NH Coronavirus: 7 More Deaths; 69 New Positive Cases Announced

CONCORD, NH — The State Joint Information Center announced Saturday that seven more people who contracted the new coronavirus have died — bringing the death count in New Hampshire to 60.

According to state health officials, the four women and three men were 60 years of age or older. Four lived in Strafford County while two lived in Hillsborough County. It is unknown at post time whether or not they had underlying or chronic health conditions like nearly all of the other people in the state who have died during the COVID-19 outbreak.

State health officials also announced 69 new patients infected with the virus bringing the state's count to 1,787.

A number of the cases are still being investigated. The state said two more children were infected with the virus while 55 percent of the other new cases were women and 45 percent men. Twenty-seven of the new cases lived in Hillsborough County, 26 live in Rockingham County, and eight live in Merrimack County.

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A number of the new patients, 14, were hospitalized bringing the total number to 238 people or 13 percent needing care — with 95 patients still hospitalized as of Saturday.

Only nine of the new cases had "no identified risk factors" with state health officials saying community-based transmission was still occurring in New Hampshire. More of the 60 other cases were either exposed to an infected person or had traveled to domestic or international locations.

Around 2,250 people are under public health monitoring while 16,964 have tested negative for the virus in the NH Public Health Laboratories, LabCorp, Quest, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and those sent to CDC prior to the state's testing capacity. Another 550 tests are pending at state labs with an unknown number of tests are pending at commercial labs.

Of the cases infected in New Hampshire, 777 or 43 percent have recovered from the virus, according to health officials.

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Six communities in the state now have 50 or more infections: Derry, Dover, Londonderry, Manchester with 377, Nashua with 159, and Salem. Totals from the other communities were not released by the health department. Seabrook became the 17th community in the state to report between 20 and 49 infected residents.

Clinical Care Advisory Committee Created

The health department also announced the creation of a new State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee, following the creation of the NH Crisis Standards of Care Plan, prior to a crisis period "to prevent unnecessary negative outcomes."

The guidelines will establish "recommendations for the triage of critical health care resources and ensure that fair, respectful, effective and efficient care is provided if the COVID-19 pandemic results in patient needs that exceed hospitals’ available resources," according to the state.

The committee consists of representatives from "key stakeholders" such as "state agency officials, legal and medical experts, risk management professionals, community representatives, ethicists, and leaders from health and medical stakeholders and associations."

The committee roster can be found here while the plan can be found here.

Stopping 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.
• Anybody who is told to self-quarantine and stay at home due to exposure to a person with confirmed or suspect COVID-19 needs to stay home and not go out into public places.
• If you are 60 years or older or have chronic medical conditions, you need to stay home and not go out.
• Avoid gatherings of 10 people or more.
• Employers need to move to telework as much as possible.
• There is increasing evidence that this virus can survive for hours or possibly even a few days on surfaces, so 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 when sick (i.e., social distancing).
• 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.

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