To access the Herald’s local coronavirus/COVID-19 coverage, click here.
COURT HOUSE – As this week ended, 76 individuals were removed from the active case rolls and taken off quarantine while 59 new cases were recorded.
The active case total stood at 90 Sept. 21, the lowest it has been since before Labor Day. There were no new fatalities this week.
Of the total 1,299 reported cases among county residents since March, and the 363 reported non-resident cases, 86% were moved off quarantine.
Officials, fearing that the public will see the numbers as evidence that the virus has left the scene or is moderating in its aggressive transmissibility, continue to urge vigilance.
The message from health officials is that the virus is still with us. They warn of a “twindemic” (flu and coronavirus pandemics occurring at the same time) in the fall, as the annual flu season starts, pleading that everyone gets a flu shot this year.
The state remains optimistic that there are no signs of a second wave of contagion. At a Sept. 21 briefing, health officials said they are not seeing the expected indicators of a second wave, although two counties, Monmouth and Ocean, were singled out as potential problem spots, accounting for as much as a third of the new cases statewide.
Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli reported that the state’s positivity rate is 1.81%. That is at its highest in the southern counties, where she said it stands at 2.51%.
Nationally, 33 states are reporting positivity rates above the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) threshold of 5%. This metric measures the rate of positive test results out of all test results in a given period.
Gov. Phil Murphy noted that the other closely watched metric – the rate of transmission – remains above the desired level of 1.0. It is 1.12, as of Sept. 22. This metric projects the number of additional cases that are likely from each newly infected individual.
A rate significantly above 1.0 means each new case will produce more than one additional case, allowing the case numbers to mushroom. With a low positivity rate, the transmission rate slightly above 1.0 is less worrisome, according to state officials.
This week, in New Jersey, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 200,000 since the first Garden State cases March 4. Nationally, the death toll from COVID-19 passed 200,000.
The economic fallout from the pandemic and the measures to combat it is the focus of the state Legislature this coming week.
With less than two weeks left to this expanded 2020 budget year, lawmakers, in Trenton, must approve a 2021 budget before the nine-month abbreviated 2021 fiscal year begins Oct. 1. A budget committee vote was expected Sept. 22, with a full vote later in the week.
Murphy will get his long-sought millionaire’s tax, as part of the budget, but indications are that several other tax increases he championed will not survive the legislative process, including the proposed tax on gun sales and cigarette purchases.
The state budget will be the first shoe to drop, allowing county and municipal governments to understand the expected level of state support as they begin to look at 2021.
Some municipal leaders are beginning to signal tough decisions that may need to be made in the 2021 budget process.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
