The transmission rate in New Jersey was 0.97 on Thursday, according to the state Department of Health. A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that the coronavirus epidemic is declining, as each new case leads to less than one additional new case. When the transmission rate is 1, it means that the cases have leveled off with the current numbers. Anything above 1 means the outbreak is expanding. The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 2,555, a 12 percent drop from last week but a 5 percent increase from a month ago. Eighteen of the state’s 21 counties are now considered at high risk of transmission, the CDC said Thursday, up from just six in mid-July. Only Mercer, Cumberland and Salem counties remain in the medium risk category. The CDC recommends that residents of high-risk areas wear masks indoors. There were 1,074 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported at the state’s 71 hospitals on Thursday. Of those hospitalized, 108 are hospitalized in the intensive care unit and 36 are on ventilators. The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Saturday — the most recent day for which data is available — was 18.25 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” However, the positivity rate is significantly lower than the peak of 40.83% on January 1st during the height of the micron variant. TOTAL NUMBERS New Jersey has reported 2.2 million total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case on March 4, 2020. The Garden State has also recorded 385,561 positive antigen tests, or rapid tests, considered probable cases. And there are many cases that have likely never been counted, including positive home tests that are not included in the state’s numbers. The state of 9.2 million people has reported 34,320 deaths from COVID-19 — 31,224 confirmed deaths and 3,096 probable deaths. New Jersey has the ninth most coronavirus deaths per capita in the US — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico and Arkansas — as of July 25. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation. VACCINATION NUMBERS More than 6.99 million people who work, live or study in the Garden State have reached fully vaccinated status. Over 7.89 million have received the first dose since vaccinations began in the state on December 15, 2020. More than 4.17 million people in the state who are eligible for boosters have received one. That number may increase after the Food and Drug Administration approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. US regulators have approved the booster for children, hoping an extra dose of vaccine will boost their protection as infections continue to spread. Regulators have stalled plans to approve a second booster shot for adults under 50 this summer. Instead, they hope to revamp vaccines to target emerging subvariants by fall. LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS At least 9,468 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths were among residents and staff members in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data from Thursday. Of the active cases at 400 facilities, there are 5,321 current cases among residents and 5,694 cases among staff, according to the latest figures. WORLD NUMBERS As of Thursday, more than 580 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus database. More than 6.4 million people have died because of the virus, the figures show. Japan reported the most cases in 28 days, at 3.8 million on Thursday. The US reported the second most cases, with 3.5 million. The US has reported the most cumulative COVID-19 cases (over 91.8 million) and deaths (at least 1.03 million) of any country. More than 11.99 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide. Our journalism needs your support. Sign up today at NJ.com. Camille Furst can be reached at [email protected]. Find her on Twitter @CamilleFurst.
