From the depths of a dark winter, 2021 emerged into the light with hope, as the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations became available. First shots gave way to seconds, and by the time summer rolled around, things appeared to be heading toward some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy.
Restaurants and businesses reopened their doors, people began gathering in groups and concerts, plays and live entertainment returned as well.
However, while great efforts to combat the ever-evolving coronavirus were made and great strides were taken, local vaccination rates languished, with Rindge and New Ipswich among the lowest in the state when numbers were first released in June.
Once summer gave way to fall, students returned to classrooms, and, while minimal, in-school transmission returned as well. Booster shots became available, and provided even more confidence and comfort, but the Omicron variant hit just in time for the holidays, sending COVID case numbers skyward around the state.
The transmission rate with the apparently highly contagious variant is as high as it’s ever been. On Dec. 18, New Hampshire reported 1,810 new cases, the most reported in a single day for the entirety of the pandemic. Most who have been fully vaccinated and/or boosted have reported only minor symptoms from the latest wave, but many people weren’t so lucky. Currently, New Hampshire’s daily COVID death rate is the highest it has been since last December, when another post-holiday spike ripped through the state. Last week, an average of just over nine New Hampshire residents died of COVID each day, bringing the state’s death toll to 1,931.
Still, the light at the end of the tunnel is looming. About 56% percent of New Hampshire’s population is vaccinated; children ages 5 to 11 have become eligible for the vaccine and a second booster shot appears to be on the horizon for the fully vaccinated.