N.J. reports 1,163 COVID cases, no deaths. Average for daily positive tests continues to drop.

New Jersey reported another 1,163 COVID-19 cases and no confirmed deaths on Sunday as the average for daily positive test counts continued to drop.

The statewide rate of transmission was 0.90, state health officials reported.

A transmission rate of 1 means cases have leveled off at the current numbers. Anything above 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding.

The state’s seven-day average for confirmed coronavirus positive cases is 1,304 — a 12% decrease from a week ago and a 14% decrease from a month ago.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t currently deem any of the state’s 21 counties to be in the “high” risk category for coronavirus transmission.

Sixteen counties are considered to have “medium” risk of transmission: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Essex, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.

The remaining five counties — Bergen, Cumberland, Hudson, Mercer and Passaic — are designated “low” risk.

There were 1,014 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 68 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Saturday night. Of those hospitalized, 90 are in intensive care and 27 are on ventilators.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Tuesday, the most recent day for which data is available, was 8.12%.

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 2.3 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since it announced its first known case on March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 423,785 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases, as of Sunday. 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 34,822 COVID-19 deaths — 31,706 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones as of Sunday.

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 Oct. 5. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

More than 7.09 million people who work, live or study in New Jersey have reached fully vaccinated status. More than 7.95 million 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 9,738 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 365 facilities, there are 7,894 current cases among residents and 6,902 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

There have been more than 624 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe as of Sunday, 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 1.06 million) of any nation.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com