New Hampshire health officials said Tuesday there has been a slight uptick recently in the number of new daily cases of COVID-19, but they don't believe it's the start of a surge.>> Download the FREE WMUR appDr. Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist, said New Hampshire has been averaging about 30 new cases a day. Three to five weeks ago, the state was averaging 20-25 new daily cases.>> Latest coronavirus coverage from WMURThere were 33 new confirmed COVID-19 cases announced Tuesday, along with one new death and one new hospitalization. Chan said the Granite Stater who died was an older person who was not associated with a long-term care center, indicating that the coronavirus is still spreading in the community.>> COVID-19 in New Hampshire: Important informationChan said that overall, the numbers in New Hampshire continue to be low, compared to the spring and early summer. He said the percentage of tests coming back positive is also low, from 1-1.5%."We are going to see the numbers fluctuate up and down. That's expected," Chan said. We do not currently believe we're seeing another surge of COVID-19 in our state. If you look at the other numbers, specifically the percent positivity of PCR-based tests, it remains stable and low."The number of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 is also low, hovering in the low to mid-20s. Chan said there's no immediate danger of hospitals becoming overwhelmed.But while the numbers in New Hampshire are low, people are still dying of COVID-19, Chan said. He said that means it's important to continue good practices, including wearing cloth face coverings, washing hands frequently and avoiding large gatherings.Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette said she's seeing signs that the backlog in getting test results back is easing somewhat. LabCorp has reduced its turnaround time from five to six days to about three to four days, Shibinette said. Hospitals and some other health providers who test in-house can have much quicker turnaround times.Quest Diagnostics is experiencing a turnaround time of about a week, down from eight to nine days, Shibinette said. She said Quest has begun pool testing, in which several samples are tested at once, dramatically reducing testing times. If all the samples in a pool are negative, they can be cleared, but if there's a positive result, only then will the samples be tested individually.Asked about the state of emergency that has been in effect for nearly five months, Gov. Chris Sununu said it's unlikely to be lifted any time soon."I think about that all the time: When can we lift a state of emergency?" Sununu said. "My guess is it will likely be here in some form until we get a vaccine and maybe shortly thereafter, but we really don't know."The state's fixed testing sites were shut down Tuesday through Wednesday because of the impact of Tropical Storm Isaias, but she said anyone needing a test can contact their local health department, their doctor or a local health center.** Town-by-town COVID-19 case data: Interactive map | Text-only list **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