Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update April 15

COVID-19 Update April 15

With some of the recent numbers, it is hard to stay positive. But this, too, shall pass. We are getting closer to the peak; there is every expectation that the numbers will begin to go down soon. Try to keep your spirits up, while staying home. When you can’t stay home, be smart, stay safe, and, always, be kind.

Key points covered in today’s report:

  • Today there were another 53 new cases.
  • Today five families lost their loved ones, including two males in Rockingham County (one younger than 60, the other older.) Of the five, three were under 60 years of age.
  • 15 more people were sick enough to be hospitalized; total hospitalizations have increased by 7.
  • A comparison of cases in Methuen MA to Salem and Manchester NH. (The numbers astonished me.)
  • Update of my table comparing tests per 100,000 in several states (This really concerns me, too.)
  • The new app from the IRS to track stimulus payments has been released.

 

Click on the calendar to enlarge
https://www.bonnie4salem.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/april15-calendar.jpg

The “Tracking COVID-19 in N.H.” charts are from NHPR

 

The NH Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, has announced a Weekly Summary Report, with more details than I see in the daily reports from the Department of Health & Human Services. See the report or my summary of the key points in my report on April 13.

 

Q: How is NH doing in comparison to our neighboring states?
A: We aren’t doing enough tests!
WHY???

 

COVID Symptom Tracker: This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, this may be the best way of tracking how we are doing. I’m keeping it near the top, so I’ll remember to log in each day.
https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y


Today’s COVID-19 news:

Salem’s confirmed cases: No changes. Again.

  • April 3: 25 cases
  • April 6: 33 cases
  • April 8: 20-40 cases
  • April 9: 20-49 cases
  • April 10: Over 50

Salem, Manchester, and Nashua remain the only NH municipalities with more than 50 confirmed cases. With 176 (up +5 from yesterday), Manchester appears to be the city in NH with the most confirmed cases.  Nashua has 100 (+0) confirmed cases. Since we don’t have real numbers, I presume Salem has the third most cases. Londonderry, Derry, Pelham, Hudson, Portsmouth, Dover, Bedford, and Concord, with the addition Windham are the only communities with 20-49 confirmed cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua, has 458 (+18) confirmed cases. Rockingham County is second, with 399 (+21) confirmed cases.

As of April 15, Methuen MA  has 312 (+35) confirmed cases or 0.8% of its 2019 population of 39,498 people. Salem’s population in 2019 was 29,133. If 0.8% of Salem’s population had COVID-19, we would have 230 cases. How can our neighboring town have so many cases, but we don’t? Massachusetts has much higher testing rates.

We also looked at Manchester NH in comparison to Methuen. Thirty miles away from Methuen, Manchester’s population in 2018 was 112,525. With 176 confirmed cases, 0.2% of their population has been diagnosed. If Manchester had the same infection rate as Methuen, they would have 900 cases! New Hampshire NEEDS more testing!

Per FD Chief Larry Best, the predictive models show the surge in NH will occur sometime in the next 1-3 weeks.

On April 14, Dr. Ben Chan, the state epidemiologist, is optimistic that the number of COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized has plateaued. Of the confirmed cases in NH, about 15% have required hospitalization.

We need proper testing to fight COVID-19
“The COVID-19 outbreak isn’t almost over now. Nor will it be in two weeks. We haven’t “almost beaten this” because we haven’t even started properly measuring it yet. We want to measure success in lives saved, not by celebrating an ongoing low death rate.” https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/we-need-proper-testing-to-fight-covid-19/article_acd86517-86cd-5b87-9ce5-e314ffbe5019.html

April 15April 14Change from yesterday
Total Confirmed Cases1,1391,091+48
Recovered36532% (was 30%)
329+36
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19
323% (was 2%)27+5
Active Cases742735+7
Total Hospitalized17816% (was 15%)
163+15
Current Hospitalized7063+7
Tested Negative11,02710,756+271
Persons with specimens submitted to NH PHL5,4185,245+173
Persons with test pending at NH PHL12173+48
Being Monitored (Approximate)2,3002,250+50
Total Tested (Confirmed Cases + Tested Negative)12,16611,847+319

NH News relating to COVID-19

In an interview this evening, Governor Sununu answered questions:

