New Jersey health officials reported an additional 3,544 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday and 40 additional confirmed deaths as the state prepares to expand those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine next week to transport workers and other groups and the number of people fully vaccinated is approaching 1 million.
Governor Phil Murphy announced the latest update of the outbreak during an event in Elizabeth about the newly signed stimulus law. More than 2.8 million doses of vaccine were administered on Friday morning, including 947,000 who received both doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated.
The seven-day average for new confirmed cases is now 2,931, 2% more than the previous week, but 11% below the previous month.
The statewide transmission rate declined slightly to 1.02 from 1.03 on Thursday. Any number above 1 indicates that the outbreak is growing, with each new case leading to at least one other case. The rate was below 1 for weeks before it passed that mark last week.
New Jersey hospitals reported 1,884 patients on Thursday night. That figure has dropped more than half since the recent peak on December 22.
In all, New Jersey has already reported 736,065 confirmed cases of coronavirus in more than 11 million CRP tests in the year since the state reported its first case on March 4, 2020. There were also 94,783 positive antigen tests. 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 state of 9 million people reported 23,854 residents died of complications related to COVID-19, including 21,380 confirmed deaths and 2,474 deaths considered likely.
Health officials also reported on Wednesday the first case of the coronavirus variant initially identified in South Africa.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
VACCINATIONS BY COUNTY
- ATLANTIC COUNTY – 89,818 doses administered
- BERGEN COUNTY – 326,341 doses administered
- BURLINGTON COUNTY – 150,584 doses administered
- CAMDEN COUNTY – 170,028 doses administered
- CAPE MAY COUNTY – 41,810 doses administered
- CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 40,610 doses administered
- ESSEX COUNTY – 223,312 doses administered
- GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 105,947 doses administered
- HUDSON COUNTY – 137,963 doses administered
- HUNTERDON COUNTY – 39,490 doses administered
- MERCER COUNTY – 99,020 doses administered
- MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 230,385 doses administered
- MONMOUTH COUNTY – 219,716 doses administered
- MORRIS COUNTY – 205,618 doses administered
- OCEAN COUNTY – 177,185 doses administered
- PASSAICO COUNTY – 127,330 doses administered
- SALEM COUNTY – 19,417 doses administered
- SOMERSET COUNTY – 114,180 doses administered
- SUSSEX COUNTY – 45,258 doses administered
- UNION COUNTY – 148,410 doses administered
- WARREN COUNTY – 29,159 doses administered
- UNKNOWN COUNTY – 7,541 doses administered
- OUT OF STATE – 74,609 doses administered
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 1,884 hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in 71 New Jersey hospitals on Thursday night – 52 fewer than the night before, according to the state panel.
This included 401 in critical or intensive care (five more than the previous night), with 236 in ventilators (six more).
There were also 257 patients with COVID-19 were discharged on Thursday.
Hospitalizations peaked in more than 8,000 patients during the first wave of the pandemic in April.
SCHOOL CASES
New Jersey reported 173 outbreaks of coronavirus in schools, which resulted in 804 cases among students, teachers and school staff this school year, according to the state panel.
The state defines school outbreaks as cases in which contact trackers have determined that two or more students or school staff have captured or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at school. 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.
There are about 1.4 million public school students and teachers across the state, although teaching methods in the midst of the outbreak have varied, with some schools teaching in person, some using a hybrid format and others remaining entirely remote.
Murphy said on Monday that, with teachers soon eligible to receive the vaccine, authorities are “fully expecting” that New Jersey schools will return to personal learning “safely and responsibly” when the next school year begins. September, if not earlier.
AGE DISSOLUTION
Separated by age, those aged 30 to 49 constitute the highest percentage of New Jersey residents who caught the virus (31%), followed by those aged 50-64 (23.2%), 18-29 (19.6%) ), 65-79 (10.8%), 5-17 (8.5%), 80 and older (4.9%) and 0-4 (1.8%).
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 years or older (47.20%), followed by those 65-79 (32.79%), 50-64 (15.59%), 30- 49 (4.03%), 18-29 (0.37%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,923 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths occurred among residents and staff members in nursing homes and other long-term care institutions.
There are currently active outbreaks in 309 facilities, resulting in 6,099 active cases among residents and 6,214 among employees.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
As of Friday, there have been more than 118.6 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a count running by Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.63 million people died of coronavirus-related complications.
The United States reported the majority of cases, with more than 29.2 million, and the majority of deaths, with more than 530,800.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].