Harrison Thorp 7:52 a.m.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 8:00 am
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The first signs that the nation and New Hampshire could be rounding the corner on COVID-19 are beginning to unfold, first with the nation's top infectious disease expert declaring on Monday that Americans could acquire herd immunity by the spring followed by New Hampshire seeing its first vaccinations today at an Elliot Hospital ceremony in Manchester.
DHHS numbers also show that for the first time since a Dec 4 spike, the number of hospitalizations have begun to stabilize somewhat the past several days.
Locally, current case numbers go as follows: 88 in Rochester, 136 in Dover, 46 in Somersworth, 30 in Barrington, 26 in Strafford, 26 in Farmington, 18 in Strafford and 15 in Milton.
Meanwhile, DHHS announced 919 new positive test results for COVID-19, for an uptick in the daily PCR test positivity rate of 8.8 percent.
Of those with complete information, there are one 127 individuals under the age of 18 58 in Strafford County.
DHHS also announced one additional death related to COVID-19, a man over 60 from Merrimack County.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC on Monday that the United States could achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 by "the end of the second quarter 2021" after vaccines are more widely deployed.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that, depending on the "efficiency of the rollout," the Covid-19 vaccines should be widely available to most Americans by spring.
Depending on whether enough people can be persuaded to get inoculated, he said, it could be "sometime by the end of March, the beginning of April, that the normal healthy man and woman in the street who has no underlying conditions would likely get it."
NH COVID-19 Summary Report
NH Persons with COVID-191 31,875
Recovered 24,519 (77%)
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 604 (2%)
Total Current COVID-19 Cases 6,752
Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 862 (3%)
Current Hospitalizations 256