COVID-19 Update 16 Aug 2021

COVID-19 Update 16 August 2021

The next update is scheduled for next Monday, August 23.

SALEM:

Salem since last update: 19 new cases.
Total: 3,053 confirmed cases in Salem
We now have 25 active cases (27 last week)
1 out of every 10 Salem residents has been infected.
Salem’s new cases per 100K for 14 days: 147 (150 last week)
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 5.9%. (Last week: 7.1%).
Fully vaccinated Salem residents: 14,257 (47.7%). Change from August 10: +14 people (+0.1%).
Partially vaccinated Salem residents: 15,260 (51%). Change from August 10: +15 people (0%).

NEW HAMPSHIRE:

New cases of COVID-19 cases in NH this week: 1,413. (1,196 last week)
1 out of every 13 NH residents has been infected.
Of the new cases this week, 55 were healthcare workers, and 12 were in long-term care facilities.
Active COVID-19 cases in NH: 1,704 (1,270 last week; 155 active cases on June 28.)
Recovered in NH this week: 905.
State Level of Transmission: Substantial
New patients hospitalized this week because of COVID-19: 13
Current patients hospitalized because of COVID-19: 61 (53 one week ago)
New admissions to ICU this week because of COVID-19: 2
New deaths attributed to COVID-19 reported in NH this week: 5
Total NH individuals fully vaccinated: About 53.8% of our population, a one-week increase of 0.0%. 58.6% are partially vaccinated, a one-week increase of 0.0%.
Projections made for NH through the end of the year is concerning. See the graphs from covid19.healthdata.org below my calendar.

On Tuesday, August 10, 2021, DHHS announced 89 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 59 people who tested positive by PCR test and 30 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 1,259 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Of the new cases: Rockingham County: 45 (26.6%); Salem: 4 (2.4%)]. On this date, DHHS also reported one death (male in Belknap County, aged 70-79) that occurred during the week of December 28, 2020 which was recently confirmed as related to COVID-19.

On Wednesday, August 11, 2021, DHHS announced 160 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 92 people who tested positive by PCR test and 68 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 1,305 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 29 (21%); Salem: 4 (2.9%)]

On Thursday, August 12, 2021, DHHS announced 310 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 153 people who tested positive by PCR test and 157 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 1,513 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 44 (19%); Salem: 5 (2.2%)]

On Friday, August 13, 2021, DHHS announced 268 new positive test results for COVID-19. Today’s results include 147 people who tested positive by PCR test and 121 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 1,601 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. [Rockingham County: 45 (25.6%); Salem: 3 (1.7%)]

Each day, DHHS says that “Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.” Percentages shown are % of new cases.

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

Total people who have tested positive: 103,462 (102,117 last week)
New positive cases this week by my math: 1,345 (1,131 last week)
New positive cases per DHHS: 1,413 (1,196 last week)
Rockingham County (22.78% of NH’s population)
- Total positive tests in Rockingham County: 25,900
- New cases this week: 260 (276 last week)
- % of this week’s cases from Rockingham County: 19.3%

• • • • • NEW CASES • • • • • •

DHHS reports that the new cases this week reside in the following counties and NH’s two major cities:

Belknap: 236
Carroll: 188
Cheshire: 284
Coos: 201
Grafton: 350
Manchester: 533
Merrimack: 477
Nashua: 259
Rest of Hillsborough: 983
Rockingham County: 1,288
Strafford: 567
Sullivan: 167

The county of residence is being determined for 56 new cases. Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.

• • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

NH has 1,704 active cases. Last week we had 1,270. We were down to 155 cases as recently as June 28.
All counties have active cases: (Current vs. Last week)
- Belknap: 74 (50 last week)
- Carroll: 58 (36)
- Cheshire: 91 (63)
- Coos: 52 (55)
- Grafton: 103 (74)
- Manchester: 137 (92)
- Merrimack: 144 (86)
- Nashua: 70 (53)
- Rest of Hillsborough: 250 (217)
- Rockingham: 345 (307)
- Strafford: 153 (24)
- Sullivan: 61 (24)
- Unknown: 168 (39)
89 communities now have 5 or more active cases, accounting for 1,509 (88.6%) of the 1,704 total active cases. Last week it was 69 communities, responsible for 1270 total active cases (84.9%) of the 1,270 total active cases. (All others have less than 5 active cases.)
12 communities have more active cases than Salem. (5 last week): Manchester (137); Nashua (70)); Derry (51); Concord (50); Dover (41); Rochester (40); Hudson (39); Berlin (35); Pelham (33); Merrimack (31); Claremont (29); Keene (28)
- Salem (27; was 18 last week)

• • • • • • RECOVERED • • • • • •

Total recovered: 100,363 (99,458 last week)
Recovered this week: 458 (310 last week)
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 97.0% (98.3% 3 weeks ago.)

• • • • • COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION • • • • • •

Recent CDC recommendations are based on Community Transmissions.

Per NH Department of Health and Human Services some time ago: 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. NH Metrics are:

New Cases per 100k over 14 days: Scale: Minimal: <50; Moderate: 50 – 100; Substantial: >100.

New Hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20.

Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10; Substantial: >10%

More recently, they stopped the hospital metric, and now only report the New Cases per 100K, and Average PCR Test Positivity Rate.

NH Level of Transmission: Substantial (Last week: Substantial)
NH New Cases per 100K over 14 days: 187.5 (139.9 last week)

7-Day Total Test Positivity Rate: 5.1%

Every county in NH, as well as Manchester and Nashua, are at Substantial risk for community transmission.

Cases per 100K residents:

NH: 188 (NH last week: 140)
- Belknap: 196 (140 last week)
- Carroll: 176 (100 last week)
- Cheshire: 175 (117 last week)
- Coos: 209 (193 last week)
- Grafton: 166 (117 last week)
- Manchester: 197 (152 last week)
- Merrimack: 141 (97 last week)
- Nashua: 115 (117 last week)
- Rest of Hillsborough excluding Manchester and Nashua: 182 (139 last week)
- Rockingham: 172 (144 last week)
- Strafford: 181 (139 last week)
- Sullivan: 185 (81 last week)

Positivity Rate:
- NH: 5.1% (was 4.4% last week)
- Belknap: 4.4% (4.1% last week)
- Carroll: 6.0% (2.8% last week)
- Cheshire: 7.5% (5.5% last week)
- Coos: 5.6% (14.0% last week)
- Grafton: 2.6% (1.9% last week)
- Manchester: 5.0 (5.3% last week)
- Merrimack: 4.5% (3.6% last week)
- Nashua: 3.4% (2.7% last week)
- Rest of Hillsborough excluding Manchester and Nashua: 6.3% (5.7% last week)
- Rockingham: 5.6% (5.8% last week)
- Strafford: 6.1% (4.5% last week)
- Sullivan: 5.7% (4.1% last week)

There are 77 NH communities with a positivity rate of more than 0. (64 a week ago). There are 76 communities with a positivity rate higher than 2%. (63 a week ago). 62 communities have more than 5% (44 a week ago). 18communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%. (9 a week ago.)

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

Currently hospitalized: 61
Total hospitalized patients: 1,680
New people hospitalized from NH: 13
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.6%
Total admitted to ICU: 496
New ICU admissions this week: 2
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 365
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 3 since last week

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 1,395
Lives lost this week: 6
Persons over 60 years of age who died this week: 5
Persons under 60 years of age who died this week: 1
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.35%
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 273
Lives lost in Rockingham County this week: 3

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

96 children under 18 are included in this week’s new cases. (244 last week.)
17.3.5% of new cases announced by DHHS this week are kids under 18 years old. (18.5% last week.
Under 60: 1,114 new cases this week; 5 hospitalizations, 1 deaths
60+: 230 new cases; 8 hospitalizations; 5 deaths

(Totals showing changes since last Monday.)

