Masks Recommended In Most Of NJ, But Guidance Shifts

NEW JERSEY — The state's COVID-19 conditions slightly improved during the past week, according to the CDC's metrics. But the agency still endorses masking up for public, indoor spaces throughout most of New Jersey.

The CDC recommends masking in counties with "high" COVID-19 community levels — a metric based on hospitalizations and case rates that the agency adopted in late February. The agency updates its color-coded COVID-19 maps each Thursday.

Last week, 18 counties fell into the high category that prompts mask recommendations. But as of Thursday, three counties — Sussex, Hunterdon and Gloucester — shifted to the medium category, while Warren County entered the low grouping.

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

State of COVID In NJ

The number of COVID patients in New Jersey hospitals remained relatively stagnant over the past week, ranging between a total of 1,060-1,100 patients each day. The state had 1,081 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected COVID as of Wednesday — the New Jersey Department of Health's last complete day of hospitalization data as of Friday morning.

For comparison, here were New Jersey's COVID hospitalization totals during different points of the pandemic:

• Dec. 22, 2020: 3,873. The highest-reported total during the 2020 winter surge.
• May 28, 2021: 528. One day before Gov. Phil Murphy ended the mask mandate for most indoor, public spaces.
• July 2, 2021: 267. New Jersey's lowest-reported total since the pandemic began.
• Sept. 7: 1,186. New Jersey's highest-reported total during the delta wave that peaked last fall.
• Jan. 11: 6,089. New Jersey's highest hospitalization total of last winter's omicron wave and the state's highest number of COVID hospitalizations since April 2020.
• March 26: 342. Once the initial omicron surge waned, New Jersey got down to 342 hospitalizations from the virus — the lowest-reported total of the year.
• June 2: 927. The peak total of New Jersey's springtime COVID wave.
• June 22: 696. The state's lowest number of hospitalizations since the spring wave diminished.

Fifty-five people in New Jersey died from the virus in the past week, according to the CDC. The state has endured 31,224 confirmed deaths and 3,096 probable deaths from the virus since the pandemic began, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

The state's transmission rate fell to 0.98 after staying higher than 1 for several weeks. 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 reported case totals in the state have slightly decreased. New Jersey averaged 3,260 infections per day in the past week after hitting 3,752 new cases per day the prior week, according to federal data.

For more coronavirus numbers, visit the state health department's COVID-19 dashboard, The New York Times data page for New Jersey and the CDC's data tracker.