  • Schools reopening before the end of the year is extremely unlikely. The final decision will be made tomorrow.
  • Reopening? Trying to figure out how it might look. Possibly:
    • Reopen northern cases before the southern part of the state is a possibility.
    • Keep stay at home order for more vulnerable community
  • Trying to prevent a second plateau, which could probably be worse
  • $600 Federal Unemployment Benefit will likely start going out next week, all retroactive to when unemployment ended.
  • The unemployment benefits extension went into effect when he signed the order. (He thinks, will check on it.)
  • The unemployment center has 100 people answering calls, will double in a few days when National Guard is trained. They are answering about 75% of the calls. It should be one or two more days.
  • Convenient MD are doing tests in some parking lots. Call ahead to find the best and easiest location for you.
  • Foodservice employees are not required to use masks or gloves; he is trying to expand PPE distribution so they can.
  • Vehicle Inspection: No extension. It’s a safety issue.

HHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette said the supply of ventilators is “adequate.” NH hospitals have about 900 ventilators, and there are nine in the warehouse maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. They are trying to obtain BiPAP and CPAP machines and oxygen.

Perry Plummer, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Safety, reports that first responders, including 48 police officers, 12 firefighters, and 6 EMS workers, are in quarantine.

The IRS has released its new app to track stimulus payments, “Get My Payment.” which had been scheduled to be released on April 17. Expect to wait. (And possibly, like me, be disappointed.) If your info isn’t available today, try again tomorrow, as info is going to be updated every night.

Salem Government

The Town of Salem’s Emergency Operations Center Team (EOC) will be making weekly reports every Monday evening at 7:00. Their reports can be seen at http://sctv-17.com/CablecastPublicSite/?channel=1

Find other Salem Government board meetings: https://www.townofsalemnh.org/boards

To watch past or live viewings:

State Representation:
Salem has nine State Representatives. If you are having issues connected to COVID-19, they have access to the people who can get you the help you need. You can find contact info for our reps here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/default.aspx

Our Senator, Chuck Morse, can be contacted at Chuck.Morse@leg.state.nh.us His Concord office phone is 603.271.3207.

Disclaimer:

On April 7, NH scientist and politician, Mindi Messmer, PG, CG wrote on her Facebook page: “… testing has pretty much stopped at the NH PHL. The testing penetration is so low in NH, only 1/2% of the 1.3M people, meaning 99.5% of the 1.3M have not been tested, that I am not putting up projections or tests for NH because the graphs would be meaningless and I don’t want to give the false impression that we know what’s going on in NH.”

On April 8, the National Academy of Sciences reported that 16 out of 51 tests were inaccurate. (false negatives). Others also have concerns about both false negatives and false positives.

Please keep these ideas in mind as you review the information on this page or any other page.

Resources to help in these challenging times:

 

ADDED TODAY:

NH Business Resources:
https://businesshelp.nheconomy.com/hc/en-us

Do YOU think you have COVID-19?

To report suspected cases, contact the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control at  603-271-4496, (603-271-5300 for after hours), or nhbidc@dhhs.nhs.gov.

How You Can Help Others:

Masks:

There is no excuse for not having a mask!!!

Salem:

New Hampshire:

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services:

Office of the Governor: https://www.governor.nh.gov

Mindi Messmer: A scientist who is reporting frequently on COVID-19, Mindi is also a candidate for Executive Council, District 3 (including Salem). https://www.facebook.com/Mindi4NH/ Sign up for her “Daily or So COVID-19 Updates” https://actionnetwork.org/forms/daily-or-so-covid-19-updates

More info about COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:


COVID Symptom Tracker:
This is a project of Mass General Hospital. In the absence of proper testing, let’s let them know how we are doing. https://covid.joinzoe.com/us?fbclid=IwAR2IsoxZ9RBKC4uPQscKiuUUTJCA3cCt3dUr9tjNSsFqOU1rv10jmysmt4Y

Trackers (Cases)

The World Health Organization:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Media with NH COVID-19 news:

Housing

Unemployment

Financial Assistance

Link to other  NH benefits:

Businesses and Employers: Guidance for Small Businesses 

 

Sources for data included in these reports:

Please report any errors or omissions to bonnie@bonnie4salem.us. Thank you.