New Jersey on Friday reported another 5,791 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 112 more confirmed deaths from COVID-19 when the state opened its first two vaccination mega-sites.
While statewide hospitalizations for the virus fell for the second consecutive day, the transmission rate increased to 1.02, returning above the key benchmark of 1, which indicates that the outbreak is expanding for the first time in almost three weeks. .
The latest update comes a day after Garden State reported 6,314 new cases – the maximum it has announced in a single day – as officials prepare for a possible wave of high numbers after Christmas and the New Year.
The state’s seven-day average for new confirmed cases increased to 4,851 on Friday, up 21% from the previous week, but down 5% from the previous month, when the state recorded an increase in cases post-Thanksgiving. The state reached its average peak of seven days with 5,151 cases on December 9.
“We’re not out of it yet,” Governor Phil Murphy said at a news conference on Friday morning, after visiting the vaccination “mega-site” that opened in Rockaway. “My fear is that the next few weeks will be really difficult. But there is no doubt that there is light at the end of the tunnel. “
Hospitalizations across the state dropped to 3,669 patients with confirmed cases of suspected COVID-19 on Thursday night. This is much lower than the more than 8,000 patients hospitalized at the peak of the first wave in April. The number fell on Wednesday after four days of increases.
But the statewide transmission rate increased for the fourth consecutive day, to 1.02, from 0.99 a day earlier. The gradual increase in the transmission rate in the past few days indicates that the expansion is accelerating after falling in previous weeks.
The positivity rate for tests performed on Sunday, the most recent day available, was 15.47% based on 20,282 tests. Positivity rates tend to be higher on holidays and weekends, when fewer tests are performed, on average. The positivity rate, however, has been at 10% or more since December 22.
New Jersey has reported 516,608 positive CRP tests of more than 8.1 million administered since its first case was announced on March 4. The state also reported 72,123 probable cases of rapid antigen tests, including 1,376 new positive tests for antigens announced on Friday. The results of the antigens were made publicly available for the first time on Monday, but authorities have warned that these cases may override more reliable PCR tests, which are sometimes administered together.
The state of 9 million people reported 19,756 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic – 17,697 confirmed and 2,059 likely deaths.
New Jersey reported 578 confirmed deaths in the first eight days of the month. The state announced 1,890 deaths in December, the highest in a month since May.
VACCINATIONS
New Jersey received 572,250 doses of coronavirus vaccines and administered 155,458 on Friday morning, according to an ongoing count by the Federal Centers for Disease Control.
State officials emphasize that there may be a lower count due to reporting delays and New Jersey, like other states, depends on the federal government for its supply.
The state opened its first vaccination mega-marshes in Rockaway and Sewell on Friday. Four more are expected to open in the next few days.
But officials said supplies were short and the state was administering the vaccine in stages, with only health professionals, people living in communities and police and firefighters currently the only ones qualified to receive vaccines. Officials said the doses should be available to the general public in April or May.
New Jersey expects to vaccinate 70% of its adult residents – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
Asked on Friday whether the state’s deployment is proceeding as planned, Murphy said: “We don’t have the supply of feds we need. In the context of a great imbalance between supply and demand, I like everything we do within the state to prepare ourselves. But they don’t have the doses they could use at full capacity. … This is going to take some time. “
COUNTY NUMBERS BY COUNTY (sorted by the youngest)
- Monmouth County: 35,426 confirmed cases in total (646 new), 993 confirmed deaths (102 probable)
- Middlesex County: 48,776 confirmed cases in total (556 new), 1,529 confirmed deaths (220 likely)
- Ocean County: 35,719 confirmed cases in total (521 new), 1,365 confirmed deaths (83 likely)
- Bergen County: 50,468 confirmed cases in total (483 new), 2,102 confirmed deaths (266 likely)
- Essex County: 50,328 confirmed cases in total (454 new), 2,170 confirmed deaths (255 likely)
- Hudson County: 47,326 confirmed cases in total (431 new), 1,576 confirmed deaths (169 probable)
- Camden County: 31,030 confirmed cases in total (393 new), 815 confirmed deaths (66 likely)
- Union County: 38,485 confirmed cases in total (298 new), 1,404 confirmed deaths (183 probable)
- Passaic County: 41,857 confirmed cases in total (276 new), 1,346 confirmed deaths (159 probable)
- Morris County: 21,980 confirmed cases in total (263 new), 803 confirmed deaths (187 likely)
- Burlington County: 23,325 confirmed cases in total (259 new), 596 confirmed deaths (51 probable)
- Gloucester County: 15,613 confirmed cases in total (214 new), 407 confirmed deaths (20 probable)
- Atlantic County: 13,458 confirmed cases in total (206 new), 371 confirmed deaths (17 probable)
- Mercer County: 20,067 confirmed cases in total (164 new), 713 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
- Cumberland County: 8,640 confirmed cases in total (140 new), 237 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
- Somerset County: 13,551 confirmed cases in total (112 new), 598 confirmed deaths (93 probable)
- Sussex County: 5,081 confirmed cases (99 new), 179 confirmed deaths (46 likely)
- Hunterdon County: 4,152 confirmed cases in total (69 new), 87 confirmed deaths (54 likely)
- Warren County: 4,326 confirmed cases (65 new), 172 confirmed deaths (13 likely)
- Salem County: 3,125 confirmed cases in total (43 new), 108 confirmed deaths (7 probable)
- Cape May County: 2,607 confirmed cases (28 new), 126 confirmed deaths (19 probable)
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 3,669 hospitalized patients in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on Thursday night – 42 fewer than the night before.
This included 655 in critical or intensive care (one more than the night before), with 439 in ventilators (nine less).
There were 459 patients with COVID-19 discharged from hospitals on Thursday, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel.
SCHOOL CASES
There have been 111 outbreaks of coronavirus in schools in New Jersey, involving 557 students, teachers and staff since the beginning of the school year in late August, according to the state 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 the 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.
The number of school districts in New Jersey with totally remote education has increased with students returning from winter holidays, Murphy said on Monday.
There are 339 districts that started 2021 remotely – an increase from 18 remote districts as of December 21. Only 77 school districts are returning with full face-to-face instruction (compared to 82 on December 21), and 348 are returning with a face-to-face or remote instruction hybrid (out of 362).
Another 47 districts are using some combination of face-to-face, hybrid or completely remote in several buildings – one more than on December 21.
AGE DISSOLUTION
Separated by age, those aged 30 to 49 constitute the highest percentage of New Jersey residents who caught the virus (31.4%), followed by those aged 50-64 (23.9%), 18-29 (19, 1%), 65-79 (11.2%), 80 and older (5.7%), 5-17 (7.1%) and 0-4 (1.5%).
On average, the virus was more deadly for older residents, especially those with pre-existing illnesses. Almost half of COVID-19 deaths in the state occurred among residents aged 80 and over (47.48%), followed by those aged 65-79 (32.14%), 50-64 (15.78%), 30 -49 (4.19%), 18-29 (0.37%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,583 of COVID-19 deaths in the state occurred among residents and members of the nursing home staff and other long-term care institutions. That number has increased again at a more pronounced rate in recent months, with deaths in state nursing homes nearly tripling in December.
There are currently active outbreaks in 430 facilities, resulting in 6,441 active cases among residents and 6,826 among employees.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 88 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a count running by Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.9 million people died of coronavirus-related complications.
The USA reported the majority of cases, with more than 21.6 million, and the majority of deaths, with more than 366,200.
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Brent Johnson can be contacted at [email protected].