NJ's COVID Hospitalizations Drop 2nd Straight Day After Nearing Record Highs

NEW JERSEY — The omicron variant may have slightly loosened its grip on New Jersey. After a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations that nearly broke the state record, New Jersey saw its number of coronavirus patients reduce for the second straight day.

The New Jersey Department of Health continues to report a high number of daily cases. But after breaking a state pandemic record with 33,479 cases Jan. 7, case totals have steadily declined — hitting 19,544 on Wednesday and 19,545 the day after.

Two days of COVID data is too early to determine a trend, as New Jersey has seen temporary dips in cases and hospitalizations during past surges. And state officials haven't ruled out a continued surge that increases total COVID hospitalizations to 8,000 in the next month.

The state also still has a long way to go in terms of reducing the stress the virus puts on hospitals. New Jersey hospitals have 5,835 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 as of Thursday. While that's less than Tuesday's reported total of 6,089, the state still has a long way to go before matching its number of hospital patients with the virus from a month before (1,698 on Dec. 13) and two months ago (679 on Nov. 13).

COVID-19 patients occupy 26.26 percent of inpatient beds in New Jersey hospitals, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Anything above 20 percent represents "extreme stress," according to a framework from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

It's possible that omicron reached its peak in the Garden State, but New Jersey officials say they need more time to make that determination.

"We are seeing a leveling off of cases, but hospitalizations are increasing and unfortunately deaths—a lagging indicator—are increasing," Donna Leusner, a state health department spokesperson, told Patch via email. "We need several more weeks until we can safely say it has peaked. We urge people to get boosted and vaccinated."

The COVID-19 death rate in New Jersey has not yet leveled off, with the virus killing 528 people in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A "peak" means the highest point before a downturn, according to State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli. That may come in February, she says. Read more: COVID-19 Surge May Peak In NJ This Month, Health Officials Say

"We expect increases in hospitalizations to reach about 8,000 probably by the end — I don't have it in front of me, so the dates are not specific — by the end of the third week in January going into the first week in February," Persichilli said during Monday's coronavirus news briefing. "The peak could occur sometime in the first two weeks of February before there's a downturn."

Persichilli noted that case numbers are an undercount. But the state expects the daily totals of new cases to stay between 20,000 and 30,000 through January, she said.

New Jersey has seen a higher percentage of infections among people who completed their first series of COVID vaccinations. But unvaccinated people still represent the significant majority of hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.

For the week ending Dec. 26, 31,334 of the state's 101,000 COVID-19 infections were breakthrough cases. During that span, four of New Jersey's 2,640 COVID hospitalizations and five of the state's 146 deaths involved fully vaccinated patients.

"The unvaccinated remain overwhelmingly those who are succumbing to the virus," said Gov. Phil Murphy.