3,938 new COVID cases reported as NJ transmission rate drops to lowest level in six months



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New Jersey reported 3,938 more confirmed cases of coronavirus and 26 more deaths on Saturday, as the transmission rate fell to its lowest level in six months.

Sunday’s transmission rate fell to 0.87, the lowest since August 30, when it was also 0.87.

A transmission rate of 0.87 means that for every 100 people who contract the virus, they will transmit it to 87 others and the epidemic is declining. Any number greater than one means the epidemic is expanding.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s latest update was posted to Twitter and comes two days after capacity increased for indoor restaurants, gyms, personal care services and casinos.

New Jersey’s 71 hospitals have reported 2,837 patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, 58 fewer patients than the day before. The number of patients in intensive care fell to 571, against 737 the day before.

New Jersey has now lost 21,990 residents in the nearly 11-month epidemic – 19,802 confirmed deaths and 2,187 considered probable. The state reported 455 confirmed deaths in the first six days of February. The January balance was 2377 confirmed deaths, the most in a month since May.

The total number of confirmed cases is now 645,011 out of more than 9.5 million PCR tests. There was also 77,156 positive antigen tests, which the state recently began to make public. These cases are considered probable and health officials have warned that positive antigen tests could overlap with confirmed PCR tests as they are sometimes administered in tandem.

The positivity rate for tests performed on Wednesday, the most recent day available, was 8.7% out of the 57,990 tests administered. However, test numbers for the first half of this week are likely skewed due to delays and closures caused by a massive snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow, with parts of the Garden State buried under more. of 30 inches.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracking | Bulletin | Home page

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There were 2,837 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 at 71 New Jersey hospitals on Saturday night.

This included 571 people in critical or intensive care, including 373 in ventilators. There were also 405 The COVID-19 patients were released on Saturday.

Hospitalizations had slowly declined in recent weeks. The state peaked at more than 8,000 hospitalizations in April.

SCHOOL CASE

New Jersey officials have reported six new outbreaks of the virus at school, bringing the total to 137 outbreaks and 655 related cases among students, teachers and school staff, according to the latest figures.

Outbreaks – defined as cases in which people have been confirmed to have caught or transmitted the virus in class or during academic activities – have been reported in all 21 counties, according to the COVID-19 dashboard of the State.

These figures do not include students or staff suspected of having been infected outside of school or cases that cannot be confirmed as epidemics at school. Although the numbers continue to rise every week, Murphy said school epidemic statistics remained lower than state officials expected when schools reopened for in-person classes.

New Jersey defines school epidemics as cases where contact tracers determined that two or more students or school staff had caught or transmitted COVID-19 in class or during school activities at school.

BREAKDOWN BY AGE

Broken down by age, 30-49 year olds make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have caught the virus (31%), followed by 50-64 years (23.4%), 18-29 (19.4%), 65-79 (11%), 5-17 (8.1%), 80 years and over (5.2%) and 0-4 (1.7%).

On average, the virus has been deadlier for older residents, particularly those with pre-existing conditions. Almost half of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state were among residents 80 years and older (47.48%), followed by 65-79 (32.6%), 50-64 (15.51%), 30-49 (4.04%), 18-29 (0.36%), 5 -17 (0%) and 0- 4 (0.02%).

At least 7,797 COVID-19 deaths in the state have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. That number has grown at a faster rate again in recent months, with deaths in nursing homes across the state nearly tripling in December.

There are currently active outbreaks in 419 facilities, resulting in 7,055 active cases among residents and 7,166 among staff.

WORLDWIDE FIGURES

As of Sunday morning, there had been more than 105 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.3 million people have died from complications from the coronavirus.

The United States has reported the most cases, with more than 26.91 million, and the most deaths, with more than 462,000.

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Katie Kausch can be reached at [email protected]. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip Here.

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