New Jersey on Saturday reported another 2,189 confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine confirmed deaths as the number of positive tests rose over last month.
The state’s seven-day average for confirmed coronavirus positive tests is 1,813, a 23% increase from a week ago and a 4% increase from a month ago.
The rate of transmission was 1.07 on Saturday, up from 1.04 earlier this week.
When the transmission rate is 1, that means cases have leveled off at the current numbers, while anything above 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deems 12 counties in the state to have “medium” community levels of transmission: Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington, Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland and Cape May.
The remaining nine counties — Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union, Middlesex and Mercer — are deemed “low,” according to the CDC.
There were 823 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 69 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Saturday. Of those hospitalized, 94 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 10.94%.
The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” 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 2.3 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 412,940 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. There are also 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 34,715 COVID-19 deaths — 31,603 confirmed fatalities and 3,112 probable ones.
New Jersey has the ninth-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, New Mexico, Tennessee and Arkansas — as of the latest data reported on Sept. 12. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation.
VACCINATION NUMBERS
More than 7.05 million people who work, live or study in the Garden State have reached fully vaccinated status. More than 7.9 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 4.28 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.
LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS
At least 9,684 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 the most recent data.
Of the active outbreaks at 367 facilities, there are 7,230 current cases among residents and 6,914 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
There have been more than 614 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe as of Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database. More than 6.5 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows.
The U.S. has reported the most cumulative cases (more than 96 million) and deaths (at least 1.05 million) of any nation.
There have been more than 12.2 billion vaccine doses administered globally.
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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com. Find her on Twitter @CamilleFurst.