COVID-19 Update May 25 – Bonnie4Salem

COVID-19 Update May 25

Salem Total: 228 confirmed cases, 77 cases per 10,000 residents

Salem Today: 2 new cases; 67 active cases.

*** TODAY’s SPOTLIGHT

* Globally: 5,588,020 cases; 347,872 deaths

* US: 1,706,226 cases; 99,805 deaths

* DHHS marked 230 more people as recovered, including some from Salem.

* Of the people reported as recovered, 48% have been in the past week.

* NH’s active cases are getting close to 1/3 of all confirmed cases.

* The total of those who have died in NH from COVID-19 is 50% of those who have been hospitalized for COVID-19.

* Methuen hasn’t updated their COVID-19 statistics for three days. The last time they missed before this stretch was over 2 weeks ago.

* 17,114 Americans are in serious/critical condition from COVID-19.

* According to worldometers.info, the USA has done the most total tests for COVID-19, but 34 other countries have done more per capita, including Italy, Spain, and Russia.

*** CONFIRMED CASES IN NH:

* New positive cases per DHHS: 50

* My new positive cases (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 48

* Children under 18 in new cases: 7

* Total positive cases in NH: 4,197

* Percentage of tests that are positive: 2.9%

* Active cases: 1,553

* Percentage of positive cases that are still active: 37.0%

* Daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 1,736

* New cases in Rockingham County: 7

* Total cases in Rockingham County: 1230

* Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 80%

*** OTHER TEST RESULTS

* New negative PCR cases in NH: 1,605

* Total negative cases in NH (as reported by DHHS): 58,842

* Total PCR tests results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 1,653

* New antibody tests: 249

* Total antibody tests: 9,790

* Daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 663

*** RECOVERED IN NH:

* Announced today: 230

* Total: 2,434

* Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 58%

*** HOSPITALIZATIONS IN NH:

* New: 1

* Current: 91

* Total: 420

* Percentage of all confirmed cases that have been hospitalized: 10%

* Percentage of those who have been hospitalized that are still in the hospital: 21.7%

*** DEATHS IN NH:

* Lives lost today: 1

* Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 1

* Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0

* Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 210

* NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 5%

* NH Residents hospitalized with COVID-19 that died: 50.0%

* Lives lost in Rockingham: 0

We must not forget that these are all someone’s husband or wife, mother or father, sister or brother, sibling or friend.

Key points covered below in today’s report:

* Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employer Paid Leave Requirements

* How reliable are the antibody tests?

Memorial Day is over. My family always gets together for a cookout on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. It was a hard tradition to break, but with some asthmatics, several cancer survivors, a few with autoimmune issues, and a couple of our clan over sixty, we did the responsible thing. A Zoom family gathering, while nowhere near the same, helped. We’ll see each other in person when things are a bit safer.

How did you spend the weekend? How are you doing? What’s on your mind? I’d like to know.

Stay safe, and always,

be kind.

~Bonnie

Click on the calendar to enlarge
https://www.bonnie4salem.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/may25-calendar.jpg

Q: How much testing is NH doing in comparison to our neighboring states?

A: We aren’t doing enough tests!
WHY???

Today’s COVID-19 Statistics:

Salem’s confirmed cases:

May 19: 213; 118 active
May 20: 218; 116 active
May 21: 220; 86 active
May 22: 225; 77 active
May 23: 227; 74 active
May 24: 226???; 76 active

Earlier dates have been moved to https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-cases-in-salem/

Weekly report has been moved to https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-weekly-updates/

NH Hot Spots (As of Saturday, May 24. The increase is from last Saturday, May 16.)
NH has 13 NH municipalities that have more than 50 confirmed cases.

Manchester: 1000 (+149); 89 per 10K residents; 460 current
Nashua: 469 (370); 47 per 10K residents; 126 current
Derry: 298; (+31); 89 cases per 10K residents; 154 current
Salem: 227 (+16); 77 cases per 10K residents; 74 current

Bedford: 168 (+38); 74 cases per 10K; 84 current
Concord: 88 (+10); 20 cases per 10K; 37 current
Dover: 92 (+3); 29 cases per 10K; 14 current
Franklin: 61 (+3); 70 cases per 10K; 44 current
Goffstown: 87 (+20); 48 cases per 10K; 61 current
Hooksett: 51 (new to list since last week); 35 cases per 10K; 28 current
Hudson: 78 (+8); 31 cases per 10K; 32 current
Londonderry: 122 (+18); 46 cases per 10K; 43 current
Milford: 84 (+8); 52 cases per 10K; 31 current
Pelham: 51 (new to list since last week); 36 cases per 10K; 15 current
Portsmouth: 59 (+2); 26 cases per 10K; 21 current
Rochester: 51 (new to the list since last week) 16 cases per 10K; 24 current

All other municipalities have less than 50 cases. All of the other municipalities with 20-49 cases are geographically south of Concord/Rochester, and east of Concord/Milford, except for Franklin.

Counties (As of Sat., May 16. Increases from last Saturday, May 9.)

Hillsborough (inc. Manchester and Nashua): 2,049 (+326); 49 per 10K residents
Rockingham (inc. Salem & Derry): 1,218 (+131); 39 per 10K

About 80% of all of those in NH who have tested positive to COVID-19 live in these two counties.

Our neighboring towns:

Methuen on May 22: 777 (+75 from May 16); 168 confirmed cases per 10K residents. 496 recovered (+120). 45 deaths (+8)
Lawrence on May 22: 2,756 (+492 from May 15). 340 cases per 10K residents. 112 deaths (+13)
Haverhill on May 20: 1066 cases (up 116 from May 13). 166 cases per 10K

If more people were tested, the numbers would be higher.
Without better testing and reporting, we can’t know what our real numbers are.

We need proper testing to fight COVID-19

NH News relating to COVID-19

Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employer Paid Leave Requirements

Generally, the Act provides that covered employers must provide to all employees:

Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis; or
Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay because the employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), or care for a child (under 18 years of age) whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor.

A covered employer must provide to employees that it has employed for at least 30 days:

Up to an additional 10 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay where an employee is unable to work due to a bona fide need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.

Covered Employers: The paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave provisions of the FFCRA apply to certain public employers, and private employers with fewer than 500 employees. Most employees of the federal government are covered by Title II of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was not amended by this Act, and are therefore not covered by the expanded family and medical leave provisions of the FFCRA. However, federal employees covered by Title II of the Family and Medical Leave Act are covered by the paid sick leave provision.

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern. Read more.

How reliable are the antibody tests?

This video explains COVID IgG sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value. Thanks, Kristin, for sharing. And if you want more info about antibody and PCR diagnostic testing, including locations, you can find the info I’ve compiled here.

Main Street Relief Fund

If you own a small business, and, like the majority of small businesses, have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, don’t forget to apply for relief. This is a grant. You don’t need to pay it back. But you must file by Friday to get back some of the funds that you have lost. Read more.

RESOURCES:

Resources have been moved. They can now be found at https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-resources/

Sources used to create this report: