Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update November 21

COVID-19 Update November 21

  • Total: 616 confirmed cases in Salem
  • 1 out of 48 Salem residents have been infected 
  • Salem Today: 15 new cases today; 136 active cases

• • • • • • 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. 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: 373.1 Substantial
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20, 
      • Daily average: 1.8%
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10%; Substantial: >10%
      • Daily average: 4.2%
    • New Hampshire’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
  • Rockingham County Transmission:
    • New Cases per 100k over 14 days: 353.2
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: 1.0
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: 4.7
    • Rockingham County’s Level of Transmission: Substantial
  • Other NH Locations
    • All 10 Counties, and our two major cities remain at a Substantial level of transmission.
    • While Nashua was the first of these to reach a substantial level for new cases per 100K people for two weeks, Manchester has jumped to the lead with 646.5. Manchester now has a PCR positivity rate of 10.2% for the past weeks, making it the first locality to reach the substantial level for this metric.
    • Manchester and Nashua, plus Coos and Belknap counties have positivity rate that is at the moderate level, others are at a minimal transmission rate for this metric.

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

  • Salem numbers continue to rise. With today’s new cases, we have now had 616 people in Salem who have been infected. That’s double the number we had on Sept 7.
  • The number of test results reported today in NH is WAY down. I compare the difference from yesterday’s “Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)” to today’s number, to obtain the number of unique people tested. That number is 727. The previous seven days average over 3,000 per day. NH DHHS reported 493 new positives, including 339 PCR tests. They also report a 2.2% positivity rate. I find today’s combination of numbers to be … confusing. 
  • Today in NH, the number of new cases is 493 per NH DHHS; the number of cumulative cases went up by 484. This is the third biggest day, with the past two days being slightly higher.
  • As of today, NH DHHS reports over 400,000 unique NH residents have had a PCR test. 
  • The number of persons being monitored in NH is 6,575. This number has increased for 16 of the previous 21 days. Today was another new record. Note that this is with restricted contact tracing. What would it be if full contact tracing was being done?
  • There are 4,174 active cases in NH today. This number has gone up every day since October 28, and is more than double the count of November 9, 12 days ago.
  • There were two more unique patients hospitalized in NH with COVID-19. 
  • The number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is now 116, an increase of 8 from yesterday. This is also double the count we had 12 days ago. 
  • For the third day in a row, no one was admitted to the ICU during the 24-hours covered by this report. The state does not report the number of people who are currently in the ICU, only the cumulative total, which is still 276. We do not know the ages of those patients.
  • We lost one more person due to COVID-19 during the 24-hour covered by this report, bringing the number of NH people who have died to 508. In today’s Press Report, NH DHHS shows one death, in Hillsborough County. I was surprised to see no change in the Hillsborough’s deaths in the Case Summary Dashboard, but there is one more in Rockingham County. <sigh> Which is correct? And how can this happen?
  • Today we passed 17,000 confirmed cases. From the beginning of the pandemic, confirmed cases in NH went from 0 to 1,020 in 43 days. In the past 42 days, we have gone from 10,112 to 17,281 confirmed cases. That’s an increase of 1,000 in the first 43 days, and 7,000 in the past 42 days.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (105), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (82), Merrimack (37), Strafford (27), Belknap (22), Cheshire (16), Grafton (11), Carroll (6), Sullivan (6), and Coos (3) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (120) and Nashua (43). The county of residence is being determined for fifteen new cases. 
  • Active cases:
    • 398 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes. 
    • 21 of the communities that had 20 active cases yesterday have fewer active cases today than yesterday.
    • Franklin now has less than 20 active cases, and has been removed from this list.
    • One community — Hampstead — now has more than 20 active cases
    • After these adjustments, there are now 44 NH communities with more than 20 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,073 active case, accounting for 74% of all active cases.
    • Manchester had a huge (94) increase overnight.
    • Manchester now has more than 600 active cases. In the past week, Manchester has gone from 316 active casts to 651, an increase of 273.
    • Six communities — Manchester, Nashua, Salem, Durham, Derry and now Hudson — have more than 100 active cases.
    • Only Manchester and Nashua have more active cases than Salem.
    • Notable net changes in active cases from yesterday: Manchester: 651 (+94). Derry: 106 (+6). Hudson: 100 (+6). Merrimack: 83 (+6). Milford: 34 (+5). Atkinson: 25 (+3). Bedford: 70 (+3). Hooksett: 59 (+3). Keene: 43 (+3). Nashua: 394 (+3). Salem: 136 (+3). Hampstead: 21 (+2). Plaistow: 29 (+2). Seabrook: 35 (+2). Tilton: 26 (+2). Auburn: 21 (+1). Gilford: 21 (+1). Goffstown: 55 (+1). Rindge: 33 (+1). Somersworth: 25 (+1). Amherst: 22 (+0). Laconia: 40 (+0). Meredith: 25 (+0). Sandown: 20 (+0). Weare: 20 (+0). Windham: 44 (+0). Belmont: 26 (-1). Colebrook: 22 (-1). Concord: 92 (-1). Exeter: 28 (-1). Hanover: 21 (-1). Litchfield: 29 (-1). Londonderry: 73 (-1). Raymond: 43 (-1). Hampton: 68 (-2). Pelham: 48 (-2). Portsmouth: 57 (-2). Wolfeboro: 21 (-2). Newport: 38 (-3). Farmington: 20 (-4). Plymouth: 28 (-4). Dover: 74 (-5). Stewartstown: 47 (-5). Rochester: 81 (-7). Durham: 119 (-10).    
  • Cumulative Cases
    • There are now 68 communities that have had 50 or more cases.
    • Newton, North Hampton and Tilton now have more than 50 cumulative cases.
    • Millford now has more than 200 total cases. Litchfield hit 100 today.
    • Manchester had 119 new cases today.
    • Manchester, Nashua, Derry, and Salem have had more than 500 cases.
    • Some of the communities with 50 or more total cases, and significant changes in cumulative cases since yesterday are: Manchester: 3,239 (+119). Nashua: 1,778 (+44). Hudson: 383 (+17). Derry: 629 (+16). Salem: 616 (+15). Concord: 431 (+15). Merrimack: 320 (+14). Bedford: 564 (+12). Portsmouth: 298 (+9). Rochester: 294 (+8). Hooksett: 226 (+8). Milford: 206 (+7). Londonderry: 366 (+6). Durham: 354 (+6). Windham: 227 (+5). Pelham: 204 (+5). Raymond: 147 (+5). Exeter: 139 (+5). Seabrook: 120 (+5). Amherst: 82 (+5). Goffstown: 393 (+4). Hampton: 199 (+4). Laconia: 133 (+4). Keene: 116 (+4). Somersworth: 90 (+4). Atkinson: 80 (+4). Fremont: 59 (+4). Hollis: 55 (+4). Tilton: 52 (+4).  

