NJ Schools See COVID 'Spike' After Thanksgiving Gatherings

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey and its schools are experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases, the highest level since the beginning of the school year, after many residents gathered for Thanksgiving.

"It is quite obvious we are seeing a post-Thanksgiving spike," said Gov. Phil Murphy at Wednesday's news conference about recent COVID cases since the holiday. "There is no other way to look at these numbers."

NEW JERSEY #COVID19 NUMBERS:
➡️3,274 new positive PCR tests
➡️1,111,709 total positive PCR tests
➡️1,184 new positive antigen tests
➡️172,216 total positive antigen tests

The positivity rate is 9.6%.

The statewide rate of transmission is currently 1.36. pic.twitter.com/8rrQlCbeUg
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) December 8, 2021

The spike is also noticeable in local school districts as there is a sharp increase in student and staff cases since Nov. 3, according to the state's school dashboard.

From Nov. 28 to Dec. 5, 31 new COVID school outbreaks were reported in New Jersey. In total NJ has reported 248 COVID school outbreaks with 1,345 students and staff members impacted.

To qualify as a COVID-19 outbreak in a school there have to be three cases connected and not from the same household.

For the week ending on Nov. 28, schools reported 3,024 new student cases and 858 teacher cases. That equals to 2.66 student cases per 1,000 students and 4.41 staff cases per 1,000 staff members, according to the state dashboard.

Bergen County has the highest number of student cases with 319 followed by Monmouth County with 315 cases.

Bergen County also has the highest number of staff cases with 91 followed by Ocean County with 74.

Overall, Sussex County has the highest ratio of 6.33 cases per 1,000 student and staff members.

The dashboard will be updated on Monday, Dec. 13 with data from the week ending Dec. 5.

With numbers rising and more people getting together New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli urged the use of masks.

"Please wear a mask when indoors with a large number of people and vaccination status is unknown. Masking will also help stop the spread of the flu this season," said Persichilli.

One New Jersey school district superintendent in Hillsborough expressed concerns over a spike of COVID-19 cases at one of the schools at a recent Board of Education meeting.

"This spike in cases is concerning. However should parents choose to take advantage of the recent availability of vaccinations for this age group, we are hopeful that these numbers will begin to decrease across the board," said Hillsborough Schools Superintendent Dr. Lisa Antunes.

With Delta and now Omicron variants making their presence in New Jersey, state officials are urging vaccinations and boosters.

"As the holidays approach the best thing we can do to protect ourselves our families and our communities is to get a booster shot," said Persichilli.

As of Wednesday, here are the vaccination numbers among children:

• 19.2 percent or 145,000 children ages 5 to 11 have received their first dose of the pediatric Pfizer shot
• 57 percent or 387,849 children between 12 and 17 years old are fully vaccinated
• 65 percent or 443,521 ages 12 and 17 have received one dose

As far as boosters, 34 percent of 4.5 million eligible New Jersey residents have received a booster.

"We are averaging about 35,000 booster doses each day but we need to do better," Persichilli.

To find a vaccine location click here.

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