Winter Surge Comes Early For NH Coronavirus Cases: 7-Day Report

CONCORD, NH — The winter surge for coronavirus positive infections has come to New Hampshire about a month early, with numbers in early November that were comparative to early December, after a number of post-Thanksgiving infections in 2020.

During the past week, 5,302 tested positive for coronavirus in New Hampshire with another 25 people died due to or related to COVID-19. It was the highest one-week total of new infections since mid-January.

Of the new infections, about a third were children (19 and younger) while 119 were health care workers and 211 were connected to long-term care settings. As of Friday, there were 6,466 active infections in New Hampshire.

According to the latest data, 11 of the fatalities last week were connected to long-term care settings with 14 being 80 years of age or older. Three were in the 70 to 79 age group, four were between 60 and 69, one was 50 to 59, two were 40 to 49, and one was in the 30 to 39 age bracket. Only 12 people have died in the 30 to 39 bracket, less than 1 percent of all deaths.

The fatalities include a woman and two men in Belknap County, one woman in Carroll County, one man in Cheshire County, three men in Coos County, one woman in Grafton County, one woman and six men in Hillsborough County, a woman and two men in Merrimack County, one woman and four men in Rockingham County, and one woman and one man in Strafford County.

The state said five of the cases in this week’s fatality count died between mid-August and mid-October.

There have been 1,622 people who have died connected to the pandemic or slightly more than 1.1 percent of all infections.

According to the last testing data, there have been 3.35 million tests administered in New Hampshire with 73.1 percent of all residents being tested at least once by antigen or polymerase chain reaction tests.

The state reported that around 60.3 percent of Granite State residents had received shots. More than 54,000 non-residents have received shots in the state. The state estimates there were around 521,000 people in the state who have not received shots. According to the latest data, large clusters of residents who have not gotten shots were centered around cities including more than half of the city of Nashua, nearly half of Franklin, Keene, and Manchester, more than a third of the residents of Berlin, Concord, and Rochester, and more than a quarter of the city of Portsmouth.

K-12 schools in the state reported 557 active onsite cases. Schools with active cases include: The McKelvie Intermediate School in Bedford with 15; the Woodbury School in Salem and Rundlett Middle School in Concord with nine; the Windham Center School with eight; the James Mastricola Elementary School in Merrimack and Concord High School with six; the Thorntons Ferry School in Merrimack and the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School in Bedford with four; the Mill Brook Primary School, the James Mastricola Upper Elementary School in Merrimack, Exeter High School, the Charlotte Avenue Elementary School in Nashua, Broken Ground Elementary School all have three cases; the Windham Middle School, Trinity Christian School in Concord, the South Elementary School in Londonderry, the Souhegan Coop High School in Amherst, Salem High School, the Portsmouth Middle School, the Peter Woodbury School in Bedford, the Moose Hill School in Londonderry, the Merrimack Middle School, Merrimack High School, and the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Concord have two each; and single cases at St. John Regional School in Concord, the North Elementary School in Londonderry, the Main Dunstable School in Nashua, Londonderry Senior High School, Londonderry Middle Schools, Heron Pond Elementary School in Milford, Golden Brook Elementary School in Windham, Bishop Brady High School, the Amherst Middle School, the Academy for Science and Design Charter School in Nashua, and the Abbot-Downing Elementary School in Concord.

At colleges and universities in New Hampshire, there were 249 active infections as of Friday. UNH in Durham reported 136 cases while both Keene State College and Plymouth State University in Plymouth reported 31 cases each. Saint Anselm College in Goffstown had 24 while Dartmouth in Hanover had 21 cases. NHTI, Concord’s community college, had two cases while there was a single case each at Southern New Hampshire University, Colby-Sawyer College in New London, and the White Mountains Community College in Berlin.

The latest breakthrough case data — people who have been vaccinated but were still becoming infected and dying, was not available at post time. Patch has made a public records request for the latest breakthrough data and will publish it when it becomes availble.

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COVID-19 Info For NH

COVID-19 is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The virus is spread through the transfer of microscopic respiratory droplets, usually by coughing, sneezing, or exposure to others who are sick, whether they show symptoms or not.

Since the discovery of the first case in New Hampshire in March 2020, there have been a number of recommendations and changes to recommendations on how to prevent the virus and disease. The latest New Hampshire Universal Best Practices for the public, businesses, and schools can be found linked here, in PDF format. For resources in NH, including vaccine, testing, and treatment information, visit the state's resources and guidance page, linked here.

Basic health concepts to reduce the risk of infection include ensuring social distancing (staying 3 to 6 feet away from other people); washing hands with soap and water (for at least 20 seconds) or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol; wearing a facemask in indoor public spaces or outdoor spaces with large crowds; avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth, and sneezing into a sleeve or tissue that is disposed of later; avoid sharing dishes, glasses, bedding, and other household items when sick; clean or disinfect high-touch surfaces; avoid public transportation when sick; and work remotely, if possible.

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