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 484
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 493
    • 339 PCR tests
    • 154 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 52
  • Total positive cases in NH: 17,281
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 2.2%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 727
  • The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,254
  • New negative results reported today: 243
  • Total negative cases in NH: 383,252

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 4,121
  • New cases in Rockingham County:105
  • Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 33.9
  • Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 31.5
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 4.7%
  • Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 23.8%
  • Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 69%.

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 4,174
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 883
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 21.2%

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

  • New antibody tests: 40
  • Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 32,858
  • The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 35

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •  
(Total infections, percentage of all infections, and increase from yesterday to today)

  • 0-9: 615 = 4% (+14).
  • 10-19: 1729 = 10% (+51).
  • 20-29: 3326 = 19% (+93).
  • 30-39: 2435 = 14% (+66).
  • 40-49: 2229 = 13% (+69).
  • 50-59: 2624 = 15% (+68).
  • 60-69: 1919 = 11% (+57).
  • 70-79: 1060 = 6% (+38).
  • 80+: 1329 = 8% (+27).
  • Unknown: 15 = 0% (+1).

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

  • Announced today: 398
  • Total Recovered: 12,599
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 72.9%

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

  • New: 2
  • Current: 116
  • Total Hospitalized: 829
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 4.8%ICU: 
  • Total admitted to ICU: 276

• • • • • • 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: 508
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 2.94%
  • 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.

We assemble into tribes based on politics, religion, skin color, language, education, birthplace, wealth, & gender expression. Yet COVID-19 reminds us we’re all the same. The virus doesn’t discriminate, even if we do.


Neil deGrasse Tyson


Hello, Salem!

There’s been a lot of confusion about the Massachusetts travel order. Starting today, NH has been added to the list. Vermont and Hawaii are the only two states that aren’t on their restriction list.

The Travel Order can be found here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order#lower-risk-states-

Here is a brief summary. If you are going to Massachusetts, be sure to review these yourself. 

If visiting in Massachusetts, one now has to quarantine for 14 days or produce a negative COVID-19 test result that has been administered up to 72-hours prior to arrival in Massachusetts. 

However, there are a lot of exemptions, including:

  • Those who work or go to school in MA, or MA residents who go to work or school in other states
  • Transitory travel, which allows travelers who are passing through Massachusetts, including airport and bus connections.
  • Patients seeking or receiving medical treatment and persons accompanying and providing needed support to the patient.
  • Military personnel
  • Workers providing critical infrastructure services
  • Critical Life Activities, such as:
    • Grocery shopping
    • Visits to pharmacies 
    • Attending to the care needs of a family member
    • Visiting persons in hospitals or congregate care facilities
    • Attendance at daycare or children’s camps
    • Religious services (including weddings, but not receptions, and funerals)
    • Court proceedings
    • Child visitation
  • Additional exemptions are here.

Visitors are instructed to wear face-coverings, maintain social distance, practice good hygiene, and adhere to all other COVID-19 rules and restrictions.

Travelers who do not comply with these rules may be subject to a civil fine of $500 per day.

If you are going to Massachusetts, please read all of the fine details.

Is Massachusetts discriminating against New Hampshire? I don’t think so. Massachusetts reports that their 7-day average positivity rate as 3.21%. Two days ago, NH DHHS reported our positivity rate at 4.1%. Massachusetts based their travel order on that rate. (Yesterday, NH was 3.5%. Today the State’s rate is reported at 2.2%, although Manchester is over 10%.)

I hope this clears any confusion. I also hope you are having a great weekend. Stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie

It took 43 days before NH reached it’s first 1,000 confirmed diagnoses. It took two days to go from 14,000 to 15,000. We reached 16,000+ on Nov. 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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