As the coronavirus numbers begin to resemble those seen in the Spring, Gov. Phil Murphy revealed restrictions New Jerseyans faced earlier this year will be returning in the coming days.
“How close are we to doing something? Close,” said Murphy at a press briefing Nov. 5. “We will clearly be taking action.”
The governor was not specific on what would be done as the surge of cases has resulted in eight counties reporting over 100 news cases in the last day and the current 7-day rolling average of new cases is up 26% in the last week and 239% in the last month.
Additionally, New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli reported a new case at the New Jersey Veterans Homes at Paramus.
Balanced Actions
“It will be action that balances all the various challenges we are facing,” said Murphy.
Murphy noted any action would incorporate the hot spot teams the New Jersey Department of Health has used to fight the spread, used in counties, specific municipalities such as Lakewood and Newark, and universities.
“We had really good success with hot spot teams and that will continue,” said Murphy. “We are looking at a number of different steps that we need to take.”
Daily Data
As of Nov. 5, the cumulative number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey reached 247,219 with 2,104 total new cases reported and 12 new deaths, bringing that total to 14,603. The state listed probable deaths at 1,800, bringing the overall total to 16,403.
For North Jersey counties, Essex had a total of 266 new cases, Bergen 211 new cases, Passaic 202 new cases, Hudson 195 new cases, Morris 93 new cases, Warren 26 new cases and Sussex 16 new cases.
State officials noted 18 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours of reporting that have not yet been lab confirmed.
Of the total confirmed deaths in North Jersey, Essex County has the most with 1,922, followed by Bergen at 1,823, Hudson with 1,378, Passaic at 1,124, Morris at 696, Sussex at 162 and Warren with 158.
In regards to probable deaths, Bergen has 245, Essex has 230, Hudson has 158, Morris at 145, Passaic at 141, Sussex has 36 and Warren has 13.
State Testing
The daily rate of infections from those tested as of Nov. 1 was 7.7%. By region, the North has a rate of 8.7%, Central at 7.3 and the South at 6.5%. The state is no longer using serology tests as health officials explained those results show a past presence of the disease as well as a current one.
As for the rate of transmission, it declined to 1.26 from 1.27 the day before. Officials have continually cited transmission rate and positivity rate as health data they rely on to track how the coronavirus is being contained in New Jersey, guiding them in determining when restrictions have to be tightened or lifted.
Officials reported 1,224 patients are hospitalized; by region, there were 648 in the North, 296 in the Central and 280 in the South.
Of those hospitalized, 238 are in intensive care units and 85 on ventilators, while 137 patients were discharged.
Essex Tops County Count
Essex has the most cumulative cases in the state with 26,315, followed by Bergen at 26,170, Hudson at 24,306, Middlesex at 23,358, Passaic at 21,928, Union at 21,415, Ocean at 17,270, Monmouth at 14,827, Camden at 12,497, Mercer at 9,696, Morris at 9,780, Burlington at 9,020, Somerset at 6,771, Gloucester at 5,937, Atlantic at 5,587, Cumberland at 4,143, Sussex at 1,814, Warren at 1,707, Hunterdon at 1,710, Salem at 1,218 and Cape May at 1,177.
Another 573 cases are still under investigation to determine where the person resides.
In regards to cases related to in-school transmissions, a total of 26 outbreaks involving 146 cases have been reported in 15 of the 21 counties in the Garden State, up from 28 outbreaks involving 122 cases a week previous. For North Jersey, Bergen County has five confirmed outbreaks with 15 cases, Warren County has two confirmed outbreaks with four cases, Sussex County has two confirmed outbreaks with five cases, Passaic County has one confirmed outbreak with nine cases, and Hudson County has one confirmed outbreak with four cases.
Long-term Care Facilities
Health officials noted 191 long-term care facilities are currently reporting at least one case of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 4,705 of the cases, broken down between 2,591 residents and 2,114 staff.
Cumulatively, 840 long-term care facilities reported a case infecting 25,721 residents and 14,278 staff, for a total of 39,999 cases.
The state’s official death total will now be reported as those that are lab confirmed, sits at 7,232 on Nov. 5. The facilities are reporting to the state 6,859 residents deaths and 121 staff deaths.
