All 21 counties are orange on N.J.s COVID-19 map again. Heres what that means for schools. – NJ.com

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For the second week in a row, every region in New Jersey is orange on the states COVID-19 map, indicating high virus activity across the state.

The color coding on the map is being closely watched by many school districts because if any area moves to red, indicating very high coronavirus activity, all schools in that region will be required to close classrooms and switch to all-remote learning, according to state health guidelines.

Schools in orange regions currently the whole state should consider implementing fully remote learning in their schools, but are not required to make the switch, the guidelines say. The districts that remain open in orange regions also face stricter rules on when schools should close temporarily if students or teachers appear to have coronavirus symptoms.

Gov. Phil Murphy has begun issuing new restrictions based on the rising virus rates in the state, including new orders limiting outdoor gatherings and pausing indoor sports. However, he has said he has no plans to shut down schools statewide. That decision is currently being left up to local school officials.

We continue to work closely with individual districts to ensure that the decisions made are those that work for them and their educational and broader communities, Murphy said at his press briefing in Trenton Wednesday.

However, state health guidelines say a move to all-virtual learning would be mandatory in any region that moves to red on the map.

The state Department of Health releases the COVID-19 Activity Level Report map every Thursday, using data about each regions weekly coronavirus case rate, percent of people who tested positive and the number of people reported with fever, cough and other symptoms that may be COVID-19.

The map breaks New Jersey into six regions and assigns them each a color: green (low), yellow (moderate), orange (high) or red (very high). The color is based on the on the COVID-19 Activity Level Index, or CALI, a score health officials give each region weekly. The score is calculated by a formula that uses health data for each region.

The regions are:

-Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren

-Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson

-Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset

-Central East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union

-Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem

-Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland

For most of the school year, the map had been largely green (indicating low coronavirus activity) and yellow (moderate activity). Two weeks ago, every region on the map turned orange except for the Southeast region of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland counties, which remained in the moderate yellow level.

Last week, the Southeast turned orange too, leaving the entire state in the high range for the virus.

The data for this weeks map came from the week ending Nov. 28. A closer look at the numbers shows the Southeast region of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland counties continues to have lowest COVID-19 activity in the state.

The Northwest region (Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties) and the Southwest region (Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties) have the highest overall activity levels.

Those regions could switch to red, indicating very high activity, if the percent of positive COVID-19 cases goes above 20%. The percent positivity is currently just under 12% in both the Northwest and the Southwest regions, according to the latest data.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

New Jersey's health department releases a COVID-19 Activity Level Index, called the CALI, for each region of the state each week. For week 48, all regions scored a 3 on the index, indicating "high" virus activity.

As the number of coronavirus cases climbs, the number of districts switching to all-remote learning has been increasing each week. Many districts saw they will have their students learn from home until January or February, then reassess whether it would be safe to reopen classrooms.

But Murphy said the number of schools bringing students to class every day remains high.

The majority of our schools continue to remain open to in-person instruction in one form or another, Murphy said Wednesday.

As of this week, 438 New Jersey school districts were operating under a hybrid model blending in-person and remote learning, state officials said. Another 246 districts are all-remote or moving to all-remote learning, 89 were offering all in-person classes and 38 were offering a blend of different models in various schools or grades.

Those numbers do not count most private schools, including Catholic schools.

New Jersey has different guidelines for schools based on whether the county is in a green, yellow, orange or red region on the state's COVID-19 COVID-19 Weekly Activity Report map.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.

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All 21 counties are orange on N.J.s COVID-19 map again. Heres what that means for schools. - NJ.com