May 18 NH DHHS COVID-19 update: 57 new positive cases with 6 in Manchester


CONCORD, NH – On Monday, May 18, 2020, DHHS announced 57 new positive test results for COVID-19. There have now been 3,652 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.

Of those with complete information, there is one individual under the age of 18 and the rest are adults with 45 percent being female and 55 percent being male. The new cases reside in Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (10), Rockingham (9), Merrimack (3), Strafford (2), Cheshire (1), and Grafton (1) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (6) and Nashua (1). The county of residence is being determined for 24 new cases.

Nine new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 368 (10 percent) of 3,652 cases. Three of the new cases have no identified risk factors. Community-based transmission continues to occur in the State and has been identified in all counties. Most of the remaining cases have either had travel to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

NH Persons with COVID-19 (see 1 below) 3,652
Recovered 1,269 (35%)
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 172 (5%)
Total Current COVID-19 Cases 2,211
Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 368 (10%)
Current Hospitalizations 109
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (see 2 below) 49,474
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Antibody Laboratory Tests (see 2 below) 6,445
Persons with Specimens Submitted to NH PHL 17,226
Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL (see 3 below) 874
Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 3,675

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

2 Includes 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.

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


County Cases
Belknap 53
Carroll 44
Cheshire 48
Coos 4
Grafton 62
Hillsborough – Other 598
Hillsborough – Manchester 837
Hillsborough – Nashua 329
Merrimack 282
Rockingham 1113
Strafford 234
Sullivan 16
County TBD 32
Grand Total 3652

Number of Specimens Tested by Date of Report to NH DHHS

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Tests
Testing Laboratory 5/11 5/12 5/13 5/14 5/15 5/16 5/17 Daily Average
NH Public Health Laboratories 245 308 443 344 537 697 946 503
LabCorp 618 131 536 406 933 588 395 515
Quest Diagnostics 518 903 1240 674 304 816 501 708
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center 31 97 96 326 185 268 149 165
Other NH Hospital Laboratory 49 177 156 105 134 154 n/a** 129
Other Laboratory* 21 34 35 37 22 27 19 28
Total 1482 1650 2506 1892 2115 2550 2010 2029
Antibody Laboratory Tests
Testing Laboratory 5/11 5/12 5/13 5/14 5/15 5/16 5/17 Daily Average
LabCorp 51 3 62 59 76 43 39 48
Quest Diagnostics 286 728 1348 488 428 712 556 649
Other Laboratory* 2 17 7 5 18 20 11 11
Total 339 748 1417 552 522 775 606 708

* Includes out-of-state public health laboratories, out-of-state hospital laboratories, and other commercial laboratories not already listed in the table. ** Not available at the time of this report.