N.J. reports 31 more COVID deaths, 3,144 cases. More than 1M have received 1st vaccine dose. – NJ.com

New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 3,144 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 31 additional deaths, while more than 1 million people have received at least their first COVID-19 vaccine dose in the state and more than 386,000 have gotten both shots.

The Garden State’s seven-day average for new confirmed positive cases is now 2,797, down 8% from a week ago and down 48% from a month ago, as the second wave of the pandemic continues to show signs of easing.

The number of coronavirus patients in New Jersey’s hospitals fell for the 13th straight day, dropping to 2,411 as of Monday night. That’s down 38% from a recent peak of 3,872 on Dec. 22 and the fewest number of patients since Nov. 16.

The latest statewide rate of transmission is 0.90, up slightly from 0.89 the day before. The rate has now risen for four straight days after weeks of steadily declining. When the rate is below 1, that indicates the state’s outbreak is slowing.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted on Friday, the most recent day reported, was 8.18%.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced the numbers during an unrelated news conference in Newark, saying “we’re still in the thick of this thing.” But he added “the numbers continue to go — I’m knocking on wood — in a good direction.”

Murphy also noted over the weekend that lower-than-average numbers from Saturday and Sunday were affected by reporting issues.

Tuesday’s event was Murphy’s first public appearance after quarantining for five days because an undisclosed member of his family tested positive for the virus.

New Jersey has now reported 669,481 positive coronavirus cases out of more than 9.9 million PCR tests in the more than 11 months since the state’s outbreak began. There have also been more than 81,584 positive antigen tests, including 801 more reported Tuesday. Those cases are considered probable, and health officials have warned that positive antigen tests could overlap with the confirmed PCR tests because they are sometimes given in tandem.

The state of 9 million people has also reported 22,497 residents have died from complications related to COVID-19 — including 20,251 confirmed fatalities and 2,246 considered probable.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

There have been 1,411,270 vaccine doses administered in New Jersey as of Tuesday morning, according to the state’s dashboard — 38,339 more than the day before. Of those, 1,024,769 were the first of two doses people will receive, while 386,490 were the second.

That’s out of more than 1.77 million doses the state has received from the federal government, according to a running tally by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state’s goal is to vaccinate at least 70% of its adult population by the end of May. That’s about 4.7 million people.

Murphy hinted last week that he could soon lift more restrictions if COVID-19 numbers continue to improve.

“If these trends continue … we can again look to additional steps to further reopen our economy,” he said.

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

  • Bergen County: 65,230 confirmed cases (432 new), 2,278 confirmed deaths (277 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 48,695 confirmed cases (342 new), 1,236 confirmed deaths (114 probable)
  • Middlesex County: 64,570 confirmed cases (331 new), 1,809 confirmed deaths (222 probable)
  • Ocean County: 49,203 confirmed cases (299 new), 1,652 confirmed deaths (111 probable)
  • Essex County: 64,287 confirmed cases (214 new), 2,348 confirmed deaths (261 probable)
  • Hudson County: 60,461 confirmed cases (211 new), 1,774 confirmed deaths (177 probable)
  • Union County: 47,083 confirmed cases (200 new), 1,525 confirmed deaths (192 probable)
  • Morris County: 30,376 confirmed cases (177 new), 875 confirmed deaths (222 probable)
  • Passaic County: 50,265 confirmed cases (145 new), 1,476 confirmed deaths (167 probable)
  • Camden County: 38,126 confirmed cases (117 new), 1,019 confirmed deaths (74 probable)
  • Somerset County: 17,709 confirmed cases (111 new), 673 confirmed deaths (99 probable)
  • Mercer County: 25,163 confirmed cases (101 new), 812 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
  • Burlington County: 29,738 confirmed cases (95 new), 666 confirmed deaths (52 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 20,295 confirmed cases (85 new), 494 confirmed deaths (24 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 18,810 confirmed cases (80 new), 504 confirmed deaths (25 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 11,575 confirmed cases (50 new), 316 confirmed deaths (20 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 5,912 confirmed cases (43 new), 101 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Sussex County: 7,535 confirmed cases (38 new), 206 confirmed deaths (61 probable)
  • Cape May County: 3,497 confirmed cases (25 new), 150 confirmed deaths (25 probable)
  • Warren County: 5,970 confirmed cases (25 new), 191 confirmed deaths (18 probable)
  • Salem County: 4,084 confirmed cases (16 new), 146 confirmed deaths (12 probable)

VACCINE DOSES BY COUNTY

  • ATLANTIC COUNTY – 43,806 doses administered
  • BERGEN COUNTY – 156,433 doses administered
  • BURLINGTON COUNTY – 73,783 doses administered
  • CAMDEN COUNTY – 82,967 doses administered
  • CAPE MAY COUNTY – 20,321 doses administered
  • CUMBERLAND COUNTY – 20,135 doses administered
  • ESSEX COUNTY – 116,699 doses administered
  • GLOUCESTER COUNTY – 50,504 doses administered
  • HUDSON COUNTY – 63,936 doses administered
  • HUNTERDON COUNTY – 19,190 doses administered
  • MERCER COUNTY – 39,233 doses administered
  • MIDDLESEX COUNTY – 107,520 doses administered
  • MONMOUTH COUNTY – 106,095 doses administered
  • MORRIS COUNTY – 103,054 doses administered
  • OCEAN COUNTY – 83,675 doses administered
  • PASSAIC COUNTY – 64,327 doses administered
  • SALEM COUNTY – 8,872 doses administered
  • SOMERSET COUNTY – 54,455 doses administered
  • SUSSEX COUNTY – 22,038 doses administered
  • UNION COUNTY – 68,713 doses administered
  • WARREN COUNTY – 13,346 doses administered
  • UNKNOWN COUNTY – 46,448 doses administered
  • OUT OF STATE – 45,720 doses administered

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There were 2,411 patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals as of Monday night — 15 fewer than the previous night.

That included 494 in critical or intensive care (22 fewer than the previous night), with 312 on ventilators (12 more).

There were also 156 COVID-19 patients discharged Monday, according to the state’s dashboard.

SCHOOL CASES

New Jersey on Tuesday reported two new in-school coronavirus outbreaks, bringing the state’s total to 144 in-school outbreaks, which have resulted in 686 cases among students, teachers, and school staff this academic year.

Outbreaks — defined as cases in which people were confirmed to have caught or transmitted the virus in the classroom or during academic activities — have been reported in all 21 counties, according to the state’s dashboard.

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.

There are about 1.4 million students and teachers across the state, though teaching methods amid the outbreak have varied, some are in-person, some are hybrid and others are all-remote.

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%), followed by those 50-64 (23.4%), 18-29 (19.4%), 65-79 (11%), 5-17 (8.2%), 80 and older (5.1%), and 0-4 (1.7%).

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 (47.36%), followed by those 65-79 (32.7%), 50-64 (15.55%), 30-49 (4.02%), 18-29 (0.36%), 5-17 (0%), and 0-4 (0.02%).

At least 7,852 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

There are currently active outbreaks at 394 facilities, resulting in 6,955 active cases among residents and 7,128 among staffers.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of early Tuesday afternoon, there have been more than 109.3 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 2.41 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.

The U.S. has reported the most cases, at more than 27.7 million, and the most deaths, at more than 486,500.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.