NJ Coronavirus Transmission Rate, Hospitalizations Drop
NEW JERSEY — New Jersey's coronavirus transmission rate and hospitalizations have decreased, a positive sign as the state continues to battle the spread of the virus, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.
The transmission rate was 1.15, down from the 1.48 the state reported on Monday when Murphy tightened restrictions on indoor gatherings. The rate is a measure of how many people get the virus from each person who has it.
Hospitalizations of confirmed COVID-19 patients, which were 356 on Monday, have fallen to 298 as of Friday. There are an additional 253 people hospitalized and suspected of having the virus, but who are awaiting test results, Murphy said. There are 120 COVID-19 patients in intensive care in hospitals across the state.
"The downward movement is a positive sign but we cannot give up one inch," Murphy said. "We have to get that at least below 1."
A transmission rate of less than 1 means the virus is spreading slowly and will eventually die out.
Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know
New Jersey now has had 184,061 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 384 new cases announced Friday. The statewide positivity rate was 1.95 percent, which also had declined from 2.15 earlier in the week.
There are 14,007 lab-confirmed deaths from the effects of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus; Murphy said 12 more deaths were confirmed as of Friday morning. There are an additional 1,853 deaths listed as "probable," but it they are still being confirmed as due to the virus, he said.
While the decreases in the transmission rate and the positivity rate were good signs, Murphy said there was an increase in the number of ventilators in use — 73, up from 49 on Monday — that he said was concerning.
"This is a significant increase over the prior days and it speaks again to why no one, and we mean no one, can have a cavalier attitude about this virus," he said.
On Monday, Murphy reduced the limits on indoor gatherings to 25 people and to 25 percent of capacity per room, reversing a previous increase to 100 people. The reversal does not apply to weddings, funerals, or any religious or political activity protected by the First Amendment, which are still limited to 100.
At the time, he cited recent indoor house parties as adding to the increased transmission rate, noting dozens of coronavirus cases linked to parties in Middletown and Long Beach Island. Read more: 65 New COVID Cases In Middletown, Nearly All In Teens 15-19
Murphy on Friday stressed the need for residents to adhere to the state's guidelines, by wearing face coverings, limiting gatherings, and cooperating with contact tracers, to help push those the state's numbers even lower. He said 45 percent of people who have been reached by contact tracers have refused to provide any information on who they may have been around — people who could potentially be at risk of having been infected. Read more: Contact Tracing Not A 'Witch Hunt' Gov. Murphy Says
"Most, not all, but of the numbers this week have started to go the direction we need them to go," Murphy said. "Please keep it up, the face coverings, no house parties."
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This article originally appeared on the Brick Patch
