Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update February 26

COVID-19 Update February 26

  • Total: 2,360 confirmed cases in Salem. 
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 6.0%
  • 1 out of every 13 Salem residents has been infected
  • Salem today: 13 new cases; 82 active cases.

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

On Friday, February 26, 2021, DHHS announced 337 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 2.1%. Today’s results include 223 people who tested positive by PCR test and 114 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 2,827 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today: 

  • 2/25: 337 new cases 

Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates. 

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

  • Yesterday I spoke too soon. After seven days with new cases in the single digits, Salem is back up to 13 new cases.  
  • Salem’s active case was stable for several days but is back up with an increase of 11 to 82 active cases.
  • In NH, 64 kids aged under 18 were diagnosed, which is 19% of all cases reported today.
  • 352 NH people were reported as “recovered” since yesterday’s update. This is more than the 337 new cases reported by DHHS, so NH’s number of active cases went down by another 31 to 2,827. 
  • Since the last update, there have been 3 people who have been admitted to the hospital for the first time, including one from Rockingham County. 
  • The number of patients who are currently in the hospital has continued to go down, albeit slowly, to 95.
  • NH had one more person admitted to the ICU since the last update, bringing us to 344. This count has gone up by one every day for the last six days. 
  • Four people died in NH from COVID since the last update/

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS reports that the new cases reside in Rockingham (69), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (50), Strafford (39), Merrimack (33), Grafton (25), Cheshire (14), Belknap (10), Coos (9), Sullivan (7), and Carroll (5) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (39) and Nashua (20). The county of residence is being determined for seventeen new cases. 

• • • • • • New Cases per 100K Residents over 2 weeks • • • • • •

Community transmission under 50 is minimal; at 50-100 is moderate; over 100 is severe)

  • NH as of yesterday: 349.9. Today: ???? [Not reported by NH DHHS today]
  • Rockingham County as of yesterday: 327.6. Today: 327.0
  • Salem as of yesterday: 426.0 As of today: 432.0

• • • • • • Positivity Rate • • • • • •

Community transmission under 5% is minimal; at 5-10% is moderate; over 10% is severe)

Positivity Rate Positivity rate for one day, PCR test results only

  • NH as of yesterday: 2.3%. Today: 2.1%
  • Rockingham County: Has never been available 
  • Salem: Has never been available

Positivity rate for past week, PCR & Antigen 

  • NH as of yesterday: 4.1%. Today: ???? [Not reported by DHHS today]
  • Rockingham County as of Yesterday: 5.6%. Today: 5.5%
  • Salem as of yesterday: 5.4%. As of today: 6.0%

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 325
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 327
    • 215 PCR tests
    • 110 Antigen tests
    • PCR percentage 66.2%
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 64
  • % of new cases announced by DHHS today that are kids under 18 years old: 19.0%
  • Total positive cases in NH: 74,893
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 2.1%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results: 866
  • New negative results reported: 541
  • Total Negative Results: 553,249

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 18,339
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 69
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 5.5%
  • Percent of NH cases that are from Rockingham County: 24.5% 

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

  • 0-9: 5% of Total cases: 3524 (+35); Hospitalizations: 7; Deaths: 0
  • 10-19: 11% of Total cases: 8262 (+51); Hospitalizations: 8; Deaths: 0
  • 20-29: 20% of Total cases: 14661 (+71); Hospitalizations: 25; Deaths: 1
  • 30-39: 14% of Total cases: 10834 (+35); Hospitalizations: 46; Deaths: 5
  • 40-49: 13% of Total cases: 9905 (+34); Hospitalizations: 85; Deaths: 9
  • 50-59: 16% of Total cases: 11889 (+43); Hospitalizations: 142; Deaths: 22
  • 60-69: 11% of Total cases: 7894 (+34); Hospitalizations: 264; Deaths: 102
  • 70-79: 6% of Total cases: 4149 (+17); Hospitalizations: 265; Deaths: 260
  • 80+: 5% of Total cases: 3692 (+6); Hospitalizations: 267; Deaths: 768
  • Unknown: 0% of Total cases: 83 (+); Hospitalizations: 0; Deaths: 0

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

  • Active cases in NH: 2,827
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 626
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 22.1%

• • • • • • RECOVERED • • • • • •

  • Recovered today: 352
  • Total Recovered: 70,899
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 94.7% 

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

  • Currently hospitalized: 95
  • New people hospitalized from NH: 3
  • Total hospitalized patients: 1,109
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.48%
  • Total admitted to ICU: 344
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 256

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 4
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 4
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 1,167
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.56%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 207

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!

NH DHHS stopped reporting NH’s new hospitalizations per 100K residents over 14 days on February 7. That number was low, and never came anywhere near the 10 cases pr 100K that would be needed to bring I above minimal community transmission.

Today, they did not report NH’s new cases per 100K (PCR tests only) or NH’s positivity rate over the past 7 days. I’m hoping that this is a one-time omission. While I collected hospital data, I didn’t use it. I do watch and report on the other two metrics.

This is important information, because without it, we cannot compare the state to the counties or to the towns. Therefore, I hope this is a temporary omission, as this info is needed for full transparency to gauge our progress.

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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