At least for today, Rochester has a clean bill of health viruswise!

State DHHS confirmed on Wednesday there are no current coronavirus cases in the city. (Courtesy photo)

CONCORD - For the first time in months, Rochester has no confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Just two days after The Rochester Voice published a story revealing the disparities between state and local numbers of current COVID-19 cases and concerns expressed by Emergency Operations Chief Mark Klose over the safety of first responders, DHHS numbers released on Wednesday show Rochester with no cases.

Klose, who also serves as Rochester's Fire Chief, has listed either one or no current cases in the city for at least the past two weeks, while state DHHS maps have consistently shown eight.

The disparity concerned Klose so much that on Tuesday he reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to find out why such a large disparity continued.

Klose's concerns were for the safety of Rochester's first responders, since he supplies them with a list every day of addresses where current COVID-19 cases reside. The information ensures that Rochester Police and Fire personnel are sure to wear appropriate PPE when visiting those addresses for service calls. Klose said that in the event of a straight fire call, firefighters don't necessarily wear PPE since when fighting a fire there is often little need for social distancing.

State epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said on Tuesday that he was not surprised that state and Rochester case numbers showed different numbers. He said it wasn't uncommon for DHHS not to report all cases to local officials due to privacy concerns, however he did note that EMS responders did have access to all addresses of COVID-19 cases.

It's not clear, however, whether Chan's assertion ensured those addresses may have been only available to EMS, not Police and Fire.

Neither Chan nor Klose were immediately available for comment today.

Meanwhile, state officials announced 36 new positive test results for COVID-19 on Wednesday, including three from Strafford County and six under the age of 18.

Three new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 24 currently being treated at health care facilities.

DHHS also announced two additional deaths related to COVID-19, a male resident of Carroll County under 60 and a male resident of Rockingham County 60 or older.

More NH COVID numbers

NH Persons with COVID-19 6,295

Recovered 5,341 (85%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 402 (6%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 552

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 680 (11%)

Current Hospitalizations 24

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 3,400