N.J. reports 1,009 more COVID cases, 9 deaths. Hospitalizations tumble, transmission rate dips – NJ.com

Health officials in New Jersey on Saturday reported 1,009 more newly confirmed coronavirus cases and nine additional deaths, though statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped for the first time in a week and the state’s rate of transmission dipped slightly.

The Garden State’s seven-day average for newly confirmed positive tests increased to 836, up 32% from a week ago and 282% from a month ago. The seven-day average of 836 remains the highest since May 13, when cases were starting to steadily decline.

There were 425 patients in the state’s 71 hospitals with COVID-19 or a suspected case as of Friday night, a 12% drop from 485 from the day before. Of those hospitalized, 29 were on ventilators, according to state data. That ended a streak of six consecutive days in which hospitalizations increased.

Officials said 82 patients are receiving critical care.

New Jersey’s statewide transmission dropped for the third straight day, from 1.48 to 1.46. But it remains near the highest number since the first few weeks of the pandemic in spring 2020, when testing was scarce. 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.

At least 5,292,911 people who live, work or study in New Jersey have been fully vaccinated, according to state data. That includes 164,252 New Jerseyans who were inoculated at out-of-state sites.

New Jersey, which has one of the nation’s highest vaccination rates, is still recording daily hospitalization and death numbers well below the pandemic’s peaks. Though vaccinated people can still catch the virus, officials stress vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death, even against the delta variant.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think we’re doing OK,” said Dr. Joseph Underwood, chair of emergency medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Underwood acknowledged cases at the facility have risen, “but we really haven’t seen a surge.”

“Within (our) region, we’ve seen a small incremental uptick, but the numbers are relatively small in terms of how many patients we’re seeing coming into the emergency department and then how many of them we’re actually admitting.”

The patients entering Hackensack University Medical Center are also not as ill as they were in previous upticks, though nearly all are unvaccinated, Underwood said.

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.

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.

New Jersey, an early coronavirus hotspot, has now reported 26,579 total COVID-19 deaths in nearly 17 months — 23,883 confirmed and 2,719 considered probable. That’s the most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.

In all, the state has reported 907,249 total confirmed cases out of more than 14.65 million tests since it announced its first case March 4, 2020. The state has also reported 132,104 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.

As of Saturday, there have been more than 197.5 million positive COVID-19 cases reported across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. At least 4,212,085 have died due to the coronavirus.

The U.S. has reported more cases than any other nation, about 34.9 million, and the most deaths, at least 613,031.

More than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, including about 344 million in the U.S.

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

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.

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