State sees one of its heaviest case counts of pandemic, but positivity rate stays low

CONCORD - DHHS announced on Saturday what could be a record 112 new positive test results across the state for COVID-19, but as state epidemiologist Benjamin Chan said on Thursday, the test positivity rate continues to be low at around 1 percent.

Saturday's total included 21 minors and four from Strafford County.

That means the total cases identified for the past seven days is 552.

Daily positive case numbers haven't been this high since late May when 107 cases on May 29 and 106 on May 31 were identified, according to DHHS figures.

"The last couple of weeks, we have been reporting, on average, between 70 to 80 new infections per day," Chan said on Thursday. "And the rate of new infections in the last 14 days is 73 total infections per 100,000 population. Now, that's the rate. That also was up compared to last week, when we announced a rate of 53 infections per 100,000 population over the prior 14 days. But the test positivity rate is still low at 1 percent."

Meanwhile, for whatever reason the state's DHHS website is partially down today, including its COVID-19 dashboard, Interactive analytics and case maps. Two phone calls made to the state's 2-1-1 COVID hotline to inquire about the website were picked up then dropped while a third went automatically to a music hold which went on for some six minutes before we ended the call.

The good news is no new hospitalized cases were reported on Saturday leaving the current total at 18.

Of those with complete risk information, most of the cases are either associated with an outbreak setting or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

DHHS also announced a single additional death related to COVID-19, a Hillsborough County woman over 60.

More NH numbers

NH Persons with COVID-191 9,625

Recovered 8,222 (85%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 466 (5%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 937

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 761 (8%)

Current Hospitalizations 18

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 4,000