COVID-19 Update January 4

COVID-19 Update January 4

Total: 1,527 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 8.0%
1 out of 19 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 29 new cases; 153 active cases

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

On Monday, January 4, 2021, DHHS announced 879 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 10.5%. Today’s results include 516 people who tested positive by PCR test and 363 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,200 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today:

12/29: 136 new cases today, for an updated total of 980 cases
1/1: 1 new case today, for an updated total of 634 cases
1/2: 417 new cases today, for an updated total of 579 cases
1/3: 325 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.

• • • • • • Community Transmission • • • • • •

New Cases per 100K
- All 10 counties and our two biggest cities are all significantly above 100, putting the State in a substantial level of community transmission.
- New Hampshire: 642.3
- Rockingham County: 678.6
- Salem: 858
Average Positivity Rate over 7 days:
- New Hampshire: 8.7%
- Rockingham County: 9.0%
- Salem: 8.0%
- Manchester: 12.5%
- Nashua: 11.2%
- 72 communities have a positivity rate higher than Salem. (33 yesterday!)
- 45 communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%. (Substantial: >10%)
- 104 communities have a positivity rate of more than 5%. (Moderate: 5%-10%)
- 114 communities have a positivity rate of more than 2%. (Goal: <2%)

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

As of today, Salem has over 1,500 total people who have been confirmed with COVID-19, as has Derry. Only three other communities have reached that number.
141 PCR & Antigen test results were reported today for Salem residents, bringing out total to 18,826 tests.
One out of 19 people in Salem have been diagnosed with COVID-19. That a little over 5% of our town.
At 8.0%, Salem’s positivity rate for the past two weeks is creeping back upward again. However, yesterday and today our average positivity rate for the previous week had been lower than the positivity rate for Rockingham County.
20 days ago, only 12 communities had a positivity rate higher than Salem. Today, 72 communities have a higher rate.
NH reached 10% positivity rate for today’s results for the first time.
Between New Year’s Eve and yesterday, Hillsboro County reached 18,000 confirmed cases, and Merrimack County passed 5,000. Today, Manchester passed 7,000 total cases.
As of today, over 40,000 people in NH have been reported as “recovered.”
Three people were admitted to the hospital, but hospitalized patients went down by six.
In the past week, 1 person under 9 was admitted to the hospital; two in their twenties, one in their thirties, three in their 40’s, one each in their 50’s and 60’s, two in their 70’s and 4 in their 80’s. Seven were over 60, but eight were under 60.
One more person was admitted to the ICU. This makes six ICU admissions since Christmas.
One person died today. It’s been two weeks since NH has had a day with no COVID-related deaths.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (198), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (151), Strafford (97), Merrimack (84), Cheshire (41), Belknap (25), Sullivan (24), Grafton (20), Carroll (11), and Coos (8) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (91) and Nashua (69). The county of residence is being determined for sixty new cases.
Rockingham County was the hottest for a long time, but for the past few days, Hillsborough County without Manchester and Nashua, took the lead. Rockingham is back on top.
Active cases:
- An additional 773 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes1
- Three communities — Hampton, Keene and Somersworth — added enough new cases to bring them to 50 or more active cases.
- One community — Litchfield — dropped by enough cases to bring them under 50 active cases.
- Compared to yesterday:
  - 65 communities have more active cases
  - 23 communities have the same number of active cases
  - 46 communities have fewer active cases.
- There are 27 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,920 active cases, accounting for 63% of all active cases.
- The community stats take a long time. Does anyone read this? If you read it do you care about this section?
- Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Dover are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
Cumulative Cases
- There are now 122 communities that have had 50 or more cases, and 89 that have had 100 or more.
- Three communities — Lancaster, Littleton and Sunapee — added enough new cases to bring them to 50 or more total cases.
- 45 communities have 5 or more new cases than they had yesterday
- 20 communities have 10 or more new cases than they had yesterday
- Today, four communities — Manchester, Nashua, Dover, and Concord — have added more new cases than Salem.
- Three communities — Manchester, Nashua and Concord — still have more cumulative cases than Salem

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

New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 878
New positive cases per DHHS: 899
- 516 PCR tests
- 363 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 132
Total positive cases in NH: 47,328
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 10.5%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 2,316
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,182
New negative results reported today: 1,438
Total negative cases in NH: 475,873

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

Total cases in Rockingham County: 11,581
New cases in Rockingham County: 198
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 63.9
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 66.8
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 9.0%
Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.5%
Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 65%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

Active cases in NH: 6,200
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,265
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 20.4%

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

New antibody tests: 17
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 34,891
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 52

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •
(Shown: Total infections, percentage of all infections, and increase since Dec 31.)

0-9: 2021 = 4% (+47).
10-19: 4668 = 10% (+117).
20-29: 8864 = 19% (+148). (+2 hospitalizations)
30-39: 7076 = 15% (+144).
40-49: 6420 = 14% (+126). (+1 hospitalization)
50-59: 7604 = 16% (+126).
60-69: 5145 = 11% (+76).
70-79: 2786 = 6% (+53).
80+: 2680 = 6% (+39).
Unknown: 64 = 0% (+2).

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

Announced today: 773
Total Recovered: 40,347
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 85.2%

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

New people hospitalized from NH: 3
Currently hospitalized: 319
Total hospitalized patients: 916
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.94%
Total admitted to ICU: 303
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 0
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 212

• • • • • • 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: 781
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.65%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 142

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.

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
– John Green

Hello, Salem!

I’ve been saying since early on that, for most of us, the long-term consequences of COVID-19 should be a bigger concern than the possibility of dying. A new article supports my concern, as it reports about an Ohio State study which found that 30% of student athletes have heart damage linked to COVID-19. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/ohio-state-study-30-of-student-athletes-have-heart-damage-linked-to-covid-19

I’ve added this article to my growing list of other consequences, which can be found at https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-consequences/

It’s things like this that concern me, especially when I see that over 750 NH kids under 18 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past week.

These are the reasons I keep writing my updates, and these are the reasons I urge you to stay vigilant, stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie

Compiled by Bonnie Wright, based on data obtained from NH DHHS.

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.