N.J reports 6 COVID deaths, 2,204 new cases. CDC expected to OK vaccines for children under 5. – NJ.com

New Jersey on Saturday reported 2,204 confirmed COVID-19 cases and six new confirmed deaths as a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel met to decide whether to recommend COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 for the first time.

The White House said earlier this month that, pending FDA and CDC approval, vaccines for the youngest age group would be available the week of June 20.

The state’s seven-day average for confirmed cases was 2,198 on Saturday, down 18% from a week ago, and down 45% from a month ago.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted on Monday, the most recent day with available data, was 7.82%. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.”

The statewide rate of transmission for Saturday was 0.83. A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that the outbreak is declining as each new case is leading to less than one additional new case.

Cases, transmission rates, and hospitalizations have been declining in recent weeks.

There were 756 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Friday night. One hospital did not report data. Hospitalizations still remain significantly lower than when they peaked at 6,089 on Jan. 10 during the omicron wave.

Of those hospitalized, 90 were in intensive care and 36 were on ventilators. There were at least 154 people discharged in the 24-hour period ending Friday, according to state data.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now lists seven New Jersey counties with “high” transmission rates — Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Monmouth, Morris and Salem.

Those in high-risk areas are recommended to wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation and stay up-to-date on vaccinations, according to the CDC.

Eleven counties are in the medium risk category: Bergen, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Union. Masks are not recommended in the medium and low risk regions.

Cumberland, Hunterdon and Warren are listed as low risk.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported 2,102,498 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 about 351,484 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 33,926 COVID-19 deaths — 30,845 confirmed fatalities and 3,081 probable ones.

New Jersey has the eighth-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas — as of the latest data reported Monday. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the country.

The latest numbers follow a major study that revealed even a mild case of COVID-19 can significantly affect the brain. Long COVID — the term commonly used to describe symptoms stemming from the virus long after a person no longer tests positive — has been found to affect between 10% and 30% of those who contract the infection, regardless of whether they have a mild or serious case.

In New Jersey, that would mean that roughly 600,000 of the more than 2 million who have tested positive for COVID since the onset of the pandemic either have or have had long COVID.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

More than 6.93 million of the 8.46 million eligible people who live, work or study in New Jersey have received the initial course of vaccinations and more than 7.8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began here on Dec. 15, 2020.

More than 3.95 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the FDA 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.

SCHOOL AND LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS

For the week ending June 5, with 52.9% of schools reporting data, another 5,799 COVID-19 cases were reported among staff (2,099) and students (3,700) across New Jersey’s schools.

Since the start of the academic year, there have been 144,119 students and 43,680 school staff members who have contracted COVID-19 in New Jersey, though the state has never had more than two-thirds of the school districts reporting data in any week.

The state provides total student and staff cases separately from those deemed to be in-school transmission, which is narrowly defined as three or more cases linked through contact tracing.

New Jersey has reported 965 total in-school outbreaks, including 6,997 cases among students and staff. That includes eight new outbreaks in the latest weekly report ending June 6. The state reported 33 in-school outbreaks the previous week.

At least 9,158 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.

There were active outbreaks at 363 facilities, resulting in 4,473 current cases among residents and 4,123 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Saturday, there have been more than 538 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 6.3 million people died due to the virus.

The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 86 million) and deaths (at least 1,013,358) of any nation.

There have been more than 11.6 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.