N.J. reports 1,477 new COVID-19 cases, 8 more deaths as Murphy says 2nd coronavirus wave has arrived – NJ.com

New Jersey on Thursday reported 1,477 more coronavirus cases — the 12th straight day of more than 1,000 new positive tests — and eight additional deaths, as Gov. Phil Murphy warned a second wave of the outbreak is now hitting the state.

The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations were above 1,000 patients for the second straight day — something that hasn’t happened here since early July.

“(The figures) continue to show that the second wave of the coronavirus is no longer something off in the future,” Murphy said during his latest online coronavirus update. “It is coming, and it is coming now.”

“We have been seeing the numbers of new cases grow exponentially across the past several weeks,” he added. “And along with that, the numbers of patients being treated in our hospitals has similarly been on the rise.”

The statewide rate of transmission remained at 1.25, above the critical benchmark of 1 that shows the outbreak here is expanding. New Jersey has been above that mark since early September.

The state’s latest positivity rate — the percentage of tests that come back positive in a single day — was 6.54% for tests performed Sunday, according to the state Department of Health. That’s up from 6.14% the day before and the fifth time in the past week the rate was above 5%. The rate stayed below 5% from May 28 to Sept. 27. announced the latest update during a virtual briefing.

The positivity rate as of Sunday in the northern region of the state was 6.76%, central 6.85%, and south 5.66%.

Murphy urged residents to “double-down” on wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands.

He also stressed New Jersey is better prepared to handle a second wave than it was for the first this past spring because it has more experience, greater hospital capacity, and a higher percentage of positive tests coming from younger — and less vulnerable — residents. Murphy said the state is continuing to stock up on personal protective equipment and increase testing and contact tracing.

“Across the board, we have been aggressive in building our capabilities to fight the second wave that is now starting to crash on our shores,” the governor said. “All of us up here pledged we would not be caught unprepared when the second wave arrived. Well, it is here, and we are ready.”

MORE: N.J. racing to stock up on masks, gloves, other PPE as second wave COVID-19 outbreak hits

New Jersey has now reported 234,547 total COVID-19 cases out of more than 4.5 million tests in the nearly eight months since the state’s first case was announced March 4. The state of 9 million people has reported 16,332 deaths attributed to the virus in that time — 14,539 lab-confirmed and 1,793 considered probable.

Murphy said all of the eight newly reported deaths occurred in the last 10 days.

New Jersey’s death toll is the fifth highest in the U.S., after New York, Texas, California, and Florida. The Garden State has the nation’s highest COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 residents.

The daily figures are still far below New Jersey’s April peak, when officials regularly announced thousands of new cases and hundreds of new deaths a day, while more than 8,000 patients were being treated in hospitals.

But after a summer of relatively stable numbers, the state’s latest seven-day rolling average is 1,474 new daily cases — a 37% increase from a week earlier. And officials warn the uptick in hospitalizations is a sign more serious cases of the virus are on the rise.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli also warned Thursday that she expects the state’s death rate to increase in the coming weeks.

Essex County reported the most new cases in New Jersey on Thursday, with 241. That’s as residents of Newark, the largest city in the county and the state, are under a mandatory curfew because of climbing cases.

Six other counties — Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Passaic, and Union — also reported more than 100 new positive tests.

New Jersey’s seven-day rolling average of new cases is high enough for the state to qualify for its own quarantine travel advisory. But officials announced last week that New Jerseyans and travelers from other neighboring states that have reached the threshold will not have to quarantine. Still, Murphy is calling on New Jersey residents to avoid unnecessary travel out of state.

The travel advisory currently includes 41 U.S. states and territories. Coronavirus cases have been rising across the country in recent weeks.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

State officials have attributed New Jersey’s recent spikes largely to people feeling fatigue over restrictions and holding large indoor gatherings, frequently in private homes. The state also has a larger testing capacity than it did in the spring.

Murphy has stopped short saying he would order a new round of statewide lockdown restrictions and instead said officials plan to increase testing and contact tracing to fight flareups in individual areas.

The governor did say Thursday that indoor dining capacity at restaurants — currently capped at 25% — is in “a holding pattern.” And asked whether this could last beyond Thanksgiving or Christmas or if more restrictions are possible, Murphy said: “All options are on the table.”

