NJ Reports 5,490 New COVID Cases and 67 Deaths as Vaccine Appointments Book Fast



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New Jersey health officials reported 5,490 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 additional deaths on Friday, as vaccination spots reported a sharp increase in appointments with the widening of eligibility that began a day earlier.

Governor Phil Murphy provided the latest update on Friday afternoon after visiting the state’s third mega vaccination site to open. The New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center site in Edison is one of six planned projects. To date, more than 310,000 people have been vaccinated in New Jersey.

“We are ready to move forward with an aggressive expansion of our immunization efforts,” Murphy said. “We just need the federal government supply to meet the demand. We are ready, they are not.

There were 3,543 patients hospitalized in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday evening. This is 96 less than the night before and the second in a row the number of people hospitalized has fallen.

The state of 9 million people has now lost 20,320 residents to the COVID-19 outbreak – 18,229 confirmed deaths and 2,091 considered probable. New Jersey has already announced 1,130 confirmed deaths this month, after 1,890 in December.

New has now reported a total of 555,299 confirmed cases out of more than 8.6 million tests administered since authorities announced the state’s first case on March 4. which may overlap with confirmed PCR tests.

The statewide COVID-19 transmission rate remained slightly increased on Friday at 1.11, from 1.10 a day earlier. A transmission rate greater than 1 indicates that the epidemic is expanding.

The seven-day average for new confirmed cases is 5,587, up 15% from a week ago and 18% from a month ago.

The positivity rate for tests administered on Monday, the most recent day available, was 9.63% out of 70,055 tests. The positivity rate was 10% or more since December 22.

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 are concerned about the weeks to come due to available staff.

“We are preparing for the predictive surge which could start as early as next week in mid-February,” Persichilli said Wednesday.

“What we won’t have is the appropriate level of staffing that people know about, conventional staffing,” she said. “So we’ll be working with our hospitals if they need to move 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.

Hospitalizations on 01/13/21

Hospitalizations on 01/13/21

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracking | Bulletin | Home page

VACCINATIONS

More than 310,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state on Friday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Of those, 273,335 was the first of two doses people will receive, while 35,512 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 – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.

In recent days, the state has opened the first two 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 – 10,811 doses administered
  • BERGEN COUNTY – 34,325 doses administered
  • BURLINGTON COUNTY – 15,038 doses administered
  • CAMDEN COUNTY – 17,465 doses administered
  • CAPE MAY COUNTY – 4,535 doses administered
  • CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 4,477 doses administered
  • ESSEX COUNTY – 25,037 doses administered
  • GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 13,033 doses administered
  • HUDSON COUNTY – 11,033 doses administered
  • HUNTERDON COUNTY – 4,937 doses administered
  • MERCER COUNTY – 7,342 doses administered
  • MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 23,017 doses administered
  • MONMOUTH COUNTY – 24,521 doses administered
  • MORRIS COUNTY – 22,675 doses administered
  • OCEAN COUNTY – 16,679 doses administered
  • PASSAIC COUNTY – 14,294 doses administered
  • SALEM COUNTY – 1,520 doses administered
  • SOMERSET COUNTY – 12,317 doses administered
  • SUSSEX COUNTY – 5,248 doses administered
  • UNION COUNTY – 14,728 doses administered
  • WARREN COUNTY – 3227 doses administered
  • OUT OF STATE RESIDENTS – 15,104 doses administered
  • UNKNOWN COUNTY – 9232 doses administered

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There were 3,543 patients hospitalized in New Jersey with confirmed (3,313) or suspected (230) cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday night. It was 96 less than the night before and the second in a row the number of people hospitalized fell.

It included 626 people in critical or intensive care (18 fewer than the night before), including 438 in ventilators (19 fewer).

According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, 452 COVID-19 patients were discharged Thursday and 427 were admitted.

SCHOOL CASE

There have been 111 school coronavirus outbreaks in New Jersey involving 557 students, teachers and staff since the school year began in late 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 each week, Murphy said school epidemic statistics remained lower than state officials expected when schools reopened in-person classes.

New Jersey defines school outbreaks as cases where contact tracers have determined that two or more students or school staff have caught or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during school activities at the school. 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, those aged 30 to 49 make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have contracted the virus (31.3%), followed by those aged 50-64 (23.8%), 18-29 (19, 2%), 65 -79 (11.2%), 80 years and over (5.5%), 5-17 (7.3%) 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 (47.49%), followed by those aged 65 to 79 (32.29%), from 50 to 64 (15.68%), 30-49 (4.14%), 18-29 (0.36%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.03%) .

At least 7,606 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 428 facilities, resulting in 6,510 active cases among residents and 7,034 among staff.

WORLDWIDE FIGURES

As of Friday morning, there were more than 93.3 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.99 million people have died from complications from the coronavirus.

The United States has reported the most cases, at more than 23.3 million, and the most deaths, at more than 388,700.

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Matt Arco can be reached at [email protected].



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