West Orange Sees Biggest COVID-19 Surge Since June: Officials – West Orange, NJ Patch
WEST ORANGE, NJ — There’s a simple hashtag that summarizes the recent rise in coronavirus cases in West Orange, the town’s mayor says: “#weneedtobebetter.”
On Sunday, Mayor Robert Parisi reported that the township has seen its biggest COVID-19 surge in months, adding the above warning for local residents.
“Today closes out a week with 54 confirmed cases, the most confirmed cases in a week since the week of June 1,” Parisi wrote. “In addition to residents, six township employees have been confirmed this week.”
The ages of the recent cases ranged from a 16-year-old female to an 84-year-old male. Other key statistics included:
- Total Intake of West Orange Confirmed Cases – 1,667 (deaths are included in this number and remain active until full investigation is complete)
- Cases Officially Transferred to Other Municipalities – 90
- Recovered and Closed Cases – 1,494
- Total Current Active West Orange Cases – 83
- Total Negative Test Results of West Orange Residents – 10,449
The town’s death toll linked to the virus stands at 187, the mayor said.
According to Parisi, the town’s health department and nurses continue to provide a full contact tracing investigation for each confirmed case.
“These investigations have not revealed any single event, gathering or neighborhood that these cases can be traced to,” Parisi said. “If any resident or any person outside of West Orange was in contact with any of these confirmed cases or cases since the onset, township staff would have or will contact you.”
“In addition to cooler temperatures more receptive to virus, we are all moving around more, going to more places and in our wish to return to normalcy, perhaps being more careless than we should be. The entire state of New Jersey, as well as states across the country, are seeing an increase in cases and hospitalizations. Though we cannot control what happens elsewhere, we can impact what happens here and with our own lives. We all need to get back to basics…stay home whenever possible, work remote, order in, call friends rather than visiting, wash hands, use sanitizer and if we must go out…social distance and wear a mask!”
Similar rises in COVID-19 cases have been reported throughout Essex County over the past few weeks.
Last week, amid more confirmed cases, Superintendent Scott Cascone said that busing in the district will take a hit.
“In the absence of a sizable percentage of our driver corps, office staff, and department leadership due to the mandated self-quarantine, the Transportation Department will be shut down and be unable to offer any transportation services through October 23,” Cascone said.
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