COVID-19 Update December 10

COVID-19 Update December 10

  • Total: 946 confirmed cases in Salem
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 12.8%
  • 1 out of 31 Salem residents have been infected 
  • Salem today: 24 new cases since yesterday; 198 active cases

From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Thursday, December 10, 2020, DHHS announced 695 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 5.2%. Today’s results include 382 people who tested positive by PCR test and 313 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,303 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Included in the results reported today are cases from the following days: 

  • 12/3: 1 new case today, for an updated total of 890
  • 12/5: 8 new cases today, for an updated total of 649
  • 12/6: 127 new cases today, for an updated total of 738
  • 12/7: 287 new cases today, for an updated total of 745
  • 12/8: 171 new cases today, for an updated total of 617
  • 12/9: 101 new cases today, for a total of 101

“Test results for previous days are still being processed and the total number of new positives for those days are not yet complete. Updated case counts for prior days will be reflected on the COVID-19 interactive dashboard.”

In the Governor’s press conference, the Commissioner of NH DHHS shared that they are still catching up from Thanksgiving (2 weeks ago), which is why we have this message every day about delayed reports. (Still doesn’t make sense to me!)

• • • • • • Community Transmission • • • • • •

Community Transmission (per NH Department of Health and Human Services)The overall level of community transmission is defined using three metrics.  A community is then assigned an overall level based on the highest-level determination for any specific metric. NH Metrics are: New Cases per 100k over 14 days: Scale: Minimal: <50; Moderate: 50 – 100; Substantial: >100. New Hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20. Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10%; Substantial: >10%

  • Average of New Cases per 100K people over 14 days: 
    • New Hampshire: 667.8
    • Rockingham County: 760.7
    • All 10 counties and our two biggest cities are all at the substantial level ranging from 192.4 (Sullivan County) to 1,117.4 (Manchester).
    • Salem: 926
  • Average of New Hospitalization per 100K people over 14 days: 
    • New Hampshire: 0.6
    • Rockingham County: 0.8
    • Nashua: 1.6
  • Average Positivity Rate over 7 days: 
    • New Hampshire: 8.9%
    • Rockingham County: 12.0%
    • Manchester: 12.1%
    • Salem: 12.8%
    • Nashua: 11.1%

• • • • • • TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT • • • • • •

  • Salem continues to be one of the communities with the largest number of new cases. Today we added 24 new cases. Our weekly average is 24.1, and the average for the previous seven days is 23.8, so essentially it is unchanged for two weeks.
  • Today, NH DHHS announced almost 700 new cases, bring our total to 28,273. The one-week average is 778. We’ve gone from 24K to 28K since Sunday.
  • Because 873 people were identified as “recovered,” the number of current cases actually went down today, although, at 6,303, it’s still the second-highest we’ve seen.
  • Hospitalization numbers continue to puzzle me. The total number of hospitalizations went up by one, from 851 to 852. However, the number of people currently hospitalized has gone from 232 to 248, a one-day jump of 16 patients.
  • There have not been any new admissions to NH’s ICUs for five days.
  • Today was one of the worst days for COVID fatalities, in NH and in the US. Here, the deaths of fourteen people were reported today, including someone aged under 40. NH’s Speaker of the House, whose death was reported yesterday, had an autopsy today, and will likely be included in tomorrow’s counts.
  • The number of persons being monitored in NH hasn’t been reported for a week. It was up to 9,550 then and has undoubtedly gone up since.
  • US deaths were almost 3,000 today, per Worldometer. While not quite as high as yesterday, it is likely that this will go up even higher.
  • A few of the long-term care facilities have outbreaks that are closed, but there are more that have been identified. The updated list of facilities with active outbreaks can be found below.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (211), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (103), Merrimack (74), Strafford (38), Belknap (26), Grafton (20), Cheshire (18), Carrol (15), Coos (10), and Sullivan (5) counties, and in the cities of Nashua (82) and Manchester (44). The county of residence is being determined for forty-nine new cases. 
  • Active cases:
    • An additional 873 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes. 
    • Weare had 50 or more yesterday but has less than 50 today
    • One community — Atkinson — now has more than 50 active cases. 
    • Milford and Goffstown now have over 100 active cases. 
    • Londonderry now has less than 200. Manchester has less than 900.
    • There are 26 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,977 active cases, accounting for 61% of all active cases.
    • Manchester, Nashua, and Concord are the only communities with more active cases than Salem. Londonderry dropped down to have less than Salem.
    • Communities with more than 50 active cases, showing changes in active cases since yesterday: Manchester: 934 (-96). Nashua: 468 (+30). Concord: 290 (-17). Salem: 195 (+3). Londonderry: 201 (-8). Derry: 175 (-8). Dover: 136 (+0). Hudson: 126 (+7). Merrimack: 128 (+2). Bedford: 137 (-12). Hooksett: 130 (-8). Hampton: 120 (-3). Windham: 130 (-14). Goffstown: 108 (-5). Milford: 101 (+0). Rochester: 92 (-3). Portsmouth: 68 (+13). Keene: 87 (-13). Laconia: 78 (-10). Plaistow: 71 (-5). Tilton: 65 (-1). Pelham: 69 (-6). Litchfield: 63 (-2). Seabrook: 59 (+0). Exeter: 55 (-3). Atkinson: 49 (+1).  
    • Other communities with an increase or decrease by five or more people: Auburn: 36 (-8). Chesterfield: 14 (-6). Claremont: 13 (+5). Danville: 24 (-5). Dunbarton: 22 (-6). East Kingston: (+5). Epping: 39 (+6). Gilford: 29 (-8). Gorham: (+10). Kensington: 15 (-4). Meredith: 48 (-5). Newmarket: 24 (+6). Northfield: 22 (-4). Ossipee: 14 (-4). Somersworth: 43 (+5). Weare: 50 (-6).  
  • Cumulative Cases
    • There are now 92 communities that have had 50 or more cases.
    • Campton, Milton and Northwood have now had more than 50 cases.
    • Kingston and Gilford have now had 100 or more total confirmed cases. 
    • Litchfield now has 200 or more. 
    • Hampton now has 400 or more.
    • With an increase of 93 new cases, Nashua has passed 2600, 
    • Only Manchester, Nashua, and Derry have had more total cases than Salem.
    • The ten communities with the highest number of cumulative cases, showing changes from yesterday: Manchester: 4879 (+45). Nashua: 2640 (+93). Derry: 951 (+20). Salem: 946 (+24). Concord: 864 (+23). Bedford: 811 (+6). Londonderry: 691 (+17). Hudson: 630 (+23). Goffstown: 575 (+12). Merrimack: 562 (+17).  
    • Other communities with 5 or more new cases, showing changes from yesterday: Atkinson: 159 (+10). Bow: 138 (+5). Chatham: 5 (+5). Claremont: 67 (+5). Dover: 534 (+9). Epping: 139 (+11). Gorham: 18 (+6). Greenland: 67 (+6). Hampstead: 179 (+6). Hampton: 411 (+18). Hollis: 105 (+5). Hooksett: 438 (+9). Kingston: 103 (+7). Laconia: 246 (+7). Loudon: 81 (+5). Marlow: 5 (+5). Meredith: 137 (+6). Milford: 344 (+5). Newmarket: 110 (+8). Pelham: 352 (+13). Pembroke: 162 (+6). Plaistow: 240 (+7). Portsmouth: 449 (+20). Rochester: 453 (+12). Sandown: 157 (+8). Seabrook: 225 (+7). Somersworth: 171 (+6). Tilton: 182 (+5). Windham: 417 (+6).  

