Case rates for the coronavirus climbed last week in all six New Jersey regions tracked by the state and used by school districts to evaluate risk in educational settings.
For the eighth week in a row, all 21 counties are orange, indicating “high” coronavirus activity, according to data released by the state Department of Health Thursday.
New Jersey's COVID-19 Activity Level map remained all orange for the week ending Jan. 9, indicating "high" virus levels in every region
The weekly COVID-19 Activity Level map breaks New Jersey into six regions and uses local health data to calculate where COVID-19 is spreading the fastest. If any region turns red on the map, virus activity is considered “very high” and all schools in those counties must switch to all-remote learning.
Some New Jersey districts have yet to hold any in-person classes this year and at least one district, Hillside School District, has now announced plans to stay remote through the end of this school year.
The Newark school district, the state’s largest district, pushed back returning to classrooms until April 12. Jersey City is extending all-remote learning until April 21 and Trenton has pushed the return to in-person classes to May.
New Jersey health officials reported 5,967 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 94 additional deaths on Thursday a day after hitting a single-day high in new cases of 6,922. The seven-day average for new confirmed cases is 5,630, up 17% from a week ago and 13% from a month ago.
All six regions in New Jersey showed an increase in case rate this week with the central east region the highest at 66.41 — an increase from 41.85 cases per 100,000 residents. The case rate is lowest in the central west region — 46.37 cases per 100,000, though it’s an increase over last week’s 28.50.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
The percent positivity indicator for the week ending Jan. 9 is again high in five of the six regions of the state — meaning more than 10% of COVID-19 tests produced positive results. One region — Central West — dipped below 10% and was considered “moderate” for the week.
The southeast region has the highest positivity rate — 14.17%, slightly above the 13.08% in the southwest. The Central West has the lowest — 9.85%. Last week that area reported a rate of 10.64%.
Because every region is still orange on this week’s map, schools across the state still have the option of opening for in-person classes. But districts are still encouraged to “consider” switching to all-virtual learning while their regions are orange, according to state health guidelines.
The COVID-19 Activity Level Report calculates a score each week for each region using case rates, percentage of positive tests and the percent of people reporting cough, fever and other symptoms that might be the coronavirus.
The state was last red, indicating “very high” virus activity, in April. But it dropped to orange in May, then was green (low activity) or yellow (moderate activity) for most of the summer and fall as infection rates fell.
However, all six regions jumped to orange again in mid-November when the second wave of the pandemic hit the state.
The regions are:
- Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren
- Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson
- Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset
- Central East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union
- Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem
- Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland
All six regions in New Jersey continued to score a 3 on the state's COVID-19 Activity Level Index for the week ending Jan. 9. That means virus levels are "high" across the state.
This week’s map is based on data for the week ending Jan. 9 and likely does not include the results from people who were exposed to the virus during New Year’s Eve gatherings.
The color assigned for each region — green (low), yellow (moderate), orange (high) or red (very high) — is based on the COVID-19 Activity Level Index, or CALI, a score from 1 to 4 that health officials give each region weekly. The score is calculated using a formula that uses the case rate per 100,000 people, the region’s seven-day average percentage of people who test positive and the percent of people who report coughs, fever and other symptoms that could be COVID-19.
As of Thursday, at least 18,162 people died of the coronavirus or virus-related causes, according to the Department of Health. Another 2,091 deaths were probably caused by the virus, officials said.
NJ Advance Media Staff Writers Jeff Goldman and Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
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