N.J. reports 118 more COVID deaths, 3,694 confirmed cases. Highly-contagious U.K. variant found in state. – NJ.com

New Jersey health officials on Friday reported another 3,694 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 118 additional deaths as the state confirmed the first two cases of the highly-contagious COVID-19 variant first identified in the U.K.

Scientists have said the mutation is up to 70% more contagious. But there is no evidence yet it is more deadly or more resistant to vaccines. New Jersey joins at least 20 states where the strain has been confirmed. The first case identified is from an Ocean County man in his 60s and the other is a child who was traveling to northern New Jersey.

New Jersey’s hospitals reported 3,328 patients as of Thursday night, the lowest since Dec. 5 and down 14% from a recent high of 3,873 on Dec. 22.

In addition, the seven-day average for new confirmed cases declined Friday to 4,225, down 24% from a week ago and down 6% from a month ago.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced the latest numbers during a briefing in Trenton and noted that more than 500,000 vaccine doses have now been administered in the state.

“Our goal is to ensure that every New Jerseyan who raises their hand to be vaccinated gets vaccinated,” Murphy said. “We are providing as much as possible of the limited vaccine supply in our control to the sites with the largest capacity, so they can ramp up and confidently open appointments for people waiting patiently for their turn. We are working every day to ensure effective and efficient allocation by monitoring inventory and throughput.”

More than 1.9 million people have registered to be vaccinated through the state’s site. Of those, 1.4 million are currently eligible. More than 4 million total people are eligible.

The state of 9 million residents has now lost 20,875 residents in the COVID-19 pandemic — 18,754 confirmed deaths and 2,121 deaths considered probable, according to state data. The probable deaths, which are revised weekly, increased Wednesday by 30 fatalities. The state has reported 1,768 newly-confirmed deaths in January with nine days of 100 or more.

New Jersey has reported 584,291 total confirmed cases out of 9 million tests administered since officials announced the state’s first case March 4. There have also been 66,098 positive rapid antigen tests, which the state began reporting publicly earlier this month, though officials have cautioned that they could overlap with the confirmed PCR tests.

The positivity rate for tests conducted on Monday, the most recent day available, was 10.1% based on 52,223 tests.

The statewide rate of transmission dropped slightly to 1.04, from 1.07 the day before. Any number over 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding, but when the rate is declining as it has been in recent days, it means the expansion is slowing.

“All of us up here continue to keep our fingers crossed that what we have seen across our health-care landscape over the past week is the beginning of new trend for moderating case counts and lower total hospitalizations,” Murphy said.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

VACCINATIONS

While Murphy said vaccine doses administered have pushed past 500,000, the state’s dashboard tracking vaccinations showed 490,677 as of Friday afternoon. Of those, 418,711 were the first of two doses people will receive.

New Jersey has received nearly 900,000 doses from the federal government, according to a running tally from the CDC.

The state hit a high of 29,114 doses administered in a single day Jan. 14, based on the most current data.

That was the first day New Jersey expanded vaccine eligibility to those 65 and over, residents with certain health conditions, and smokers, creating a backlog for appointments when vaccines promised by the federal government did not materialize.

All six of the coronavirus vaccine mega-sites have opened throughout New Jersey to serve as vaccination hubs.

New Jersey has faced criticism for having a slower rollout than dozens of other states as it continues to deal with a second wave of the pandemic, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state has been doling out doses in phases. And even though officials last week greatly expanded vaccine eligibility, demand remains greater than supply, and residents are scrambling for scarce appointments. More than 4 million New Jersey residents are now eligible.

Officials stress that the state is depending on the federal government for its supply and is receiving only 100,000 doses a week, though New Jersey has the capacity for 470,000 a day.

Murphy on Saturday said the federal government has not provided additional doses that were promised.

COUNTY-BY-COUNTY CASES (sorted by most new)

  • Bergen County: 56,563 confirmed cases (364 new), 2,162 confirmed deaths (268 probable)
  • Middlesex County: 55,645 confirmed cases (357 new), 1,638 confirmed deaths (217 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 41,351 confirmed cases (351 new), 1,103 confirmed deaths (104 probable)
  • Ocean County: 41,374 confirmed cases (351 new), 1,502 confirmed deaths (90 probable)
  • Hudson County: 53,306 confirmed cases (330 new), 1,648 confirmed deaths (172 probable)
  • Essex County: 56,174 confirmed cases (278 new), 2,243 confirmed deaths (260 probable)
  • Morris County: 25,499 confirmed cases (229 new), 832 confirmed deaths (202 probable)
  • Union County: 42,638 confirmed cases (207 new), 1,452 confirmed deaths (189 probable)
  • Camden County: 34,548 confirmed cases (186 new), 901 confirmed deaths (67 probable)
  • Passaic County: 45,149 confirmed cases (180 new), 1,400 confirmed deaths (160 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 15,894 confirmed cases (124 new), 421 confirmed deaths (23 probable)
  • Mercer County: 22,366 confirmed cases (115 new), 749 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 17,911 confirmed cases (98 new), 456 confirmed deaths (22 probable)
  • Somerset County: 15,379 confirmed cases (97 new), 625 confirmed deaths (93 probable)
  • Burlington County: 26,366 confirmed cases (92 new), 627 confirmed deaths (51 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 9,922 confirmed cases (87 new), 273 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
  • Sussex County: 6,342 confirmed cases (80 new), 195 confirmed deaths (53 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 4,974 confirmed cases (52 new), 91 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Warren County: 5,069 confirmed cases (52 new), 178 confirmed deaths (15 probable)
  • Salem County: 3,668 confirmed cases (27 new), 121 confirmed deaths (9 probable)
  • Cape May County: 2,985 confirmed cases (17 new), 137 confirmed deaths (20 probable)

HOSPITALIZATIONS

The 3,328 patients hospitalized with confirmed (3,103) or suspected (225) COVID-19 cases across New Jersey’s hospitals as of Thursday night included 638 in critical or intensive care (one more than the previous night), with 445 on ventilators (15 more).

There were 90 fewer people hospitalized Thursday compared to the previous night.

There were also 456 COVID-19 patients discharged Thursday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The governor has said any hospitalizations over 5,000 patients would likely trigger new rounds of restrictions.

SCHOOL CASES

At least 597 students and staff in 121 school districts in New Jersey have caught COVID-19 through in-school outbreaks, according to the latest update from state health officials.

That’s an increase of 10 districts and 40 cases from the previous weekly report. There are now confirmed in-school outbreaks in all 21 counties, though the state does not identify the individual school districts.

Bergen county has the most outbreaks (26) and cases (115). The county also has the most confirmed cases overall with 55,349 as of Wednesday.

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. Though the numbers keep rising every week, Murphy has said the school outbreak statistics remain below what state officials were expecting when schools reopened for in-person classes.

New Jersey 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.

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 (23.7%), 18-29 (19.3%), 65-79 (11.1%), 5-17 (7.5%), 80 and older (5.4%), and 0-4 (1.6%).

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%), followed by those 65-79 (33%), 50-64 (15.6%), 30-49 (4%), 18-29 (0.4%), 5-17 (0%), and 0-4 (0%).

At least 7,668 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. That number has been rising again at a steeper rate in recent months, with deaths at the state’s nursing homes nearly tripling in December.

There are currently active outbreaks at 431 facilities, resulting in 7,054 active cases among residents and 7,619 among staffers.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Friday morning, there were more than 97.7 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 2.1 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.

The U.S. has reported the most cases, at 24.7 million, and the most deaths, at more than 411,000.

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