Just have to share an aside from Lucy as we sat around outside on Election Day – “Women are saving a lot by not having to wear lipstick. Why bother when your face is covered with a mask?” I hadn’t considered that but she is right! – Lil

I haven’t reported on the COVID-19 numbers for a while.  That’s because the numbers have been, well, confusing.  But there were 56 new positive tests reported in NH today, which is a lot, so I thought I would take another look at the numbers.

COVID-19 Numbers, September 10

The numbers of positive tests in the state are trending upwards.  Some of this is attributable to the intensive testing done on college students and on the testing attendant on the opening of schools.  But though numbers are on the rise, the 272 active cases in the state today are well below the 403 active cases on August 1^st.  There are only 7 people hospitalized statewide, fewer than the 22 hospitalizations on August 1st.  Two Granite Staters have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the first 10 days of September, but the average in August was just over 1 death every 2 days.

And the numbers have been bouncing up and down a bit in Cheshire County, too.  We have had 11 new positive cases in the county since September 1.  Some of these cases were associated with Keene State College and Franklin Pierce University in Rindge.  KSC has reported 2 cases, with 1 having recovered and 1 still active.  Franklin Pierce has reported 10 cases overall (some of these may have been in August) with 9 having recovered and only 1 still active.  

As of today, there are only 9 active cases in Cheshire County, which is lower than at any time since August 1^st.  (It is probably lower than it was for some time before that, too, but August 1^st was when I started taking careful daily notes on some of these statistics.)

As of today, I am pleased to report that Walpole has no active cases.  Keene currently has 6 active cases, and Swanzey, Winchester and Rindge are all in the 1-4 range, but I am pretty sure that if there are 9 total cases in the county, and Keene has 6 of them, that the other three towns currently have 1 each.  So there is reason to be encouraged.

There is a lot more information out there than there used to be, so if you want to explore, here are the links I use.  First, the NH DHHS has its main COVID page here. 

https://www.nh.gov/covid19/

At the bottom of the page are links for maps and links to active cases and cumulative cases by county.  These maps and statictics are updated daily.  New cases are not reported by town, but if you keep your eye on the numbers for each town on the cumulative cases map, you can usually work out where the new cases are.  If you want more information than that shown on the main page, click on the News link at the top of the page, and then on Updates, for a daily report with much more information in it.  And DHHS has archived these daily reports, so you can refer back to old reports if you want to compare.

Another new NH web site is the NH Schools Dashboard.  https://www.nh.gov/covid19/dashboard/schools.htm  Here you can find the COVID numbers for every school in NH.  If you click on the Interactive Map link, you can look at all kinds of metrics by county, health care region, or town.

Finally, for a site that will allow you to compare NH with the other states and countries around the world, try the Harvard Global Health initiative site:

https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression-researchers-and-public-health-experts-unite-to-bring-clarity-to-key-metrics-guiding-coronavirus-response/  NH usually has the lowest numbers of any state except for Vermont, but when we have a spike like today, we jump up to third or fourth lowest.  Note that the postings on this site lag behind by two days.

Wear your masks, keep your distance, wash your hands, and keep well.

~Representative Lucy Weber

lwmcv@comcast.net

603-499-0282