COVID-19 Update December 23

COVID-19 Update December 23

  • Total: 1,287 confirmed cases in Salem
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 12.4%
  • 1 out of 23 Salem residents have been infected 
  • Salem today: 18 new cases since yesterday; 213 active cases

• • • • • • Report from NH Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) • • • • • • 

From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Wednesday, December 23, 2020, DHHS announced 571 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 4.6%. Today’s results include 422 people who tested positive by PCR test and 149 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,409 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today: 

  • 12/18: 24 new cases today, for an updated total of 676 cases 
  • 12/19: 97 new cases today, for an updated total of 719 cases 
  • 12/20: 26 new cases today, for an updated total of 532 cases 
  • 12/21: 110 new cases today, for an updated total of 437 cases 
  • 12/22: 314 new cases 

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.”

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

  • Average Positivity Rate over 7 days: 
    • New Hampshire: 8.5%
    • Rockingham County: 10.3%
    • Salem: 12.4%
    • Manchester: 11.2%
    • Nashua: 10.3
    • 28 communities have a positivity rate higher than Salem.
    • 51 communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%.
    • 109 communities have a positivity rate of more than 5%.
    • 121 communities have a positivity rate of more than 2%.

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

  • Like yesterday, Salem had another 18 people diagnosed with COVID-19. We had less than 18 active cases on October 21, now we are adding that many (or more) every day this week.
  • NH “only” added 571 new cases today, the lowest since December 5.
  • NH DHHS reported 571new cases, but the number of positive cases from yesterday to today went up by 504 cases. There is often a discrepancy, but today’s difference of 67 is a record. The next biggest discrepancy was 41 and then 40, on last Thursday and the day before.
  • The discrepancy between the reported cases and the change in total cases from Wednesday to Wednesday is 160 cases. I’m not sure how to interpret this, but it does concern me.
  • The State’s positivity rate for today was 4.6%, the lowest since Friday. NH’s positivity rate for the past two weeks is 8.5%., while Rockingham County is 10.3% and Salem’s positivity rate for the past two weeks is 12.4%. Last Wednesday, Salem was 14.3%, Rocking County was 11.3 and NH was 8.8, so we are currently beginning to trend in the right direction.
  • The number of children who have been diagnosed in the past week is 567. The previous week it was 708. This is a drop of a weekly daily average of 81 kids per day from 101 the previous week.
  • Three more people were hospitalized today, but the number of people who are currently in the hospital increased by eight to 305, the first time we have had more than 300 COVID patients at one time.
  • 21 more people lost their lives during the 24-hour period covered by this report because of COVID. Last Wednesday we also lost 21 people; it was the worst day since the beginning of the pandemic.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (144), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (84), Merrimack (75), Strafford (68), Belknap (43), Cheshire (22), Carroll (19), Grafton (12), Coos (5), and Sullivan (4) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (43) and Nashua (38). The county of residence is being determined for fourteen new cases.  
  • Active cases:
    • An additional 559 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes. 
    • One community — Farmington — added enough new cases to bring them to 50 or more active cases. 
    • One community — Belmont — dropped by enough cases to bring them under 50 active cases. 
    • There are 27 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have3,993 active cases, accounting for 62% of all active cases.
    • Manchester, Nashua, and Concord are the only communities with more active cases than Salem. 
  • Cumulative Cases
    • There are now 107 communities that have had 50 or more cases.
    • There were no changes to the list today
    • 31 communities have 5 or more new cases than they had yesterday.
    • Only Manchester, Nashua, and Concord have had more total cases than Salem.

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 504
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 571
    • 422 PCR tests
    • 221 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 63
  • Total positive cases in NH: 38,512
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 4.6%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 2,415
  • The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,230
  • New negative results reported today: 1,911
  • Total negative cases in NH: 453,164

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 9,578
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 144
  • Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 46.5
  • Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 57.3
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 10.3%
  • Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.9%
  • Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 65% 

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 6,409
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,528
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 23.8% 

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

  • New antibody tests: 54
  • Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 34,409
  • 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: 1588 = 4% (+25).
  • 10-19: 3769 = 10% (+48).
  • 20-29: 7398 = 19% (+84).
  • 30-39: 5736 = 15% (+78).
  • 40-49: 5139 = 13% (+71).
  • 50-59: 6170 = 16% (+75).
  • 60-69: 4223 = 11% (+57).
  • 70-79: 2232 = 6% (+29).
  • 80+: 2219 = 6% (+37).
  • Unknown: 38 = 0% (+0).

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

  • Announced today: 559
  • Total Recovered: 31,426
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 81.6 % 

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

  • New people hospitalized from NH: 3
  • Currently hospitalized: 305
  • Total hospitalized patients: 892
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 2.32%
  • Total admitted to ICU: 297
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 209

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 21
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 21
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 677
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.76%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 4
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 129

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.


 When you create Hope in people, you create expectations. When you do not fulfill those expectations, when the change becomes more of the same old, same old, the Hope that was created can only turn to anger, frustration and bitter disappointment.

~ Vermin Supreme

Hello, Salem!

Our new case numbers appear like they could be changing. Like many of you, I want them to be going down. Should I try to tell you that things are getting better? Or, if I think the current numbers are an anomaly, do I burst your bubble?

Change takes time. But we also need hope, and realistic expectations.

You can be positive and realistic at the same time. Stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie




Compiled by Bonnie Wright, based on data obtained from NH DHHS.

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.


Outbreaks at Long-Term Care Facilities, as of 12/17/20.





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:

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