New Hampshire increases virus testing capacity
CONCORD — New Hampshire is entering into a partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for it to take over surveillance testing for the coronavirus at long-term care facilities to help increase the state's testing capacity and control costs, Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette said Thursday.
The transition will begin next week, Shibinette said.
"What we've seen over the last couple of weeks is as the national picture of COVID changes, it impacts our turnaround times at our national labs," she said. "They are great partners. ... but right now, their resources are going into different areas of the country. We will continue to use our commercial lab partners, but as much as we can, we will continue to try to build capacity within New Hampshire," she said.
Shibinette also said patients going into the hospital for non-coronavirus reasons can now have a designated person at their bedside.
"If you are going to the hospital or have a family member going to the hospital, either the emergency room or in-patient, you will be asked now to designate a 'support person' — that's a person that can advocate for you, or just be there for emotional support, be a caregiver," she said.
Hospitals will have the flexibility on visitations, she said.
Other coronavirus developments in New Hampshire:
Equity report
Providing more coronavirus-related data on race and ethnicity and promoting testing awareness among high-risk populations, especially people of color, are among the recommendations of a group working on strategies to address disproportionate impacts of the pandemic in New Hampshire.
The Governor's COVID-19 Equity Response Team, established in May, released its first report Wednesday. It recommended data should be included that can be used by service providers and community members to understand the impact to their specific communities. The report also recommended data should include indicators of quality and spread of contact tracing in affected communities; testing ability in those communities; and data arranged by race in ethnicity in those categories.
It also recommends mandating mask use in "high-infection rate areas and high-risk situations or environments."
Other recommendations are grouped under categories such as organizational cultural effectiveness; equitable data practices; and increasing knowledge about communities at risk for experiencing disparities.
Unemployment
More than 3,000 initial unemployment claims were filed in New Hampshire last week, up by several hundred from the previous week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The latest number covers new claims through July 18. The number of new claims in a week peaked at 39,000 in early April and has since been declining.
The numbers
As of Thursday, 6,318 people had tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, an increase of 25 cases. Three new deaths were announced, for a total of 405. The people who died were two men and one woman, all Hillsborough County residents age 60 or older.
About 82% of all deaths have been in long-term care facilities.
State health officials reported 5,345 people are confirmed as recovered (about 85% of all cases). A total of 149,792 tests have been conducted.
One new hospitalized case was identified for a total of 681 (10.8% of all cases) with 26 people currently hospitalized among 568 active cases.
Of the new cases with complete information two are under age 18 with 76% female and 24% male. The new cases are people who live in Rockingham (7), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (6), Carroll (1), Grafton (1), and Merrimack (1) counties, and Manchester (8) and Nashua (1).
In the Seacoast, DHHS lists 7 active cases in Exeter, up from the 6 reported Wednesday. Elsewhere in the Seacoast, DHHS reports 9 active cases in Durham, and 5 each in Dover and Somersworth. The rest of the towns have zero to 5 cases, according to DHHS.
Statewide, Goffstown has the most active cases at 109, followed by Manchester (78) and Nashua (65). Derry has 28.
SEACOAST CORONAVIRUS NEWS IS FREE:This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers. Sign up for our free daily or breaking email newsletters and Seacoast Health newsletter to stay informed. Please support local journalism by subscribing to Seacoastonline.com or by subscribing to Fosters.com.