Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update February 17

COVID-19 Update February 17

  • Total: 2,287 confirmed cases in Salem. 
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 8.7%
  • 1 out of every 13 Salem residents has been infected
  • Salem today: 23 new cases; 113 active cases.

I have one word for today’s numbers: FUBAR.

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

On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, DHHS announced 379 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 2.6%. Please note, an additional 421 cases have been added to the case count, in addition to the new cases above. The cases were identified during data quality assurance activities and are from November 2020 through January 2021. Today’s results include 246 people who tested positive by PCR test and 133 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 3,372 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today: 

  • 2/16: 379 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. 

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

  • Today’s report is a mess. I tried to figure it out. Nothing adds up in a way that makes sense to me. I give up!
  • This “audit” might account for the confusion yesterday in negative cases.
  • DHHS reports that they found an additional 421 new cases during an audit. Add that to the 379 new cases, and they are reporting an addition of 800 new cases. However, the increase in total cases is 750, which is also the total of new cases as reported in the dashboard for changes by age. However, in their press report, DHHS shares new Antigen and PCR tests results total 379, but the total antigen and PCR test results in the dashboard only went up by 749.
  • Active cases in NH are back over 3,000. Today we have 3,372, an increase of 515 from yesterday. This is puzzling. The “found” cases are reportedly from November through January. One would expect that all new cases in January would have been reported as “recovered” by mid-February. If we only had 379 new cases today, how did our active cases go up by more than 500?
  • DHHS reports that there are 86 new cases in Rockingham County. However, in the Summary Dashboard, they show 17,692 total cases in our county, an increase of 307 new cases. They also show 919 total current cases in our county, an increase of 257 since yesterday. At least some of the cumulative total could be a result of the “found” cases, but see above for confusion about active cases.
  • Salem had 23 new cases added to our cumulative total today. Some may have been from the adjustments made from errors, but our active cases increased by 15, bringing us back to triple digits.
  • Salem’s “New cases per 100K residents” over the past two weeks jumped up by 10 to 571 overnight. Our positivity rate for the past week went from 8.0% to 8.7% from yesterday.
  • The cumulative number of people who have been infected in long-term care facilities has decreased by five since yesterday.
  • Since the last update, 3 people have been admitted to the hospital for the first time. None were from Rockingham County.
  • The number of patients who are currently in the hospital decreased every day from 186 on February 7 down to 119 on February 16. Today it is back up to 126, which is what we had 3 days ago.
  • Two more people were added to the ICU cumulative total since the last update.
  • DHHS has been reporting the New Hospitalizations per 100K over the past 14 days in the School dashboard every day, (illogical place!), but that number was omitted from today’s report. (It is still available in the interactive map dashboard for counties, but not for the state).
  • Twelve more people died in NH from COVID since the last update, just when things looked like they were setting down.
  • Worldometer is reporting that US deaths from COVID-19 have now passed 500,000 … more than ½ million people. That’s over 20% of all global deaths.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS reports that the new cases reside in Rockingham (86), Strafford (60), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (53), Grafton (46), Merrimack (23), Sullivan (17), Cheshire (16), Belknap (15), Coos (3), and Carroll (1) counties, and in the cities of Nashua (35) and Manchester (13). The county of residence is being determined for eleven new cases. 

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 750
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 279 + 421 error correction = 800
    • 224 PCR tests
    • 525 Antigen tests
    • PCR percentage: 29.9%
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 58
  • % of new cases announced by DHHS today that are kids under 18 years old: 15.3%
  • Total positive cases in NH: 71,965
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 2.6%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 1,112
  • New negative results reported: 362
  • Total Negative Results: 546,036

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 17,692
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 86
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 5.8%
  • Percent of NH cases that are from Rockingham County: 24.6% 

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •  
(Totals, including changes in new cases since yesterday for those under 60.)

  • 0-9: 5% of Total cases: 3337 (+37); Hospitalizations: 7; Deaths: 0
  • 10-19: 11% of Total cases: 7700 (+102); Hospitalizations: 6; Deaths: 0
  • 20-29: 19% of Total cases: 13899 (+190); Hospitalizations: 24; Deaths: 1
  • 30-39: 15% of Total cases: 10481 (+119); Hospitalizations: 46; Deaths: 5
  • 40-49: 13% of Total cases: 9624 (+104); Hospitalizations: 85; Deaths: 9
  • 50-59: 16% of Total cases: 11514 (+111); Hospitalizations: 138; Deaths: 20
  • 60-69: 11% of Total cases: 7654 (+56); Hospitalizations: 259; Deaths: 100
  • 70-79: 6% of Total cases: 4030 (+19); Hospitalizations: 258; Deaths: 255
  • 80+: 5% of Total cases: 3644 (+12); Hospitalizations: 260; Deaths: 758
  • Unknown: 0% of Total cases: 82 (+0); Hospitalizations: 0; Deaths: 0

Note: These increases total 750, which is the difference between yesterday’s total confirmed case and today’s. [NH DHHS reported 379 new positive test results plus 421 cases of error correction for a total of 800 reported new cases.]

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •                          

  • Active cases in NH: 3,372
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 919
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 27.3%

• • • • • • RECOVERED • • • • • •

  • Recovered today: 223
  • Total Recovered: 67,445
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 93.7% 

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

  • Currently hospitalized: 126
  • New people hospitalized from NH: 3
  • Total hospitalized patients: 1,083
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.50%
  • Total admitted to ICU: 338
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 0
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 252

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 12
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 12
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 1,148
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.60%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 6
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 203

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.

Hello, Salem!

Today, the numbers for NH are confusing, and the numbers for Salem are disappointing. Please don’t shoot the messenger! ?

When I see Salem’s numbers go up like this I wonder what is happening. At the beginning of the pandemic, and last fall when numbers started to spike, Salem took one of the lead spots. I hope this is not another foreshadowing of what is to come for the rest of the State.

Stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie

NH Communities – Jan 31
NH Communities with more than 50 cumulative cases.

The following 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.

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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