Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update January 18

COVID-19 Update January 18

  • Total: ??? confirmed cases in Salem. [1,794 yesterday]
  • Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: ??? [8.2% as of yesterday]
  • 1 out of ??? Salem residents have been infected [17 yesterday]
  • Salem today: ??? new cases. 
  • 153 active cases. [153 yesterday]

Déjà vu? NH DHHS fouled up again today. I’m … frustrated.

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

On Monday, January 18, 2021, DHHS announced 1,034 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 8.2%. Today’s results include 618 people who tested positive by PCR test and 416 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,444 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today: 

  • 1/6: 36 new cases today, for an updated total of 762 cases 
  • 1/7: 72 new cases today, for an updated total of 952 cases 
  • 1/8: 80 new cases today, for an updated total of 1,089 cases 
  • 1/9: 111 new cases today, for an updated total of 592 cases 
  • 1/10: 53 new cases today, for an updated total of 936 cases 
  • 1/11: 50 new cases today, for an updated total of 543 cases 
  • 1/16: 277 new cases today, for an updated total of 578 cases 
  • 1/17: 355 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 at a substantial level of community transmission, regardless of how we rank in the other two metrics.
    • New Hampshire: 672.3
    • Rockingham County: 627.8
    • Salem: 750
    • All 10 counties and our two biggest cities saw increases in this metric from yesterday to today. All except Strafford had increases in the double digits. Salem, however, had a 14-case decrease since yesterday.
  • 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: 6.8%
    • Rockingham County: 8.2%
    • Salem: 7.8%
    • Manchester: 7.9%
    • Nashua: 10.7%

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

  • Take a careful look at the top of this update today. DHHS has provided inaccurate numbers. And why are we still getting data from 11 days ago? Man, I want to be a fly on the wall at DHHS. 
  • A lot of info was left out today. Here’s what we know:
    • Only 97 Salem residents had results reported today, although we don’t know how many were positive.
    • Salem’s positivity rate has dropped for the past six days. 
    • 63 communities have a higher rate than Salem. Last Monday, it was 38.
      • 132 NH communities have a positivity rate above 2%, the minimum goal.
      • 117 have a positivity rate above 5%, a moderate level of community transmission.
      • 38 of those communities are at 10% or higher, a substantial level of community transmission.
    • All ten counties, and both of our biggest cities, saw an increase in the number of new cases per 100K residents over the past two weeks. Salem actually had a decrease!
  • NH DHHS reported 1,034 new cases today. That’s not a record, but the 271 new cases in Rockingham County is a record for our county.
  • Another 943 people were reported as “recovered,” bringing the total to up past 50,000.
  • Since DHHS took hospitalization out of their update, including their press report, and they didn’t update that data today, we don’t know the cumulative number of cases.
  • The number of people currently hospitalized has decreased every day for the past week to 237. We haven’t seen this number this low since December 9.
  • NH lost another 6 people from COVID-19 during the 24-hours covered by this report. Since this new year started, we have averaged a loss of 10.2 people per day. Remember that they aren’t numbers. They all have their own stories.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

  • NH DHHS reports that the new cases reside in Rockingham (271), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (191), Strafford (86), Merrimack (68), Grafton (47), Cheshire (40), Belknap (30), Sullivan (28), Carroll (25), and Coos (25) counties, and in the cities of Nashua (93) and Manchester (77). The county of residence is being determined for fifty-three new cases. 
  • Active Cases 
    • DHHS did not properly update the info used as the base for this section. 
  • Cumulative Cases 
    • DHHS did not properly update the info used as the base for this section. 

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 1,000
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 1,034
    • 618 PCR tests
    • 416 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 138
  • % of new cases announced by DHHS today that are kids under 18 years old: 13.3%
  • Total positive cases in NH: 57,864
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 8.2%
  • Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 2,794
  • New negative results reported today: 1,794
  • Total negative cases in NH: 509,704

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 14,056
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 271
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 8.2%
  • Percent of NH cases that are from Rockingham County: ???  [24.2% yesterday]

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

  • DHHS did not properly update the info used as the base for this section. 

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •                          

  • Active cases in NH: 6,444
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: ??? [1,305 yesterday]
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: ??? [20.4% yesterday]

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

  • Announced today: 943
  • Total Recovered: 50,487
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 87.3% 

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

  • New people hospitalized from NH: ???
  • Currently hospitalized: 237
  • Total hospitalized patients: ??? [957 yesterday]
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: ??? [1.68% yesterday]
  • Total admitted to ICU: ??? [312 yesterday]
  • New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: ???
  • Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: ??? [220 yesterday]

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • • 

  • Lives lost today: 0
  • Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
  • Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 933
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.64%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
  • Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 164

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.

“Anger is just anger. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It’s like anything else. You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice.”

― Jim Butcher, White Night

Hello, Salem!

The incompetence I’m seeing at NH DHHS is frustrating me to the point of anger. I don’t think they are doing this intentionally, and it is possible that they don’t even know how bad things are screwed up. 

So I wrote a letter, which I’ve shared here. I’m using my frustration to build, not destroy … I hope!

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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