N.J. reports 883 more COVID cases, 5 deaths. Transmission rate slips again. – NJ.com

Health officials in New Jersey on Sunday reported 883 more newly confirmed coronavirus cases and five additional deaths as the state’s rate of transmission declined slightly for a fourth consecutive day.

New Jersey’s seven-day average for newly confirmed positive tests increased to 883, up 32% from a week ago and 299% from a month ago. The seven-day average of 873 remains the highest since May 13, when cases began a steady decline.

A total of 1,009 cases were reported on Saturday.

There were 484 patients in the state’s 71 hospitals with COVID-19 or a suspected case as of Saturday night, down from 501 a day earlier. Of those hospitalized, 41 were on ventilators, up from 29 on Friday, and 113 were receiving intensive care.

New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate dropped for the fourth straight day, from 1.46 to 1.43, but remained near the highest number since the first few weeks of the pandemic in spring 2020. Any number over 1 indicates that each new case is leading to more than one additional case and shows the state’s outbreak is expanding.

New Jersey has now reported in nearly 17 months 23,888 confirmed deaths, with an additional 2,719 considered probable. That’s the most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S..

However, the state has among the nation’s highest vaccination rates and is reporting daily hospitalization and death numbers well below the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Though fully vaccinated people can still catch the virus, officials stress vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and death, even against the delta variant.

At least 5,303,447 people who live, work or study in New Jersey have been fully vaccinated, according to state data. That includes 164,252 New Jersey residents who were inoculated at out-of-state sites.

About 70% of the eligible population is vaccinated in New Jersey, ranking seventh in country, according to data from the CDC. But inoculations have slowed in recent months, and about 4 million people in the state remain unvaccinated, including children under the age of 12, who are not yet eligible. The vaccinations are on top of any natural immunity people may have because they caught COVID-19 and survived.

Sunday is the deadline for some universities in New Jersey that are requiring students to submit vaccination records.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people in 10 New Jersey counties wear masks in public indoor settings, whether the gym, the grocery store or a restaurant. Those counties are: Atlantic, Burlington, Bergen, Essex, Gloucester Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic and Union.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Jeff Goldman, Nick Devlin, Brent Johnson, and Spencer Kent contributed to this report.