An additional 4,686 COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths were announced Sunday because the appointment of vaccines in New Jersey could be difficult to secure.
The state recently expanded the admission to vaccines for those over 65, residents with certain health conditions and smokers, which creates a backlog for appointments when vaccines promised by the federal government do not materialize.
‘Governors are through @HHSGov that we will receive additional vaccines from the national reserve for seniors, health care workers and first responders, ”Murphy wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “We need answers as to why this stock does not exist and our allocations have been reduced as we expected.”
Murphy added that the vaccine will be distributed to those at a ‘higher risk’ of severe cases of COVID-19 due to their age and underlying conditions.
“Our first priority is to vaccinate people at higher risk for severe COVID due to age and chronic health factors – and to have the infrastructure in place to quickly sharpen the distribution when the federal supply meets the demand,” ” Murphy wrote on Twitter.
The 7-day mean for newly confirmed cases of coronavirus is now 5,367, up 4% from a week ago and 13% from a month ago.
Hospitalization data for Sunday were not immediately available. There were 3,677 patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Friday night. That was 134 more than the previous night and an increase after two days when the number of people admitted to the hospital decreased.
The state of 9 million inhabitants has now lost 20,439 inhabitants during the COVID-19 outbreak – 18,348 confirmed deaths and 2091 are considered probable according to the state’s data. New Jersey has already announced 1,252 confirmed deaths this month after 1890 in December.
New Jersey reported 565,097 total confirmed cases from more than 8.6 million tests administered since officials announced the first case on March 4th. There were also 62,124 positive rapid antigen tests, which the state began conducting in public earlier this month, although officials warned that they could overlap with the confirmed PCR tests.
The nationwide rate of COVID-19 transmission remained stable at 1.12. A transmission rate of more than 1 indicates that the outbreak is spreading.
The positivity rate for tests offered on Wednesday, the most recent day, was 10.12% out of 54,903 tests. The positivity rate has been 10% or higher since December 22, before falling below 10% on Monday.
New Jersey’s top health official warned Wednesday that the state is preparing for a “boom” in hospitalizations of the latest increase in cases that could come as early as next week and that could cause a new round of restrictions, 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 – state health commissioner Judy Persichilli said hospital officials were worried about the coming weeks due to available staff.
“What we will not have is the appropriate level of staff that people know, conventional staff,” Persichilli said earlier. “We will therefore work with our hospitals if they have to progress to what we call an emergency staff and hopefully never a crisis staff.”
Murphy warned that hospitalizations of more than 5,000 patients are likely to cause new constraints, especially with elective surgeries, which include procedures such as tumor removal.
VACCINATIONS
According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, more than 348,414 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state. Of these, 308,874 were the first of two doses people would receive, while 39,330 were the second according to the dashboard.
The one-day high so far on January 8, according to the state, was 24,482 doses administered.
New Jersey averaged about 9,500 shots per day during the first 30 days of the program, including Christmas Day when no doses were administered. The state has averaged about 17,000 shots a day over the past seven days, state records show.
The state has faced criticism for starting vaccinations too slowly. Officials stress that there may be an underestimation in the number of vaccines administered as a result of delays, and that New Jersey, like other states, is dependent on the federal government for its supply.
Murphy announced Wednesday that people 65 and older, as well as people with chronic health conditions and smokers, are eligible.
Officials said doses should be available to the general public by April or May. Health officials said they wanted to vaccinate 70% of the state’s residents – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
In recent days, New Jersey has opened the first three of its six planned “mega-sites” for mass vaccinations. Vaccines are also currently available at 130 locations across the state, including local health departments, ShopRite stores and pharmacies.
More than 1.5 million people have registered to get their vaccine.
DOSAGE FOR EXHIBITIONS LIMITED BY COUNTRY
- ATLANTIC COUNTRY – 11 485 doses administered
- BERGEN COUNTY – 39 504 doses administered
- BURLINGTON COUNTY – 16 936 doses administered
- CAMDEN COUNTY – 19 691 doses administered
- CAPE MAY COUNTY – 5 107 doses administered
- CUMBERLAND COUNTRY – 5,575 doses administered
- ESSEX COUNTRY – 27,451 doses administered
- GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 12 319 doses administered
- HUDSON COUNTY – 15,064 doses administered
- HUNTERDON COUNTY – 5 744 doses administered
- TRADE COUNTRY – 8 151 doses administered
- MIDDLESEX COUNTRY – 25,934 doses administered
- MONMOUTH COUNTY – 27 141 doses administered
- MORRIS LAND – 18,251 doses administered
- OCEAN COUNTY – 25122 doses administered
- PASSAIC COUNTY – 15 882 doses administered
- SALEM COUNTY – 1 704 doses administered
- SOMERSET COUNTRY – 14 010 doses administered
- SUSSEX COUNTRY – 6,084 doses administered
- UNION COUNTRY – 16,609 doses administered
- WARREN-LAND – 3 641 doses administered
- RESIDENTS FROM THE STATE – 16 458 doses administered
- UNKNOWN COUNTRY – 10 551 doses administered
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 3,677 patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Friday night. That was 134 more than the previous night, an increase after two days where hospitalizations had dropped.
This included 651 in critical or intensive care (25 more than the previous night), with 427 on ventilators (11 less).
There were 437 COVID-19 patients discharged Friday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Data for Saturday were not immediately available.
SCHOOL SUBJECTS
According to the state panel, there were 111 outbreaks of coronavirus in the school in New Jersey involving 564 students, teachers and staff.
These numbers do not include students or staff who are suspected of being infected outside the school, or cases that cannot be confirmed as outbreaks in the school. Although the numbers continue to rise every week, Murphy said the statistics for school outbreaks are lower than government officials expected when schools reopened for personal classes.
New Jersey defines school outbreaks as cases where contact detectives determined that two or more students or school staff caught or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at school.
The number of school districts in New Jersey with distance education has increased as students return from the winter holidays, Murphy said Monday.
There are 339 districts starting 2021 remotely – an increase of 18 remote districts from 21 December. Only 77 school districts return with full personal tuition (by 82 on December 21), and 348 return with a hybrid of personal or distance education (down from 362).
Another 47 districts use a combination of personal, hybrid or remote control across several buildings – one more than December 21st.
AGE BREAKS OUT
The age group of 30 to 49 years is by age the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who contracted the virus. (31.2%), followed by those 50-64 (23.7%), 18-29 (19.3%), 65-79 (11.1%), 80 and older (5.4%), 5-17 (7.5%) and 0-4 (1.6%).
On average, the virus was more deadly to older residents, especially those with a pre-existing condition. Nearly half of COVID-19 deaths were among residents 80 and older (47.55%), followed by 65-79 (32.36%), 50-64 (15.63%), 30-49 ( 4.09%), 18-29 (0.36%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,644 of the COVID-19 deaths in the state were among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The number has risen at a faster pace over the past few months, while deaths at the state’s nursing homes nearly tripled in December.
There are currently active outbreaks at 426 facilities, resulting in 6,802 active cases among residents and 7,368 among staff.
GENERAL NUMBERS
On Sunday morning, there were more than 94.59 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a running count from Johns Hopkins University. The world reached a bad measure this week, surpassing 2 million deaths due to coronavirus-related complications.
The U.S. reported the most cases, more than 23.7 million, and the most deaths, more than 395,800.
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Katie Kausch can be reached at [email protected]. Tell us your coronavirus story or send us a tip here.