Board of Aldermen 01-12-2021 Page 7
So over the past 14 days we have had 953.4 new cases per every 100,000 people which is up about 175
standardized cases from this time last week. Then we have our percent positivity rate which is a good
indicator of the general spread of disease in the community at large. We are considered substantial in this
category as well. So in the past week there has been 489 tests conducted, on average, each day in
Nashua and 62 of those tests have been positive each day which gives us the percent positivity rate of
12.8% which is up about 1 percentage point from last week.
And then we have our new hospitalizations which show us quickly hospitals are being burdened by
disease. We are considered minimal in regards to new hospitalizations. In the past two weeks we have
had 2.2 new hospitalizations per 100,000 people which is up about 1 standard hospitalization since last
week.
Now | will move us into talking more about the impacts that we have seen of COVID-19 on the individual
and then Bobbie will talk about the family and community impacts. So we contact about 70% of Nashua
cases and provide them education or do a complete disease investigation. And when we are conducting
these calls we learn a lot about the individual impact that COVID-19 has. So first there are the
physiological impacts, you know, people are sick and uncomfortable, many people have difficulty breathing
and severe body pain and symptoms can last anywhere from two days to four months. We have had
people who have lost their sense of taste or smell for months at a time and that doesn’t sound like such a
serious symptom but it has a huge impact on people’s health and wellbeing. You know, they are not able
to taste their food, they can’t smell if their breakfast is burning and it is one of those symptoms that is
persistent and does have a huge day-to-day impact on people’s lives.
And then we have the financial impact; people are out of work for the extent of their isolation or quarantine
period. And then there’s the cost of hospital or medical bills. And if one of your family members
unfortunately passes away from this illness, there is the unexpected funeral costs on top of those medical
and hospital bills. And then we have the psychological impacts where cases and their families are worried,
anxious, scared and can quickly become down and depressed and feel isolated and alone.
Director Bagley
So as Angela has talked about the individual impact, we know that individuals also make up part of a family
unit. So with COVID being at such substantial levels, the impact on our families is great. And the greater
community spread (inaudible someone interrupting).
Sorry about that. When there is substantial spread in the community, it also creates greater opportunities
for family members when they are in the community involved in different activities it could be going to small
events, parties, we just came off of a couple of nice Holiday Celebrations. It allows for the individuals to be
exposed and then once they are exposed, it does impact their families. And from some of the — just the
work that we’ve done and some of the studies that we have looked at — the impact of the spread in the
household can be up to 40% or higher especially if there are multiple positive cases in the family or
resulting in multiple positive cases in the families.
In one of the studies that | read that percentage rate can go up as high as 53%. And just from some of the
investigations that we have been conducting, there have been up to 100% in some families. So that
creates a strain and also some of the physiological factors or psychological factors that Angela talked
about, not only on the individual but also on an entire household. When this does occur, not all of the
members if they need to isolate or quarantine, are able to continue working from home in fact they have to
be off, so that does decrease their work hours, it decreases their days from work which also then increases
their loss in wages which will also then impact their ability to be able to pay their bills.
We have also seen from our investigation that in multi-generational homes there’s also difficulty or
challenges with being able to isolate in their homes or to be able to quarantine from one another. This also
increases the opportunity for there to be spread in infection in the homes as well.
