New Jersey health officials reported an additional 3,047 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday and 56 additional confirmed deaths as the state prepares for additional reopening steps next week with a 50% increase in capacity for closed businesses, including restaurants, bars, gyms, casinos and personal care services in salons and spas.
Governor Phil Murphy announced the latest updates during a coronavirus meeting in Trenton. In addition to changes in business, the number of people allowed to meet indoors will increase from 10 to 25 and the limit on outdoor meetings will double to 50 people from March 19.
The seven-day average for new confirmed cases is now 2,818, down 4% from the previous week and 15% from the previous month.
The statewide transmission rate declined slightly to 1.04 from 1.05 on Tuesday. 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 surpassed that mark on Thursday.
Hospitalizations increased by the second day, with 1,961 patients on Tuesday night, although it has declined by almost half since a recent peak on December 22.
In all, New Jersey has already reported 729,403 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 93,414 positive antigen tests. These cases are considered likely, and health officials have warned that positive antigen tests may override confirmed PCR tests because they are sometimes administered together.
The state of 9 million people reported 23,768 residents died of complications related to COVID-19, including 21,294 confirmed deaths and 2,474 deaths considered likely. The probable deaths, which are reviewed weekly, increased by 77 deaths on Wednesday.
“The number of victims of this virus has been impressive,” said Murphy.
New Jersey vaccination sites administered 2.67 million doses on Wednesday morning. This includes 1.77 million first doses and 899,000 second doses. Vaccination sites in New Jersey began administering Johnson & Johnson’s unique vaccine last week.
New Jersey is preparing to greatly expand eligibility for the vaccine in the coming weeks, with transportation workers on March 15 and several other essential workers, including restaurant workers, on March 29. The state is also adding 11 pre-existing conditions to the eligibility list on March 15. Educators and daycare centers were originally scheduled to be eligible from March 15, but this was discreetly anticipated last week and they are now eligible.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
VACCINATIONS BY COUNTY
- ATLANTIC COUNTY – 86,251 doses administered
- BERGEN COUNTY – 306,748 doses administered
- BURLINGTON COUNTY – 140,314 doses administered
- CAMDEN COUNTY – 158,106 doses administered
- CAPE MAY COUNTY – 40,181 doses administered
- CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 37,267 doses administered
- ESSEX COUNTY – 210,840 doses administered
- GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 99,167 doses administered
- HUDSON COUNTY – 128,263 doses administered
- HUNTERDON COUNTY – 36,343 doses administered
- MERCER COUNTY – 89,247 doses administered
- MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 216,582 doses administered
- MONMOUTH COUNTY – 207,063 doses administered
- MORRIS COUNTY – 196,265 doses administered
- OCEAN COUNTY – 168,451 doses administered
- PASSAICO COUNTY – 119,116 doses administered
- SALEM COUNTY – 17,781 doses administered
- SOMERSET COUNTY – 107,117 doses administered
- SUSSEX COUNTY – 42,799 doses administered
- UNION COUNTY – 137,344 doses administered
- WARREN COUNTY – 26,966 doses administered
- UNKNOWN COUNTY – 27,430 doses administered
- OUT OF STATE – 71,839 doses administered
COUNTY BY COUNTY CASES (ranked by most new ones)
- Essex County: 69,973 confirmed cases (302 new), 2,440 confirmed deaths (278 probable)
- Bergen County: 72,142 confirmed cases (301 new), 2,369 confirmed deaths (287 probable)
- Monmouth County: 54,327 confirmed cases (293 new), 1,303 confirmed deaths (130 probable)
- Ocean County: 54,287 confirmed cases (289 new), 1,775 confirmed deaths (140 probable)
- Middlesex County: 70,096 confirmed cases (268 new), 1,901 confirmed deaths (239 likely)
- Hudson County: 66,152 confirmed cases (244 new), 1,854 confirmed deaths (193 likely)
- Passaic County: 53,840 confirmed cases (203 new), 1,541 confirmed deaths (183 likely)
- Morris County: 33,741 confirmed cases (188 new), 912 confirmed deaths (232 likely)
- Union County: 50,711 confirmed cases (149 new), 1,597 confirmed deaths (211 probable)
- Burlington County: 31,871 confirmed cases (120 new), 705 confirmed deaths (58 likely)
- Somerset County: 19,517 confirmed cases (112 new), 686 confirmed deaths (104 probable)
- Gloucester County: 21,699 confirmed cases (102 new), 528 confirmed deaths (30 probable)
- Camden County: 40,430 confirmed cases (101 new), 1,100 confirmed deaths (95 probable)
- Mercer County: 26,957 confirmed cases (97 new), 846 confirmed deaths (42 probable)
- Atlantic County: 20,403 confirmed cases (60 new), 555 confirmed deaths (32 probable)
- Sussex County: 8,348 confirmed cases (35 new), 211 confirmed deaths (65 probable)
- Warren County: 6,676 confirmed cases (30 new), 198 confirmed deaths (25 likely)
- Hunterdon County: 6,624 confirmed cases (25 new), 111 confirmed deaths (54 likely)
- Cumberland County: 12,461 confirmed cases (21 new), 350 confirmed deaths (36 probable)
- Salem County: 4,336 confirmed cases (13 new), 154 confirmed deaths (12 probable)
- Cape May County: 3,816 confirmed cases (11 new), 158 confirmed deaths (28 probable)
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 1,961 hospitalized patients with confirmed cases (1,823) or suspected COVID-19 in 71 New Jersey hospitals on Tuesday night – 66 more than the night before, according to the state panel.
This included 408 in critical or intensive care (10 more than the previous night), with 235 in ventilators (11 less).
There were also 227 patients with COVID-19 were discharged on Tuesday and 244 hospitalized.
Hospitalizations peaked in more than 8,000 patients during the first wave of the pandemic in April.
SCHOOL CASES
New Jersey reported 160 outbreaks of coronavirus in schools, which resulted in 765 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 determined that two or more students or school staff captured or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at the 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 Wednesday, there were more than 117.7 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a count running by Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.6 million people died of coronavirus-related complications.
The United States reported the majority of cases, with more than 29 million, and the majority of deaths, with more than 527,700.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].