New Jersey on Friday reported another 1,776 confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine more confirmed deaths, while the number of people hospitalized in the state hovers at the most since mid-May.
The Garden State’s seven-day average for newly confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 1,429. That’s up 29% from a week ago and nearly 400% from a month ago as officials say the highly transmissible delta variant continues to drive increases, especially among unvaccinated people.
The delta variant accounted for 90% of positive tests sampled in New Jersey in the most recent four-week span available ending July 24, according to state data.
There were 753 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or suspected cases across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals on Thursday night — 12 fewer than the previous night, which was the most since May 19. Hospitalizations have more than doubled in the last month, though they remain well below the more than 3,800 patients at the height of the pandemic’s second wave in December.
Of those hospitalized, 132 were in intensive care (two fewer than the night before), with 57 on ventilators (two more). There were 104 patients discharged.
New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 1.28, down from 1.30 the day before. Any number over 1 indicates that each new case is leading to more than one additional case and shows the state’s outbreak is expanding.
The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Saturday, the most recent day available, was 6.54%, according to state data. For the week from July 30 through Thursday, the positivity rate was 5.68% based on more than 167,000 PCR tests.
More than 5.38 million people who live, work, or study in New Jersey have now been fully vaccinated in more than seven months since inoculations began, according to state data. About 4 million residents remain unvaccinated.
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State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Monday the state’s predictive models show the state is likely to record about 1,000 cases a day “for a while” during this surge. She added hospitalizations should be “higher than what we’re seeing right now but not totally through the roof.”
“It looks like our hospitals have the capacity to take care of people, even if the doubling time of both cases and the hospitalizations increase exponentially,” Persichilli said.
An early coronavirus hotspot, New Jersey has now reported 26,681 total COVID-19 deaths in more than 17 months — 23,961 confirmed and 2,720 considered probable. The probable deaths, which are revised weekly, increased by one on Monday. That’s the most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.
In all, the state of 9.2 million residents has reported 923,673 total confirmed cases out of more than 14.8 million PCR tests since it announced its first case March 4, 2020. The state has also reported 133,423 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.
Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that of New Jersey’s 4,332 positive tests between July 20-26, nearly 18% were so-called breakthrough cases of those who had been fully vaccinated, which is up from previous weeks.
But he said of the 378 coronavirus patients admitted to the state’s hospitals in that time, 97% were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. And of the state’s 21 coronavirus deaths in that time, all were either of unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated people — the second consecutive week of no deaths among vaccinated people.
Still, all 21 counties in New Jersey now have either “high” or “substantial” rates of COVID-19 transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under those risk levels means, the CDC is recommending people in all counties in the state wear masks indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status. New Jersey has not reinstalled an indoor statewide mask mandate, though health officials have strongly recommended people wear face coverings in settings considered “high risk”
Murphy announced Friday the state will require masks in all schools at the start of the new academic year. But the governor said Monday the state is “not yet” prepared to mandate masks again in all public places statewide.
“But as we’ve said many times, you have to leave all options on the table,” Murphy said.
At least 8,068 of New Jersey’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data.
As of Friday, there have been more than 205.55 million positive COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 4.33 million people having died due to the virus. The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 36.3 million) and deaths (more than 619,000) than any other nation.
More than 4.6 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.