COVID's cruel toll: Almost 83 percent of deaths occur at elder care facilities

The state has ramped up testing, but still the outbreaks continue to occur. (NPR photo)

CONCORD - DHHS officials unveiled their new COVID-19 data dashboard last week, which shows up-to-date info including that almost 83 percent of the state's deaths attributed at least in part to COVID-19 occurred in elder care congregate living facilities like nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Meanwhile, DHHS officials announced 106 new positive test results for COVID-19 on Sunday, including one in Strafford County and three under the age of 18.

Two new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 451(10%) of 4,651 total cases.

DHHS also recorded three additional deaths related to COVID-19, a man from Hillsborough County and a man and a woman from Rockingham County, all 60 years or older.

The newly added dashboard also revealed that with such a large percentage of fatal outcomes in nursing homes, the disease's death rate outside that demographic is about .9 percent.

The state has ramped up testing of staff and residents at the state's elder care residences, as well as introduced "sentinel testing" which is when random staff and residents are tested on a regular basis to get a leg up with any possible new outbreaks, know as clusters, that have sprung up in many such facilities statewide.

New Hampshire 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Summary Report

NH Persons with COVID-19 4,651

Recovered 2,948 (63%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 245 (5%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 1,458

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 451 (10%)

Current Hospitalizations 96

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 4,000