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New Jersey health officials reported 5,246 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 96 more deaths on Saturday as hospitalizations increased and vaccination appointments became scarce.
After criticizing the state’s vaccine rollout and difficulty securing an appointment, Gov. Phil Murphy responded on Saturday, saying the US Department of Health and Human Services had previously assured the state that he would receive doses from his national reserve. The Washington Post reported that despite news from federal officials that more vaccines were being released from a stockpile, the national supply was already depleted.
“The governors received assurances @HHSGov that we would receive additional vaccines from the national reserve for our seniors, healthcare workers and first responders, ”Murphy wrote on Twitter. “We need answers as to why this stock does not exist and our allocations have been reduced from what we expected.”
Murphy added that the vaccine would be distributed to those at “higher risk” of severe cases of COVID-19 because of their age and underlying conditions.
“Our first priority is to vaccinate those at higher risk for severe COVID due to age and chronic health factors – and to put in place the infrastructure necessary to rapidly expand distribution when federal supply meets Requirement”. Murphy wrote on Twitter.
There were 3,677 patients hospitalized in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases on Friday evening. This is 134 more than the night before and an increase after two days when the number of people hospitalized fell.
The state of 9 million people has now lost 20,414 residents in the COVID-19 epidemic – 18,323 confirmed deaths and 2,091 considered probable, according to state data. New Jersey has already announced 1,226 confirmed deaths this month, after 1,890 in December.
New Jersey has now reported a total of 560,423 confirmed cases out of more than 8.6 million tests administered since authorities announced the state’s first case on March 4. There were also 61,662 positive rapid antigen tests, which the state warned could overlap with confirmed PCR tests.
The statewide COVID-19 transmission rate remained slightly higher on Saturday at 1.12, from 1.11 a day earlier. A transmission rate greater than 1 indicates that the epidemic is expanding.
The positivity rate for tests administered on Tuesday, the most recent day available, was 10.24% out of 58,095 tests. The positivity rate was 10% or more since December 22, before dropping below 10% on Monday.
New Jersey’s top health official warned on Wednesday the state was bracing for a “surge” in hospitalizations due to the latest peak cases that could occur as early as next week and could trigger a new round of restrictions, in especially with elective surgeries.
While hospitalizations remained between 3,500 and 3,900 for weeks, well below the peak of more than 8,000 in the spring, Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said hospital officials were concerned about the weeks to come due to available staff.
“What we won’t have is the appropriate level of staffing that people know about, conventional staffing,” said Mr. Persichilli. “So we’ll be working with our hospitals if they need to switch to what we call emergency staffing and hopefully never crisis staffing.”
Murphy warned that hospitalizations greater than 5,000 patients would likely trigger new restrictions – particularly on elective surgeries, which include procedures such as tumor removal.
VACCINATIONS
More than 327,600 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state on Saturday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Of that number, 289,620 was the first of two doses people will receive, while 37,921 were the second, according to the dashboard.
The one-day high so far was Jan.8, when 24,482 doses were administered, according to the state.
New Jersey averaged about 9,500 injections per day for the first 30 days of the program, including Christmas Day when no dose was given. The state has carried out an average of 17,000 shots per day over the past seven days, according to state records.
The state has been criticized for rolling out vaccinations too slowly. Officials point out that there may be an undercoverage in the number of vaccines given due to reporting delays and that New Jersey, like other states, depends on the federal government for its supply.
Murphy announced on Wednesday that people over 65, as well as people with chronic health conditions and smokers are now eligible for the vaccine.
Officials said the doses should be available to the general public by April or May. Health officials have said they hope to vaccinate 70% of its adult residents – around 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
In recent days, the state has opened the first three of its six “mega-sites” planned for mass vaccinations. There are also vaccines currently available at 130 locations statewide, including local health departments, ShopRite stores, and pharmacies.
More than 1.5 million people have signed up to receive their vaccine.
VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED BY COUNTY
- ATLANTIC COUNTY – 10,980 doses administered
- BERGEN COUNTY – 37,314 doses administered
- BURLINGTON COUNTY – 15,685 doses administered
- CAMDEN COUNTY – 18,275 doses administered
- CAPE MAY COUNTY – 4,744 doses administered
- CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 5,114 doses administered
- ESSEX COUNTY – 26,478 doses administered
- GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 11,507 doses administered
- HUDSON COUNTY – 13,663 doses administered
- HUNTERDON COUNTY – 5,149 doses administered
- MERCER COUNTY – 7,874 doses administered
- MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 24,530 doses administered
- MONMOUTH COUNTY – 25,557 doses administered
- MORRIS COUNTY – 23,779 doses administered
- OCEAN COUNTY – 17,549 doses administered
- PASSAIC COUNTY – 14,912 doses administered
- SALEM COUNTY – 1576 doses administered
- SOMERSET COUNTY – 12,980 doses administered
- SUSSEX COUNTY – 5,627 doses administered
- UNION COUNTY – 15,560 doses administered
- WARREN COUNTY – 3326 doses administered
- OUT OF STATE RESIDENTS – 15,748 doses administered
- UNKNOWN COUNTY – 9,709 doses administered
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 3,677 patients hospitalized in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases on Friday night. This was 134 more than the night before, a peak after two days when hospitalizations had dropped.
It included 651 people in critical or intensive care (25 more than the night before), including 427 in ventilators (11 fewer).
According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, 437 COVID-19 patients were discharged on Friday.
SCHOOL CASE
There have been 111 school coronavirus outbreaks in New Jersey involving 564 students, teachers and staff since the start of the school year at the end of August, according to the state dashboard.
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 outbreaks as cases where contact tracers have determined that two or more students or school staff had caught or transmitted COVID-19 in class or during academic activities at school.
The number of New Jersey school districts with distance learning has increased as students return from winter break, Murphy said Monday.
There are 339 districts that started remotely in 2021 – an increase of 18 all remote districts from December 21. Only 77 school districts are returning with full in-person instruction (up from 82 on Dec. 21), and 348 are returning with a hybrid of in-person or distance education (up from 362).
Another 47 districts are using a combination of in-person, hybrid, or remote services in multiple buildings – one more than December 21.
BREAKDOWN BY AGE
Disaggregated by age, 30-49 year olds represent the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have contracted the virus (31.2%), followed by 50-64 year olds (23.7%), 18-29 (19, 2%), 65 -79 (11.1%), 80 years and over (5.4%), 5-17 (7.5%) and 0-4 (1.5%).
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 aged 80 and over (47%), followed by 65-79 (32.9%), 50-64 (15.7 %), 30-49 (4%), 18-29 (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0%).
At least 7,644 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths 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 426 facilities, resulting in 6,802 active cases among residents and 7,368 among staff.
WORLDWIDE FIGURES
As of Saturday morning, there were more than 93.9 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. This week, the world hit a grim benchmark, surpassing 2 million deaths from complications from the coronavirus.
The United States has reported the most cases, at more than 23.5 million, and the most deaths, at more than 392,300.
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Rodrigo Torrejon can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @rodrigotorrejon.
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