Face Masks Recommended In 9 NJ Counties As U.S. Marks 1M COVID Deaths

NEW JERSEY — As the United States marked 1 million known COVID-19 deaths, New Jersey continued to see increases in transmission and hospitalizations from the virus. Nine counties in the state have "high" community levels of COVID, triggering recommendations from federal health agencies for public, indoor masking.

The recommendation for indoor masking applies to the following counties: Sussex, Morris, Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Cape May, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

The CDC advises people to mask indoors in counties with high COVID community levels — based on a framework that's largely based on hospitalizations with the virus but also incorporates new infections.

The following New Jersey counties have medium community levels, according to the CDC: Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Warren, Hunterdon, Union, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer and Salem. Cumberland County remains in the low category. (The CDC updates community levels for each county every Thursday.)

The CDC's mask recommendations don't trigger mask mandates, with which New Jersey has largely done away. People may also choose to wear masks at any time.

Meanwhile, case totals in New Jersey continue to increase. The state averaged 4,169 new cases per day over the past week — well up from an average of 846 infections per day for the week ending March 15, according to federal data.

The state had 727 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected COVID infections as of Thursday, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. The COVID hospitalization figure has more than doubled since the end of March, when the state tallied 339 hospital patients with the virus.

New Jersey's recent COVID spread has undone some of the state's progress since last winter's omicron wave passed. The surge brought record case totals (33,459 on Jan. 7) and near-record COVID hospitalizations (6,089 on Jan. 11) to the Garden State.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden marked 1 million COVID deaths in the United States since the pandemic began more than two years ago. The United States has the highest death toll from the virus in the world. In New Jersey, 33,529 people have died of COVID, according to federal data.

Only four nations had more "excess" deaths — the difference between the total number of deaths and the number of deaths expected if COVID never existed — than the United States in 2020 and last year, according to the World Health Organization: India, Russia and Indonesia. Adjusted for population, the U.S. had 140 excess deaths per 100,000 people — seventh in the world, according to the WHO.

President Biden has urged Congress to pass additional COVID funding so the nation can continue fighting the virus as new variants emerge. The administration has requested $22.5 billion to keep tests, vaccinations and certain treatments free for people who don't have health insurance to cover the costs. The funds would also support the purchase of additional booster shots, especially if the nation needs variant-specific boosters in the future, the White House said March 15.

The administration and Democratic leaders hoped to pass COVID alongside Ukraine aid, using the $40 billion package for Ukraine as leverage for additional funding against the virus. But Republicans balked, saying they wouldn't approve pandemic funding without a vote on President Biden's decision to end certain border policies from President Donald Trump's term.

Ultimately, President Biden and Democrats chose to decouple the two bills, which sends the Ukraine package closer to the Oval Office but leaves federal COVID funding in the balance.

"We cannot allow our shipments of assistance to stop while we await further Congressional action," President Biden said of the Ukraine package. "We are approximately 10 days from hitting this critical deadline."