New Jersey health officials on Saturday reported another confirmed 1,926 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths as the seven-day average for positive tests have begun to decline.
New Jersey’s rate of transmission on Saturday was 0.87, a drop from 1.01 at the beginning of the month.
A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that each new case is leading to less than one additional case. When the transmission rate is 1, that means cases have leveled off at the current numbers. Anything above 1 means the outbreak is expanding.
The seven-day average for confirmed positive tests fell to 1,660 on Saturday, a 10% decrease from a week ago and a 43% decrease from a month ago.
Only Cape May, Atlantic and Mercer counties remain in the “high risk” category for transmission, down from seven on Thursday and 18 at the beginning of the month.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deems nine counties to be “medium” risk: Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Ocean, Monmouth, Morris and Sussex.
The remaining nine counties — Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Warren, Union, Essex, Hudson, Bergen and Passaic — are deemed “low” risk, according to the CDC on Saturday.
There were 1,007 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported at 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Saturday. Of those hospitalized, 111 are in intensive care and 37 are on ventilators.
The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Monday — the most recent day for which data is available— was 9.76%.
The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” However, the 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 2.27 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 398,617 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that likely never have been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 34,529 COVID-19 deaths — 31,427 confirmed fatalities and 3,102 probable ones.
New Jersey has the ninth-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico and Arkansas — as of Aug. 16. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation.
VACCINATION NUMBERS
More than 7 million people who work, live or study in the Garden State have reached a fully vaccinated status.
Over 7.9 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 4.25 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. Regulators have paused plans to authorize a second booster shot for adults under 50 this summer. Instead, they hope to revamp vaccines to target emerging subvariants by the fall.
LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS
At least 9,534 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 on Friday.
Of the active outbreaks at 394 facilities, there are 6,580 current cases among residents and 6,503 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
Global cases topped 600 million since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database on Saturday.
More than 6.48 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows.
The U.S. has reported the most cumulative COVID-19 cases (more than 94 million) and deaths (at least 1.04 million) of any nation.
There have been more than 12 billion vaccine doses administered globally.
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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com. Find her on Twitter @CamilleFurst.