Bulk Of Monmouth's New COVID Cases From Youth Sports, Labor Day

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy said that coronavirus cases continue to rise in New Jersey, and said Monmouth and Ocean counties in particular are both seeing noticeable increases.

New Jersey had 617 new COVID cases on Thursday, its highest two-day total of cases since Aug. 14.

Monmouth County saw 238 new cases last week (Sept. 13-19) and 49.5 percent of those new cases are in people under 25 years old, said Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone.

In fact, the bulk of those exposures are from youth athletic facilities, school sports practices and gatherings that occurred during Labor Day weekend, said Arnone. As Patch reported just this past week, there was a cluster of 13 COVID cases among youth ice hockey teams that practice at the Middletown Sports Complex.

The Middletown Sports Complex had to close its two indoor ice rinks for several days so they could disinfect.

The county health department investigated and so far, no cases have been linked to restaurants or retail food establishments in Monmouth County, according to Arnone.

If a contact tracer calls you, please pick up the call and work with them, he added.

"Contact tracing is a vital part of reducing the spread of COVID-19 throughout Monmouth County," said Arnone. "We continue to stress the importance of preventative actions the public can take including social distancing, wearing face coverings and washing hands frequently."

As of Friday, Sept. 18, New Jersey has had 198,848 total COVID cases, and 14,270 confirmed deaths.

Related: Cluster Of COVID Cases In Teams At Middletown Sports Complex (Sept. 14)