The toll of deaths in New Hampshire from COVID-19 rose sharply over the weekend even as the number of new cases is starting to decline.
The state has also begun to perform antibody tests in large number. These can indicate whether a person has had COVID-19 in the past, even if they’re not currently infected, and are an important tool is deciding how to respond to the continuing pandemic.
So far the state or private labs have run 5,893 antibody tests, compared to more than 44,000 of what are known as PCR tests, which can determine if a person is currently sick with the disease.
From Friday through Sunday, the state said 21 more people died from COVID-19, raising the total to 172. Virtually all of the new deaths were people over 60 years old and most were in nursing homes or other community facilities. About two-thirds of the state’s deaths have been related to such facilities, and as of Friday there have no deaths reported in any otherwise healthy person under the age of 60.
Since the first week of May the number of new cases reported daily has stabilized at around 80 each day.
So far, about 10% of people with COVID-19 have been hospitalized, and 35% have recovered.
The city’s community centers and city auditorium will stay closed through at least early July, joining the long list of venues deciding when and whether to resume their schedules.
Terri Stevenson, fiscal supervisor of the city Parks and Recreation Department, made the announcement Monday in an email to groups that use the facilities. The Audi, as the auditorium is known, has hosted many of the region’s community arts groups for a century.
The announcement said the facilities would stay closed through July 6. Under the state’s current stay-at-home guidelines, large indoor performances cannot take place.
Lawsuit to end
A lawsuit seeking to end New Hampshire’s stay-at-home order will get a hearing in Superior Court.
The suit comes from Mary Rivard, who owns a hair salon in New London. Her complaint is against Gov. Chris Sununu’s recent declaration extending the stay-at-home order while allowing some businesses to reopen under new parameters.
Rivard says the guidelines for hair salons are illogical, too strict and could put her out of business. She says Sununu’s decrees violate her rights and exceed his authority, in part because, she says, the state is not in a true emergency due to the coronavirus.
Rivard wants damages and an emergency injunction to end the extended stay-at-home order.
This week, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge ordered a hearing scheduled in the case. The same court declined to hear – and then dismissed – a similar complaint against the state’s initial stay-at-home order in late March.
(Material from New Hampshire Public Radio’s Annie Ropeik was included in this report through the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.)