New Jersey officials reported 10 new outbreaks of coronavirus in schools, bringing the total to 131 outbreaks and 629 related cases among students, teachers and school staff, according to Tuesday’s latest figures.
Outbreaks – defined as cases in which infection or transmission of the virus was confirmed in the classroom or during academic activities – were recorded in all 21 municipalities, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel.
An outbreak at an Essex County school was related to 92 cases.
The names of the schools were not released to protect the privacy of children and school officials with positive results, state officials said.
Governor Phil Murphy said that social distance rules and security measures designed to keep students and teachers safe in schools continue to work for the most part. But schools “are certainly not hitting a thousand,” said the governor.
Murphy, who said he did not want to order schools to be closed across the state, continues to allow local school districts to decide for themselves whether to take classroom lessons or move on to virtual learning. Some have not yet taken face-to-face classes this school year.
The Newark school district, the state’s largest district, postponed returning to classrooms until April 12. Jersey City is extending totally remote education until April 21 and Trenton has postponed the return of face-to-face classes to May.
The Hillside school district has already announced plans to remain remote until the end of the school year.
Coronavirus case rates dropped last week in all six state-monitored New Jersey regions and used by school districts to assess risk in educational settings.
But for the ninth consecutive week, all 21 counties are orange, indicating “high” coronavirus activity, according to data released by the state’s Department of Health on Thursday.
New Jersey health officials on Tuesday reported another 4,117 confirmed cases and 133 additional deaths, as the state exceeded 600,000 confirmed cases on the same day, reaching 600,000 administered vaccinations.
The state’s seven-day average for new positive tests for confirmed COVID-19 is 4,416, down 13% from the previous week and 3% from the previous month, as the numbers continue to show signs of the second wave of the pandemic starting to fall.
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The total number of school cases per county are:
- Bergen County: 29 confirmed outbreaks and 121 associated cases
- Camden County: 13 confirmed outbreaks and 66 associated cases
- Salem County: 13 confirmed outbreaks and 43 associated cases
- Cape May County: 8 confirmed outbreaks and 23 associated cases
- Burlington County: 7 confirmed outbreaks and 24 associated cases
- Gloucester County: 7 outbreaks confirmed and 41 associated cases
- Monmouth County: 7 confirmed outbreaks and 21 linked cases
- Cumberland County: 6 confirmed outbreaks and 14 associated cases
- Passaic County: 6 confirmed outbreaks and 27 associated cases
- Atlantic County: 5 confirmed outbreaks and 14 associated cases
- Ocean County: 5 confirmed outbreaks and 42 associated cases
- Sussex County: 5 confirmed outbreaks and 13 associated cases
- Warren County: 5 confirmed outbreaks and 12 associated cases
- Mercer County: 3 outbreaks confirmed and 14 associated cases
- Somerset County: 3 outbreaks confirmed and 9 associated cases
- Hudson County: 2 outbreaks confirmed and 10 linked cases
- Hunterdon County: 2 confirmed outbreaks and 7 linked cases
- Morris County: 2 confirmed outbreaks and 10 linked cases
- Essex County: 1 outbreak confirmed and 92 associated cases
State totals do not include cases linked to school sports teams or cases in which contact trackers were unable to conclude whether students and teachers contracted the virus in their schools.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].