By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The number of people hospitalized in New Jersey for the coronavirus again rose above 400 Sunday as the state reported 288 new cases and three deaths from the virus.
However, the rate of transmission remained belowa key benchmark officials monitor to measure the spread of the virus.
Only one of the new confirmed deaths occurred this month — Aug. 15. The other two happened in May and July for a total of 14,117 lives lost since the pandemic began five months ago, not including another 1,829 probable deaths, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Sunday morning on Twitter.
The number of coronavirus patients in New Jersey’s 71 hospitals rose to 411. It had dipped to 376 Friday night, the lowest total since officials began publicly tracking it on March 24.
The previous low, 414, was reported Thursday night. It also marks the eighth consecutive day hospitals have had fewer than 500 patients with confirmed or suspected cases. On Sunday, 72 patients were in intensive care and 27 were on ventilators.
The state has recorded 189,494 cases since the outbreak hit the state.
New Jersey’s rate of transmission stayed below the key benchmark of 1 on Sunday, according to the Department of Health’s dashboard. Any number above 1 means each newly infected person is spreading the virus to at least one other person, on average.
The state reported the rate of transmission at 0.9 on Sunday. It was 0.99 on Saturday, 1.04 on Friday and 1.06 on Thursday.
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