COVID-19 Update October 31

COVID-19 Update October 31

  • Total: 410 confirmed cases in Salem
  • 1 out of 72 Salem residents have been infected
  • Salem Today: 7 new cases, 43 active cases 

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. The metric which is changing the most right now is the number of new cases.

  • NH Community Transmission Metrics:
    • New Cases per 100k over 14 days
      • Scale: Minimal: <50; Moderate: 50 – 100; Substantial: >100. 
      • Daily average: 102.2 (Substantial)
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20, 
      • Daily average: 1.3%
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10%; Substantial: >10%
      • Daily average: 1.6%
    • New Hampshire’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
  • Rockingham County Transmission:
    • New Cases per 100k over 14 days: 121.6
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: 1.6
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: 2.4
    • Rockingham County’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
  • Other NH Locations, with changes from yesterday
    • Manchester: (150.4 new case average; 4.5 hospitalizations; 2.2% positivity). Substantial
    • Nashua: (124.2 new case average; 3.4 hospitalizations; 1.9% positivity). Substantial
    • Hillsborough County excluding Manchester and Nashua (109.7 new case average). Substantial
    • Merrimack: (123.1 new case average): Substantial
    • Belknap County (96.7 new case average): Moderate
    • Strafford County (94.5 new case average): Moderate
    • Coos County (170.9 new case average): Substantial
    • Grafton County (73.5 new case average): Moderate
    • Carroll County (47.2 new case average): Minimal
    • Sullivan County (55.6 new case average): Moderate
    • Cheshire County (45.8 new case average): Minimal
  • Changes to New Cases per 100K for NH, all counties, and our two largest cities:
    • Manchester’s numbers went down again, as did Merrimack’s.
    • The rest of the State went up. 
    • A substantial increase was seen in Coos County, which went up by another 37.9. They have gone from 50.7 to 170.9 in six days. Stafford County went up by 18.4 and Belknap County went up by 11.5. Based on the current rate of infection, Stafford and Belknap counties are likely to move into the substantial level tomorrow or Monday.

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

  • This was not a good day for NH. The State reported 205 new cases, although after adjustments from previous reports, the count went up by 200. This is the highest single day change since the pandemic began in NH on March 2, which was 244 days ago.
  • Seven more Salem residents was diagnosed with COVID-19 today. This is more cases than we’ve had any day since June 2.
  • Salem now has 38 people who are considered to be infectious, the most since June 2.
  • We now have approximately 4,400 persons being monitored in NH. (I’m surprised, with this many new cases, that this list only went up by 25 from yesterday.)
  • Two more people were hospitalized patients today with COVID-19. 
  • Hearing a call for info about ICU’s, I’ve tried to figure out how to interpret the State’s data. It appears that one person was moved into the ICU, based on the Case Summary Dashboard. There is ICU info on the Trends tab of the Interactive dashboard, but it is a week old. There is no way that I see of determining how many are currently in the ICU.
  • One more person has died in the 24-hour period covered by this report. That makes 10 in the last seven days of October. There was only one in the last seven days of September, and three in the last seven days of August.
  • Communities:
    • Notable changes in active cases from yesterday to today:
      • 77 people were reported as “recovered;” these are reflected in today’s changes. Five of these communities has fewer active cases than yesterday. 
      • We have 19 communities with more than 20 active cases. Between them, these 19 communities have 782 active cases, accounting for 58% of all active cases. (Shown: # of active cases and change from yesterday).
      • Nashua: 86 (+10). Manchester: 144 (+7). Dover: 26 (+5). Salem: 43 (+5). Durham: 31 (+4). Portsmouth: 28 (+4). Hudson: 39 (+4). Merrimack: 22 (+3). Windham: 35 (+2). Plymouth: 32 (+1). Warner: 43 (+0). Londonderry: 31 (+0). Milford: 21 (-1). Concord: 60 (-1). Goffstown: 20 (-1).  Derry: 32 (-1). Bedford: 46 (-2).
      • Colebrook and Rochester now have more than 20 active cases.
    • Some of the communities with significant changes in cumulative cases:
      • Nashua: 1,214 (+19). Manchester: 2,438 (+14). Salem: 410 (+7). Merrimack: 202 (+6). Durham: 163 (+6). Portsmouth: 177 (+6). Hudson: 231 (+5). Pelham: 119 (+5). Dover: 214 (+5). 
      • Nashua now has had more than 1,200 total cases. Merrimack now has had more than 200 cumulative cases. Rochester passed 150.

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 200
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 205
  • 145 PCR tests
  • 60 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 31
  • Total positive cases in NH: 11,084
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 1.6%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results: 3,389
  • The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 1,932
  • New negative results reported today: 3,189
  • Total negative cases in NH: 334,001

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 2,726
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 50
  • Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 16.1
  • Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 10.2
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 2.4%
  • Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.6%
  • Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 75%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 1,338
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 332
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 24.8%. 

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

  • New antibody tests: 35
  • Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 32,170
  • The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 30

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • • 

  • 0-9: +11 (3% of all cases. 6% of new cases)
  • 10-19: +28 (9% of all; 14% today) 
  • 20-29: +47 (18% of all0; 24% today) 
  • 30-39: +26 (14% of all; +13% today)
  • 40-49: +21 (13% of all; 11% today)
  • 50-59: +32 (15% of all; 16% today)
  • 60-69: +25 (12% of all (was 11%); 13% today) 
  • 70-79: +5 (7% of all; 3% today) 
  • 80+: +5 (10% of all; 3% today)
  • Unknown: 0 (0% of all; 0% today)

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

  • Announced today: 77
  • Total Recovered: 9,263
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 83.6%

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

  • New: 2
  • Current: 42
  • Total Hospitalized: 777
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 7.03%

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 1
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 1
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 483
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 4.36%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham today: 0

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.


“A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.”

– Confucius

Hello, Salem!

Governor Sununu said, “The situation here in New Hampshire remains very serious, the data shows that community transmission is increasing, and we expect cases to rise. We must all remain vigilant in our daily lives. As we enter these winter months, it will be more important than ever to wear your mask, practice social distancing, and maintain proper hand hygiene.”

How much higher will the numbers go before we institute a mask mandate? IMHO, we need to do that, because people aren’t listening … and the numbers prove it.

As I see it, we either smarten up, follow the guidelines, wear masks and strictly adhere to the social distancing rules, or we resign ourselves to the possibility of another shutdown. 

I hate wearing a mask – who doesn’t? — but I’d rather do that than see our businesses be forced to close again.

Be thoughtful. Stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie




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/



This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Changes-by-month-877x1024.jpg

Useful links


Sources used to create these reports:

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