New Jersey health officials reported another 2,343 COVID-19 cases and 17 confirmed deaths on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added eight new counties to the list of those with “high” community levels of the coronavirus.
The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 2,066, up 9% from a week ago and up 58% from a month ago.
While positive tests have been steadily rising, New Jersey has not seen the surge in cases that occurred in December 2021. The seven-day average for Dec. 23, 2021, was more than 8,200 confirmed positive tests.
The statewide rate of transmission was 1.07 on Friday. A transmission rate of 1 means the number of cases have leveled off, while anything above 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding.
There were 1,453 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals Thursday night. Of those hospitalized, 171 are in intensive care and 52 are on ventilators.
The CDC considers only three counties to have “medium” community levels of COVID-19: Sussex, Somerset and Mercer. The state’s remaining 18 counties have “high” community levels.
The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Sunday, the most recent day for which data is available, was 15.39%.
The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” New Jersey’s statewide positivity rate is substantially lower than its peak of 40.83% on Jan. 1 during the height of the omicron variant.
TOTAL NUMBERS
New Jersey has reported more than 2.4 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since it announced its first known case on March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 459,139 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. There are also numerous cases that were likely never counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 35,425 COVID-19 deaths — 32,309 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones.
New Jersey has the 10th-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Arizona, Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Michigan — as of Wednesday.
VACCINATION NUMBERS
More than 7.1 million people who work, live or study in New Jersey have reached fully vaccinated status. More than 8 million people have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 4.3 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.
LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS
At least 9,912 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 the most recent state data.
Of the active outbreaks at 375 facilities, there are 8,815 current cases among residents and 5,929 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
There have been more than 656 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.
More than 6.67 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows. The U.S. has reported the most cumulative cases (more than 100 million) and deaths (at least 1.09 million) of any nation.
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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com.
