May 23 NH DHHS COVID-19 update: 77 new positive cases with 25 in Manchester; 4 deaths reported

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CONCORD, NH – On Saturday, May 23, 2020, DHHS announced 77 new positive test results for COVID-19. There have now been 4,089 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire. Several cases are still under investigation. Additional information from ongoing investigations will be incorporated into future COVID-19 updates.

Of those with complete information, there are three individuals under the age of 18 and the rest are adults with 55 percent being female and 45 percent being male. The new cases reside in Rockingham (19), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (18), Merrimack (6), and Strafford (4), Belknap (1), Grafton (1), and Sullivan (1) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (25) and Nashua (2).

Eleven new hospitalized cases were identified for a total of 419 (10 percent) of 4,089 cases. Thirteen of the new cases have no identified risk factors. Community-based transmission continues to occur in the State and has been identified in all counties. Most of the remaining cases have either had travel to domestic or international locations or have had close contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

DHHS has also announced four additional deaths related to COVID-19.

  • 2 male residents of Hillsborough County, 60 years of age and older
  • 1 adult male resident of Hillsborough County, less than 60 years of age
  • 1 female resident of Hillsborough County, 60 years of age and older

County Cases
Belknap 55
Carroll 46
Cheshire 51
Coos 4
Grafton 69
Hillsborough – Other 679
Hillsborough – Manchester 1000
Hillsborough – Nashua 370
Merrimack 312
Rockingham 1218
Strafford 253
Sullivan 17
County TBD 15
Grand Total 4,089

NH Persons with COVID-19 (see 1 below) 4,089
Recovered 2,197 (54%)
Deaths Attributed to COVID-19 208 (5%)
Total Current COVID-19 Cases 1,684
Persons Who Have Been Hospitalized for COVID-19 419 (10%)
Current Hospitalizations 93
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (see 2 below) 59,539
Total Persons Tested at Selected Laboratories, Antibody Laboratory Tests (see 2 below) 9,062
Persons with Specimens Submitted to NH PHL 20,729
Persons with Test Pending at NH PHL (see 3 below) 1,844
Persons Being Monitored in NH (approximate point in time) 4,100

1 Includes specimens positive at any laboratory and those confirmed by CDC confirmatory testing.

2 Includes specimens tested at the NH Public Health Laboratories (PHL), LabCorp, Quest, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and those sent to CDC prior to NH PHL testing capacity.

3 Includes specimens received and awaiting testing at NH PHL. Does not include tests pending at commercial laboratories.


Number of Specimens Tested by Date of Report to NH DHHS

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Tests
Testing Laboratory 5/16 5/17 5/18 5/19 5/20 5/21 5/22 Daily Average
NH Public Health Laboratories 700 970 328 425 470 738 598 604
LabCorp 588 395 318 507 502 459 256 432
Quest Diagnostics 816 501 574 735 845 1086 502 723
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center 268 149 56 31 194 154 155 144
Other NH Hospital Laboratory 154 122 198 239 227 191 n/a** 189
Other Laboratory* 27 19 16 41 20 34 39 28
Total 2553 2156 1490 1978 2258 2662 1550 2092
Antibody Laboratory Tests
Testing Laboratory 5/16 5/17 5/18 5/19 5/20 5/21 5/22 Daily Average
LabCorp 43 39 0 6 35 94 47 38
Quest Diagnostics 712 556 166 628 535 640 425 523
Other Laboratory* 20 11 6 3 11 9 12 10
Total 775 606 172 637 581 743 484 571

* Includes out-of-state public health laboratories, out-of-state hospital laboratories, and other commercial laboratories not already listed in the table. ** Not available at the time of this report.


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NH Department of Health and Human Services