N.J. reports 2,511 COVID cases, 21 deaths. Positive tests on the rise as holidays near. – NJ.com

New Jersey health officials reported another 2,511 COVID-19 cases and 21 confirmed deaths Thursday as the number of positive tests continues to rise ahead of the holidays.
The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 1,911, up 7% from a week ago and up 53% from a month ago. That’s still well below the seven-day average from Dec. 15, 2021, of 3,875 confirmed positive tests.
The statewide rate of transmission was 0.97. A transmission rate of 1 means the number of cases have leveled off, while anything above 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding.
There were 1,392 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Wednesday night. Of those hospitalized, 177 are in intensive care and 62 are on ventilators.
The CDC now considers Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties to have “high” community levels of COVID-19. The remaining 18 counties in the state have “medium” transmission levels.
State health officials have not updated the positivity rate for tests since Nov. 26, when it was 10.96%.
The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” New Jersey’s statewide 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 more than 2.4 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since it announced its first known case on March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 452,923 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. There are also numerous cases that were likely never counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 35,311 COVID-19 deaths — 32,195 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones.
New Jersey has the 10th-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Michigan — as of Friday.
VACCINATION NUMBERS
More than 7.1 million people who work, live or study in New Jersey have reached fully vaccinated status. More than 8 million people have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 4.3 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.
LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS
At least 9,883 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 state data.
Of the active outbreaks at 362 facilities, there are 8,433 current cases among residents and 5,628 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
GLOBAL NUMBERS
There have been more than 651 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.
More than 6.65 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows. The U.S. has reported the most cumulative cases (more than 99.6 million) and deaths (at least 1.08 million) of any nation.
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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com.
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