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New Jersey’s first coronavirus report in 2021 included 5,541 additional cases and 119 other confirmed deaths from COVID-19, although the rate of spread and statewide hospitalizations for the disease both declined for the third consecutive day.
Governor Phil Murphy announced the New Years update on social networks Friday, a day after Garden State’s death toll from the virus exceeded 19,000.
“As we start the New Year, stay alert,” Murphy tweeted. “Social distance. Hide yourself. “
The governor also thanked residents of the state and first responders for what they endured in the face of the pandemic in 2020.
“I’m grateful to ALL of the New Jersey people who stepped up, stayed and came together to walk us through 2020,” Murphy tweeted. “A special shout out to our first responders and those on the front lines of the # COVID-19[FEMALE[FEMININE crisis. On behalf of all nine million of us, THANK YOU. “
This is the first time since Dec. 5 and 6 that the state has reported consecutive days of more than 5,000 cases.
After three consecutive days below 3,000, New Jersey’s seven-day average for new positive tests is now 4008 as the state continues to grapple with a second wave of the pandemic. Still, this average is down 2% from a month ago and 13% from a week ago.
Meanwhile, the state has announced 90 or more deaths in each of the past four days. Murphy did not specify when the 119 deaths reported on Friday occurred. Some may have occurred days or even weeks ago and were only recently confirmed.
The statewide transmission rate fell to 0.93 from 0.94 the previous day. The rate has fluctuated in recent days, but it is the lowest since September 1. Any number greater than 1 means that each person who contracts COVID-19 transmits the disease to more than one person, and keeping the rate below 1 is essential to suppress the pandemic.
The statewide positivity rate for Sunday, the date with the most recent data available, was 11.14%.
Statewide hospitalizations fell for the third day in a row, to 3,625 patients treated for confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus as of Thursday evening. That’s far less than the more than 8,000 patients at the peak of the first wave in April. However, hospitalizations have exceeded 3,500 since December 8 and have fluctuated in recent days.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care remained stable at 693, but the number on ventilators rose to 471.
New Jersey has reported a total of 482,861 cases of the coronavirus on more than 7.79 million tests in the nearly 10 months since the state reported its first case on March 4.
The state of 9 million people has now reported 19,160 deaths – 17,139 confirmed deaths and 2,021 probable deaths from complications related to the virus.
Officials said the rate of transmission was declining as cases were not increasing around the same time as during the first wave of spring, when the state was still learning how to deal with the virus. They also say deaths will likely continue to rise even if the transmission rate declines because deaths are a lagging number.
VACCINATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS
Health officials had administered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to nearly 63,000 residents by midweek, the state said on Wednesday.
Authorities hope to vaccinate 70% of adult New Jersey residents – about 4.7 million people – within the next six months. The state is rolling out the vaccine in stages, with healthcare workers and people living in communities like nursing homes and prisons in the first phase. Officials said the doses should be available to the general public by April or May.
New Jersey unveiled a website this week where people can sign up to receive a vaccine in “the near future,” Murphy said Wednesday. The website – covid19.nj.gov/vaccine – currently does not allow people to register or pre-register for the vaccine.
Meanwhile, all organized indoor sports at the recreational levels for young people, high schools and adults in New Jersey may resume on Saturday, with restrictions, after being put on hold for four weeks to help fight the pandemic.
COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by most new cases)
- Hudson County: 44,505 positive tests (565 new), 1,539 confirmed deaths (168 probable)
- Essex County: 47,699 positive tests (502 new), 2,149 confirmed deaths (250 probable)
- Monmouth County: 32,339 positive tests (494 new), 946 confirmed deaths (103 probable)
- Bergen County: 47,570 positive tests (473 new), 2,067 confirmed deaths (263 probable)
- Middlesex County: 45,268 positive tests (457 new), 1,464 confirmed deaths (219 probable)
- Ocean County: 32,872 positive tests (441 new), 1,299 confirmed deaths (82 probable)
- Union County: 36,834 positive tests (334 new), 1,378 confirmed deaths (181 probable)
- Passaic County: 40,161 positive tests (306 new), 1,303 confirmed deaths (157 probable)
- Morris County: 20,389 positive tests (294 new), 787 confirmed deaths (178 probable)
- Burlington County: 21,461 positive tests (291 new), 576 confirmed deaths (51 probable)
- Camden County: 28,910 positive tests (281 new), 762 confirmed deaths (65 probable)
- Gloucester County: 14,293 positive tests (184 new), 380 confirmed deaths (17 probable)
- Mercer County: 18,920 positive tests (169 new), 685 confirmed deaths (40 probable)
- Somerset County: 12,760 positive tests (168 new), 578 confirmed deaths (88 probable)
- Atlantic County: 12,329 positive tests (138 new), 353 confirmed deaths (17 probable)
- Cumberland County: 7,952 positive tests (112 new), 219 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
- Sussex County: 4,542 positive tests (106 new), 172 confirmed deaths (43 probable)
- Warren County: 3,978 positive tests (56 new), 170 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
- Hunterdon County: 3,799 positive tests (55 new), 85 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
- Salem County: 2,793 positive tests (35 new), 105 confirmed deaths (7 probable)
- Cape May County: 2,412 positive tests (24 new), 122 confirmed deaths (15 probable)
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracking | Bulletin | Home page
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 3,625 patients hospitalized in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Thursday evening. That’s 91 less than the day before.
This number included 693 patients in critical or intensive care (the same as the night before), including 471 on ventilators (nine more than the day before).
There were 439 COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals on Thursday, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.
SCHOOL CASE
According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 108 school coronavirus outbreaks in New Jersey, involving 546 students, teachers and staff since the start of the school year in late August.
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 the school epidemic statistics remained lower than state officials expected when schools reopened in-person classes.
The extended rules for schools, which include social distancing guidelines for classrooms and strict mask requirements, have made it one of the safest places in the state, the governor said.
But at least 83 students or staff have caught COVID-19 at a school in Essex County in what appears to be the largest outbreak reported in a single school building in New Jersey, according to new state data.
Although the state has published minimal information on the cases, most outbreaks have involved 10 or fewer people with the virus in each school. In November, an unidentified Union County school reported an outbreak in which at least 23 people fell ill.
New Jersey defines school epidemics as cases where contract tracers determined that two or more students or school staff had caught or transmitted COVID-19 in class or during academic activities at school.
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 (31.4%), followed by those aged 50-64 (23.9%), 18-29 (19 %), 65 -79 (11.2%), 80 years and over (5.7%), 5-17 (7%) and 0-4 (1.5%).
On average, the virus has been deadlier for older residents, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Nearly half of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state were among residents 80 and older (47%), followed by those 65 to 79 (32.8%), 50 to 64 (15.7%), 30 to 49 years (4.1%), 18 to 29 years. (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,521 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths 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. There are currently active outbreaks in 427 facilities, resulting in 5,681 active cases among residents and 6,171 among staff.
WORLDWIDE FIGURES
As of early Friday afternoon, there were more than 83.7 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to an ongoing count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.82 million people have died from complications from the coronavirus.
The United States has reported the most cases, at over 20 million, and the most deaths, at more than 346,400.
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Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected].
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