N.J. reports 3,821 COVID-19 cases, 55 more deaths. Hospitalizations rise for 5th straight day. – NJ.com

New Jersey reported another 3,821 coronavirus cases Friday and 55 additional deaths as hospitalizations increased for the fifth straight day, as neighboring states New York and Pennsylvania ordered new restrictions including closing indoor dining due to a surge in cases.

The state’s seven-day average for positive COVID-19 tests decreased Friday to 4,952 after rising steadily every day this month to record levels, though a lack of testing availability in the spring likely undercounted the extent of the early infections. The seven-day average is now 13% higher than a week ago, and 87% higher than a month ago.

“We cannot just let this virus run rampant and have its way with us,” Gov. Phil Murphy said as he announced the latest numbers during a coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “We have to fight to protect every resident, every family, every community. And we have to fight to protect our health care system and the tremendous front-line health care workers.”

New Jersey’s hospitals reported 3,571 coronavirus patients as of Thursday night, nearly double the amount from a month ago.

The state’s rate of transmission increased Friday to 1.14, up from 1.12 a day earlier. Any number over 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding. The rate of transmission has increased for five consecutive days, an indication that the increase in infections is accelerating.

The positivity rate Monday, the most recent day available, was 9.95% based on 49,227 tests. The positivity rate had been more than 10% since Nov. 25.

The death toll from outbreak increased to 17,662 including 15,794 confirmed and 1,868 probable fatalities. New Jersey has had 390,256 total cases out of 6.5 million tests administered, though those totals do not include recently-deployed rapid tests.

Murphy said 27 of the 55 newly-confirmed deaths occurred in the last three days.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

As cases and hospitalizations have been on the rise, Murphy continues to say he’s keeping all options open for new restrictions to slow the outbreak.

“We have to get through this winter together,” Murphy said. “We can’t give up because we’re losing too many lives.”

Murphy has said he’s watching hospital capacity closely when deciding whether to impose more orders to try and stop the spread. The governor said a month ago he was looking at three potential restrictions in particular indoor dining, elective surgeries at hospital and indoor sports

The governor has since ordered the suspension of all indoor organized sports at the youth, high school, and adult recreational levels. That started on Dec. 5 and lasts until at least Jan. 2. He’s since said he hopes they’ll be able to resume next month, but has left the door open to extending the temporary ban on them.

Murphy on Wednesday revealed two pairs of moderate-case and worst-case scenarios for the second wave. The moderate forecasts call for New Jersey to hit between 6,300 and 9,100 daily cases and between 5,700 and 7,100 patients hospitalized over the next two months.

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

  • Essex County: 40,145 positive tests (370 new), 2,057 confirmed deaths (234 probable)
  • Bergen County: 39,588 positive tests (359 new), 1,939 confirmed deaths (254 probable)
  • Middlesex County: 35,674 positive tests (359 new), 1,331 confirmed deaths (207 probable)
  • Passaic County: 34,480 positive tests (348 new), 1,216 confirmed deaths (144 probable)
  • Ocean County: 25,418 positive tests (275 new), 1,130 confirmed deaths (70 probable)
  • Hudson County: 36,348 positive tests (274 new), 1,464 confirmed deaths (159 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 24,558 positive tests (272 new), 841 confirmed deaths (94 probable)
  • Camden County: 22,973 positive tests (252 new), 670 confirmed deaths (58 probable)
  • Union County: 31,755 positive tests (198 new), 1,303 confirmed deaths (171 probable)
  • Morris County: 16,164 positive tests (191 new), 735 confirmed deaths (157 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 11,134 positive tests (158 new), 309 confirmed deaths (8 probable)
  • Burlington County: 16,422 positive tests (155 new), 518 confirmed deaths (45 probable)
  • Mercer County: 15,755 positive tests (128 new), 645 confirmed deaths (37 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 6,032 positive tests (107 new), 182 confirmed deaths (8 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 9,368 positive tests (100 new), 300 confirmed deaths (16 probable)
  • Somerset County: 10,411 positive tests (65 new), 546 confirmed deaths (82 probable)
  • Sussex County: 3,219 positive tests (60 new), 163 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 2,935 positive tests (40 new), 79 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Warren County: 2,988 positive tests (36 new), 161 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
  • Salem County: 2,064 positive tests (17 new), 95 confirmed deaths (5 probable)
  • Cape May County: 1,908 positive tests (14 new), 110 confirmed deaths (13 probable)

HOSPITALIZATIONS

The number of people hospitalized as of Thursday night is the highest level since May 14 — when 3,706 people were being treated.

There were 3,571 patients with confirmed (3,332) or suspected (239) COVID-19 cases across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals as of Thursday (26 more the previous day).

Though only another slight uptick from the prior day, it marked the fifth consecutive day hospitalizations increased after a brief two-day dip last week.

Of those hospitalized Wednesday, 687 were in critical or intensive care (43 more than the previous night), including 421 on ventilators (nine more).

There were 425 coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals Thursday, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.

SCHOOL CASES

New Jersey officials have reported 18 new in-school outbreaks and 103 new positive cases among students, teachers and school staff in one of the worst weeks since the state started tracking how many people were being infected with COVID-19 at school.

The names of the schools were not released to protect the privacy of the children and school staff members who tested positive, state officials said.

Although hundreds of school districts have announced coronavirus cases and dozens of New Jersey schools have temporarily switched to all remote classes since the start of the school year, state health officials have said 88 schools have had confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks.

There have now been 388 total cases of in-school transmission in those 88 schools since the start of the school year.

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. The extensive rules for schools, which include social distancing guidelines for classrooms and strict mask requirements, have made schools among the safest places in the state, he said.

But for the second week in a row, every region in New Jersey is orange on the state’s COVID-19 map, indicating “high” virus activity across the state.

The color coding on the map is being closely watched by many school districts because if any area moves to red, indicating “very high” coronavirus activity, all schools in that region will be required to close classrooms and switch to all-remote learning, according to state health guidelines.

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 (31.6%), followed by those 50-64 (24.2%), 18-29 (18.9%), 65-79 (11.3%), 80 and older (6.3%), 5-17 (6.2%), and 0-4 (1.3%).

On average, the virus has been more deadly for older residents, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Nearly half the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents 80 and older (47.73%), followed by those 65-79 (31.68%), 50-64 (15.89%), 30-49 (4.31%), 18-29 (0.37%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).

At least 7,291 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 weeks.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Friday, there have been 69.7 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.58 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.

The U.S. has reported the most cases with 15.61 million and the most deaths at more than 292,100.

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