Health Officials: 500 Active Cases Of COVID-19 In New Hampshire

Tony Schinella
Updated ·4 min read

CONCORD, NH — The state of New Hampshire has more active cases of COVID-19 than it has seen since late July after reporting 66 new positive test results Saturday.

Of the new positive test results, eight were children and 35 were male with 51 testing positive via polymerase chain reaction tests and 15 testing positive by the new antigen test. Nineteen of the new cases live in Nashua, 12 in Manchester, nine reside in Merrimack County, and eight live in both Rockingham County and Hillsborough County outside of Nashua and Manchester.

The state said there were 500 current positive cases of the coronavirus in New Hampshire — the most since July 26 when there were 589 active cases with 8,597 accumulative cases and 7,655 recovered or about 89 percent.

Seventeen people remain hospitalized while 14 of the new patients have no identified risk factors.

The state collected 8,671 PCR specimens Friday and upgraded Thursday's numbers to 8,170. Another 607 are pending meaning the positive test result rate is very low: 0.6 percent. Nearly 280,000 Granite Staters have been tested for the coronavirus while 461,000 PCR tests have been administered.

The city of Manchester has moved into a "substantial" community level transmission metric on the state's school data dashboard. This means the city may move into a different form of learning in schools due to breaking the 103 per 100,000 new case metric during the past two weeks — even if only a handful of those cases were in a school setting.

In some circumstances, schools may want to take "a more restrictive approach than what is suggested," depending on the level of community transmission and the level of school impact, the state said in September before schools opened. Shifts to remote learning from in-person, as an example, could be at least two weeks or potentially longer.

According to the school data dashboard, New Hampshire has 33 active cases in K-12 schools including new cases reported including a second case at Waterville Valley Elementary School; another new case at the Riddle Brook Elementary School in Bedford; two new cases at Merrimack High School, bringing the school to five active cases, the most in the state; a first case at Londonderry Senior High School; and a new case at the Golden Brook Elementary School in Windham.

Exeter High School is also reported its first case a few days ago but that case has since recovered from the virus.

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Stop The Spread Of COVID-19

The COVID-19 virus is spread through respiratory droplets, usually through coughing and sneezing, and exposure to others who are sick or might be showing symptoms.

Health officials emphasize residents should follow these recommendations:

  • Avoid any domestic and international travel, especially on public transportation such as buses, trains, and airplanes.

  • Practice social distancing. Stay at least 6 feet from other people, including distancing while in waiting areas or lines.

  • When you can't practice 6 feet of social distancing, wear a face covering.

  • Anyone who is told to self-quarantine and stay at home due to exposure to a person with confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 needs to stay home and not go out into public places.

  • If you are 60 years or older or have chronic and underlying health conditions, you need to stay home and not go out.

  • Avoid gatherings of 10 people or more.

  • Employers should work from home as much as possible.

  • There is increasing evidence that the virus can survive for hours or possibly days on surfaces. People should clean frequently touched surfaces, including door handles, grocery carts and grocery basket handles, etc.

Take the same precautions as you would if you were sick:

  • Stay home and avoid public places.

  • Wear a face covering.

  • Cover mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing.

  • Wash hands frequently.

  • Disinfect frequently touched surfaces.

More information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services about coronavirus can be found here on the department's website.

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This article originally appeared on the Concord Patch