New Jersey health officials on Thursday reported 2,503 more confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 101 additional deaths the day before restrictions on indoor meals, meetings and other venues were eased.
The seven-day average for confirmed positive tests dropped to 3,417, down 21% from the previous week and 22% from the previous month. That’s the lowest seven-day average for new cases since November 14.
Governor Phil Murphy announced on Wednesday that capacity limits for restaurants, gyms and other businesses will increase from 25% to 35% on Friday. The move takes place just before the Super Bowl weekend and also eliminates the curfew, ordering bars and restaurants to close at 10pm.
Murphy also announced that New Jersey will increase capacity limits for many closed public meetings from 25% to 35%, matching the new limits for restaurants and other businesses. Internal meetings such as ceremonies or religious services, wedding ceremonies, political activities and memorial or funeral services will remain at 150.
New Jersey has already lost 21,793 residents in the nearly 11-month outbreak – 19,606 confirmed deaths and 2,187 considered likely. The death toll in January was 2,377 confirmed fatalities, the highest number in any month since May.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 633,731 in more than 9.5 million PCR tests. There were also 75,365 positive antigen tests, that the state recently started reporting publicly. These cases are considered likely and health officials have warned that positive antigen tests can override confirmed PCR tests because they are sometimes administered together.
The transmission rate reported on Thursday fell to 0.94, after remaining at 0.95 for two consecutive days. Any number below 1 indicates that the outbreak is decreasing.
Hospitalizations fell slightly on Wednesday night to 2,971, the fifth consecutive day with less than 3,000 coronavirus patients in the state’s 71 hospitals.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
VACCINATIONS
So far, 876,529 doses of vaccines have been administered in New Jersey, according to the state panel. Of these, 715,226 were the first of the two doses that people will receive.
That’s more than 1.25 million doses the state has received from the federal government, according to a count by the Federal Centers for Disease Control.
This week’s winter storm forced all six of the state’s mega sites, as well as probably many other facilities that provide vaccines, to close for two days.
VACCINATIONS BY COUNTY
- ATLANTIC COUNTY – 26,607 doses administered
- BERGEN COUNTY – 95,035 doses administered
- BURLINGTON COUNTY – 44,692 doses administered
- CAMDEN COUNTY – 51,294 doses administered
- CAPE MAY COUNTY – 13,163 doses administered
- CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 13,347 doses administered
- ESSEX COUNTY – 68,818 doses administered
- GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 30,267 doses administered
- HUDSON COUNTY – 40,326 doses administered
- HUNTERDON COUNTY – 12,019 doses administered
- MERCER COUNTY – 24,306 doses administered
- MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 64,762 doses administered
- MONMOUTH COUNTY – 67,263 doses administered
- MORRIS COUNTY – 64,352 doses administered
- OCEAN COUNTY – 53,561 doses administered
- PASSAICO COUNTY – 40,693 doses administered
- SALEM COUNTY – 5,286 doses administered
- SOMERSET COUNTY – 34,127 doses administered
- SUSSEX COUNTY – 14,254 doses administered
- UNION COUNTY – 42,398 doses administered
- WARREN COUNTY – 8,531 doses administered
- UNKNOWN COUNTY – 29,074 doses administered
- OUT OF STATE – 32,354 doses administered
COUNTY BY COUNTY CASES (ranked by most new ones)
- Ocean County: 45,895 confirmed cases (353 new), 1,588 confirmed deaths (104 likely)
- Bergen County: 61,304 confirmed cases (295 new), 2,228 confirmed deaths (273 likely)
- Hudson County: 57,500 confirmed cases (223 new), 1,708 confirmed deaths (173 likely)
- Middlesex County: 60,933 confirmed cases (189 new), 1,733 confirmed deaths (221 likely)
- Monmouth County: 45,479 confirmed cases (162 new), 1,188 confirmed deaths (109 probable)
- Essex County: 60,824 confirmed cases (142 new), 2,304 confirmed deaths (257 probable)
- Burlington County: 28,414 confirmed cases (132 new), 643 confirmed deaths (49 probable)
- Morris County: 28,316 confirmed cases (131 new), 853 confirmed deaths (216 likely)
- Passaic County: 47,921 confirmed cases (129 new), 1,449 confirmed deaths (163 probable)
- Union County: 45,120 confirmed cases (124 new), 1,495 confirmed deaths (190 likely)
- Atlantic County: 17,637 confirmed cases (104 new), 470 confirmed deaths (24 likely)
- Camden County: 36,871 confirmed cases (101 new), 969 confirmed deaths (71 probable)
- Mercer County: 24,059 confirmed cases (90 new), 786 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
- Gloucester County: 19,427 confirmed cases (75 new), 484 confirmed deaths (22 probable)
- Cumberland County: 10,995 confirmed cases (71 new), 294 confirmed deaths (18 probable)
- Somerset County: 16,634 confirmed cases (60 new), 653 confirmed deaths (97 probable)
- Warren County: 5,624 confirmed cases (30 new), 185 confirmed deaths (16 likely)
- Salem County: 3,966 confirmed cases (27 new), 138 confirmed deaths (12 probable)
- Sussex County: 7,041 confirmed cases (18 new), 200 confirmed deaths (57 likely)
- Hunterdon County: 5,470 confirmed cases (15 new), 95 confirmed deaths (54 likely)
- Cape May County: 3,272 confirmed cases (14 new), 143 confirmed deaths (22 likely)
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 2,971 hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey’s 71 hospitals on Wednesday night. There are 15 less than the previous day, after two consecutive days of more hospitalized people.
This included 531 in critical or intensive care (12 less than the night before), with 362 in ventilators (six more).
There were also 335 patients with COVID-19 who were discharged on Wednesday, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel.
Hospitalizations have declined slowly in recent weeks. Monday marked the first time in eight days that the number of people hospitalized has increased. The state reached a high of more than 8,000 hospitalizations in April.
SCHOOL CASES
New Jersey officials have reported six new outbreaks of the virus in schools, bringing the total to 137 outbreaks and 655 cases among students, teachers and school staff, according to the latest figures.
Outbreaks – defined as cases in which it was confirmed that people contracted or transmitted the virus in the classroom or during academic activities – were recorded in all 21 municipalities, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel.
These figures do not include students or staff believed to have been infected outside the school or cases that cannot be confirmed as outbreaks within the school. Although the numbers continue to rise each week, Murphy said the school outbreak statistics remain below what state officials expected when schools reopened for face-to-face classes.
New Jersey defines school outbreaks as cases in which contact trackers determined that two or more students or school staff picked up or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at school.
AGE DISSOLUTION
Separated by age, those aged 30 to 49 constitute the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who contracted the virus (31.1%), followed by those aged 50-64 (23.5%), 18-29 (19, 3%), 65-79 (11.1%), 5-17 (7.9%), 80 and older (5.3%) and 0-4 (1.6%).
On average, the virus was more deadly for older residents, especially those with pre-existing illnesses. Almost half of deaths by COVID-19 in the state occurred among residents aged 80 or over (47.49%), followed by those aged 65-79 (32.56%), 50-64 (15.52%), 30 -49 (4.05%), 18-29 (0.36%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,713 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths occurred among residents and staff members in nursing homes and other long-term care institutions. That number has risen again at a more pronounced rate in recent months, with deaths in asylum in the state nearly tripling in December.
There are currently active outbreaks in 435 facilities, resulting in 7,338 active cases among residents and 7,929 among employees.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
As of Thursday morning, there were more than 104.5 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a count running by Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.27 million people died of coronavirus-related complications.
The United States reported the majority of cases, with more than 26.55 million, and the majority of deaths, with more than 450,800.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].