MORE: N.J. indoor dining capacity limits in ‘holding pattern’ as coronavirus cases increase, Murphy says

Murphy also said he will continue to hold his coronavirus briefings online for “the foreseeable future.”

He has been hosting all events virtually this week after learning a senior staffer tested positive for the virus last Wednesday. Murphy has tested negative four times since he was at a Hoboken bar with that staffer on Oct. 17.

COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by most new cases)

  • Essex County: 24,709 positive tests (241 new), 1,912 confirmed deaths (230 probable)
  • Hudson County: 23,132 positive tests (162 new), 1,372 confirmed deaths (157 probable)
  • Bergen County: 25,027 positive tests (141 new), 1,819 confirmed deaths (243 probable)
  • Union County: 20,195 positive tests (131 new), 1,204 confirmed deaths (168 probable)
  • Middlesex County: 22,274 positive tests (121 new), 1,244 confirmed deaths (203 probable)
  • Passaic County: 20,898 positive tests (111 new), 1,120 confirmed deaths (141 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 14,111 positive tests (105 new), 781 confirmed deaths (92 probable)
  • Camden County: 11,617 positive tests (86 new), 581 confirmed deaths (53 probable)
  • Burlington County: 8,486 positive tests (58 new), 472 confirmed deaths (41 probable)
  • Ocean County: 16,715 positive tests (56 new), 1,001 confirmed deaths (66 probable)
  • Morris County: 9,145 positive tests (56 new), 693 confirmed deaths (145 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 5,559 positive tests (50 new), 241 confirmed deaths (7 probable)
  • Mercer County: 9,297 positive tests (45 new), 605 confirmed deaths (34 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 5,162 positive tests (31 new), 255 confirmed deaths (12 probable)
  • Somerset County: 6,485 positive tests (27 new), 519 confirmed deaths (75 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 4,016 positive tests (14 new), 154 confirmed deaths (8 probable)
  • Sussex County: 1,720 positive tests (11 new), 161 confirmed deaths (36 probable)
  • Warren County: 1,595 positive tests (10 new), 158 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
  • Cape May County: 1,123 positive tests (8 new), 90 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 1,586 positive tests (3 new), 73 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Salem County: 1,171 positive tests (3 new), 84 confirmed deaths (5 probable)

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There were 1,072 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases across the Garden State’s 71 hospitals as of Wednesday night. That’s 62 more than the night before.

Of those, 846 have tested positive and 226 are awaiting test results.

Wednesday’s totals includes 217 patients in critical or intensive care (23 more than the night before), including 79 on ventilators (one fewer).

There were 117 coronavirus patients discharged Wednesday, according to the state’s online dashboard.

TRANSMISSION RATE

New Jersey’s latest transmission rate of 1.25 is the same as reported Wednesday. The state hit a recent high of 1.27 on Oct. 5.

That’s much lower than when the rate was above 5 toward the end of March. But any number above 1 means each newly infected person, on average, is spreading the virus to at least one other person. Any number below 1 means the virus’ spread is decreasing.

A transmission rate of 1.25 means every 100 infected people will spread the virus to 125 others.

SCHOOL CASES

Since the start of the school year, at least 122 New Jersey students and educators have either contracted COVID-19 or passed it on to someone else while in the classroom, walking around their schools or participating in extracurricular activities, state officials said last Thursday.

The 122 cases were part of 28 confirmed school outbreaks that local health investigations concluded were the result of students and teachers catching the coronavirus at school.

AGE BREAKDOWN

Broken down by age, those 30 to 49 years old make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have caught the virus (31.2%), followed by those 50-64 (25.6%), 18-29 (17.4%), 65-79 (12.5%), 80 and older (8.3%), 5-17 (4%), and 0-4 (0.8%).

The 18-29 age range accounts for the largest number of new positive tests.

On average, the virus has been more deadly for older residents, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Nearly half the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents 80 and older (47.2%), followed by those 65-79 (32.2%), 50-64 (15.9%), 30-49 (4.3%), 18-29 (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).

At least 7,219 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Meanwhile, at least 17,500 more people in New Jersey have died this year than would be expected, state mortality data shows, which suggests the pandemic has claimed even more lives than state totals, according to an ongoing analysis by NJ Advance Media.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of early Thursday afternoon, there have been more than 44.6 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.18 million million people have died.

The United States has the most positive tests in the world, with more than 8.87 million, and the most deaths, at more than 228,000.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.