Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update January 8

COVID-19 Update January 8

  • Total: 1,613 confirmed cases in Salem 
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 7.1%
  • 1 out of 18 Salem residents have been infected
  • Salem today: 8 new cases; 179 active cases

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

On Friday, January 8, 2021, DHHS announced 981 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 5.4%. Today’s results include 654 people who tested positive by PCR test and 327 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,811 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today: 

  • 12/30: 6 new cases today, for an updated total of 1,040 cases 
  • 12/31: 75 new cases today, for an updated total of 1,023 cases 
  • 1/5: 17 new cases today, for an updated total of 758 cases 
  • 1/6: 455 new cases today, for an updated total of 575 cases 
  • 1/7: 428 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 over the past 14 days
    • All 10 counties and our two biggest cities are all significantly above 100 new cases, putting the State in a substantial level of community transmission, regardless of how we rank in the other two metrics.
    • New Hampshire: 624.1
    • Rockingham County: 641.7
    • Salem: 824
  • Hospitalizations per 100K over the past 14 days
    • All 10 counties and our two biggest cities are all significantly under 10 cases, which is considered minimal. 
  • Positivity Rate over 7 days: 
    • New Hampshire: 7.1%
    • Rockingham County: 8.1%
    • Salem: 7.1%
    • Manchester: 11.8%
    • Nashua: 10.3%

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

  • Today, NH DHHS reported that over 50,000 people have been infected in NH since this pandemic started. We hit 40,000 on December 27; 30,000 on December 12; 20,000 on November 30 and 10,000 on October 23.
  • DHHS reported 981 new cases today, for a total of 50,152 confirmed cases of COVID. Yesterday they reported a total of 49,261 new cases, which is 891 fewr total cases than today, and a difference of 90 fewer cases than what DHHS reported.
  • “Only” 8 Salem residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 today although 286 test results were reported for Salem residents. The last day we had a count this low was December 24, and before that, on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25. The daily average for the past week is 165 results for Salem residents. A total of 19,447 test results have been returned for Salem residents, but we don’t know how many unique people have been tested.
  • The number of test results returned today was 4,026, slightly more than the one-week daily average of 3,214 results.
  • Yesterday, Rockingham County infections passed 12,000.
  • NH’s active cases reached 6,811 today. The last time it was higher than this was when NH hit a record 6994, on December 27.
  • The number of people who have been hospitalized went up by four today, although the number of patients currently hospitalized dropped by 17 to 297, the first time the hospital census has been under 300 since Dec 29.
  • One more person was admitted to the ICU. NH DHHS tells us that 306 people have been in the ICU at some point during the pandemic, but no information is provided regarding how many are still hospitalized, or how long they have been in there.
  • In NH, we lost another 19 people today, making a total of 87 COVID-related fatalities in the last 7 days.
  • Comparing NH to LA County, California:
    • LA County CA is making the news for their high rate of infections and their high COVID death rate. With a population of 10,004,300, LA County’s population is 7.4 times more than NH’s population of 1,359,711.
    • In LA County, one person is dying every 10 minutes, which is equal to 6 people per hour or 144 people per day. In NH, that would be the equivalent of 19.5 people per day. 
    • Two days ago, NH lost 24 people because of COVID, which is more deaths per our population than they had in LA County.
    • Today NH has 19 COVID-related deaths, which is comparable to LA County, when comparing our population to theirs
    • With that being said, NH’s daily average for the past week is 12.4 people dying per day. As I see it, we have been comparable to LA County on several occasions lately but, while we are getting close to having the same number of deaths per population as the worst-hit area in the country, our death rate is not sustained at LA County’s level. Let’s keep it that way.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (168), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (162), Strafford (84), Merrimack (63), Cheshire (57), Belknap (44), Grafton (39), Sullivan (37), Coos (24), and Carroll (15) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (126) and Nashua (106). The county of residence is being determined for fifty-six new cases.  
  • Active cases:
    • There are 13 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,188 active cases, accounting for 47% of all active cases. 
    • There are 29 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 4,346 active cases, accounting for 64% of all active cases. 
    • Four communities — Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Dover — have more active cases than Salem.
  • Cumulative Cases
    • There are now 126 communities that have had 50 or more cases, and 92 that have had 100 or more.
    • Three communities — Manchester, Nashua and Concord — have more cumulative cases than Salem

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 891
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 981
    • 654 PCR tests
    • 327 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 140
  • Total positive cases in NH: 50,152
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 5.4%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 4,026
  • New negative results reported today: 3,135
  • Total negative cases in NH: 484,631

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 12,243
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 168
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 8.1%
  • Percent of NH cases that are from Rockingham County: 24.4% 

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 6,811
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,413
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 20.7% 

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •  
(Shown: Total infections, percentage of all infections, and increase yesterday.

  • 10-19: 5025 = 10% (+127).
  • 20-29: 9411 = 19% (+176).
  • 30-39: 7491 = 15% (+122).
  • 40-49: 6813 = 14% (+125).
  • 50-59: 8070 = 16% (+114).
  • 60-69: 5447 = 11% (+110).
  • 70-79: 2962 = 6% (+41).
  • 80+: 2792 = 6% (+54).
  • Unknown: 49 = 0% (+-1).

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

  • Announced today: 691
  • Total Recovered: 42,495
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 84.7% 

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

  • New people hospitalized from NH: 4
  • Currently hospitalized: 297
  • Total hospitalized patients: 926
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.85%
  • Total admitted to ICU: 306
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 0
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 214

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 19
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 19
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 846
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.69%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 3
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 155

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.

“Don’t be afraid of being scared. To be afraid is a sign of common sense. Only complete idiots are not afraid of anything.” 

― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Angel’s Game

Hello, Salem!

Suggested reading: Twitter thread by Dr. Frieden, the former Director of the CDC.  (Thanks to Robert Dave for bringing this to my attention.) However, if you want to sleep at night, don’t read this at bedtime. “Humanity vs Virus – the Virus is Winning.” This is a “perfect storm.” The new strain of the Covid pandemic virus “is ominous.” 

One person reported in the thread (unsubstantiated) that in UK, 1 out of 30 people are currently infected. Imagine 1,000 people in Salem having the virus all at the same time.

I have been cautious and respectful of this virus, but I haven’t been scared. Now I am. For not the first time today, I say, “Heaven help us.”

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.

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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