N.J. reports 63 more COVID deaths, 6,115 confirmed cases. Hospitalizations drop as U.K. variant found in stat – NJ.com

New Jersey on Saturday reported another 6,115 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 64 additional deaths as hospitalizations dipped, a day after state health officials confirmed the first two cases of the highly contagious COVID-19 variant first seen in the U.K.

Scientists have said the mutation is up to 70% more contagious. But there is no evidence yet that the variant 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 3,236 patients as of Friday night, the lowest since Nov. 30 and down more than 16% from a recent high of 3,873 on Dec. 22.

Gov. Phil Murphy posted the latest numbers on Twitter, a day after announcing that more than 500,000 vaccine doses have now been administered in the state.

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 are eligible.

The state of 9 million has now lost 20,934 residents in the COVID-19 pandemic — 18,813 confirmed deaths and 2,121 deaths considered probable, according to state data. The state has reported 1,831 newly-confirmed deaths in January with nine days where 100 or more people have died.

New Jersey has reported 590,400 total confirmed cases out of 9 million tests administered since officials announced the state’s first case March 4.

There have also been 67,136 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 8.84% based on 63,027 tests.

The statewide rate of transmission dropped slightly to 1.01, from 1.04 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.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

VACCINATIONS

The day after Murphy said vaccine doses administered had pushed past 500,000, the state’s dashboard tracking vaccinations showed 524,865 doses administered as of Saturday morning. Of those, 459,635 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 31,859 doses administered in a single day on Wednesday, based on the most current data.

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.

On Friday, Murphy said that the state was providing “as much as possible of the limited vaccine supply in our control to the sites with the largest capacity,” but reiterated his hope that the federal government would provide the necessary additional doses.

“We have built a vaccine infrastructure that can handle this job,” Murphy posted on Twitter on Friday. “We need the doses. I have complete faith that the Biden Administration will get us to where we need to be.”

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

  • · Middlesex County: 56,225 confirmed cases (579 new), 1,645 confirmed deaths (217 probable)
  • Bergen County: 57,109 confirmed cases (538 new), 2,166 confirmed deaths (268 probable)
  • Ocean County: 41,919 confirmed cases (538 new), 1,510 confirmed deaths (90 probable)
  • Monmouth County: 41,868 confirmed cases (508 new), 1,107 confirmed deaths (104 probable)
  • Hudson County: 53,803 confirmed cases (506 new), 1,657 confirmed deaths (172 probable)
  • Essex County: 56,666 confirmed cases (484 new), 2,244 confirmed deaths (260 probable)
  • Passaic County: 45,476 confirmed cases (360 new), 1,403 confirmed deaths (160 probable)
  • Morris County: 25,820 confirmed cases (320 new), 833 confirmed deaths (202 probable)
  • Camden County: 34,863 confirmed cases (316 new), 903 confirmed deaths (67 probable)
  • Union County: 42,950 confirmed cases (302 new), 1,454 confirmed deaths (189 probable)
  • Atlantic County: 16,163 confirmed cases (270 new), 426 confirmed deaths (23 probable)
  • Burlington County: 26,600 confirmed cases (237 new), 627 confirmed deaths (51 probable)
  • Cumberland County: 10,158 confirmed cases (233 new), 274 confirmed deaths (13 probable)
  • Mercer County: 22,599 confirmed cases (229 new), 749 confirmed deaths (39 probable)
  • Gloucester County: 18,097 confirmed cases (183 new), 458 confirmed deaths (22 probable)
  • Somerset County: 15,505 confirmed cases (127 new), 630 confirmed deaths (93 probable)
  • Sussex County: 6,436 confirmed cases (94 new), 197 confirmed deaths (53 probable)
  • Hunterdon County: 5,043 confirmed cases (71 new), 91 confirmed deaths (54 probable)
  • Warren County: 5,133 confirmed cases (65 new), 179 confirmed deaths (15 probable)
  • Cape May County: 3,041 confirmed cases (56 new), 139 confirmed deaths (20 probable)
  • Salem County: 3,713 confirmed cases (45 new), 121 confirmed deaths (9 probable)

HOSPITALIZATIONS

The 3,236 patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases across New Jersey’s hospitals as of Friday night included 603 in critical or intensive care (35 fewer than the previous night), with 425 on ventilators (20 fewer).

There were 92 fewer people hospitalized Friday compared to the previous night.

There were also 411 COVID-19 patients discharged Friday, according to the state’s 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 57,109 as of Saturday.

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 (31.1%), followed by those 50-64 (23.6%), 18-29 (19.3%), 65-79 (11.1%), 5-17 (7.7%), 80 and older (5.3%), 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 (47.52%), followed by those 65-79 (32.46%), 50-64 (15.6%), 30-49 (4.05%), 18-29 (0.35%), 5-17 (0%), and 0-4 (0%).

At least 7,698 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 427 facilities, resulting in 6,994 active cases among residents and 7,675 among staffers.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Saturday morning, there were more than 98.3 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 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 414,400.

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Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon.