COVID-19 Update May 15

COVID-19 Update May 15

Salem: 206 confirmed cases, 112 cases are still active.

Another five Salem residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the total up to 206. 70 people out of every 10,000 Salem residents have been diagnosed. More than half of those here in Salem that have been infected are still waiting to recover.

NH announced that there were 88 new positive test results for COVID-19, including three children under the age of 18, for a total of 3,464 cases. (From the number of cases announced yesterday and today, I come up with 82 new cases.). 21of the new cases were in Rockingham County. DHHS says that community-based transmission continues to occur in the State.

There were five new hospitalized cases in NH today, bringing the total of those hospitalized to 335 (10% of all confirmed cases); approximately one-third of all NH hospitalizations (110) are still in the hospital.

Today NH DHHS announced that 5 more people have died, including a male younger than 60. Two, a female and a male, both over 60 years of age, have died in RockinghamCounty from COVID-19, bringing NH’s total to 159 people. Of those NH residents who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the state reports that 5% have died; I come up with 4.56%.

I see a LOT of odd things showing up in the last few reports from the Department of Health and Human Services. See my rant in the “news” section below.

Have a nice weekend, my friends. Stay safe, and always, be kind.

Key points covered below in today’s report:

  • Members of Congress answer COVID-related questions.
  • NH House and Senate to convene next month.
  • The Governor’s Press Conference. (Mini report)
  • What is going on with the reports from NH DHHS?

Click on the calendar to enlarge
https://www.bonnie4salem.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/may15-calendar.jpg


 

Q: How much testing is NH doing in comparison to our neighboring states?

A: We aren’t doing enough tests!
WHY???

 

 

 

 

 

 

On April 19, this was posted on Facebook:

 

NHPR has charts. Lots of charts!
If you want more than what I’m providing, they can be found at NHPR’s website.


COVID Symptom Tracker: This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, this may be the best way of tracking how we are doing. I’m keeping it near the top, so I’ll remember to log in each day.
https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y


Today’s COVID-19 Statistics:

I have had a table here for weeks, which compared the day to day changes.
If you actually miss it, please let me know, and I’ll bring it back.
Bonnie on May 12.

Salem’s confirmed cases: 

  • March 30 (Range 10-19)
  • March 31 (Range 20+)
  • April 3: 25 cases (Range 20+)
  • April 6: 33 cases (+8 in 3 days)
  • April 8: 20+ cases
  • April 9: 20-49
  • April 10: Over 50
  • April 23: 116
  • April 27: 144
  • April 28: 143 (Huh? Less than yesterday? Triple checked!)
  • April 30: 146
  • May 1: 154
  • May 2: 162
  • May 3: 173
  • May 4-5: 175
  • May 6: 178; 94 active
  • May 7: 186; 101 active
  • May 8: 189; 103 active
  • May 9: 191; 101 active
  • May 10: 191; 100 active
  • May 11: 193; 102 active
  • May 12: 195; 103 active
  • May 13: 197; 104 active
  • May 14: 201; 108 active
  • May 15: 206; 212 active

 

NH Hot Spots (AS OF MONDAY, MAY 11)
NH has 13 NH municipalities that have more than 50 confirmed cases.

  • Manchester: 684 (+14 from yesterday); 61 per 10K residents
  • Nashua: 289 (+6); 32 per 10K residents
  • Derry: 244; (+3); 73 cases per 10K residents
  • Salem: 191 (0); 65 cases per 10K residents
  • Londonderry: 91 (+1); 35 cases per 10K
  • Bedford: 101 (+4); 45 cases per 10K
  • Dover: 82 (+1); 26 cases per 10K
  • Milford: 70 (-1); 44 cases per 10K
  • Hudson: 65 (+3); 25 cases per 10K
  • Concord: 63 (0); 15 cases per 10K
  • Franklin: 58 (+1); 67 cases per 10K
  • Goffstown: Added May 12

All other municipalities have less than 50 cases.  All of the other municipalities with 20-49 cases are geographically south of Concord/Rochester, and east of Concord/Milford, except for Franklin.

Counties (as of Monday, May 11)

  • Hillsborough (inc. Manchester and Nashua): 1,438 (+45); 34 per 10K residents
  • Rockingham (inc. Salem & Derry): 978 (+14); 32 per 10K

About 79% of all of those in NH who have tested positive to COVID-19 live in these two counties.

