On the grimmest of days, a glimmer of hope

CONCORD - On a grim day that saw New Hampshire suffer its largest COVID-19 death toll, there was also a glimmer of hope as the newly confirmed cases continue to drop for the third straight day.

The four who died were all 60 years of age or older with no underlying medical conditions. Two were residents of Hillsborough County, one was a resident of Cheshire County, and one was a resident of Rockingham County. That brings New Hampshire's death toll from the coronavirus to 13, which represents 2 percent of confirmed cases. The expected fatality rate from COVID-19 has been represented as 1 percent.

The 32 new positive test results reported on Tuesday brought the state total to 747. DHHS officials said several of the new cases are still under investigation. After a high of new cases on Saturday of 81, there were only 48 on Sunday and 46 on Monday. Tuesday's total is now the third day in which a decrease was shown.

Tuesday's newly reported cases in which complete information is known are all adults with 53 percent female and 47 percent male.

The new cases reside in Rockingham (8), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (6), Merrimack (4), and Belknap (3) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (7) and Nashua (3). No new cases were from Strafford County where 46 cases have been recorded.

Three new COVID-19-related hospitalizations were reported; thus far, 108 (14%) of the 747 positive cases have been hospitalized. Twenty-one of the new cases - about two thirds - have no identified risk factors, indicating that community-based transmission continue to increase.

Rochester has recorded just one confirmed COVID-19 case, that of City Councilor Doug Lachance who has fully recovered after a brief stay at a Boston hospital last month.

Locally the numbers remain unchanged, with 10-19 in Dover, 1-4 in Rochester, Milton and Somersworth and 5-9 in Barrington.

In Maine there have been 519 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, with 99 hospitalized and 12 deaths (2%). York County on Tuesday reported a total of 115 confirmed cases, seven more than on Monday.

More NH state COVID numbers

NH Persons with COVID-19 747

Recovered 211 (28%)

Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 13 (2%)

Total Current COVID-19 Cases 523

Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 108 (14%)

Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 2,200