| By NJ Spotlight New Jersey officials reported an additional 603 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, for a statewide cumulative total of 162,530. By counties, the most new positive results were reported in Essex (101), Monmouth (49), Ocean (48), Cumberland (39), and Passaic (34).At the other end of the new-case count, single-digit increases were reported in seven counties: Somerset, Salem, Atlantic, Warren, Sussex, Hunterdon and Cape May. Total COVID-19 deaths among New Jersey residents stand at 11,970, with an additional 92 confirmed fatalities reported today.The counties with the most fatalities when expressed as a proportion of population are Essex (1,694 total, and 2.13 per 1000 residents), Union (1,088, 1.97 per 1,000), Passaic (954, 1.89), Hudson (1,199, 1.79) and Bergen (1,603, 1.72). Statewide, the fatality rate is 1.35 per 1000 residents.Globally, the pandemic has now left nearly 390,000 dead, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. The already sharp descent in the number of COVID-19 patients in New Jersey hospitals hastened overnight. According to data reported by all 71 hospitals in the state, 1,982 patients were being treated for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 yesterday, the first time that figure has fallen below 2,000.537 of them were in critical or intensive care, another decrease.406, or roughly 75% of those needing special care, were on ventilators. Regionally, 910 patients were in hospitals in the north, 583 in central Jersey and 489 in the south.Hospitals were reporting 33 new patients yesterday, all in the south, but officials said they were skeptical that all the hospitals had been accounted for in the stat.219 COVID-19 patients were discharged, either to their homes or other care facilities. The daily, or spot, positivity rate of COVID-19 tests on May 31 stood at 4.2% statewide, down slightly from the day before.Results of 857,729 tests have now been reported to state officials, including negatives.A total of 20,000 tests were taken May 31. Gov. Phil Murphy reported again on statistic he first unveiled Tuesday that gauges the spread of COVID-19 by showing how many additional people are infected by each person who has the virus.The so-called rate of reproduction — or “Rt” — stood at 0.85, up slightly from the day before. A rate that remains under 1.0 is an “indicator that the virus is ultimately going to die” out, Murphy has said. The measure stood at 5.31 on March 21, when cases were surging and Murphy issued his statewide stay-at-home order. NJ Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli reported an additional child with a rare and serious pediatric inflammatory ailment that’s thought to stem from an overreaction of the immune system to a COVID-19 infection. The total now stands at 35 children, with no deaths. All of the children have tested positive for either an active COVID-19 infection or the presence of antibodies to the coronavirus. Persichilli has called the ailment a new ailment, one that differs from the more familiar Kawasaki disease in that its victims are often teens and not young children. Six of the children remain hospitalized. She advised parents to be on the lookout for such symptoms as fever or persistent fever, severe abdominal pain and seizure symptoms. Just shy of 34,000 positive test results have been reported among residents and staffers at 547 nursing homes and other long-term care centers in New Jersey.LTCs in the state are reporting a cumulative total of 6,061 deaths among residents during the pandemic, most of them stemming from laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19. They are also reporting the deaths of more than 100 staffers. |