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 681
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 695
    • 382 PCR tests
    • 313 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 63
  • Total positive cases in NH: 28,273
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 5.2%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 3,894
  • The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,875
  • New negative results reported today: 3,213
  • Total negative cases in NH: 425,614

• • • • • • ROCKINGHAM COUNTY • • • • • • 

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 6,793
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 211
  • Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 68.1
  • Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 65.2
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 12.0%
  • Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.7%
  • Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 67%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 6,303
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,619
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 25.7%

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

  • New antibody tests: 66
  • Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 33,752
  • The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 50

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •  
(Shown: Total infections, percentage of all infections, and increase since yesterday.)

  • 0-9: 1089 = 4% (+19).
  • 10-19: 2768 = 10% (+47).
  • 20-29: 5538 = 20% (+131).
  • 30-39: 4207 = 15% (+121).
  • 40-49: 3743 = 13% (+117).
  • 50-59: 4468 = 16% (+132).
  • 60-69: 3093 = 11% (+74).
  • 70-79: 1599 = 6% (+25).
  • 80+: 1749 = 6% (+14).
  • Unknown: 19 = 0% (+1).

• • • • • • RECOVERED IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Announced today: 873
  • Total Recovered: 21,386
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 75.6% 

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

  • New people hospitalized from NH: 1
  • Currently hospitalized: 248
  • Total hospitalized patients: 852
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 3.01%
  • Total admitted to ICU: 284
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 206

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 14
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 13
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 1
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 584
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 2.07%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 115

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.


“People are always clinging to what they want to hear, discarding the evidence that doesn’t fit with their beliefs, giving greater weight to evidence that does.” 

― Paula Stokes, The Key to Everything

Hello, Salem!

Is it me, or are those who consider COVID-19 to be fake new, digging in deeper as the pandemic is escalating?

There’s a term for that: Confirmation Bias.

From opinions on COVID-19 to politics to religion and much more, Confirmation Bias is what makes us tick. It can be one of the major reasons why we struggle to get along. 

Confirmation bias happens when a person gives more weight to evidence that confirms their beliefs and undervalues evidence that could disprove it.It is the tendency of people to look for and favor information that confirms and supports their existing beliefs or hypotheses, and to reject any conflicting data. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. 

People show confirmation bias because they are weighing up the costs of being wrong, rather than investigating in a neutral, scientific way, but even scientists and intelligent people can be prone to confirmation bias. 

Trying to understand the confirmation bias of others helps us to understand them better. Sometimes it’s not worth the effort to try to change their minds. As evidence is presented that conflicts with their beliefs, they get increasingly uncomfortable, which makes them angry, and they dig in even deeper.

There is a surprisingly good explanation of confirmation bias that can be read here. And a scientific study, “Mad Enough to See the Other Side: Anger and the Confirmation Bias” was published in 2009.

Be smart, stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie




This video was posted almost two months ago. Things have changed in that time. On October 2, US deaths were 1,035,451, according to the video. (My records say 1,033,174 per WorldOmeter.) WorldOMeter now says the global death rate is 1,446,889, an increase of 413,715 in less than two months. Just please remember that there is a lot more between COVID->Death vs. COVID->Recovery. More and more, long-haulers are making the news, as are other consequences of COVID-19.


From the beginning of the pandemic, it took 43 days before NH reached it’s first 1,000 confirmed diagnoses. It took 31 days to go from 10,000 to 18,000. In another 5 days, we added another 2,000.





This screenshot comes from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e2.htm?s_cid=mm6942e2_w

This report is explained here:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/health/2020/10/20/cdc-from-january-to-october-us-had-299k-more-deaths-than-in-previous-years/



Useful links


Sources used to create these reports:

2 Replies to “COVID-19 Update December 10”

  1. thanks Bonnie,
    I appreciate what you do. The confirmation information helps me understand the people with those strong feelings of not following the health advice of doctors and nurses.

Leave a Reply to Bonnie Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *