N.J. reports 3,429 COVID cases, 61 deaths as hospitalizations top 2,000 for first time in a month – NJ.com

New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 3,429 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 61 additional confirmed deaths as the number of people hospitalized across the state surpassed 2,000 patients for the first time in nearly a month.

Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday, when he declared New Jersey is “back to leading the nation in the spread of this virus,” that the recent spike likely means there won’t be any additional announcements in the near future about loosening restrictions.

The Garden State’s seven-day average for new confirmed cases is now 3,391, up 11% from a week ago and 29% from a month ago. That’s the highest seven-day average since Feb. 4.

There were 2,066 coronavirus patients across New Jersey’s hospitals as of Monday night – the first time more than 2,000 patients were reported since Feb. 25, according to state data. Hospitalizations are down from mid-January when more than 3,700 patients were being treated, but have hovered near 2,000 for two weeks.

New Jersey health facilities and vaccine centers have now administered about 3.56 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine — including more than 1.26 million people considered fully-vaccinated, according to state data. About 500,000 vaccine doses were administered last week, Murphy said.

The state’s goal is to vaccinate 70% of its eligible adults — about 4.7 million people — by the end of May. More than 18% of the adult population is fully vaccinated and more than half of adults have been administered at least one shot.

New Jersey’s rate of transmission remained the same Tuesday at 1.09. Any number over 1 indicates that the outbreak is growing, with each new case leading to at least one other case.

In all, New Jersey has now reported 770,980 confirmed coronavirus cases out of more than 11.6 million PCR tests in the year since the state reported its first case on March 4, 2020. There have also been 102,860 positive antigen tests. Those cases are considered probable, and health officials have warned that positive antigen tests could overlap with the confirmed PCR tests because they are sometimes given in tandem.

The state of 9 million people has reported 24,242 residents have died from complications related to COVID-19 — 21,727 confirmed deaths and 2,515 fatalities considered probable.

New Jersey on Friday increased indoor and outdoor gathering limits from 25 to 50 people and increase capacity limits for restaurants, gyms and health clubs, recreational facilities and arcades, and personal care businesses to 50%. But mask mandates and social-distancing guidelines will remain in effect.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

VACCINATIONS BY COUNTY

  • ATLANTIC COUNTY – 117,348 doses administered
  • BERGEN COUNTY – 409,031 doses administered
  • BURLINGTON COUNTY – 192,226 doses administered
  • CAMDEN COUNTY – 218,301 doses administered
  • CAPE MAY COUNTY – 51,668 doses administered
  • CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 50,421 doses administered
  • ESSEX COUNTY – 273,512 doses administered
  • GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 135,396 doses administered
  • HUDSON COUNTY – 178,681 doses administered
  • HUNTERDON COUNTY – 49,542 doses administered
  • MERCER COUNTY – 129,485 doses administered
  • MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 293,235 doses administered
  • MONMOUTH COUNTY – 271,160 doses administered
  • MORRIS COUNTY – 265,573 doses administered
  • OCEAN COUNTY – 221,183 doses administered
  • PASSAIC COUNTY – 158,649 doses administered
  • SALEM COUNTY – 24,234 doses administered
  • SOMERSET COUNTY – 145,294 doses administered
  • SUSSEX COUNTY – 55,622 doses administered
  • UNION COUNTY – 187,595 doses administered
  • WARREN COUNTY – 36,086 doses administered
  • UNKNOWN COUNTY- 4,130 doses administered
  • OUT OF STATE – 92,130 doses administered

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

  • Bergen County: 76,870 confirmed cases (362 new), 2,412 confirmed deaths (288 probable)
  • Hudson County: 69,777 confirmed cases (344 new), 1,889 confirmed deaths (197 probable)
  • Middlesex County: 74,235 confirmed cases (332 new), 1,942 confirmed deaths (242 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 58,347 confirmed cases (321 new), 1,344 confirmed deaths (133 probable)
  • Essex County: 73,978 confirmed cases (311 new), 2,478 confirmed deaths (282 probable)
  • Ocean County: 57,461 confirmed cases (243 new), 1,821 confirmed deaths (144 probable)
  • Morris County: 36,489 confirmed cases (187 new), 928 confirmed deaths (238 probable)
  • Union County: 53,085 confirmed cases (178 new), 1,626 confirmed deaths (213 probable)
  • Passaic County: 56,318 confirmed cases (174 new), 1,579 confirmed deaths (189 probable)
  • Burlington County: 33,311 confirmed cases (140 new), 718 confirmed deaths (62 probable)
  • Camden County: 42,066 confirmed cases (129 new), 1,117 confirmed deaths (97 probable)
  • Mercer County: 28,085 confirmed cases (116 new), 861 confirmed deaths (43 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 22,675 confirmed cases (106 new), 541 confirmed deaths (30 probable)
  • Somerset County: 20,769 confirmed cases (100 new), 699 confirmed deaths (104 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 21,516 confirmed cases (90 new), 569 confirmed deaths (32 probable)
  • Warren County: 7,272 confirmed cases (61 new), 199 confirmed deaths (25 probable)
  • Sussex County: 9,096 confirmed cases (57 new), 214 confirmed deaths (65 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 12,884 confirmed cases (51 new), 358 confirmed deaths (37 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 7,153 confirmed cases (49 new), 114 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Salem County: 4,568 confirmed cases (48 new), 155 confirmed deaths (12 probable)
  • Cape May County: 3,998 confirmed cases (11 new), 163 confirmed deaths (28 probable)

HOSPITALIZATIONS

Hospitalizations as of 3/22/21

Number of daily hospitalizations as of March 22.

There were 2,066 patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals as of Monday night — 73 more than the previous night, according to the state’s dashboard.

That included 433 in critical or intensive care (five more than the previous day), with 234 on ventilators (17 more).

There were also 185 COVID-19 patients discharged Monday.

Hospitalizations peaked at more than 8,000 patients during the first wave of the pandemic in April.

SCHOOL CASES

New Jersey has reported 188 in-school coronavirus outbreaks, which have resulted in 890 cases among students, teachers and school staff this academic year, according to the state’s dashboard.

The state defines school outbreaks as cases where contact tracers determined two or more students or school staff caught or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at school. Those numbers do not include students or staff believed to have been infected outside school or cases that can’t be confirmed as in-school outbreaks.

There are about 1.4 million public school students and teachers across the state, though teaching methods amid the outbreak have varied, with some schools teaching in-person, some using a hybrid format and others remaining all-remote.

Murphy on Wednesday urged more New Jersey schools to return to in-person learning. He has also said officials are “fully expecting” schools across New Jersey to return for in-person learning “safely and responsibly” when the next school year starts in September.

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 (30.9%), followed by those 50-64 (23%), 18-29 (19.7%), 65-79 (10.7%), 5-17 (8.9%), 80 and older (4.8%) and 0-4 (1.8%).

On average, the virus has been more deadly for older residents, especially those with preexisting conditions. Nearly half the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents 80 and older (47.07%), followed by those 65-79 (32.79%), 50-64 (15.68%), 30-49 (4.05%), 18-29 (0.37%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).

At least 7,972 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

There are active outbreaks at 240 facilities, resulting in 4,275 active cases among residents and 4,855 among staffers.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Tuesday morning, there have been 124 million positive COVID-19 tests across the globe, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.75 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.

The U.S. has reported the most cases, at more than 29.8 million, and the most deaths, at more than 542,900.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.