New Hampshire now has 55 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, after 11 more cases were reported Friday, some believed to have spread in the community.
Coos and Cheshire counties each received their first positive test results as of Friday, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. There are now just two counties in the state that haven't had a positive coronavirus test.
Four cases announced Friday don't come with obvious risk factors, health officials said, indicating that they are likely spreading through the community. On Thursday, State Epidemiologist Benjamin Chan had advised that his staff was seeing indications that the virus was spreading through the community, and on Friday officials said that's been seen in Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton, Merrimack and Rockingham counties, as well as the city of Manchester.
No one with the new coronavirus has yet died in New Hampshire. Three other New England states have reported coronavirus-related deaths: Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts.