NH COVID-19 hospitalizations decrease
There were 217 Granite Staters hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, nearly 200 fewer hospitalizations compared to just two weeks ago in mid-January, according to the state’s latest set of data released Friday.”That’s still a very high number. It still speaks to the fact that COVID-19 is out there and the risk of COVID-19 is out there. But we are, particularly in the last couple weeks, seeing a downtrend in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19,” New Hampshire state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said.Wentworth Douglass Hospital said it currently has 26 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and have had less than 30 hospitalizations for the past few days — the first time they’ve reached that mark since the fall. “As of this (Sunday) morning, we were hovering around the 90% capacity mark at the hospital, which is far less and far more hopefully than the over 100% capacity we’ve been experiencing in the last couple of months,” said Martha Wassell, MPH, director of Infection Prevention at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.Hospitals across the state remain swamped with patients of all kinds and experts say this isn’t time to let up.”I think there is some evidence that community transmission may be decreasing the severity of disease with the omicron surge. It is decreasing and I think this is hopeful news, but it still requires people at this point in the pandemic to continue to take steps to protect themselves and prevent the spread of COVID-19 and it starts with vaccination and getting a booster,” Chan said. The COVID-19 death rate has also been decreasing over the past few weeks. Experts say they expect that trend to continue as well.However, they warn we never know when the next new variant is coming, nor do we know how severe its effects will be.
There were 217 Granite Staters hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, nearly 200 fewer hospitalizations compared to just two weeks ago in mid-January, according to the state’s latest set of data released Friday.
“That’s still a very high number. It still speaks to the fact that COVID-19 is out there and the risk of COVID-19 is out there. But we are, particularly in the last couple weeks, seeing a downtrend in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19,” New Hampshire state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said.
Wentworth Douglass Hospital said it currently has 26 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and have had less than 30 hospitalizations for the past few days — the first time they’ve reached that mark since the fall.
“As of this (Sunday) morning, we were hovering around the 90% capacity mark at the hospital, which is far less and far more hopefully than the over 100% capacity we’ve been experiencing in the last couple of months,” said Martha Wassell, MPH, director of Infection Prevention at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.
Hospitals across the state remain swamped with patients of all kinds and experts say this isn’t time to let up.
“I think there is some evidence that community transmission may be decreasing the severity of disease with the omicron surge. It is decreasing and I think this is hopeful news, but it still requires people at this point in the pandemic to continue to take steps to protect themselves and prevent the spread of COVID-19 and it starts with vaccination and getting a booster,” Chan said.
The COVID-19 death rate has also been decreasing over the past few weeks. Experts say they expect that trend to continue as well.
However, they warn we never know when the next new variant is coming, nor do we know how severe its effects will be.