Our neighboring towns:

  • Methuen on May 9: 685; 135 confirmed cases per 10K residents. 275 recovered (+1). 32 deaths (+0)
  • Lawrence on May 11:: 2,274 (+10). 283 cases per 10K residents. 95 deaths (+2)
  • Haverhill on May 13: 950 cases up 117 from May 6. 148 cases per 10K; was 130 a week ago.

If more people were tested, the numbers would be higher.
Without better testing, we can’t know what our real numbers are.

We need proper testing to fight COVID-19


The NH Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, has announced a Weekly Summary Report, with more details than are provided in the daily reports from the Department of Health & Human Services. Today, May 7 the NH DHHS has issued its “weekly” report for the week ending May 4. [This is the first weekly report since the week ending April 27, which was issued the same day.].

As of May 4, 713 healthcare workers have been infected (27.6% of all confirmed cases). 24 of the medical care workers were hospitalized; one died.

  • More women have tested positive than men by about 11%. However, approximately 60% of the hospitalizations and 60% of the deaths are men.
  • 18 kids under 9 years have tested positive. 19% of those infected are 50-59 years old, the largest age group. Those who are 30-39, 40-49, and 60-69 are each 13-14% of the cases. 20% of the confirmed cases are 70 or older, however, these age groups make up almost 40% of the cases, and 85% of the deaths.
  • Race/Ethnicity: Although 90% of NH’s population is white; they only account for 76.4% of the confirmed infections, 82% of the hospitalizations, and 91.5% of the deaths. Hispanic/Latino make up 3.9% of the population, but 7.4% of the infections, 7.8% of the hospitalizations, and 6.8% of the deaths. Blacks/African Americans are 1.4% of the population, and 5.4% of the infections, 3.7% of hospitalizations, and 1.7% of the deaths.  Asians are 3.0% of the population, and 4.1% of the cases; no Asians from NH have died. All other races are 1.8% of the population, and 7.7% of the population, 2.4% of hospitalizations, and 1.7% of deaths.
  • Persons in Hillsborough County, including Manchester and Nashua, make up 44.7% of all infections, 46.5% of hospitalizations, and 46.5% of the deaths. Persons in Rockingham County (Salem and Derry) make up 33.9% of the total infections, 31.1% of the hospitalizations, and 32.6% of all deaths.  The third most impacted county is Merrimack (Concord), which only has 7.7% of all infections.

NH News relating to COVID-19

Members of Congress answer COVID-related questions.
Congressworman Annie Kuster and Congressman Chris Papppas. Answer questions about support for the Post office, preventing a second outbreak, putting pressure on the administration to use science to make important decisions. 4.5 minutes. Watch on WMUR.

NH House and Senate to convene next month.

On June 11, the NH House and Senate will be meeting outside of their respective chambers for the first time since the Civil War. The NH Senate will meet in Representative’s Hall. The NH House members will meet at UNH’s Whittemore Center in Durham. Read more. [There is bound to be further discussion about this between now and June.]

 

The Governor’s Press Conference.(Mini report on a long conference)

Due to the late hour, I’ll report on that tomorrow, except for one news specific to Salem:

ExpressMed in Salem and Manchester are now doing COVID-19 testing and antibody testing. I’ve been able to figure out that there is no appointment required. Salem: 159 North Broadway, Salem, NH 03079. Phone: (603) 898-0961. Hours:Monday-Friday: 8:00am-7:00pm; Saturday: 9:00am-4:00pm

 

What is going on with the reports from NH DHHS?

Yesterday, the State’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) pointed out that, as they issued their daily report, that they knew that the report had inaccuracies. They acknowledged that their total number of negative tests included negative results for both diagnostic (PCR) tests and antibody tests. This gave an inflated number of negative test results and throws the ratio of negative tests to positive tests way off.

In today’s press conference, DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette said that yesterday they did 2,882 PCR tests and 823 antibody tests. That totals 3,705. When I add yesterday’s new cases plus yesterday’s negative tests, I come up with 3,355 test results returned in one day. That’s almost 1,400 more than any other day, but 355 less than what DHHS is claiming.

Today Commissioner Shibinette said, “The numbers of antibody tests that have been run in New Hampshire have been very minimal up until last week, under 100, so they really didn’t impact our numbers significantly.”

Yesterday DHHS reported that they have had a total of 39,148 negative tests. Today, they changed their report, and did not give that number. However, they did report the cumulative total number of PCR tests. (42,676). Subtracting the total positive cases from the total cases does give me the total negative tests.* (39,212). Using that formula, as previously mentioned, yesterday they had results from 3,355 tests; today it was 146.

