New Jersey reported another 5,791 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday and another 112 confirmed COVID-19 deaths when the state opened its first two vaccination mega-sites.
While hospital admissions for the virus dropped across the country for the second consecutive day, the transmission rate increased to 1.02, which bounced back above the key measure of 1 indicating that the outbreak expanded for the first time in almost three weeks.
The latest update comes a day after the Garden State reported 6,314 new cases – the most it has ever announced in a single day – as officials will receive a large number of numbers after Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The state average of seven days for newly confirmed cases rose to 4,851 on Friday, 21% higher than a week ago but 5% lower than a month ago when the state saw an increase in cases. On December 9, the state reached its seven-day high of 5,151 cases.
“We are not here yet,” Judge Phil Murphy told a news conference Friday morning after inoculating a “mega-site” that opened in Rockaway. ‘I fear that the next few weeks will be very difficult. But there is no doubt there is light at the end of the tunnel. ”
Across the hospital, hospitalizations dropped to 3,669 patients, with the suspicion that COVID-19 was confirmed as of Thursday night. This is much lower than the more than 8,000 patients admitted to the hospital during the first wave in April. The number dropped on Wednesday after four days of increases.
But for the fourth consecutive day, the nationwide transmission rate increased to 1.02, from 0.99 a day earlier. The gradual increase in transmission speed in recent days indicates that expansion is accelerating after declining in previous weeks.
The positivity rate for tests available on Sunday, the latest day, was 15.47%, based on 20,282 tests. Positivity figures are usually higher on holidays and weekends when fewer tests are taken on average. However, the positivity rate has been 10% or higher since December 22nd.
New Jersey has now reported 516,608 positive PCR tests out of the more than 8.1 million administered since the first case was announced on March 4th. The state also reported 72,123 probable cases from the rapid antigen tests, including 1,376 new antigen-positive tests announced Friday. These antigen results were made available for the first time on Monday, but officials warned that the cases could overlap with the more reliable PCR tests, which are sometimes administered at the same time.
The state of 9 million people has reported 19,756 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic – 17,677 confirmed and 2,059 probable deaths.
New Jersey reported 578 confirmed deaths in the first eight days of the month. The state announced 1,890 deaths in December, the most in a month since May.
VACCINATIONS
New Jersey received 572,250 doses of coronavirus vaccines and administered 155,458 as of Friday morning, according to a running count from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
State officials stress that there could be an undercurrent due to delays in reporting, and New Jersey, like other states, is dependent on the federal government for its offer.
The state opened its first vaccination mega-sites in Rockaway and Sewell on Friday. Four more are expected to open in the coming days.
But officials said the stock is scarce, and that the state is administering the vaccine in phases, with only care workers, people living in municipal neighborhoods, and police and firefighters currently the only ones eligible to receive shots. Officials said doses should be available to the general public by April or May.
New Jersey hopes to vaccinate 70% of its adult population – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
Asked on Friday whether the state’s implementation was proceeding according to plan, Murphy said: ‘We do not have the needs of the feeds. Within the context of a huge imbalance between supply and demand, I like everything we do in the state to be prepared. But they do not have the doses they can use at full capacity. … It will take a while. ‘
COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by most new)
- Monmouth County: 35,426 total confirmed cases (646 new), 993 confirmed deaths (102 likely)
- Middlesex County: 48,776 total confirmed cases (556 new), 1,529 confirmed deaths (220 likely)
- Ocean County: 35,719 total confirmed cases (521 new), 1,365 confirmed deaths (83 likely)
- Bergen County: 50,468 confirmed cases (483 new), 2,102 deaths confirmed (266 likely)
- Essex County: 50,328 total confirmed cases (454 new), 2,170 confirmed deaths (255 likely)
- Hudson County: 47,326 total confirmed cases (431 new), 1,576 confirmed deaths (169 probable)
- Camden County: 31,030 confirmed cases (393 new), 815 confirmed deaths (66 likely)
- Union County: 38,485 total confirmed cases (298 new), 1,404 confirmed deaths (183 probable)
- Passaic County: 41,857 confirmed cases (276 new), 1,346 confirmed deaths (159 likely)
- Morris County: 21,980 total confirmed cases (263 new), 803 confirmed deaths (187 likely)
- Burlington County: 23,325 total confirmed cases (259 new), 596 confirmed deaths (51 probable)
- Gloucester County: 15,613 confirmed cases (214 new), 407 confirmed deaths (20 likely)
- Atlantic County: 13,458 confirmed cases (206 new), 371 confirmed deaths (17 likely)
- Mercer County: 20,067 total confirmed cases (164 new), 713 confirmed deaths (39 likely)
- Cumberland County: 8,640 total confirmed cases (140 new), 237 confirmed deaths (10 likely)
- Somerset County: 13,551 confirmed cases (112 new), 598 confirmed deaths (93 likely)
- Sussex County: 5,081 total confirmed cases (99 new), 179 confirmed deaths (46 likely)
- Hunterdon County: 4,152 confirmed cases (69 new), 87 confirmed deaths (54 likely)
- Warren County: 4,326 total confirmed cases (65 new), 172 confirmed deaths (13 likely)
- Salem County: 3,125 total confirmed cases (43 new), 108 confirmed deaths (7 likely)
- Cape May County: 2,607 confirmed cases (28 new), 126 confirmed deaths (19 likely)
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live card tracker | Newsletter | Home
HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 3,669 patients admitted to the hospital in New Jersey with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday night – 42 less than the previous night.
This included 655 in critical or intensive care (one more than the previous night), with 439 fans (nine less).
459 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals Thursday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.
SCHOOL SUBJECTS
According to the state panel, there were 111 outbreaks of coronavirus in the school in New Jersey involving 557 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 the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who contracted the virus (31.4%), followed by those 50-64 (23.9%), 18-29 (19.1%), 65-79 (11.2%), 80 and older (5.7%), 5-17 (7.1%) and 0-4 (1.5%).
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 (47.48%), followed by 65-79 (32.14%), 50-64 (15.78%), 30-49 ( 4.19%), 18-29 (0.37%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).
At least 7,583 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 sharply again in recent months, with deaths at the state’s old age homes almost tripling in December.
There are currently active outbreaks at 430 facilities, leading to 5,441 active cases among residents and 6,826 among staff.
GENERAL NUMBERS
By early Friday afternoon, there were more than 88 million positive COVID-19 tests worldwide, according to a running count from Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.9 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.
The U.S. reported the most cases, more than 21.6 million, and the most deaths, more than 366,200.
Thank you for trusting us to provide the journalism you can trust. Consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected].