COVID-19 Surge May Peak In NJ This Month, Health Officials Say

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey health commissioners hope this latest COVID-19 surge will peak in late January or early February, though they cautioned predictions are not an exact science.

On Monday, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the state health department expects the omicron surge to peak in the next several weeks.

"We do believe we are going to have high levels for a couple weeks," Persichilli said during Gov. Phil Murphy's news conference Monday. "Again, it is a prediction based on assumptions."

Persichilli added the state expects to see 20,000 to 30,000 daily cases for January. She said the models change daily.

On average last week, more than 5,000 New Jersey residents were in the hospital on any given day, the highest number of people hospitalized since May 2020.

"We expect increases in hospitalizations to reach about 8,000, probably by the ... end of the third week in January going into the first week of February," Persichilli said.

Dr. Christina Tan, the state epidemiologist, said cases will peak at different times in different parts of the United States and may peak earlier in New Jersey than elsewhere.

"What we see here in the East Coast ... is going to be very different from what we see in other parts of the country," she said.

Persichilli said the number of pediatric patients in hospitals with confirmed cases of COVID-19 is at the highest it has been since the beginning of the pandemic. She said two children in New Jersey recently died as a result of COVID-19, and she urged parents to get their children vaccinated if they are eligible.

"It is still the best tool we have, along with masking, physical distancing, testing, frequently washing your hands, and staying home when you're sick and getting tested," Persichilli said.

Murphy said schools and day cares will continue to require masks as a precaution for the foreseeable future, though the mandate is scheduled to expire Tuesday.

Related: NJ School Mask Mandate To Continue, Murphy Says

"We are in the thick of this latest fight of this omicron tsunami washing across the state," Murphy said at his news briefing Monday.

The state also recorded more deaths in the first week of January 2022 than at any point in 2021, Murphy said. Almost 75 percent of New Jersey residents are fully vaccinated; of these, 46.33 percent have received a booster shot. Murphy said unvaccinated people make up a large number of hospitalized residents.

For a complete list of testing sites, visit covid19.nj.gov.