N.J reports 4,835 cases, 9 COVID deaths with another 82 in-school outbreaks – NJ.com

New Jersey on Thursday reported nine more COVID-19 deaths and 4,835 new confirmed positive tests with another 82 in-school outbreaks among staff and students in the latest weekly report.

The states seven-day average for confirmed cases increased to 4,034 on Thursday, up 26% from a week ago and up 138% from a month ago. Thats the highest seven-day average since Feb. 3.

There were 842 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the states 71 hospitals as of Wednesday night. Hospitalizations still remain significantly lower than when they peaked at 6,089 on Jan. 10 during the Omicron wave.

There were at least 153 people discharged in that same 24-hour period ending Wednesday, according to state data. Of those hospitalized, 99 were in intensive care and 39 were on ventilators.

New Jerseys statewide transmission rate ticked up slightly to 1.29 Thursday. When the transmission rate is over 1, that means each new case is leading to at least one additional case and the outbreak is expanding.

The positivity rate for tests conducted on Saturday, the most recent day with available data, was 17.39%.

The state on Thursday also reported 1,338 probable cases from rapid antigen testing at medical sites.

The BA.2 strain of COVID-19 has been spreading in New Jersey for weeks, though at much lower rates than the Omicron surge in December and January. Officials have said the Omicron stealth sub-variant appears to spread more easily but generally does not cause more severe illness.

For the week ending April 30, BA.2 accounted for 91.4% of the positive tests sampled (slightly up from 89.4% the previous week), while the BA2.12.1 omicron subvariant accounted for 6% of positive tests sampled (down from 6.7% the previous week).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists nine New Jersey counties with high transmission rates Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Sussex. Those in high-risk areas are recommended to wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation and stay up-to-date on vaccination, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Eleven counties are in the medium risk category: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Union and Warren. Cumberland County is at low. Masks are not recommended in the medium and low regions.

New Jersey has reported 2,012,287 total confirmed COVID-19 cases out of more than 17.7 million PCR tests conducted in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 328,963 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that have likely never been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the states numbers.

The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 33,595 COVID-19 deaths in that time 30,537 confirmed fatalities and 3,058 probable.

New Jersey has the seventh-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia as of the latest data reported Tuesday. Last summer, the state still had the most deaths per capita in the country.

The latest numbers follow a major study that revealed even a mild case of COVID-19 can significantly affect the brain. Long COVID the term commonly used to describe symptoms stemming from the virus long after a person no longer tests positive has been found to affect between 10% and 30% of those who contract the infection, regardless of whether they have a mild or serious case.

More than 6.89 million of the 8.46 million eligible people who live, work or study in New Jersey have received the initial course of vaccinations and more than 7.8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began here on Dec. 15, 2020.

More than 3.74 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the FDA on Tuesday approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. U.S. regulators authorized the booster for kids hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again creep upward.

For the week ending May 8, with about 59% of schools reporting data, another 8,923 COVID-19 cases were reported among staff (2,461) and students (6,462) across New Jerseys schools.

Since the start of the academic year, there have been 116,771 students and 34,685 school staff members who have contracted COVID-19 in New Jersey, though the state has never had more than two-thirds of the school districts reporting data in any week.

The state provides total student and staff cases separately from those deemed to be in-school transmission, which is narrowly defined as three or more cases linked through contact tracing.

New Jersey has reported 807 total in-school outbreaks, including 5,671 cases among students and staff. That includes 82 new outbreaks in the latest weekly report ending May 16. The state reported 72 in-school outbreaks the previous week.

At least 9,049 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data.

There were active outbreaks at 315 facilities, resulting in 3,383 current cases among residents and 3,121 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

As of Thursday, there have been more than 525 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 6.28 million people died due to the virus.

The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 82.9 million) and deaths (at least 1,001,296) of any nation.

There have been more than 11.4 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DeionRJohhnson

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N.J reports 4,835 cases, 9 COVID deaths with another 82 in-school outbreaks - NJ.com