Essex County COVID Cases Still In ‘Red Zone:’ See Town Updates – Patch.com

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The coronavirus continues to take a heavy toll on Essex County residents, businesses and schools in the region, according to updated state data (see town-by-town totals below).

As of Friday, Essex County still leads the state in cumulative, confirmed deaths linked to the virus, with 2,364. The county has the second-highest number of cumulative COVID-19 cases with 64,993, behind only Bergen County.

The New Jersey Department of Health’s most recent “COVID-19 Activity Level Report,” which is issued weekly, says Essex County is still in the “red zone” for its coronavirus case rate.

The “red zone” means the daily new COVID-19 virus case rate, per 100,000 people, is “very high” currently in 11 counties. That means they exceed 25 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day average. The “orange” zone means they have a rate of 10 to 25 cases per 100,000 people.

The latest reports say the overall coronavirus activity level is either “moderate,” or “yellow,” or “high,” or “orange,” in all New Jersey counties.

“When it is high risk, there are some recommendations that we make together with local school boards,” said Edward Lifshitz, medical director for the state Department of Health.

Indeed, a number of school districts have shifted to remote instruction as the numbers have risen.

The overall coronavirus risk rose to “high” in each of the counties because:

  • The new daily case rate in each of the counties rose to 10 or more per 100,000 people.
  • The percent of COVID-19-like illnesses rose above 5.52 in each of the counties.
  • The percent of positive cases rose above 10.01.

LOCAL STATISTICS

Essex County reported 65,194 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Feb. 19, up from 63,352 on Feb. 12, a 2.9 percent increase.

Essex County officials released cumulative COVID-19 totals for each town and city, noting that their daily report may not match state or municipal totals (here’s why). Patch has included the U.S. Census’ most recent population estimates for each municipality.

  • Belleville – 4,227 cases, 96 deaths (population: 36,497)
  • Bloomfield – 4,018 cases, 98 deaths (population: 49,973)
  • Caldwell – 433 cases, 14 deaths (population: 7,941)
  • Cedar Grove – 1,211 cases, 119 deaths (population: 12,489)
  • East Orange – 5,198 cases, 268 deaths (population: 64,367)
  • Essex Fells – 144 cases, 2 deaths (population: 2,085)
  • Fairfield – 646 cases, 27 deaths (population: 7,474)
  • Glen Ridge – 265 cases, 11 deaths (population: 7,574)
  • Irvington – 3,390 cases, 204 deaths (population: 54,312)
  • Livingston – 1,412 cases, 81 deaths (population: 30,303)
  • Maplewood – 911 cases, 33 deaths (population: 25,380)
  • Millburn – 653 cases, 8 deaths (population: 20,080)
  • Montclair – 1,634 cases, 65 deaths (population: 38,564)
  • Newark – 29,797 cases, 855 deaths (population: 282,011)
  • North Caldwell – 342 cases, 6 deaths (population: 6,621)
  • Nutley – 2,195 cases, 53 deaths (population: 28,434)
  • Orange – 2,647 cases, 119 deaths (population: 30,551)
  • Roseland – 382 cases, 15 deaths (population: 5,835)
  • South Orange – 583 cases, 11 deaths (population: 16,691)
  • Verona – 724 cases, 16 deaths (population: 13,390)
  • West Caldwell – 811 cases, 51 deaths (population: 10,837)
  • West Orange – 3,571 cases, 215 deaths (population: 47,563)

This article contains reporting by Tom Davis, Patch staff

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