COVID-19 Update December 3

COVID-19 Update December 3

Total: 777 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem’s Positivity Rate for past 2 weeks: 10.7%
1 out of 38 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 27 new cases since yesterday; 121 active cases

From the Governor’s press conference today:

The dashboards have been updated.
- The Positivity Rate now includes the antigen info as well as the PCR data.
- The Community Transmission info has changed.
  - They are now providing the Average of New Cases over 14 days by town.
  - They are now providing the Positivity Average by town.
  - I now have to get this info from a different place. It is possible that this info is new. It is also possible that this info has been available for a while, but I just didn’t find it.
- I have discovered that:
  - There are discrepancies between the Active Cases Data and the Active Cases Map.
  - There are discrepancies between the Cumulative Cases Data and the Cumulative Cases Map.
  - The Active Cases Data and the Cumulative Cases Data downloads contain the data from November 30.
Per the recommendation of the CDC, NH has ceased the quarantine period (for those who have been exposed to COVID, but not diagnosed) from 14 days to 10 days. (There are a few exceptions, especially those in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, jails and prisons.) This brings the quarantine period in line with the 10 days required for isolation (for those who have tested positive to COVID-19.)
NH deaths from COVID are 10 times that of the influenza. Per Dr. Chan, NH has 40-50 deaths pr season from the flu.
There are 7 new institutional outbreaks announced, with no closing of any outbreaks.

From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Thursday, December 3, 2020, DHHS announced 625 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 5.3%. Today’s results include 470 people who tested positive by PCR test and 155 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 4,342 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Test results for Wednesday 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. 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 over 14 days:
- New Hampshire: 495.9
- Rockingham County: 361.6
- Salem: 453.0
- Highest average: Tilton: 1,733 (Veterans Home)
Average of New Hospitalization:
- New Hampshire: 0.7
- Rockingham County: 0.7
Average Positivity Rate:
- New Hampshire: 7.6%
- Rockingham County: 9.8%
- Manchester: 11.5%
- Salem: 10.7%
- Highest rate: Plaistow: 22.4%

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

Today another large number of cases – 938—were reported as “recovered.” 4,070 people have been reported as “recovered” in the past week, and 6,275 people have recovered in the past 2 weeks. 4,217 people have been diagnosed with COVID in NH in the past week and 6,768 have been diagnosed in the past two weeks.
Today Salem’s active cases count is 1 less than yesterday, even though we added 27 new cases to our total. Other than the 40 that were added for the three days at Thanksgiving, this is the biggest increase we’ve seen.
625 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. 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.
73 kids under 18 were diagnosed today. This is the second-highest day. We have added 467 children to this list in the last week.
There are 4,342 active cases in NH today, 352 less than yesterday. This count has gone up every day except four since October 28. Three of those four days are in the last three days.
9,275 people are being monitored in NH, 950 more than yesterday, which was a record. This number has increased almost every day since October 30, when it was 4,375.
Today’s positivity rate is 6.3% per NH DHHS’s press release. For the past week, the positivity rate is a daily average of 5.7%. The dashboard shows a 7.6% positivity rate for the past two-week average.
Two more new people have been hospitalized in NH with COVID-19 since yesterday’s report, but the number of current hospitalized patients decreased by six from yesterday’s high of 162 to today’s 156.
The number of patients who had been admitted to the ICU because of COVID went up by 3 between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28. Happily, it this count has not changed in four days.
The number of deaths is confusing me. On Monday NH DHHS reported no deaths. From Sunday to Monday, the dashboard for long-term care patients did not change. On Tuesday they reported two deaths, but the dashboard went up by four. On Wednesday they reported nine deaths. The dashboard went up by 3. Today they reported seven deaths, and, in the press conference, reported that all were from long-term care facilities, yet the dashboard only went up by five. It doesn’t add up for me.
WorldOmeter reports record-breaking numbers from yesterday to today, too.
- Global cases: 65,515,581 (+699,446)
- Global deaths: 1,511,101 (+12,805). 1.5 million.
- US cases: 14,534,736 (+225,598)
- US deaths: 282,829 (+2,984)