0-9: % of Total cases: 5869 (+117); Hospitalizations: 15 (+3); Deaths: 0
10-19: % of Total cases: 12758 (+117); Hospitalizations: 15 (+2); Deaths: 0
20-29: % of Total cases: 20467 (+213); Hospitalizations: 38 (+3); Deaths: 1
30-39: % of Total cases: 15092 (+218); Hospitalizations: 71 (+1); Deaths: 7
40-49: % of Total cases: 13425 (+154); Hospitalizations: 121 (+1); Deaths: 12
50-59: % of Total cases: 15532 (+135); Hospitalizations: 233 (+1); Deaths: 36
60-69: % of Total cases: 9980 (+106); Hospitalizations: 379 (+1); Deaths: 143 (+1)
70-79: % of Total cases: 4924 (+50); Hospitalizations: 410 (+1); Deaths: 333 (+1)
80+: % of Total cases: 4006 (+18); Hospitalizations: 385; Deaths: 857
Unknown: % of Total cases: 64 (+3); Hospitalizations: 0; Deaths: 0

Vaccinations:

NH DHHS reports 823,190 (58.6%) NH residents have been partially vaccinated, an increase of 1,308 people since last week.

753,191 (58.6%) people are fully vaccinated, an increase of 926 people since last week.

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.

Hello, Salem!

Here are some random thoughts from this past week:

Death Rates:
While our new cases continue to increase, NH’s death rate remains fairly low. However, our hospital rates are increasing. Increase in hospitalizations usually follow an increase of new cases, and an increase in deaths follow an increase in hospitalizations.

Outbreaks in NH:

NH DHHS reported no new institutional outbreaks on Thursday, August 12, leaving the total at 3 institutions. Epsom Health Center continues to be on the list on the list, with 7 (+1) residents, and 3 (+1) staff having been infected. The Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin has 33 (+28) residents and 1 staff reported as new infections. Rockingham County Nursing Home and Rehab is still reporting 2 resident cases and 3 staff cases (unchanged from last week). All other outbreaks, which can be seen here, were closed as of this outbreak update.

Variants:

Some of the symptoms of the new Delta variant are different than the traditional COVID-19 symptoms. They can include:

SNEEZING more than usual
Sore throat
Runny nose or sinus congestion
Fever
Headaches
Stomach pain
Loss of appetite
Vomiting
Nausea
Joint pain
Hearing loss
Diarrhea
Small blood clots
Shortness of breath

The symptoms of the Lambda variant are similar to that of the initial COVID-19 strain.

Per WMUR, as of August 12, NH had:

Number of people diagnosed with COVID-19: 102,901 (+1,239 from last week)
Total individuals fully vaccinated: 752,924 (53.8% of NH population)
Number of B.1.1.7 variant (Alpha; UK) cases: 1,202 (+2 from last week)
Number of B.1.351 variant (Beta; South Africa) cases: 1 (No change)
Number of P.1 variant (Gamma; Brazil) cases: 197 (+1)
Number of B.1.617.2 variant (Delta; India) cases: 90 (+32)

Since not every positive case is sequenced, these numbers aren’t as useful as they might be, especially since we don’t know how many are tested.

At the Governor’s press conference on Thursday, the Governor’s team reported that just under 40% of all positive tests that were examined for variants were positive with the Delta variation. It would be helpful if they would provide the percentage of variants regularly.

Additional suggested reading:

When was the first mandated vaccination in this country? A: George Washington implemented the first mass immunization policy in American history, when he mandated smallpox vaccines for the Continental Army on February 5, 1777. Here’s some info.

Is it Covid-19 or the common cold? Info here.

When Will the Delta Variant Peak? Here’s the story.

Should you be concerned about getting COVID-19 if you’ve already been inoculated? Since there’s more community spread and there are more breakthrough cases despite vaccination, new data suggests yes.

CDC reveals how many fully vaccinated people died from COVID-19. (about 0.001%). More here.

Nationwide, there are now about 263 children newly hospitalized a day for COVID-19, a 20% increase from the winter peak. Story here.

Early versions of COVID-19 largely spared children but the delta variant proved to be much less discriminating and has led to more child hospitalizations. Now, health care workers on the front lines say there is another frightening prospect looming: a surge in children diagnosed with a combination of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus.

I plan to be back with another update next Monday night. In the meantime, stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie