N.J. reports 794 COVID cases, 5 deaths; positive test average down 50% from a month ago – NJ.com

New Jersey health officials on Wednesday reported another 794 COVID-19 cases and five new confirmed deaths.

The state’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 699 — down 15% from a week ago and down 50% from a month ago.

The statewide rate of transmission has been 0.80 since Feb. 23, after dropping from 0.95 earlier last week. A transmission rate of 1 means the number of cases have leveled off, while anything below 1 means the outbreak is declining.

The CDC considers 11 counties in the state to have “medium” community levels of the coronavirus. Ten counties — Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset, Union and Warren — have “low” community levels.

Case counts and hospitalization numbers by region determine each county’s community level, according to the CDC.

There were 787 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 67 of the state’s 70 hospitals Tuesday night. Of those hospitalized, 103 are in intensive care and 36 are on ventilators.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Saturday, the most recent day for which data is available, was 6.51%.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported more than 2.5 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since it announced its first known case of the virus on March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 497,813 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 35,987 COVID-19 deaths — 32,871 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones.

New Jersey has the 10th-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. as of Monday.

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 10,102 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 331 facilities, there are 10,705 current cases among residents and 6,862 cases among staff, according to the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

There have been more than 675 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.

More than 6.8 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows.

The U.S. has reported the most cumulative cases (more than 103 million) and deaths (at least 1.1 million) of any nation.

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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com.