Ocean County COVID Cases, Hospitalizations Continuing To Fall

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

After six weeks of rapid increases, both the number of cases and hospitalizations have continued to decrease.

These statistics, from the state and from the Ocean County Health Department, cover the days from Jan. 22-28, and show a continued decrease in the number of new positive cases. There were an average of 495 new cases per day over the seven days, down from an average of 625 the week before and from 1,281 new cases per day two weeks ago. In November, the county was averaging 140 new infections per day.

Hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 have fallen over the last two weeks. Last week, the number of new admissions of patients listed as having COVID-19 was 2,466, according to the state Department of Health COVID-19 database. Over the last week, there were 3,586 people who were positive for COVID-19 discharged from hospitals across the state.

As of Friday, there were 3,521 people hospitalized who were positive for COVID-19 and 390 on ventilators. State officials three weeks ago said that about half of the people listed as COVID-19 hospitalizations tested positive when they arrived at the hospital for treatment of other illnesses.

Specifics on hospitalizations in Ocean County in recent days were not available.

The CDC estimates the omicron variant was responsible for 99 percent of infections nationally from Jan. 16-22. The CDC variant proportions are based on representative CDC sequencing data gathered during a four-week period. In the four weeks ending Jan. 1, there were 5,962 New Jersey coronavirus test samples sequenced, with omicron accounting for 73 percent and delta in 25 percent of the samples, according to the CDC.

Infections are slowing down across New Jersey, and much of the state has been moved from "very high" to "high" COVID-19 activity, according to New Jersey's latest weekly report, through Jan. 22. 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.

Those numbers dropped significantly last week in the Central East Region, which includes Ocean County. The region has the fourth-highest case rate in the state, down to 69.25 cases per 100,000 through Jan. 22, from 117.99 the previous week and from 222.84 through Jan. 8. The rate of COVID-like illnesses was 8.04 percent, down from 11.94 percent the previous week and from 16.07 percent two weeks prior. Percent positivity declined to 18.08 percent, from 24.75 percent the prior week and from 35.02 percent through Jan. 8.

Home tests that are not submitted to a laboratory are not counted in the numbers, so it's unclear how much home testing is affecting the case counts.

There were 71 new deaths from Jan. 22-28, bringing the county's cumulative total to 2,525, according to Ocean County Health Department statistics.

The Ocean County Health Department data includes the 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 infections reported from Jan. 15-27: 0-18, 844; 19-44, 1,063; 45-74, 1,161; 75-84, 242; 85+, 132; total 3442

The total new cases town-by-town for Ocean County for the seven days ending Jan. 28 are as follows:

• Barnegat Light: 2 new cases, 62 total cases, 3.33 percent increase
• Barnegat Township: 125, 4,474 total cases, 2.87 percent increase
• Bay Head: 4 new cases, 149 total cases, 2.76 percent increase
• Beach Haven: 5 new cases, 127 total cases, 4.10 percent increase
• Beachwood: 72 new cases, 2,393 total cases, 3.10 percent increase
• Berkeley Township: 416 new cases, 8,553 total cases, 5.11 percent increase
• Brick Township: 452 new cases, 17,262 total cases, 2.69 percent increase
• Eagleswood Township: 19 new cases, 317 total cases, 6.38 percent increase
• Harvey Cedars: 2 new cases, 33 total cases, 6.45 percent increase
• Island Heights: 6 new cases, 260 total cases, 2.36 percent increase
• Jackson Township: 337 new cases, 12,197 total cases, 2.84 percent increase
• Lacey Township: 208 new cases, 5,529 total cases, 3.91 percent increase
• Lakehurst: 15 new cases, 574 total cases, 2.68 percent increase
• Lakewood: 340 new cases, 23,243 total cases, 1.48 percent increase
• Lavallette: 14 new cases, 337 total cases, 4.33 percent increase
• Little Egg Harbor Township: 151 new cases, 3,781 total cases, 4.16 percent increase
• Long Beach Township: 13 new cases, 335 total cases, 4.04 percent increase
• Manchester: 262 new cases, 8,029 total cases, 3.37 percent increase
• Mantoloking: 1 new case, 47 total cases, 2.17 percent increase
• Ocean Gate: 21 new cases, 365 total cases, 6.10 percent increase
• Ocean Twp. (Waretown): 70 new cases, 1,450 total cases, 5.07 percent increase
• Pine Beach: 25 new cases, 431 total cases, 6.16 percent increase
• Plumsted Township: 45 new cases, 1,448 total cases, 3.21 percent increase
• Point Pleasant Beach: 18 new cases, 916 total cases, 2.00 percent increase
• Point Pleasant: 79 new cases, 4,541 total cases, 1.77 percent increase
• Seaside Heights: 19 new cases, 528 total cases, 3.73 percent increase
• Seaside Park: 7 new cases, 203 total cases, 3.57 percent increase
• Ship Bottom: 2 new cases, 184 total cases, 1.10 percent increase
• South Toms River: 22 new cases, 822 total cases, 2.75 percent increase
• Stafford Township: 131 new cases, 4,940 total cases, 2.72 percent increase
• Surf City: 8 new cases, 238 total cases, 3.48 percent increase
• Toms River: 521 new cases, 20,615 total cases, 2.59 percent increase
• Tuckerton: 21 new cases, 546 total cases, 4.00 percent increase

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