N.J. reports 2,186 COVID cases, 2 deaths as fully vaccinated population reaches nearly 7M – NJ.com

New Jersey on Sunday reported another 2,186 confirmed COVID-19 cases and two new confirmed deaths as over 6.99 million Garden State residents have reached fully vaccinated status.

New Jersey’s rate of transmission was 0.95 on Sunday, according to the state Department of Health.

A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that the coronavirus outbreak is declining, as each new case is leading to less than one additional new case.

When the transmission rate is 1, that means cases have leveled off at the current numbers. Anything above 1 means the outbreak is expanding.

The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 2,458, a 12% decrease in the past week but a 9% increase from a month ago.

There were 1,077 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals Saturday. Of those hospitalized, 137 are in intensive care and 34 are on ventilators.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Wednesday — the most recent day with available data — was 12.45%.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” However, the positivity rate is substantially lower than its peak of 40.83% on Jan. 1 during the height of the omicron variant.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported 2.2 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 387,418 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that have likely never been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.

The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 34,337 COVID-19 deaths — 31,241 confirmed fatalities and 3,096 probable ones.

Fourteen counties remain in the high-risk category as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of Thursday, which includes: Cape May, Atlantic, Camden, Burlington, Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, Morris, Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, and Essex county.

Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Mercer, Hunterdon and Sussex counties are in the medium-risk category. Warren County is considered low risk. The CDC recommends that residents in high-risk counties wear masks indoors.

New Jersey has the ninth-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico and Arkansas — as of Friday. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

Over 7.89 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.

More than 4.17 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the Food and Drug Administration approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. U.S. regulators authorized the booster for kids, hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections continue to spread.

Regulators have paused plans to authorize a second booster shot for adults under 50 this summer. Instead, they hope to revamp vaccines to target emerging subvariants by the fall.

LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS

At least 9,468 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data as of Friday.

Of the active outbreaks at 395 facilities, there are 5,409 current cases among residents and 5,746 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Sunday, there have been more than 584 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.

More than 6.4 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows.

Japan reported the most cases in the past 28 days, at more than 4.4 million as of Sunday. The U.S. reported the second-most cases, at 3.6 million.

The U.S. has reported the most cumulative COVID-19 cases (more than 92.1 million) and deaths (at least 1.03 million) of any nation.

There have been more than 12 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Vashti Harris may be reached at vharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @HarrisVashti