New Jersey on Saturday reported another 2,043 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 19 more confirmed deaths as the state’s transmission rate continues to increase.
The seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is now 1,905, up 7% from a week ago and 32% from a month ago. The 2,043 cases reported Saturday also marked the third consecutive day with more than 2,000 cases. That hadn’t happened since late April.
New Jersey’s statewide rate of transmission rose to 1.07 after sitting at 1.05 for two days straight. It was 1 on Sunday. Any rate of transmission 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 Delta variant continues to increase in prevalence in New Jersey with 99% of sampled cases in the four weeks ending Aug. 28.
The positivity rate for tests conducted on Monday, the most recent day available, was 5.14%.
More than 5.7 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey have been fully vaccinated as of Saturday. More than 6.31 million people have received at least one dose.
All of New Jersey’s 21 counties continue to be listed as having “high” rates of coronavirus transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is recommending people in all 21 counties wear masks for indoor public settings regardless of the state’s vaccination rates.
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There were 1,132 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or suspected cases across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals Friday night — 18 fewer than the previous night. There were 143 patients discharged. Hospitalizations have remained at over 1,100 for more than a week.
Of those hospitalized, 253 were in intensive care (one more than the night before), with 153 on ventilators (11 more).
New Jersey has now reported 27,182 total COVID-19 deaths in more than 17 months — 24,416 confirmed and 2,766 considered probable, according to the state dashboard. That’s the second most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.
New Jersey had long topped the list of most COVID-19 deaths per capita but was recently eclipsed by Mississippi.
At least 8,505 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 are active outbreaks at 157 facilities, resulting in 636 current cases among residents and 520 among staffers. Those numbers have continued to go up in recent weeks.
In all, the state of 9.2 million residents has reported 983,947 total confirmed cases out of the more than 15 million PCR tests conducted since it announced its first case on March 4, 2020. The state has also reported 147,372 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.
As of Saturday, there have been more than 227.8 million positive COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 4.68 million people having died due to the virus. The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 42 million) and deaths (more than 672,600) than any other nation.
More than 5.8 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally.
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Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com.