Posted on by Bonnie

COVID-19 Update October 20

COVID-19 Update October 20

  • Total: 367 confirmed cases in Salem
  • 1 out of every 81 Salem residents have been infected
  • Salem Today: 3 new case, 19 active cases 

Community Transmission (per NH Department of Health and Human Services)

The overall level of community transmission is defined using three metrics.  A community is then assigned an overall level based on the highest-level determination for any specific metric.  

  • NH Community Transmission Metrics:
    • New Cases per 100k over 14 days: 
      • Scale: Minimal: <50; Moderate: 50 – 100; Substantial: >100. 
      • Today: 1053 cases; Daily average: 77.6 (Moderate)
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <10; Moderate: 10 – 20; Substantial: >20, 
      • Today: Total hospitalizations: 15 total; Daily average: 1.1
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days:
      • Scale: Minimal: <5%; Moderate: 5% – 10%; Substantial: >10%
      • Today: Tests over last 7 days: 427 Total. PCR Tests over last 7 days: 40,398 Daily average: 1.1%
  • Today’s Level of Transmission: Moderate
  • Rockingham County Transmission:
    • New Cases per 100k over 14 days: 80.5
    • New hospitalizations per 100k over 14 days: 1.0
    • Average PCR Test Positivity Rate over 7 days: 1.3
    • Rockingham County Transmission: Moderate
  • Other NH Locations
    • Manchester: Substantial. (135.2 new case average; 4.5 hospitalizations; 2.6% positivity.)
    • Nashua: Substantial (150.0 new case average; 1.1 hospitalizations; 2.4% positivity.)
    • Merrimack: Substantial (104.5 new case average; 2.0 hospitalizations; 1.6% positivity)
    • Hillsborough County excluding Manchester and Nashua (93.4 new case average); and Belknap County (54.1): Moderate
    • All other counties: Minimal

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

  • Three Salem residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, but the number of active cases went from 24 to 19. 12 Salem residents have been diagnosed in the past week, and we have added 25 new cases in the past two weeks.
  • Was there a Salem High School student who was infected today? Maybe, but I am questioning the accuracy of this.  (See screenshot below the calendar.) 
  • See below for an updated graph of Salem cases.
  • 278 people were considered “Recovered” today, including a net change of 196 in Rockingham County. We are now back to less than 1,000 active cases.
  • Communities:
    • Notable changes in active cases from yesterday to today:
      • With Salem dropping down to 19 people with active infections, and Merrimack down to 16, there are now 9 communities with more than 20 active cases. Between them, these 9 communities have 424 total cases, accounting for 51% of all active cases. (Shown: # of active cases and change from yesterday). 
        • With so many recovered today, we no longer have a community with more than 100 people who are known to be infectious.
        • Bedford: 53 (-11). Concord: 36 (+0). Derry: 28 -4). Hudson: 21 (-5). Londonderry: 21 (-4). Manchester: 98 (-23). Nashua: 96 (-16).  Portsmouth: 27 (-3). Warner: 44 (-2). 
        • Merrimack is now 16 (-9) and Salem is now 19 (-5), so they have been removed from the list. 
    • Some of the communities with significant changes in cumulative cases:
      • Manchester and Portsmouth (+7 each). Concord and Nashua (+5 each). Hudson (+4). Salem (+3).
      • Laconia has had its 50th person to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
  • We were able to go for four days without anyone being hospitalized for COVID-19, but today we had two.
  • After six days in a row of losing a NH resident from COVID-19, we finally have a day with no loss of life.

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

  • New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus yesterday’s total): 82
  • New positive cases per DHHS: 85
    • 68 PCR tests
    • 17 Antigen tests
  • Children under 18 in new cases: 11
  • Total positive cases in NH: 9,828
  • Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 0.9%
  • Total PCR tests results reported today (Positive results plus negative results: 1,285
  • The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,146
  • New negative results reported today: 1,203
  • Total negative cases in NH: 306,263

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

  • Total cases in Rockingham County: 2,405
  • New cases in Rockingham County: 22
  • Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 7.1
  • Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 6.4
  • Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 1.3%
  • Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.5%
  • Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 77%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

  • Active cases in NH: 824
  • Active cases in Rockingham County: 187
  • Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 22.7%. 

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

  • New antibody tests: 29
  • Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 31,802
  • The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 32

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • • 

  • 0-9: +5 (3% of all cases. 6% of new cases
  • 10-19: +9 (8% of all; 11% today) 
  • 20-29: +16 (17% of all; 20% today) 
  • 30-39: +15 (14% of all; +18% today)
  • 40-49: +12 (13% of all; 15% today)
  • 50-59: +13 (15% of all; 16% today)
  • 60-69: +9 (12% of all; 11% today)
  • 70-79: +3 (7% of all; 4% today) 
  • 80+: +0 (11% of all; 0% today)
  • Unknown: 0 (0% of all; 0% today)

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

  • Announced today: 278
  • Total Recovered: 8,536
  • Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 86.9%

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

  • New: 2
  • Current: 16
  • Total Hospitalized: 763
  • Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 7.76%

• • • • • • 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: 468
  • NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 4.76%
  • Lives lost in Rockingham today: 0

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.

WMUR gave a good summary of the current COVID-19 status today. It’s worth repeating, for those who didn’t see it. They wrote the following;

“Yesterday, New Hampshire health officials reported that for the first time since June 17, there were more than 1,000 current cases of COVID-19 in the state. The state reached that point after a few weeks of gradually rising numbers. This is a cause for concern. The more cases of COVID-19 there are out there, the more the coronavirus can spread in the community, the higher the chance of outbreaks and the greater potential for deaths. But there are some important reasons why Oct. 19 was very different from June 17.

“One not so great comparison is that on June 17, the state was in the middle of a decline in cases. The most current cases on a single day in New Hampshire was 2,290 on May 20, and cases steadily declined until picking back up again in early September. But other differences are a bit more positive. Yesterday, there were just 16 people hospitalized in New Hampshire for COVID-19. Back on June 17, there were 56. The state is also doing a lot more testing now. The daily average in the week leading up to June 17 was 1,681 tests. Now, it’s 8,908. The state is also now adding positive rapid antigen tests to its total, which contribute a sizable fraction to the amount.

“One reason why hospitalization rates have remained low could be because the most vulnerable Granite Staters are being better protected and taking more precautions. But the increasing spread of the coronavirus could mean that other people are not taking as many precautions. It is also becoming more difficult for some people to keep their distance as schools return to in-class teaching and the weather gets colder.”

Stay safe, and always, be kind.

~Bonnie

This is a screenshot of the school dashboard, although I question how accurate this is. As far as I have been able to determine, this newest case at Salem High School, and one of the recovered students at that school are not Salem students. Also, I believe that North Salem Elementary and Woodbury Middle School have not had an infection, despite what the School Dashboard says. I don’t know anything about GSAA.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Changes-by-month-877x1024.jpg

Useful links

Sources used to create these reports:

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