COVID-19 Update January 3

COVID-19 Update January 3

Total: 1,498 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 7.7%
1 out of 20 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 48 new cases since Dec 31; 142 active cases

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

On Sunday, January 3, 2021, DHHS announced 1,317 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a current PCR test positivity rate of 8.1%. Today’s results include 971 people who tested positive by PCR test and 346 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 6,096 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today:

12/29: 63 new cases today, for an updated total of 844 cases
12/30: 11 new cases today, for an updated total of 897 cases
12/31: 448 new cases today, for an updated total of 827 cases
1/1: 633 new cases today, for an updated total of 633 cases
1/2: 162 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: 593.4
- Rockingham County: 660.1
- Salem: 818
Average Positivity Rate over 7 days:
- New Hampshire: 8.7%
- Rockingham County: 8.4%
- Salem: 7.7%
- Manchester: 12.0%
- Nashua: 12.2%
- 66 communities have a positivity rate higher than Salem. (33 yesterday!)
- 43 communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%. (Substantial: >10%)
- 102 communities have a positivity rate of more than 5%. (Moderate: 5%-10%)
- 109 communities have a positivity rate of more than 2%. (Goal: <2%)

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

Salem added 48 new cases from December 31 to today. That’s a daily average of 16 for those three days, while the average for the past week is 19 new cases per day.
NH DHHS reported that they added 1,317 new cases today, which is a new record. Only on other day had more than was reported for yesterday, although yesterday was the numbers for two days.
Yesterday, DHHS reported that 150 kids under 18 had been diagnosed over the past two days. On Dec. 14, 127 kids were reported, which was the highest for a single day. Until today. Today, DHHS reported that 163 kids have COVID-19.
The positivity rate for the PCR test results reported today is 8.1%, which is 1.2% lower than yesterday.
NH reported that 1,627 people have “recovered” since yesterday. This is the most in one day.
Some of Salem’s residents are among these “recovered” people. Even though 48 people were added to our cumulative total, the number of people with active infections went down by 25.
971 of today’s new cases were diagnosed via PCR tests. That is the highest reported on one day.
913 people have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 3 new people today. Eighteen people had become patients in the past week. Although most hospitalized patients are over 60, in the past week we have seen newly hospitalized patients including one child under 9, one person in their 30’s, three people in their 40’s, and one in their 50’s.
335 patients are currently hospitalized, a decrease of 10 since yesterday.
Two more patients have been admitted to the ICU today, bringing the cumulative total to five admissions this week and 302 since the pandemic began. We don’t know how many are still in the ICU.
A tweet by WMUR’s Adam Sexton reported that an ICU nurse said that all ICUs in NH are filled to capacity. However, I have not been able to find the original post by the nurse, or anything to support this rumor.
WMUR reports that Elliot Hospital is cutting back on elective surgeries starting tomorrow, for at least a week, and Catholic Medical may have to do so, too.
Another 11 people died from COVID-19 in the 24-hour period covered by this report. NH has lost 72 people in the past week. Most have been over 60 years of age, but this week we have lost one person in their 40’s and two in their 50’s.
I did a year-end summary. This features the cumulative, active, and ratios for all NH communities. It can be found at https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-update-2020-wrapup/

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (260), Rockingham (257), Merrimack (126), Strafford (113), Belknap (64), Sullivan (35), Grafton (33), Cheshire (32), Carroll (21), and Coos (21) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (183) and Nashua (119). The county of residence is being determined for fifty-three new cases.
Active cases:
- An additional 1,627 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes1
- Two communities — Claremont and Weare — added enough new cases to bring them to 50 or more active cases.
- Two communities — Goffstown and Milford — added enough new cases to bring them to 100 or more active cases.
- Three communities — Epsom, Newmarket and Raymond— dropped by enough cases to bring them under 50 active cases.
- One community — Windham — dropped by enough cases to bring them under 100 active cases.
- Compared to December 31:
  - 74 communities have more active cases
  - 6 communities have the same number of active cases
  - 65 communities have fewer active cases.
- There are 25 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,794 active cases, accounting for 62% of all active cases.
- Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and Dover are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
Cumulative Cases
- There are now 119 communities that have had 50 or more cases, and 89 that have had 100 or more.
- Four communities — Canaan, Center Harbor, Enfield, Gorham — now have 50 or more total cases.
- Three more communities — Greenland, Lee, and Milton — now have 100 or more total cases.
- 94 communities have 5 or more new cases than they had on December 31.
- 51 communities have 10 or more new cases than they had on December 31.
- Ten communities — Manchester, Nashua, Dover, Concord, Hudson, Bedford, Derry, Milford, Rochester, and Merrimack — 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): 1,266
New positive cases per DHHS: 1,317
- 971 PCR tests
- 346 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 163
Total positive cases in NH: 46,450
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 8.1%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 4,219
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,106
New negative results reported today: 2,953
Total negative cases in NH: 474,435

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

Total cases in Rockingham County: 11,383
New cases in Rockingham County: 257
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 83.0
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 64.6
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 8.4%
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: 6,096
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,246
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 20.4%

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

New antibody tests: 75
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 34,874
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 51

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

0-9: 1974 = 4% (+125). (+1 hospitalization)
10-19: 4551 = 10% (+249).
20-29: 8716 = 19% (+399).
30-39: 6932 = 15% (+380). (+1 hospitalization)
40-49: 6294 = 14% (+328). (+1 hospitalization; +1 death)
50-59: 7478 = 16% (+401). (+1 hospitalization)
60-69: 5069 = 11% (+256).
70-79: 2733 = 6% (+144).
80+: 2641 = 6% (+131).
Unknown: 62 = 0% (+9).

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

Announced today: 1,627
Total Recovered: 39,574
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 85.2%

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

New people hospitalized from NH: 3
Currently hospitalized: 325
Total hospitalized patients: 913
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 1.97%
Total admitted to ICU: 302
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 1
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 212

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Lives lost today: 11
Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 11
Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 780
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.68%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 1
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.

“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.”
― Taylor Swift

Hello, Salem!

Things WILL change. But it is too early to know how or when they will change. Some people may have been tested to feel safe to spend the holidays with family. Some people may have delayed testing because of the holidays. And experts think that new cases will go up because of the holidays.

So, as we start a new year, don’t get too excited if we see numbers going down, like we have with Salem’s active cases today, but don’t get overly discouraged if we see numbers going up. Just 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.