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. 29-Feb.4, and show a continued decrease in the number of new positive cases. There were an average of 207 new cases per day over the seven days, down from an average of 495 the week before and from 1,281 new cases per day three weeks ago. The number of new cases has dropped nearly back to the 140 new infections per day the county was averaging in November.

Hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 have continued to fall. Last week, the number of new admissions of patients listed as having COVID-19 was 1,483, according to the state Department of Health COVID-19 database. Over the last week, there were 2,550 people who were positive for COVID-19 discharged from hospitals across the state.

As of Friday, there were 2,256 people hospitalized who were positive for COVID-19 and 278 on ventilators. State officials in January 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. 23-29. The CDC variant proportions are based on representative CDC sequencing data gathered during a four-week period. In the four weeks ending Jan. 8, there were 7,249 New Jersey coronavirus test samples sequenced, with omicron accounting for 87.1 percent and delta in 12.1 percent of the samples, according to the CDC.

Infections are slowing down across New Jersey, and the state has been moved from "very high" to "high" COVID-19 activity, according to New Jersey's latest weekly report, through Jan. 29. 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 40.46 cases per 100,000 through Jan. 29, from 69.25 the previous week and from 222.84 through Jan. 8. The rate of COVID-like illnesses was down to 5.30 percent, down from 8.04 percent the previous week and from 16.07 percent three weeks prior. Percent positivity declined to 13.02 percent, from 18.08 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 60 new deaths from Jan. 29-Feb. 4, bringing the county's cumulative total to 2,585, 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, 395; 19-44, 452; 45-74, 488; 75-84, 84; 85+, 36; total 1,455

The total new cases town-by-town for Ocean County for the seven days ending Feb. 4 are as follows:

• Barnegat Light: 1 new case, 63 total cases, 1.61 percent increase
• Barnegat Township: 70, 4,544 total cases, 1.56 percent increase
• Bay Head: 2 new cases, 151 total cases, 1.34 percent increase
• Beach Haven: 1 new case, 128 total cases, 0.79 percent increase
• Beachwood: 26 new cases, 2,419 total cases, 1.09 percent increase
• Berkeley Township: 97 new cases, 8,650 total cases, 1.13 percent increase
• Brick Township: 149 new cases, 17,411 total cases, 0.86 percent increase
• Eagleswood Township: 5 new cases, 322 total cases, 1.58 percent increase
• Harvey Cedars: 0 new cases, 33 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Island Heights: 5 new cases, 265 total cases, 1.92 percent increase
• Jackson Township: 146 new cases, 12,343 total cases, 1.20 percent increase
• Lacey Township: 69 new cases, 5,598 total cases, 1.25 percent increase
• Lakehurst: 15 new cases, 589 total cases, 2.61 percent increase
• Lakewood: 158 new cases, 23,401 total cases, 0.68 percent increase
• Lavallette: 6 new cases, 343 total cases, 1.78 percent increase
• Little Egg Harbor Township: 93 new cases, 3,874 total cases, 2.46 percent increase
• Long Beach Township: 4 new cases, 339 total cases, 1.19 percent increase
• Manchester: 102 new cases, 8,131 total cases, 1.27 percent increase
• Mantoloking: 1 new case, 48 total cases, 2.13 percent increase
• Ocean Gate: 0 new cases, 365 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Ocean Twp. (Waretown): 27 new cases, 1,477 total cases, 1.86 percent increase
• Pine Beach: 4 new cases, 435 total cases, 0.93 percent increase
• Plumsted Township: 29 new cases, 1,477 total cases, 2.00 percent increase
• Point Pleasant Beach: 10 new cases, 926 total cases, 1.09 percent increase
• Point Pleasant: 39 new cases, 4,580 total cases, 0.86 percent increase
• Seaside Heights: 5 new cases, 533 total cases, 0.95 percent increase
• Seaside Park: 4 new cases, 207 total cases, 1.97 percent increase
• Ship Bottom: 1 new case, 185 total cases, 0.54 percent increase
• South Toms River: 10 new cases, 832 total cases, 1.22 percent increase
• Stafford Township: 72 new cases, 5,012 total cases, 1.46 percent increase
• Surf City: 3 new cases, 241 total cases, 1.26 percent increase
• Toms River: 285 new cases, 20,900 total cases, 1.38 percent increase
• Tuckerton: 15 new cases, 561 total cases, 2.75 percent increase

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