North-JerseyNews.com has changed how we cover COVID-19 as the pandemic moves to an endemic. While we will still provide reporting on any major developments in regards to the pandemic, we will be breaking out the most recent numbers from the state’s dashboard instead of including them with a story as we have done since March 2020. It is our belief that this will still provide you with a complete picture of COVID in our community while allowing us to continue to cover other issues of importance in North Jersey.
COVID-19 cases:
New daily PCR cases: 1,143; Probable Cases: 353
Total Cases: 2,192,294 (1,892,746 PCR cases, 299,548 probable cases)
New Confirmed Deaths: 7 (5 probable deaths, 33,195 total deaths)
Rate of Transmission: 0.95, up from 0.91 the day before
Percent Positivity: 4.5% as of March 19; by region, the rate was 4.9% in the North, 5.0% in the Central region and 2.7% in the South.
By County:
Bergen County: 131 New Cases, 41 Probable Cases, 3,098 deaths, 322 probable deaths
Essex County: 115 New Cases, 32 Probable Cases, 3,282 deaths, 311 probable deaths
Hudson County: 113 New Cases, 17 Probable Cases, 2,492 total deaths, 221 probable deaths
Morris County: 71 New Cases, 15 Probable Cases, 1,226 deaths, 298 probable deaths
Passaic County: 58 New Cases, 16 Probable Cases, 2,125 deaths, 200 probable deaths
Sussex County: 12 New Cases, 3 Probable Case, 382 deaths, 88 probable deaths
Warren County: 18 New Cases, 1 Probable Case, 313 deaths, 27 probable deaths
Hospitals
Hospitalizations: 379 (123 North, 138 Central and 118 South)
Patients in intensive care units: 59
Patients on ventilators: 30
Patients discharged: 77
The state dashboard showed all 71 hospitals in the state reporting
Long-term Care Facilities
Facilities currently reporting one case: 179 (2,397 overall)
Current number of residents: 4,649 (47,303 overall)
Current number of staffers: 5,184 (38,250 overall)
Number of Deaths: 9,373 overall (8,530 reported by facilities, 149 staff deaths)
Vaccine
Total number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in New Jersey: 14,378,957 (13,811,585 in-state, plus an additional 567,372 administered out-of-state)
Fully Vaccinated: 6,810,413 (6,583,977 in state and another 226,436 out of state). By county, 719,178 in Bergen County, 589,886 in Essex, 526,843 in Hudson, 385,114 in Morris, 358,930 in Passaic, 92,443 in Sussex, and 60,351 in Warren.
Booster Shots: 3,206,624 (1,769,902 Pfizer, 1,369,257 Moderna and 67,465 Johnson & Johnson)
Governor Murphy drops mask mandates in schools, and voila! Case numbers, positivity rates, R0 transmission rates, hospitalizations and deaths start to increase very quickly. Combine that with a more contagious ba.2 variant and delayed hospitalization/death figures, and we’ll soon be seeing our hospitals and morgues overflowing again.
How stupid or insane does one have to be to do the same thing over and over again (opening up quickly), while expecting different results?