.
The number of US infections have now passed 6 million.

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

New positive cases per DHHS: 8
My new positive cases (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 9 (This is often LOWER than the number from DHHS, it’s odd to have this higher)
Children under 18 in new cases: 1
Total positive cases in NH: 7,159
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive: 0.46%
Active cases: 219
New cases in Rockingham County: 1
Total cases in Rockingham County: 1,777
Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 80%
Total PCR tests results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 1,964
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 1,736
New negative PCR cases in NH: 1,955
Total negative cases in NH: 194,676

• • • • • OTHER TEST RESULTS • • • • • •

New antibody tests: 92
Total antibody tests (No break down of positive vs. negative): 29,414
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 82
Children diagnosed with MIS-C: (as of 5/22/2020): 1

• • • • • RECOVERED IN NH • • • • • •

Announced today: 26
Total Recovered: 6,510
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 90.9%

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

New: 0
Current: 8
Total Hospitalized: 713
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 9.96%

• • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Lives lost today: 1
Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 1
Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 430
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 6.01%
Lives lost in Rockingham today: 0

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.

We are doing well here in NH. On a daily basis, I can see numbers that are encouraging, even though they still continue to up. We could be doing much worse.

My best friend lives in Ventura County, California. She shared a (weekly?) report from the County dated August 20: “There are 163 new cases today (42 (25.8%) of which have a lab collection from August 13th or earlier), 2,087 additional people tested, and 3 additional deaths … Current doubling time is 89.4 days. Thank you for your hard work in helping to bring down those numbers!”

Another friend shared, “We [in NH] are doing amazing. To keep it in perspective, I have a friend in Houston who posts daily updates for 1 hospital system. Yesterday they had over 300 hospitalized people with COVID … in one hospital system, in one city. We have 8 in our entire state.”

And now Ventura County is dealing not only with 163 new cases in a day, they are also dealing with fires displacing people from their homes. And this hospital in Houston with over 300 patients with COVID, and are now looking at a gigantic hurricane rapidly approaching.

Yes, we hate being told to stay home, to wear masks, to change our social interactions, but I’m still feeling very fortunate when I hear these stories. However, while those of us in NH are doing well, very well, we must recognize that our numbers can change rapidly. College kids are returning to NH. NH public schools start in less than a week. More than 100 COVID-19 cases, including at least six from NH, have been traced to the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota that ended 11 days ago. Now Motorcycle Week is taking place in the Weirs this week. Any one of these can make big changes here in a short time.

I look forward to the day when we can say we have no new cases, and I know many of you share that wish. We are close right now, but we aren’t there yet. In the meantime, stay safe, and always, be kind!

~Bonnie