Essex County Coronavirus Cases Up 2.7 Percent: See Town Updates

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Cases of the coronavirus continue to rise across Essex County, according to statistics released Friday.

Essex County reported 68,695 cumulative COVID-19 cases, an increase of 1,853 and 2.77 percent over the previous week.

The county has also seen 2,424 cumulative deaths linked to the disease, an increase of 23 from the previous week, officials reported.

The disease’s impact is also reflected in the state Department of Health's most recent “COVID-19 Activity Level Report,” which is issued weekly. The most recent report says Essex County is in the “orange zone” or “high activity level,” which means it has a rate of 10 to 25 cases per 100,000 people.

If the overall activity is at an “orange” level, school districts in those counties would have to take more serious steps — such as quarantining or even shutting down schools — if a child shows the symptoms of COVID-19, state officials say.

“When it is high risk, there are some recommendations that we make together with local school boards,” said Edward Lifshitz, medical director for the state Department of Health.

Some school districts in the area continue to provide remote instruction, even as the number of new daily cases has dropped in recent weeks.

Essex County officials released cumulative COVID-19 totals for each town and city on March 5, noting that their daily report may not match state or municipal totals (here's why). Patch has included the U.S. Census' most recent population estimates for each municipality.

• Belleville – 4,495 cases, 99 deaths (population: 36,497)
• Bloomfield – 4,260 cases, 100 deaths (population: 49,973)
• Caldwell – 461 cases, 15 deaths (population: 7,941)
• Cedar Grove – 1,287 cases, 119 deaths (population: 12,489)
• East Orange – 5,442 cases, 274 deaths (population: 64,367)
• Essex Fells – 151 cases, 2 deaths (population: 2,085)
• Fairfield – 672 cases, 29 deaths (population: 7,474)
• Glen Ridge – 302 cases, 11 deaths (population: 7,574)
• Irvington – 3,545 cases, 208 deaths (population: 54,312)
• Livingston – 1,492 cases, 81 deaths (population: 30,303)
• Maplewood – 966 cases, 33 deaths (population: 25,380)
• Millburn – 689 cases, 8 deaths (population: 20,080)
• Montclair – 1,757 cases, 65 deaths (population: 38,564)
• Newark – 31,294 cases, 883 deaths (population: 282,011)
• North Caldwell – 371 cases, 6 deaths (population: 6,621)
• Nutley – 2,358 cases, 56 deaths (population: 28,434)
• Orange – 2,768 cases, 123 deaths (population: 30,551)
• Roseland – 394 cases, 15 deaths (population: 5,835)
• South Orange – 641 cases, 12 deaths (population: 16,691)
• Verona – 784 cases, 16 deaths (population: 13,390)
• West Caldwell – 846 cases, 51 deaths (population: 10,837)
• West Orange – 3,720 cases, 218 deaths (population: 47,563)

This article contains reporting by Tom Davis, Patch staff

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