*[Bear in mind that this is the number of tests, NOT the number of individuals tested; everyone who has recovered has been tested at least three times: once to diagnose them, and twice to verify that they are no longer infectious.]

Yesterday they said they had 3,382 confirmed cases. Today they reported 3,464. Today they said that was an increase of 88; however, 3,464-3,382=82. These numbers have been off all but one day in the last six days, with the State always reporting more than my count.

Is your head spinning? Mine sure is! I wish I felt more confident about the numbers that are being reported to us, and in the numbers being used to claim that we have flattened the curve are accurate. I wish I felt confident that the numbers that key decisions are being based on. I don’t know why there are these big errors, and these little errors. I just know that something is very wrong.

Am I the only one who felt that Commissioner Shibinette sounded “off” during today’s press conference? Flustered? Nervous? Uncomfortable?

Salem Government

The Town of Salem’s Emergency Operations Center Team (EOC) will be making weekly reports every Monday evening at 7:00. Their reports can be seen at http://sctv-17.com/CablecastPublicSite/?channel=1

Find other Salem Government board meetings: https://www.townofsalemnh.org/boards

To watch past or live viewings:

State Representation:
Salem has nine State Representatives. If you are having issues connected to COVID-19, they have access to the people who can get you the help you need. You can find contact info for our reps here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/default.aspx

Our Senator, Chuck Morse, can be contacted at Chuck.Morse@leg.state.nh.us His Concord office phone is 603.271.3207.

Disclaimer:

On April 7, NH scientist and politician, Mindi Messmer, PG, CG wrote on her Facebook page: “… testing has pretty much stopped at the NH PHL. The testing penetration is so low in NH, only 1/2% of the 1.3M people, meaning 99.5% of the 1.3M have not been tested, that I am not putting up projections or tests for NH because the graphs would be meaningless and I don’t want to give the false impression that we know what’s going on in NH.”

On April 8, the National Academy of Sciences reported that 16 out of 51 tests were inaccurate. (false negatives). Others also have concerns about both false negatives and false positives.

Please keep these ideas in mind as you review the information on this page or any other page.


Resources to help in these challenging times:

Have Questions?

NH residents can dial the state’s COVID-19 hotline at 2-1-1 or 603-271-4496 for answers to questions related to the outbreak and to be directed to available resources for help.

Do YOU think you have COVID-19?

To report suspected cases, contact the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control at  603-271-4496, (603-271-5300 for after hours), or nhbidc@dhhs.nhs.gov.

The IRS has released its new app to track stimulus payments, Get My Payment.” which had been scheduled to be released on April 17. Expect to wait. (And possibly, like me, be disappointed.) If your info isn’t available today, try again tomorrow, as info is going to be updated every night.

Resource Compilations:

From Congresswoman Annie Kuster: A list of many resources, including Keeping Safe from COVID-19; New Hampshire Specific COVID-19 Information; Direct Payment to Granite Staters (Economic Impact Payments); Support for Small Businesses; Unemployment Assistance; Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Survivors; Student Loans; Taxes; Traveling Internationally; Veterans. https://kuster.house.gov/covid-19

Mental Health Resources, compiled by Jan Schmidt, Alderman and State Rep in Nashua. http://janschmidt4ward1.com/uncategorized/free-online-meetings-and-virtual-platforms/

How You Can Help Others:

Masks:

There is no excuse for not having a mask!!!

Salem:

New Hampshire:

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services:

Office of the Governor: https://www.governor.nh.gov

Mindi Messmer: A scientist who is reporting frequently on COVID-19, Mindi is also a candidate for Executive Council, District 3 (including Salem). https://www.facebook.com/Mindi4NH/ Sign up for her “Daily or So COVID-19 Updates” https://actionnetwork.org/forms/daily-or-so-covid-19-updates

More info about COVID-19

COVID-19: The CIDRAP Viewpoint.  https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/sites/default/files/public/downloads/cidrap-covid19-viewpoint-part1_0.pdfhttps://www.cidrap.umn.edu/sites/default/files/public/downloads/cidrap-covid19-viewpoint-part1_0.pdf

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:


COVID Symptom Tracker:
This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, let’s let them know how we are doing. https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y

Tuft’s University: COVID-19 Convalescent (Recovered) Patient Registry

Trackers (Cases)

The World Health Organization:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Media with NH COVID-19 news:

Housing

Unemployment

Financial Assistance

Link to other  NH benefits:

Businesses and Employers: Guidance for Small Businesses 


Sources for data included in these reports:

Please report any errors or omissions to bonnie@bonnie4salem.us. Thank you.