COVID-19 Update December 2

COVID-19 Update December 2

Total: 750 confirmed cases in Salem
1 out of 40 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 11 new cases since yesterday; 122 active cases

From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Wednesday, December 2, 2020, DHHS announced 566 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 6.1%. Today’s results include 472 people who tested positive by PCR test and 94 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 4,694 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Test results received Tuesday are still being processed and the total number of new positives for that day is not yet complete. Updated case counts for prior days will be reflected on the COVID-19 interactive dashboard.”

• • • • • • 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. The metric which is changing the most right now is the number of new cases.

NH Community Transmission Metrics:
- New Cases per 100k over 14 days:
  - Scale: Minimal: <50; Moderate: 50 – 100; Substantial: >100.
  - Daily average: 490.4 over 14 days:
- New Hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days:
  - Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20,
  - Daily average: 0.7
- Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days:
  - Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10%; Substantial: >10%
  - Daily average: 5.7%
- New Hampshire’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
Rockingham County Transmission:
- New Cases per 100k over 14 days: 514.9
- New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: 1.3
- Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: 6.4
- Rockingham County’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
Other NH Locations
- Manchester’s new cases per 100K for the past two weeks has skyrocketed again. It’s now up to 996.6. Their 7-day positivity rate has increased to 10.2, which brings them to the substantial level.
- The 7-day PCR positivity rate continues to be moderate for the State of NH, Nashua, Rockingham, and Merrimack counties, and the rest of Hillsborough County. They are rejoined by Belknap County, and Carroll County now reaches that level for the first time.
- The highest level of the three metrics determines the level of community transmission. All 10 Counties, and our two major cities remain at a Substantial level of transmission, as all have new cases per 100K over 2 weeks.

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

Today another large number of cases – 885—were reported as “recovered.” 3,132 people have been reported as “recovered” since Thanksgiving. There were mostly people who were diagnosed before Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving, 3,556 people have been diagnosed with COVID; over 17,000 NH people are now considered to be “recovered.”
Today Salem’s active cases count is 8 less than yesterday, even though we added 11 new cases to our total.
566 people were reported today as new cases. Only two days have had more than this, and both of them were also within the past week, and one of those two was the day that NH DHHS was starting to catch up from the Thanksgiving pause, and had combined results from several days.
66 kids under 18 were diagnosed today. This is the second highest day. We have added 394 children since Thanksgiving.
The number of healthcare workers that have been diagnosed with COVID-19 has passed 2,500. Since the beginning, sixty-two healthcare workers have been hospitalized and eight have died, although the hospitalization and fatality numbers haven’t changed for some time.
There are 4,694 active cases in NH today, 328 less than yesterday. This count has gone up every day except three since October 28.
8,325 people are being monitored in NH, 300 more than yesterday. This number has increased almost every day since October 30, when it was 4,375.
Today’s positivity rate is 6.1% per NH DHHS’s press release. For the past week, the positivity rate is a daily average of 5.7%.
One more new person has been hospitalized in NH with COVID-19 since yesterday’s report. The number of hospitalized patients has increased by two to 162. A month ago, there were 41 patients hospitalized, a one-month increase of almost 400%.
There has been no change to the number of people who have been admitted to an ICU for at least four days. The state does not report the number of people who are currently in the ICU, only the cumulative total, which is 279. We do not know the ages of those patients. A month ago, there had been a total of 256 ICU patients.
The number of deaths is confusing me. Yesterday NH DHHS reported two deaths, and a cumulative increase of two, but on the dashboard showing long-term care facilities they reported an increase of four LTC deaths from the previous day. Today they reported nine deaths, with only three deaths. Today is possible, although it seems unlikely. Yesterday just doesn’t make sense.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (139), Merrimack (82), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (64), Belknap (40), Grafton (36), Strafford (33), Carroll (22), Cheshire (10), Sullivan (3), and Coos (2) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (64) and Nashua (33). The county of residence is being determined for thirty-eight new cases.
Active cases:
- An additional 885 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes.
- One community — Amherst — now has less than 20 active cases and has been removed from the list.
- One community — Hanover — now has more than 20 active cases.
- No communities were added today to the list of those who have more than 20 active cases
- After these adjustments, there are now 50 NH communities with more than 20 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,543 active case, accounting for 75% of all active cases.
- 29 of the remaining communities with more than 20 active cases — more than half — have fewer active cases than they had yesterday.
- Manchester had another significant decrease in active cases. They had over 1,000 two days ago but are down to 769 active cases. Nashua still has more than 300 active cases. Hudson and Merrimack dropped back down to less than 100 active cases.
- Bedford, Concord, Derry, Londonderry and Salem all have more than 100 cases.
- Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Derry are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
- Notable net changes in active cases since yesterday: Plaistow: 61 (+16). Hanover: 27 (+12). Dover: 48 (+10). Concord: 162 (+8). Belmont: 32 (+6). Deerfield: 24 (+3). Hampton: 81 (+3). Weare: 24 (+3). Atkinson: 29 (+2). Pembroke: 33 (+2). Chester: 25 (+1). Conway: 27 (+1). Exeter: 42 (+1). Goffstown: 79 (+1). Hampstead: 36 (+1). New Boston: 21 (+1). Raymond: 33 (+1). Windham: 71 (+1). Franklin: 22 (+0). Henniker: 23 (+0). Hooksett: 93 (+0). Allenstown: 26 (-1). Bow: 32 (-1). Epsom: 32 (-1). Gilford: 23 (-1). Newton: 21 (-1). Tilton: 70 (-1). Litchfield: 41 (-2). Moultonborough: 29 (-2). Pelham: 74 (-2). Auburn: 29 (-3). Londonderry: 118 (-3). Milford: 33 (-3). Somersworth: 37 (-3). Fremont: 21 (-4). Hollis: 25 (-4). Seabrook: 35 (-4). Bedford: 118 (-7). Durham: 37 (-7). Laconia: 41 (-7). Salem: 122 (-8).Meredith: 31 (-8). Hudson: 97 (-9). Keene: 89 (-9). Merrimack: 99 (-10). Portsmouth: 62 (-11). Derry: 141 (-16). Rochester: 68 (-29). Nashua: 302 (-37). Manchester: 769 (-187).
Cumulative Cases
- There are now 84 communities that have had 50 or more cases.
- Two more communities — Brookline and Claremont — have now had 50 or more cumulative cases.
- Concord has now passed 600 total cases. Dover and Durham now have more than 400 total cases. Windham now has more than 300. Amherst now has more than 100 active cases.
- Manchester, Nashua, Derry, Salem, Bedford, and Concord have all had more than 600 total cases.
- Some of the communities with 50 or more total cases, and significant changes in cumulative cases since yesterday are: Manchester: 4074 (+65). Concord: 607 (+35). Nashua: 2114 (+33). Plaistow: 188 (+19). Hanover: 91 (+16). Dover: 404 (+14). Hooksett: 326 (+14). Hampton: 290 (+12). Londonderry: 496 (+12). Salem: 750 (+11). Derry: 780 (+11). Windham: 301 (+10). Belmont: 99 (+9). Tilton: 130 (+9). Bedford: 690 (+8). Hudson: 488 (+8). Atkinson: 112 (+7). Exeter: 184 (+7). Merrimack: 430 (+7). Goffstown: 476 (+6). Pelham: 283 (+6). Plymouth: 117 (+6). Raymond: 182 (+6). Conway: 89 (+5). Loudon: 58 (+5). Milford: 247 (+5). Somersworth: 130 (+5). Alton: 74 (+4). Bow: 107 (+4). Chester: 84 (+4). Deerfield: 60 (+4). Durham: 400 (+4). Epping: 98 (+4). Keene: 210 (+4). Laconia: 182 (+4). Portsmouth: 370 (+4). Rochester: 367 (+4). Seabrook: 163 (+4).

