CONCORD, NH – On Thursday, December 31, 2020, DHHS announced 848 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 5.7%. Today’s results include 479 people who tested positive by PCR test and 369 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 5,919 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today:

12/25: 69 new cases today, for an updated total of 357 cases
12/26: 39 new cases today, for an updated total of 534 cases
12/27: 48 new cases today, for an updated total of 586 cases
12/28: 1 new case today, for an updated total of 559 cases
12/29: 486 new cases today, for an updated total of 813 cases
12/30: 205 new cases

Test results for previous days are still being processed and the total number of new positives for those days are not yet complete. Updated case counts for prior days will be reflected on the COVID-19 interactive dashboard.

Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates. Of those with complete information, there are one hundred and eighteen individuals under the age of 18 and the rest are adults with 53% being female and 47% being male. The new cases reside in Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (193), Rockingham (162), Merrimack (110), Strafford (101), Belknap (33), Coos (23), Carroll (22), Cheshire (10), Sullivan (10), and Grafton (9) counties, and in the cities of Nashua (68) and Manchester (60). The county of residence is being determined for forty-seven new cases.

Community-based transmission continues to occur in the State and has been identified in all counties. 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 has also announced eighteen additional deaths related to COVID-19. We offer our sympathies to the family and friends.

1 male resident of Belknap County, 60 years of age and older
1 male resident of Carroll County, 60 years of age and older
1 female resident of Cheshire County, 60 years of age and older
4 female residents of Hillsborough County, 60 years of age and older
1 female resident of Hillsborough County, younger than 60 years of age
4 male residents of Hillsborough County, 60 years of age and older
2 female residents of Merrimack County, 60 years of age and older
1 male resident of Merrimack County, younger than 60 years of age
1 female resident of Strafford County, 60 years of age and older
1 male resident of Strafford County, 60 years of age and older
1 male resident of Sullivan County, 60 years of age and older

There are currently 317 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19. In New Hampshire since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 44,028 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed with 902 (2%) of those having been hospitalized.

Current Situation in New Hampshire

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report
(updated December 31, 2020, 9:00 AM)

NH Persons with COVID-19	44,028
Recovered	37,350 (85%)
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19	759 (2%)
Total Current COVID-19 Cases	5,919
Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19	902 (2%)
Current Hospitalizations	317
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)2	512,286
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Antibody Laboratory Tests2	34,6712
Persons with Specimens Submitted to NH PHL	63,237
Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL3	843

1Includes specimens positive at any laboratory and those confirmed by CDC confirmatory testing.

2Includes specimens tested at the NH Public Health Laboratories (PHL), LabCorp, Quest, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and those sent to CDC prior to NH PHL testing capacity.

3Includes specimens received and awaiting testing at NH PHL. Does not include tests pending at commercial laboratories.

COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Update

Among the 64,755 doses of vaccine allocated to New Hampshire, 47,645 doses have been distributed to vaccination sites across the state and 21,126 doses have been administered to date. New Hampshire expects to receive 17,175 additional doses next week, which will be allocated to the long-term care pharmacy partnership program, hospitals, Regional Public Health Networks, and the state-managed fixed sites.

Vaccine Doses Allocated, Distributed, and Administered by Vaccination Site through Wednesday December 30, 2020

Vaccination Sites	Doses Available for Site to Order¹	Doses Ordered and Delivered²	Doses Administered to Patients
Hospitals	23,120	18,935	13,366
Long-term care pharmacy partnership program*	24,375	14,625	5,065
State-managed fixed sites	14,360	14,260	2,253
Regional public health network mobile sites	1,420	500	153
Other	1,500	300	289
Total	64,775	48,620	21,126

¹ Doses available for site to order are the number of doses that have been made available to the site to order.

² Doses distributed are the number of doses that the site has ordered and received at their location. Orders are based on clinic schedules and average uptake of vaccine by participants.

* The LTCF PPP is a federal program that sends pharmacies into LTCF to vaccinate residents and staff. In order for LTCF to access this program in New Hampshire, NH DHHS was required by the CDC to allocate a fixed number of doses to guarantee that pharmacies would have enough vaccine to complete vaccination administration within a four-week time frame. This program remains on schedule as originally anticipated and will be continually monitored to ensure completeness.

Phase 1a Allocation Summary through Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Phase 1a Groups	Doses allocated to date	Estimated persons in group	% of needed amount allocated
Hospital health workers – High risk	19,270	20,694	93%
Hospital health workers – Moderate risk	0	5,417	0%
Ambulatory care health workers – High risk**	13,520	34,201	40%
Ambulatory care health workers – Moderate risk	0	3,963	0%
Long-term care facilities in PPP	24,375	33,150	74%
Long-term care facilities not in PPP	980	980	100%
First responders	5,010	12,890	39%
Public health workers***	520	520	100%
State reserve for outbreaks or emergency needs	1,100	1,100	100%
Total	64,775	112,915	57%

** Includes outpatient healthcare providers, dentists, home health care, K-12 school nurses, funeral services, retail pharmacists, corrections medical personnel, and homeless quarantine/isolation shelter personnel, etc.

*** Includes public health response personnel with contact with cases, contacts, or conduct testing or vaccine administration.

Number of Tests Conducted by Date of Report to NH DHHS

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Tests
Testing Laboratory	12/24	12/25	12/26	12/27	12/28	12/29	12/30	Daily Average
NH Public Health Laboratories	1,585	0	708	529	413	575	746	651
LabCorp	1,652	370	607	2,341	996	1,551	543	1,151
Quest Diagnostics	1,425	1,412	776	1,011	431	576	488	874
Mako Medical	529	695	65	69	0	262	1,169	398
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center	823	586	115	322	295	859	4	429
Other NH Hospital Laboratory	428	194	432	352	440	621	467	419
Other Laboratory*	2,175	483	1,129	820	1,340	1,805	2,016	1,395
University of New Hampshire**	11	0	1	0	1,206	1,070	805	442
Total	8,628	3,740	3,833	5,444	5,121	7,319	6,238	5,760
Antibody Laboratory Tests
Testing Laboratory	12/24	12/25	12/26	12/27	12/28	12/29	12/30	Daily Average
LabCorp	18	10	1	3	0	27	1	9
Quest Diagnostics	28	2	0	0	11	25	37	15
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center	3	0	5	0	6	12	0	4
Other Laboratory*	6	0	15	0	12	2	6	6
Total	55	12	21	3	29	66	44	33

* Includes out-of-state public health laboratories, out-of-state hospital laboratories, and other commercial laboratories not already listed in the table.

Note: Patients who had both antibody and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are accounted for in both tables.

** Includes tests conducted at the UNH laboartory and their contracted lab Veritas.

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