N.J. reports 2,404 COVID cases, 7 deaths as CDC loosens some guidelines

New Jersey on Saturday reported another 2,404 confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven new confirmed deaths, two days after federal health officials further loosened coronavirus guidelines.

The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests fell to 2,221, an 11% decrease from a week ago and a 17% decrease from a month ago.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday dropped its recommendation for individuals to quarantine if they come in close contact with an infected person and said individuals no longer need to stay six feet apart, after more than 2 1/2 years of recommending that measure.

The agency also abandoned recommendations for schools to routinely test students and staff to help curb the illness’ spread.

That has led to questions over whether Gov. Phil Murphy will end New Jersey’s requirement that school employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face regular testing, and possibly some of its other remaining vaccine mandates.

Murphy’s office told NJ Advance Media on Friday that state officials are “currently reviewing” the changes from the CDC “to determine recommended in-school COVID-related protocols for the coming school year,” which begins in a few weeks.

New Jersey’s rate of transmission was 0.91 on Saturday. The rate was 1.01 at the beginning of the month.

A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that each new case is leading to less than one additional case. When the transmission rate is 1, that means cases have leveled off at the current numbers. Anything above 1 means the outbreak is expanding.

There were 1,090 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Friday night. Of those hospitalized, 127 are in intensive care and 38 are on ventilators.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Monday — the most recent day with available data — was 11.94%.

The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” However, the positivity rate is substantially lower than its peak of 40.83% on Jan. 1 during the height of the omicron variant.

Seventeen counties remain in the high-risk category for transmission as reported by the CDC, up from 14 the previous week. Just Cumberland, Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren counties are listed in the medium risk category. Warren was the lone low-risk county listed the previous week.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported 2.24 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 390,947 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 state’s numbers.

The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 34,402 COVID-19 deaths — 31,302 confirmed fatalities and 3,100 probable ones.

New Jersey has the ninth-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico and Arkansas — as of Aug. 5. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the nation.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

More than 7 million people who work, live or study in the Garden State have reached a fully vaccinated status.

More than 7.89 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.

More than 4.2 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.

Regulators have paused plans to authorize a second booster shot for adults under 50 this summer. Instead, they hope to revamp vaccines to target emerging subvariants by the fall.

LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS

At least 9,494 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 state data on Friday.

Of the active outbreaks at 393 facilities, there are 5,745 current cases among residents and 6,000 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Saturday, there have been more than 589 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.

More than 6.4 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows.

Japan reported the most cases in the past 28 days, with more than 5.1 million as of Saturday. The U.S. reported the second-most cases in that same period, with 3.3 million.

The U.S. has reported the most cumulative COVID-19 cases (more than 92.9 million) and deaths (at least 1.03 million) of any nation.

There have been more than 12 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com. Find her on Twitter @CamilleFurst.