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New Jersey reported 4,679 additional coronavirus cases and 34 additional deaths on Saturday, while hospitalizations rose for the 22nd day in a row as the second wave of the pandemic continues to cripple the state.
A day after the mayor of Newark announced that the state’s largest city will ask residents to stay in their homes for 10 days from the day before Thanksgiving, Gov. Phil Murphy did not announce any new restrictions on Saturday. to fight the second wave.
But Murphy, echoing predictions by federal infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci, warned the coming months would be tough. The governor said the numbers would become “unequivocally worse” as more people move indoors due to the colder weather, even though New Jersey has significantly increased testing.
Officials continued to urge residents to wear masks, practice social distancing, wash their hands and cut back on the string of upcoming holiday celebrations.
“The numbers speak for themselves. Please take this seriously. Wear a mask. Social distancing. Avoid large gatherings,” Murphy said on Twitter.
On a bright note, officials also announced Friday that New Jersey could receive up to 160,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine by Christmas if the company obtains emergency use approval from the federal government.
And if Moderna’s vaccine follows a similar path, that could mean a total of 460,000 doses of vaccine in the state by early January, while a wider rollout to the general population could take place in April or May. .
New Jersey has now announced a total of 302,039 positive tests out of more than 5.5 million tests administered since the outbreak began in March.
The state of 9 million people reported 16,746 coronavirus deaths during that time, of which 14,934 were confirmed and 1,812 were considered probable.
After Friday marked the first time in four days, New Jersey reported fewer than 4,000 new cases, cases rebounded above baseline on Saturday.
The seven-day statewide average for new positive tests rose to 3,933, 23% more than a week ago and 278% in a month.
The seven-day average of cases is now higher than the first wave of the pandemic, although the comparison is misleading as the state then performed less than 12,000 tests per day and the epidemic was likely underestimated.
The state averages about 45,000 tests per day this month, and that number does not include recently deployed rapid tests.
Murphy reminded residents that more than 400 testing sites are available statewide.
Yet the key figures used by health officials to track the epidemic continue to move in the wrong direction.
As of Friday evening, 2,552 patients had confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus in 71 hospitals in New Jersey. This is much less than the 8,000 hospitalized in April, but the most since May 28. Hospitalizations have almost tripled in the past month.
Of the 2,552 patients, 486 were in intensive or critical care and 232 on ventilators. Despite 305 outings on Friday, it was the 22nd day of the increases.
The positivity rate for tests performed on Tuesday, the most recent day available, was 8.66%. The rate throughout last week had remained above 8% after falling below 4% during the summer.
The latest statewide transmission rate fell to 1.38. Any number greater than 1 means the epidemic continues to spread. New Jersey has been above this mark since early September.
Fourteen of the 21 counties reported at least 100 new cases on Saturday, led by the counties of Essex (536), Camden (435) and Bergen (427).
The state has not announced the date of the 34 newly reported deaths.
The update comes as coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations increase in the United States, and wait times and long lines at testing sites have increased dramatically.
Murphy has previously said the New Jersey numbers are rising because people are tired of observing viral restrictions such as wearing masks and congregating more indoors as the weather gets colder, especially in the interior of private houses.
To combat the spread, Murphy has ordered New Jersey’s indoor bars and restaurants to close daily at 10 p.m. and has canceled interstate indoor sports up to the high school level. Indoor gatherings are now limited to 10 people, down from 25, and from Monday, outdoor gatherings will be limited to 150, down from 500.
Murphy stopped before ordering another statewide shutdown like he did in the spring, but stressed that all options remain on the table.
COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by newest)
- Essex County: 32,441 positive tests (536 new), 1,968 confirmed deaths (230 probable)
- Camden County: 16,540 positive tests (435 new), 608 confirmed deaths (56 probable)
- Bergen County: 31,447 positive tests (427 new), 1,855 confirmed deaths (246 probable)
- Passaic County: 26,806 positive tests (404 new), 1,155 confirmed deaths (144 probable)
- Hudson County: 28,764 positive tests (393 new), 1,399 confirmed deaths (158 probable)
- Monmouth County: 18,335 positive tests (332 new), 795 confirmed deaths (92 probable)
- Union County: 25,763 positive tests (288 new), 1,246 confirmed deaths (171 probable)
- Burlington County: 11,699 positive tests (284 new), 490 confirmed deaths (41 probable)
- Middlesex County: 27,671 positive tests (260 new), 1,271 confirmed deaths (203 probable)
- Gloucester County: 7,947 positive tests (235 new), 258 confirmed deaths (7 probable)
- Ocean County: 19,880 positive tests (233 new), 1,029 confirmed deaths (67 probable)
- Morris County: 12,085 positive tests (202 new), 707 confirmed deaths (147 probable)
- Mercer County: 12,257 positive tests (166 new), 615 confirmed deaths (36 probable)
- Atlantic County: 7,162 positive tests (137 new), 265 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
- Somerset County: 8,251 positive tests (99 new), 532 confirmed deaths (75 probable)
- Cumberland County: 4,689 positive tests (54 new), 162 confirmed deaths (8 probable)
- Sussex County: 2,278 positive tests (34 new), 162 confirmed deaths (36 probable)
- Warren County: 2,215 positive tests (34 new), 160 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
- Hunterdon County: 2,186 positive tests (31 new), 76 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
- Cape May County: 1,516 positive tests (22 new), 95 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
- Salem County: 1,457 positive tests (17 new), 86 confirmed deaths (5 probable)
HOSPITALIZATIONS
As of Wednesday evening, 2,505 patients had confirmed (2,272) or suspected (233) cases of COVID-19 in 71 hospitals in New Jersey. That’s 34 more than the day before.
Of these, 452 in critical or intensive care (four less than the day before), including 233 in ventilators (17 more).
There were 333 coronavirus patients admitted and 290 released on Monday, according to the state’s online dashboard.
New Jersey’s 71 acute care hospitals are currently two-thirds full, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association. Patients tend to be younger in age, reducing hospital stays, and hospitals have become more efficient at treating the virus.
TRANSMISSION RATE
New Jersey’s latest transmission rate of 1.38 is down from the 1.40 reported on Friday.
This is much lower than when the rate was above 5 towards the end of March, as the extent of the outbreak was still being developed and testing was scarce.
But any number greater than 1 means that each newly infected person, on average, transmits the virus to at least one other person. Any number less than 1 means the epidemic is decreasing.
A transmission rate of 1.38 means that every 100 people infected will transmit the virus to 138 others.
Although hundreds of school districts have reported cases of the coronavirus and dozens of New Jersey schools have temporarily closed since the start of the school year, public health officials said 56 schools have confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks.
The state scorecard shows 239 cases in those 56 schools, but those numbers only include confirmed transmissions to the school. Students or staff suspected of having been infected outside of school, or cases that cannot be confirmed as outbreaks at school are not included.
Murphy resisted the order to close schools statewide, saying those numbers were better than expected.
BREAKDOWN BY AGE
Disaggregated by age, 30-49 year olds make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have contracted the virus (31.6%), followed by 50-64 year olds (24.6%), 18-29 (18, 5%), 65 -79 (11.7%), 80 years and over (7.0%), 5-17 (5.4%) and 0-4 (1.1%).
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 (4.3%), 18 to 29 years. (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,274 COVID-19 deaths in the state have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. This number has also increased at a faster rate in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, at least 17,500 more people in New Jersey have died this year than expected, according to state mortality data, which suggests the pandemic has claimed even more lives than the state total. , according to an ongoing analysis by NJ Advance Media.
WORLDWIDE FIGURES
As of Saturday morning, there had been more than 57.7 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.37 million people have died from complications from the coronavirus.
The United States has the most positive tests in the world, with more than 11.9 million, and the most deaths, with more than 254,473.
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Rodrigo Torrejon can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @rodrigotorrejon.
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