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

New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 566
New positive cases per DHHS: 566
- 472 PCR tests
- 94 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 66
Total positive cases in NH: 22,332
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 6.1%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 3,727
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 1,863
New negative results reported today: 3,161
Total negative cases in NH: 405,484

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

Total cases in Rockingham County: 5,367
New cases in Rockingham County: 139
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 44.9
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 47.9
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 6.4%
Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.0%
Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 68%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

Active cases in NH: 4,694
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,137
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 24.2%

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

New antibody tests: 162
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 33,348
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 54

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

0-9: 829 = 4% (+20).
10-19: 2237 = 10% (+67).
20-29: 4374 = 20% (+101).
30-39: 3248 = 15% (+94). (The percentage went from 14%-15% since yesterday)
40-49: 2916 = 13% (+87).
50-59: 3468 = 16% (+80).
60-69: 2425 = 11% (+63).
70-79: 1302 = 6% (+30).
80+: 1522 = 7% (+24).
Unknown: 11 = 0% (+0).

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

Announced today: 885
Total Recovered: 17,101
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 76.6%

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

New people hospitalized from NH: 1
Currently hospitalized: 162
Total hospitalized patients: 842
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 3.77%
Total admitted to ICU: 279
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 204

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Lives lost today: 9
Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 9
Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 537
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 2.40%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 1
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 112

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.

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.”
― Mother Teresa

Hello, Salem!

Do you realize that there are resources at the bottom of every COVID update?

One, the New Hampshire Housing Relief Program, is designed to keep people from losing their housing and to secure or maintain permanent housing. This program will be gone by the end of the month, and possibly sooner, if funds expire.

It’s hard to believe that his could happen in this country, let alone our state, but 1 out of 10 people in NH are food insecure. No child (or adult) should go to bed hungry. There are several organizations that can help. Food pantries: https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/nh-salem and http://www.wecarecharity.org/projects. Salem NH Farmers Market has a program to help those who have qualified for SNAP benefits.

How are you doing? People care. I care. I’d really like to know.

Stay 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.