COVID-19, Delta Variant, Tick Up Slightly Again In Ocean County

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — Here's the weekly look at coronavirus cases in Ocean County, including town-by-town totals and a look at related data since the emergence of the delta variant earlier this year.

Due to the shortened holiday week, the statistics cover five days, with an average of 142 new cases per day from Nov. 20 to Nov. 24, down from the 145 new cases per day for the week ending Nov. 19, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

There were 21 new COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ocean County from Nov. 9-21, according to the county health department's dashboard. The county does not have a breakdown by day of how many COVID patients have been released from hospitals.

Daniel Regenye, the public health coordinator, has said that less than 15 percent of new COVID-19 cases in Ocean County in recent weeks are breakthrough infections in people who have been vaccinated.

However, people who have had breakthrough cases in Ocean County are faring much better, he said.

"The vast majority of those admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated," he said, and people who are in critical care units and intensive care units with COVID-19 "are almost entirely unvaccinated."

"Those that are vaccinated are experiencing much less severe symptoms," Regenye said.

The delta variant accounted for 99.1 percent of coronavirus cases in New Jersey over a four-week period ending on Oct. 30, CDC numbers show. That is a slight increase from the previous week, where 98.87 percent of samples were of the delta variant. The CDC variant proportions are based on representative CDC sequencing data gathered during that four-week period. There were 3,607 New Jersey samples that underwent sequencing during that time.

Ocean County and all of the Central Jersey East region continue to have "high" COVID-19 activity, according to New Jersey's latest weekly report, through Nov. 20. The determination is based on metrics such as case rate, positivity rate and prevalence of COVID-like illnesses including fever and cough and shortness of breath. The region has the second-highest case rate in the state and that number rose from 16.92 cases per 100,000 through Nov. 13 to 19.95 cases through Nov. 20. The rate COVID-like illnesses and percent positivity both increased as well, with the COVID-like illnesses at 6.93 percent, up from 6.08 percent, and positivity at 5.54 percent, up from 4.97 percent through Nov. 13.

There were five new deaths from Nov. 20-24, bringing the county's cumulative total to 2,222, according to Ocean County Health Department statistics.

The Ocean County Health Department data includes the seven-day town-by-town case totals. It also includes a breakdown by age of how many cases have been diagnosed in each age group.

The age breakdown is as follows for new cases reported as of Nov. 23: 0-18, 160; 19-44, 259; 45-64, 196; 65-74, 52; 75-84, 31; 85+, 16; total 714

The five-day totals for Ocean County as of Nov. 24 are as follows:

• Barnegat Light: 0 new cases, 42 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Barnegat Township: 40, 2,828 total cases, 1.43 percent increase
• Bay Head: 0 new cases, 96 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Beach Haven: 2 new cases, 99 total cases, 2.06 percent increase
• Beachwood: 21 new cases, 1,559 total cases, 1.37 percent increase
• Berkeley Township: 49 new cases, 5,592 total cases, 0.88 percent increase
• Brick Township: 86 new cases, 11,680 total cases, 0.74 percent increase
• Eagleswood Township: 2 new cases, 200 total cases, 1.01 percent increase
• Harvey Cedars: 0 new cases, 23 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Island Heights: 2 new cases, 184 total cases, 1.10 percent increase
• Jackson Township: 77 new cases, 8,259 total cases, 0.94 percent increase
• Lacey Township: 41 new cases, 3,600 total cases, 1.15 percent increase
• Lakehurst: 9 new cases, 404 total cases, 2.28 percent increase
• Lakewood: 77 new cases, 17,304 total cases, 0.45 percent increase
• Lavallette: 1 new case, 210 total cases, 0.48 percent increase
• Little Egg Harbor Township: 40 new cases, 2,428 total cases, 1.68 percent increase
• Long Beach Township: 1 new case, 253 total cases, 0.40 percent increase
• Manchester: 55 new cases, 5,410 total cases, 1.03 percent increase
• Mantoloking: 0 new cases, 32 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Ocean Gate: 4 new cases, 239 total cases, 1.70 percent increase
• Ocean Twp. (Waretown): 6 new cases, 910 total cases, 0.66 percent increase
• Pine Beach: 5 new cases, 256 total cases, 1.99 percent increase
• Plumsted Township: 7 new cases, 905 total cases, 0.78 percent increase
• Point Pleasant Beach: 1 new case, 600 total cases, 0.17 percent increase
• Point Pleasant: 18 new cases, 3,002 total cases, 0.60 percent increase
• Seaside Heights: 0 new cases, 347 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Seaside Park: 1 new case, 142 total cases, 0.71 percent increase
• Ship Bottom: 3 new cases, 133 total cases, 2.31 percent increase
• South Toms River: 8 new cases, 536 total cases, 1.52 percent increase
• Stafford Township: 27 new cases, 3,262 total cases, 0.83 percent increase
• Surf City: 2 new cases, 90 total cases, 2.27 percent increase
• Toms River: 124 new cases, 13,808 total cases, 0.91 percent increase
• Tuckerton: 4 new cases, 363 total cases, 1.11 percent increase

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