COVID-19 Update December 5

COVID-19 Update December 5

Total: 812 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 11.1%
1 out of 37 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 13 new cases since yesterday; 142 active cases

It appears to me the NH DHHS is overwhelmed and cannot keep up with the workload. Here’s why:

They announced a while back that they were cutting back on contact tracing, just as the number of cases were increasing, and the need was more pressing than ever.
On March 9, NH DHHS started reporting “Number of Persons Being Monitored in NH.” That number has been in every update they’ve issued since then. Until today. That line has been removed from today’s report. Yesterday, that count was a record 9,550 people. This number has increased almost every day since October 30, when it was 4,375. It was 2,750 on Sept 30. August 30 it was only 1,800.
And then there is the message that started to appear in the press release right after Thanksgiving. From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Saturday, December 5, 2020, DHHS announced 457 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 5.5%. Today’s results include 371 people who tested positive by PCR test and 86 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 4,545 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today, 12 new positive test results are from Monday, 11/30 (for a new daily total of 659 cases); 77 new positive results are from Tuesday, 12/1 (for a new daily total of 715 cases); 32 cases are from Thursday, 12/3 (for a new daily total of 551 cases); and 336 cases are from Friday, 12/4. Test results for previous days are still being processed and the total number of new positives 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 per 100K people over 14 days:
- New Hampshire: 518.8
- Rockingham County: 543.1
- Salem: 655.0
- Highest average: Tilton: 2,558 (Veterans Home)
Average of New Hospitalization per 100K people over 14 days:
- New Hampshire: 0.7
- Rockingham County: 1.0
Average Positivity Rate over 7 days:
- New Hampshire: 8.1%
- Rockingham County: 10.5%
- Manchester: 12.6%
- Salem: 11.1%
- Highest rate: Tamworth: 22.9%

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

Over 800 Salem residents have been confirmed to have COVID-19. 196 have been added in the past two weeks, with 154 of those in the past week. The daily average for the past week is 22 new people infected per day.
The number of Salem residents who are currently considered to be infectious is 142. This is a new record.
Today, NH DHHS announced 457 new cases, the lowest number in over a week. The total number reported today compared to the total number reported yesterday was only 448.
In the past week, NH added 4,207 new infections. During the previous week, we added 2,780 new infections, and the week before that we totaled 2,994 new infections.
Another 616 people were reported as “recovered” today. 4,392 NH residents have “recovered” in the past week, and an additional 2,043 were “recovered” in the previous week.
There are 4,545 active cases in NH today. This count went up every day from October 28 when we had 1,034 active cases, until we reached the peak of 5,145 last Monday. On Monday, NH DHHS started reported a record number of “recovered” cases, which are bringing the number of active cases down.
Three more people were hospitalized in the 24-hours covered by this report, and one more person was admitted to the ICU. The number of people currently hospitalized has gone down by 13.
Sadly, NH lost another three people to this disease today, making a total of 36 for the past week. We lost 15 people the week before, and nine the week before that. An increase in deaths traditionally occurs 2-4 weeks following an increase in new cases.
I have updated the graphs showing infections in Salem, and new infections in NH by 1,000’s.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (91), Merrimack (71), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (44), Cheshire (26), Belknap (25), Strafford (24), Carroll (21), Grafton (12), Sullivan (6), and Coos (4) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (66) and Nashua (52). The county of residence is being determined for fifteen new cases.
Active cases:
- An additional 616 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes.
- Conway had a significant increase (+9), bringing them from 33 to 42.
- One community — Tilton — had a significant decrease (-28) and now has less than 50 active cases and has been removed from the list.
- There are 19 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 2,590 active cases, accounting for 55% of all active cases.
- While Salem went up by 7 active cases, Derry went down by 13. Salem now has more active cases than Derry.
- Manchester, Nashua, and Concord are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
- Communities with more than 50 active cases, showing changes in active cases since yesterday: Manchester: 733 (-34). Nashua: 334 (+12). Concord: 190 (+1). Salem: 142 (+7). Derry: 133 (-13). Londonderry: 118 (-5). Keene: 91 (+5). Bedford: 89 (-12). Hudson: 85 (-7). Hooksett: 82 (-13). Hampton: 80 (-5). Windham: 80 (+0). Merrimack: 78 (-7). Rochester: 67 (-1). Goffstown: 64 (-9). Dover: 63 (-3). Pelham: 57 (-3). Plaistow: 53 (-2). Portsmouth: 51 (-8).
Cumulative Cases
- There are 84 communities that have had 50 or more cases.
- Salem has passed 800 total cases. Pelham has had more than 300 of its residence been diagnosed with COVID-19. Plaistow now has had more than 200 total cases. Conway passed 100 total cases.
- Only Manchester, Nashua, and Derry have had more total cases than Salem.
- The ten communities with the highest number of cumulative cases, plus any community with 5 or more new cases, showing changes from yesterday: Manchester: 4,374 (+65). Nashua: 2,289 (+54). Derry: 838 (+11). Salem: 812 (+13). Bedford: 719 (+5). Concord: 695 (+17). Londonderry: 556 (+14). Hudson: 521 (+6). Goffstown: 497 (+3). Merrimack: 460 (+8). Dover: 438 (+5). Rochester: 393 (+6). Hooksett: 365 (+9). Windham: 336 (+10). Keene: 243 (+11). Tilton: 147 (+9). Bow: 125 (+11). Conway: 109 (+11). Epsom: 91 (+5).

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

New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 448
New positive cases per DHHS: 457
- 371 PCR tests
- 86 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 62
Total positive cases in NH: 24,138
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 5.5%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 3,789
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,654
New negative results reported today: 3,341
Total negative cases in NH: 413,415

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

Total cases in Rockingham County: 5,814
New cases in Rockingham County: 91
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 29.4
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 47.0
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 10.5%
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: 4,545
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,098
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 24.2%

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

New antibody tests: 66
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 33,528
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 56

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

0-9: 922 = 4% (+21).
10-19: 2405 = 10% (+45).
20-29: 4741 = 20% (+88).
30-39: 3540 = 15% (+58).
40-49: 3181 = 13% (+70).
50-59: 3764 = 16% (+74).
60-69: 2610 = 11% (+51).
70-79: 1375 = 6% (+20).
80+: 1588 = 7% (+21).
Unknown: 12 = 0% (+0).

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

Announced today: 616
Total Recovered: 19,034
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 78.9%

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

New people hospitalized from NH: 3
Currently hospitalized: 146
Total hospitalized patients: 847
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 3.51%
Total admitted to ICU: 282
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 0
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: 559
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 2.32%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
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.

“I tell my students there is such a thing as ‘writer’s block,’ and they should respect it. It’s blocked because it ought to be blocked, because you haven’t got it right now.”
— Toni Morrison

Hello, Salem!

Some days the words flow. Today isn’t one of them.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, but 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.