N.J. reports 1,844 COVID cases, 19 deaths. Transmission rate remains below key benchmark.

New Jersey health officials reported another 1,844 COVID-19 cases and 19 confirmed deaths on Wednesday as the transmission rate continues to remain below its key benchmark.

The statewide rate of transmission is 0.88 as of Wednesday. A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that the outbreak is declining, since each new case is leading to less than one additional case.

A transmission rate of 1 means the number of cases have leveled off, while anything above 1 indicates the outbreak is expanding.

New Jersey’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests is 1,359, down 8% from a week ago and down 3% from a month ago.

The CDC now considers six New Jersey counties — Mercer, Sussex, Morris, Passaic, Bergen and Hudson — to have “low” community transmission. The state’s 15 other counties have “medium” community transmission.

There were 1,197 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across the state’s 71 hospitals as of Tuesday night. Of those hospitalized, 147 are in intensive care and 55 are on ventilators.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Friday, the most recent day for which data is available, was 9.95%.

The CDC considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.” New Jersey’s statewide positivity rate is substantially lower than its peak of 40.83% on Jan. 1 during the height of the omicron variant.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported more than 2.4 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since it announced its first known case on March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded 443,545 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. There are also numerous cases that were likely never counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.

The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 35,129 COVID-19 deaths — 32,013 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones.

New Jersey has the 10th-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Michigan — as of Monday.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

More than 7.1 million people who work, live or study in New Jersey have reached fully vaccinated status. More than 8 million people have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.

More than 4.3 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.

LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS

At least 9,839 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to the most recent state data.

Of the active outbreaks at 338 facilities, there are 7,990 current cases among residents and 5,585 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

There have been more than 642 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus database.

More than 6.6 million people have died because of the virus, the data shows. The U.S. has reported the most cumulative cases (more than 98.7 million) and deaths (at least 1.08 million) of any nation.

There have been more than 13 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com

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