[ad_1]
New Jersey reported 3,924 new coronavirus cases and 24 more deaths on Saturday as Gov. Phil Murphy warned residents of the state to “stay vigilant” and called on people to stay informed.
By Saturday, the number of new cases had risen above 4,000 for 10 of the past 14 days. Along with the slight drop in cases on Saturday, the transmission rate monitoring the spread of the virus fell from 1.18 on Friday to 1.16. At the same time, the number of people hospitalized has increased.
Any number greater than one for the transmission rate means the virus is still spreading and New Jersey’s 7-day moving average is 4,091. It is up 4% from a week ago and 213% more than a month ago.
Although the seven-day case average was higher than the first wave of the pandemic, the comparison can be misleading as the state was performing less than 12,000 tests per day in the spring and the outbreak was likely underestimated. The state currently performs an average of about 45,000 tests per day, not including recently deployed rapid tests.
There have now been a total of 330,275 cases in the state and 16,965 deaths, including 15,136 laboratory-confirmed deaths and 1,829 deemed probable.
Ten of New Jersey’s 21 counties have reported at least 100 new Middlesex County-led cases with 216 positive tests.
The latest figures were reported days after Thanksgiving, when Murphy warned families not to congregate to avoid spreading the virus and a day after Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.
Murphy announced on Wednesday that New Jersey was abandoning the state-by-state formula it had used for the past five months to determine its travel quarantine formula, as virtually the entire country qualified for the list. Instead, he said anyone traveling to places that are not neighboring states should adhere to a 14-day quarantine.
Officials say initial doses of a coronavirus vaccine could arrive in New Jersey by Christmas, with priority going to vulnerable residents and healthcare workers. But a larger rollout could take place by April or May.
Still, Murphy warned that the next few months will be “brutal” as more people return home due to the colder weather and the upcoming winter break period. Authorities are asking residents to continue wearing masks, practicing social distancing, washing their hands and limiting gatherings.
Murphy also said the state was trying to curb restrictions used to combat the virus, but had not ruled out another statewide shutdown as it ordered in the spring.
The governor also said his goal was to keep as much in-person learning as possible in schools.
COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by most new cases)
- Middlesex County: 29,817 positive tests (216 new), 1,281 confirmed deaths (205 probable)
- Bergen County: 34,083 positive tests (206 new), 1,871 confirmed deaths (250 probable)
- Hudson County: 30,928 positive tests (200 new), 1,413 confirmed deaths (159 probable)
- Passaic County: 29,281 positive tests (191 new), 1,167 confirmed deaths (144 probable)
- Morris County: 13,312 positive tests (162 new), 712 confirmed deaths (147 probable)
- Essex County: 34,632 positive tests (160 new), 1,994 confirmed deaths (233 probable)
- Ocean County: 21,457 positive tests (152 new), 1,056 confirmed deaths (68 probable)
- Monmouth County: 20,036 positive tests (121 new), 808 confirmed deaths (92 probable)
- Camden County: 18,497 positive tests (119 new), 616 confirmed deaths (57 probable)
- Union County: 27,803 positive tests (103 new), 1,263 confirmed deaths (170 probable)
- Mercer County: 13,485 positive tests (74 new), 623 confirmed deaths (37 probable)
- Atlantic County: 7,823 positive tests (70 new), 276 confirmed deaths (14 probable)
- Somerset County: 8,908 positive tests (67 new), 534 confirmed deaths (75 probable)
- Burlington County: 13,284 positive tests (63 new), 499 confirmed deaths (44 probable)
- Gloucester County: 8,765 positive tests (54 new), 271 confirmed deaths (7 probable)
- Sussex County: 2504 positive tests (27 new), 162 confirmed deaths (37 probable)
- Hunterdon County: 2,402 positive tests (24 new), 77 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
- Warren County: 2,435 positive tests (16 new), 160 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
- Cumberland County: 5,014 positive tests (15 new), 1,656 confirmed deaths (8 probable)
- Salem County: 1,594 positive tests (15 new), 87 confirmed deaths (5 probable)
- Cape May County: 1,632 positive tests (8 new), 100 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
HOSPITALIZATIONS
The number of people hospitalized increased slightly on Friday evening, after a two-day respite where hospitalizations declined. Friday night’s increase is consistent with regular increases over a month before Wednesday.
As of Friday evening, 2,830 patients had confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 at 71 hospitals in New Jersey. That’s 34 more patients compared to Thursday. There were 2,902 people hospitalized on Tuesday, the most since May 22.
Of these Friday night patients, 560 were in critical or intensive care (one more than the day before), including 305 on ventilators (26 more). 245 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospital on Friday, according to the state’s online dashboard.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations have more than tripled in the past month.
Officials say hospitals are now better equipped to treat patients than they were in the spring and are confident they will have sufficient capacity. But they warn that the more cases rise, the more hospitalizations – and possibly deaths – will continue to rise.
SCHOOL CASE
Although hundreds of school districts have announced cases of the coronavirus and dozens of New Jersey schools have temporarily closed since the start of the school year, public health officials said 66 schools have confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks.
Murphy on Tuesday announced 10 new school outbreaks over the past week. There have now been a total of 269 school transmission cases in these 66 schools since the start of the school year.
These figures do not include students or staff suspected of having been infected outside of school, or cases that cannot be confirmed as outbreaks at school.
As all of New Jersey has turned from yellow to orange on the state’s COVID-19 activity map – indicating “high” levels of COVID-19 – the 21 counties should “consider implementing fully learning. distance ”in their schools, based on state health guidelines.
BREAKDOWN BY AGE
Disaggregated by age, those aged 30 to 49 represent the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have contracted the virus (31.6%), followed by those aged 50-64 (24.4%), 18-29 (18 , 8%), 65 -79 (11.5%), 80 years and over (6.6%), 5-17 (5.8%) and 0-4 (1.2%).
On average, the virus has been deadlier for older residents, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Almost half of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state were among residents aged 80 and older (47.1%), followed by those aged 65 to 79 (32.2%), from 50 to 64 years (16%), 30 to 49 years (4.2%), 18 to 29 years. (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0%).
At least 7,281 COVID-19 deaths in the state have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. This number has again increased at a faster rate in recent weeks.
WORLDWIDE FIGURES
As of Saturday morning, there were more than 61.8 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.44 million people have died from complications from the coronavirus.
The United States has reported the most cases (over 13.1 million) and the most deaths (over 264,800).
Thank you for relying on us to provide journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary membership.
Rodrigo Torrejon can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @rodrigotorrejon.
[ad_2]
Source link