COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives In New Hampshire; 919 More Infected

CONCORD, NH — It is official. The first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in New Hampshire.

The shipment was unloaded, processed, and immediately prepared on Monday for distribution to at-risk health workers — including front line clinical staff providing direct patient care, according to state officials. The vaccine will be administered starting Tuesday.

Gov. Chris Sununu said the effort to distribute the vaccine was "one of the most important undertakings in the history" of New Hampshire and officials are "ready to get to work and distribute this life-saving vaccine to the citizens."

The vaccine arrived on a day where another 919 Granite Staters, including 127 children, tested positive and another elderly resident died, too.

According to health officials and the state's data dashboard, the latest death related to the COVID-19 was a man from Merrimack County, aged 80 or older, who lived in a long-term care setting. He was the 604th fatality in the state connected to the virus.

The new positive test results were specimens collected during the previous seven days: Two cases were from Dec. 7, three were from Tuesday, 53 were from Wednesday, 207 were collected Thursday, 19 were from Friday's tests, 22 were from Saturday, and 613 were from 5,858 polymerase chain reaction tests and eight antibody lab tests from Sunday.

About a third of the new positive test results were antigen tests with investigations still underway on 47 people.

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Most of the cases with completed investigations caught the virus from people known to be infected, the state said. The split was even between genders. The state said 262 of the new cases reside in Rockingham County while 248 live in Hillsborough County outside of Nashua and 123 live in Merrimack County. Nashua has 69 new cases.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 31,875 positive test results with 862 hospitalized, about 3 percent of all cases. There are 256 people in the hospital.

The state has issued more than 956,000 PCR tests with more than 468,000 people tested. Another 34,000 people have been tested via antibody lab tests.

The latest school setting data published on Dec. 14. Source: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

The state's school data dashboard reported 68 active cases and 955 recoveries connected to a K-12 school setting in the state. Only one new positive test result was reported in a Patch community: At William T. Barron Elementary School in Salem, its first case.

The state has three active cases at universities and colleges and 546 recoveries. The active cases are at Keene State College, Manchester Community College, and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University's Manchester Campus.

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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.

• Guidance to schools can be found can be found here.
• Instructions for returning travelers to self-observe for symptoms of COVID-19 are available are available here.
• For more information on COVID-19 in NH, visit its site here.
• For the latest information from the CDC, visit its site here.
• To access the state's COVID-19 data dashboard, click on this link here.
• To access the state's COVID-19 Interactive Map Dashboard, click on this link here.

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