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (162), Merrimack (94), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (80), Strafford (41), Grafton (25), Belknap (24), Carroll (17), Cheshire (16), Sullivan (9), and Coos (6) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (98) and Nashua (32). The county of residence is being determined for twenty-one new cases.
Active cases:
- A new record was set when 938 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes.
- Something is wrong!!! The number of active cases per the download do not match those on the map. I’ve been able to determine that the download info is the data from November 3. I’m only reporting on the top 10 communities today, using data from the map.
- Between the ten communities with the most active cases there are 1,881 active cases. These ten communities account for 43% of all active cases.
- Manchester had another significant decrease in active cases. They had over 1,000 three days ago but are now down to 698 active cases. Nashua now has fewer than 300 active cases.
- Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Derry are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
- Notable net changes in active cases since yesterday: Manchester: 698 (-71). Nashua: 280 (-22). Concord: 168 (+6). Derry: 139 (-2). Salem: 121 (-1). Londonderry: 118 (+0). Bedford: 102 (-16). Hooksett: 87 (-6). Hudson: 86 (-11). Merrimack: 82 (-17).
Cumulative Cases
- Something is wrong!!! The number of cumulative cases from the download do not match those on the map. I’ve been able to determine that the download info is the data from November 3. I’m only reporting on the top 10 communities today.
- Hudson and Londonderry now have more than 500 cases.
- Bedford now has more than 700 total cases.
- Derry has passed 800 cumulative.
- Only Manchester, Nashua, and Derry have had more total cases than Salem.
- Communities with the most cumulative cases, and changes from yesterday: Manchester: 4,174 (+100). Nashua: 2,148 (+34). Derry: 806 (+26). Salem: 777 (+27). Bedford: 702 (+12). Concord: 645 (+38). Londonderry: 519 (+23). Hudson: 500 (+12). Goffstown: 482 (+6). Merrimack: 440 (+10).

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

New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 593
New positive cases per DHHS: 625
- 470 PCR tests
- 155 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 73
Total positive cases in NH: 22,925
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 5.3%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 3,211
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,534
New negative results reported today: 2,618
Total negative cases in NH: 408,102

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

Total cases in Rockingham County: 5,535
New cases in Rockingham County: 162
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 52.3
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 48.6
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 9.8%
Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.1%
Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 68%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

Active cases in NH: 4,342
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,070
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 24.6%

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

New antibody tests: 57
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 33,405
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: 860 = 4% (+31).
10-19: 2290 = 10% (+53).
20-29: 4502 = 20% (+128).
30-39: 3347 = 15% (+99).
40-49: 2998 = 13% (+82).
50-59: 3555 = 16% (+87).
60-69: 2495 = 11% (+70).
70-79: 1323 = 6% (+21).
80+: 1544 = 7% (+22).
Unknown: 11 = 0% (+0).

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

Announced today: 938
Total Recovered: 18,039
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 78.7%

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

New people hospitalized from NH: 2
Currently hospitalized: 156
Total hospitalized patients: 844
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 3.68%
Total admitted to ICU: 279
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 205

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Lives lost today: 7
Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 7
Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 544
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 2.37%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 2
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 114

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.

Rather than give up or be discouraged, if we keep a positive outlook we will find solutions to our issues will come much more easily. Catherine Pulsifer, Adversity An Advantage

Hello, Salem!

It’s challenging times. And sometimes it is hard to be positive.

Yesterday I found out that a friend’s mom passed. The mother was in a nursing home with a number of COVID cases on her floor. Although they don’t think COVID directly impacted her passing, her dementia worsened without the contact from her family.

Today I found out a friend’s husband is infected and my friend has symptoms; she’ll be tested tomorrow. They’ve been careful, but still caught it.

Since writing this, I have learned that another friend and another acquaintance have been diagnosed with COVID.

Some days this pandemic and these updates take a lot out of me. Today is one of those days. Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day.

Look for the good things. They are there, if we allow ourselves to see.

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.