COVID-19 Update May 29 – Bonnie4Salem

COVID-19 Update May 29

Salem Total: 239 confirmed cases, 81 cases per 10,000 residents

Salem Today: 0 new cases; 68 active cases.

****** TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT ******

* Globally: 6.031,023 cases; 366,812 deaths

* US: 1,793,530 confirmed cases; 104,542 deaths.

* Globally, over 6 million cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed.

* Lawrence MA, which is 7.5 miles/18 minutes away from my home, has had a total of 3,000 cases.

* Commissioner Shibinette, head of NH DHHS, said that NH has now run “over 70,000 tests.” It sounds like she is once again combining diagnostic PCR tests and antibodies, as the count for PCR tests as of today is 68,960, per her organization.

* She also said that 45-50% of the 107 new cases are residents and staff members identified during the nursing home testing program.

* NH DHHS said that we would be doing over 2,000 tests per day. We had a big decrease, but today we did hit that 2,000 goal for the first time in the past week.

* Tonight, NH DHHS launched their long-awaited Dashboard. The info that is shown is good, but I find the interface to be extremely clumsy on my MacBook using an alternative browser, and impossible to use using Safari, the standard Mac browser. It’s still worth looking at, for a deep dive into demographics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, etc. I’m very disappointed.

* Governor Sununu made some major announcements. Read the post to get the details.

****** DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN NH ******

* New positive cases per DHHS: 107

* My new positive cases (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 106

* Children under 18 in new cases: 3

* Total positive cases in NH: 4,492

* Percentage of tests that are positive: 5.05%

* Active cases: 1,452

* Percentage of positive cases that are still active: 32.3%

* New cases in Rockingham County: 7

* Total cases in Rockingham County: 1,284

* Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 81%

* Total PCR tests results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 2,098

* Daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 1,346

* New negative PCR cases in NH: 1,992

* Total negative cases in NH (as reported by DHHS): 64,468

****** OTHER TEST RESULTS ******

* New antibody tests: 616

* Total antibody tests: 11,169

* Daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 539

* Children diagnosed with MIS-C: (as of 5/22/2020): 1

****** RECOVERED IN NH ******

* Announced today: 72

* Total: 2,802

* Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 62.4%

****** HOSPITALIZATIONS IN NH ******

* New: 2

* Current: 105

* Total: 440

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

* Percentage of those who have been hospitalized that are still in the hospital: 23.9%

****** DEATHS IN NH ******

* Lives lost today: 6

* Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 6

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

* Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 238

* NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 5.3%

* NH Residents hospitalized with COVID-19 that died: 54.1%

* Lives lost in Rockingham: 1 person over 60 years of age.

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.

****** Key points. Read the details below. ******

* NH Scientists are Frustrated Sununu Refuses Mandatory Mask Order

* Governor Sununu’s Press Conference

It’s the weekend! Worrying isn’t good for you. Enjoy to enjoy yourself, stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie

https://www.bonnie4salem.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/may29-calendar.jpg

Click on the calendar to enlarge

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 (The highest number of active cases.)
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
May 25: 228; 67 active
May 26: 235; 73 active
May 27: 235; 68 active
May 28: 239; 70 active
May 29: 239; 68 active

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

The weekly report has been moved to https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-weekly-updates/. This is a summary of the info from NH DHHS; with more demographics than provided on a daily basis. They last updated this info on May 18.

The report containing information about other towns, counties and our MA neighbors has been moved to https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-update-nh-towns/I’m updating this information weekly. The last update was May 24.

Today (or Recent) News pertaining to COVID-19

Scientists Are Frustrated Sununu Refuses Mandatory Mask Order

Local scientists who have urged Gov. Chris Sununu to mandate face coverings for almost two months believe “lives definitely could have been saved,” and more saved going forward except that Sununu ignores their advice. Read more.

Governor Sununu’s Press Conference

Main Street Relief Fund.

Midnight tonight is the deadline.
10K applications have been received.

Testing

Demand for tests has dropped, and test sites at 70% capacity. There is now capacity to test anyone. Now anybody who wants a test, can get a test. No reason needed. [Note that if everyone rushes out to get this, “just because,” it will affect the positive/negative ratio.]
CVS is now offering drive-through testing in Concord (2 locations), Hampton, Hooksett and Nashua. Go to https://www.cvs.com/ (The website at this writing is not yet recognizing this.

Infections at Facilities

DHHS says that 45-50% of the 107 new cases are residents and staff members identified during the nursing home testing program.
One new outbreak: Carmel Rehab & Nursing Home, Manchester (31 residents, 1 staff)
Three outbreaks at long-term care facilities are now closed. (No new cases for 14 days.)
Two new clusters: Inpatient floors at both CMC and Elliot Hospitals
Baseline testing: 95% of the results are back. Staff is all completed.
Sentinel testing program. Beginning 10-day testing (all staff, 10% residents ) next week. [“Contracting out” Still negotiating?]
One childcare center has one staff member that tested positive. More investigation is being done

Questions about revisions in data.

Numbers are revised if someone’s location is not NH. Ten or less per day.
In patient hospital tests take longer to be reported, which throws off numbers.
I’m glad to not be the only one questioning this. [Mindi Messmer is, too.]

Dashboard!

Launching today!
It will be updated daily, with real-time info.
As I’m typing this, it’s not available yet.
I’m really, really hoping it’s on par with what the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been using for quite a while.
The new info be found at https://www.nh.gov/covid19/
Updated a few hours later: It’s now live. And it’s very disappointing.

Announcements re: Industries allowed to reopen

Drivers Ed: Effective immediately
Places of Worship: Effective immediately, with no more than 40% occupancy, social distancing.
Lodging: Open June 5, with restrictions
Day Camps (i.e. YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs): Open June 22
Overnight Camps: June 28, but guidance documents not completed
Tourism: Announcing next week
Restaurants: Watching what other states are doing. Will know more in about 2 weeks. Maybe 50% capacity.
Outdoor gatherings of more than 10: Not ready to lift yet.

Guidance

All guidance for industries that have already opened can be found at https://www.covidguidance.nh.gov

Stay-at-Home 2.0:

Will be extended for at least another 2 weeks as we flex-open new businesses.
Goal to lift the Stay-at-Home recommendation: June 15.
Some unemployment eligibility requirements will need to be changed at that time.

RESOURCES:

My accumulation of resources has been moved. These can now be found at https://www.bonnie4salem.us/covid-19-resources/

Sources used to create this report: