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New Jersey reported 884 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three more confirmed deaths on Monday, with the state’s seven-day average for newly confirmed positive tests dropping after more than a month of steady increase.
Yet New Jersey’s 21 counties now have “high” or “substantial” rates of COVID-19 transmission, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Below these risk levels, the CDC recommends that people in all counties in the state wear masks indoors in public, regardless of their immunization status. New Jersey has not reinstalled an inner mask mandate statewide, although health officials have strongly recommended that people wear face covers in environments considered “high risk” .
Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Friday that the state would require masks in all schools at the start of the new school year. But Murphy said Monday the state was “not yet” ready to re-impose masks in all public places across the state.
“But as we’ve said many times, you have to leave all options on the table,” he said during his last COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.
The Garden State’s seven-day average for new confirmed COVID-19 cases is now 1,214, up 32% from a week ago and 435% from a month ago as officials say the delta variant continues to generate increases, especially in unvaccinated people. But that average fell slightly from the previous day, as Monday marked the first time in a week that the state had reported fewer than 1,000 daily cases.
The delta variant accounted for 90% of positive tests sampled in New Jersey during the last available four-week period ending July 24, according to state data.
As of Sunday evening, 651 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 or suspected cases at 71 New Jersey hospitals, as the night before. Hospitalizations have more than doubled in the past month, but remain well below the more than 3,800 patients at the height of the second wave of the pandemic in December.
Among those hospitalized on Sunday, 117 were in intensive care (11 more than the day before), with 59 on ventilators (nine more). There were 82 patients discharged.
Transmission across the state of New Jersey declined slightly on Monday to 1.35 from 1.36 the day before. Any number greater than 1 indicates that each new case results in more than one additional case and shows that the state’s epidemic is spreading.
The statewide positivity rate for tests performed on Thursday, the most recent day available, was 5.18%, according to state data. For the week of July 30 through Thursday, the positivity rate was 5.68% based on over 167,000 PCR tests.
Hospitalizations and deaths in New Jersey did not increase near the peaks of the New Jersey pandemic, and the numbers overall here are not as bad as in other states. Officials say this is at least in part due to the state’s relatively high vaccination rate.
More than 5.36 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey have now been fully vaccinated in more than seven months since the start of inoculations, according to state data. About 4 million people are still not vaccinated.
Murphy said Monday that of New Jersey’s 4,332 positive tests between July 20 and July 26, nearly 18% were so-called breakthrough cases of those who had been fully vaccinated, up from previous weeks.
But he said that of the 378 coronavirus patients admitted to state hospitals at that time, 97% were not or were not fully vaccinated. And of the state’s 21 coronavirus deaths during that time, all were either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated – the second consecutive week without deaths among those vaccinated.
“If you are still not sure whether or not you should get the vaccine, please take these numbers to heart,” Murphy said. “The vaccines work.
FOLLOWING: No new COVID deaths among fully vaccinated in NJ, but positive tests on the rise, says Murphy
State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the state’s predictive models show the state is likely to register around a thousand cases per day “for a period of time” during this outbreak. But, she said, officials believe “our hospitals have the capacity to take care of people.”
“Hospitalizations are expected to be higher than what we are seeing now, but not totally through the roof,” Persichilli said.
One of the first coronavirus hotspots, New Jersey has now reported 26,650 total deaths from COVID-19 in just over 17 months – 23,930 confirmed and 2,720 considered probable. Probable deaths, which are reviewed weekly, increased by one Monday. This is the highest number of coronavirus deaths per capita in the United States
In total, the state of 9.2 million people has reported a total of 917,349 confirmed cases from more than 14.7 million PCR tests since its first case was announced on March 4, 2020. The state also has reported 132,734 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Bulletin | Home page
Monday’s briefing comes three days after Murphy announced that New Jersey would require masks in all schools when the new school year begins in a few weeks. He challenged criticism of school masking on Monday, noting that 13 children are currently being treated for COVID-19 in state hospitals, two of whom are in intensive care.
“We are not going to sacrifice the health of any child, educator, family or community,” said the governor.
FOLLOWING: Opponents of the NJ school mask “ready to sacrifice our children for politics”. Governor Murphy retaliates against anti-mask protesters.
At least 8,067 of COVID-19 deaths in New Jersey have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, state data shows.
As of Monday, nearly 203 million positive cases of COVID-19 were reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 4.29 million people dying from the virus. The United States has reported the most cases (over 35.7 million) and deaths (over 616,800) than any other country.
More than 4.43 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide.
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Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ johnsb01.
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