COVID by the Numbers-July 30 Edition

My last report was on July 20.  Though still low, cases are on the rise in Walpole and in the state, so here is an end-of-the-month update.  The Department of Health and Human Services no longer issues statistics on Saturday and Sunday, so the last day of the July stats will be included in their report on Monday, August 2.

Here in Walpole, 2 new confirmed cases were just added, so we continue in the 1-4 case category.  The message, though, is that the virus is definitely here in our community.

In Cheshire County, we were at a seven day average of confirmed cases per 100,000 of 2.4 on July 20.  We have now risen to an average of 3.2.  Confirmed active cases in the county have doubled in ten days from 11 cases on July 20 to 22 today.

Statewide, the seven day average of confirmed cases per 100,000 was 2.1 on July 20.  Today, that number is 4.7.  There were 270 currently active cases statewide as of July 20.  As of July 30, the statewide number is reported as 586.  There were over 100 new cases reported on 3 different days last week. That brought the seven day average of daily reported cases up to 82.  Hospitalizations statewide were at 24 on July 20, and at 29 on July 30.  Sadly, we lost 3 more citizens in the last ten days. The good news here is that hospitalizations and deaths are increasing a much lower rate than the overall increase in new reported cases.

It is increasingly clear that the Delta variant, unlike the earlier ones, can both infect fully vaccinated individuals and be transmitted by fully vaccinated individuals.  Full vaccination does, however, decrease the risks enormously, even with the Delta variant. 

On July 27, the CDC added a  “recommendation for fully vaccinated people to wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.”  The full text of the CDC recommendations as of July 27 can be found here:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html.

The only county in NH where transmission is currently classifies as “substantial” is Belnap County.  If you do business in Vermont, I noted that several places which had dropped their mask requirement have now gone back to requiring masks.

For more statistical information and maps than you can imagine, visit the NH DHHS web site at  https://www.covid19.nh.gov and click on “Active Dashboards.”

Take good care, stay well, and keep dry.

~Rep. Lucy McVitty Weber
217 Old Keene Road
Walpole  NH  03608

Cell: 603-499-0282
lwmcv@comcast.net