Here's Where COVID Levels Stand In NJ As Fall Arrives

NEW JERSEY — As summer heaves its last hot breaths and a cooler season that has traditionally been associated with a spike in illnesses and infections gets underway, New Jersey is continuing to see declining COVID-19 numbers.

None of New Jersey's counties are in the "high" community transmission level as of September 15, CDC data shows. The only change from the prior week's map is that Morris County has moved into the low community level.

The state has made progress in key COVID metrics. Last week, the CDC dropped mask recommendations in certain New Jersey counties that went below the high community level.

The CDC adopted the community-level metric — a metric based on hospitalizations and case rates — in late February. The agency updates its color-coded COVID maps each Thursday, recommending masks in counties with "high" community levels.

The CDC's mask recommendations do not trigger any mandates in New Jersey. People may also choose to continue masking in any setting.

In the past seven days, the state has reported 13,969 cases of COVID-19 and 49 deaths, according to CDC data. Meanwhile, the state had 998 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected COVID as of Wednesday — the New Jersey Department of Health's last day of complete hospitalization data.

The state's transmission rate stood at 0.89 as of Friday morning — a hair lower than the transmission rate of 0.92 at that time last week. A transmission rate lower than 1 indicates that each existing infection causes less than one new infection — a sign that the virus's spread is slowing down.

True case totals became more difficult to calculate in recent months because of the prevalence of at-home tests that don't typically get recorded in COVID statistics. But New Jersey's case totals continue to go down. The state averaged 1,776 new cases per day in the past week — down from the average of 2,152 daily infections in the prior week and the summer's high mark of 3,767 daily cases for the week ending July 23, according to federal data.

While the lower community levels mark progress for New Jersey, the state isn't done with the virus. The Garden State saw increases in COVID cases and hospitalizations in the fall, compared to the summer, in both 2020 and last year. And COVID became even more prevalent in the winter of both years.

Related story — Flu Season May Be Rough In NJ As it Collides With COVID: Experts

But compared to this time last year, New Jersey has some new tools to fight COVID. The public can access antivirals and omicron-targeting booster shots that weren't available for most of the pandemic. Additionally, children ages 6 months through 4 years can get vaccinated against COVID.

Federal data shows 81.8 percent of New Jerseyans five years old and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of these people, 50 percent have received a booster dose.

Of NJ residents 18 and up, 87.2 percent of are fully vaccinated, and 53.4 percent have gotten at least one booster dose, data shows.

Patch's Josh Bakan contributed to this report.