NJ COVID Deaths Still High, But Hospitalizations Down 60 Percent Since Omicron Peak

NEW JERSEY — COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline in New Jersey, but deaths from the virus remain high. The New Jersey Department of Health confirmed 100-plus COVID-19 deaths for three straight days, even as hospitalizations for the virus declined 60 percent in three weeks.

The state health department reported 115 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, 107 on Wednesday and 111 on Thursday. From Jan. 24 to Tuesday, state officials tallied 514 coronavirus deaths among hospital patients.

"These are still numbers we have not seen since last February," Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday at the state's weekly coronavirus news conference.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators, which can rise even after a decline in cases. New Jersey's daily case totals have steadily declined since reaching a pandemic high of 33,459 infections Jan. 7, and hospitalizations have started to follow suit.

New Jersey's total of hospital patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 increased since early November and hit an omicron-wave peak of 6,089 on Jan. 11. Since then, COVID-19 hospitalizations declined 60.4 percent to 2,409 as of Thursday.

One New Jersey hospital held divert status as of noon Friday — St. Luke's Hospital's Warren Campus in Warren County.

Many North Jersey hospitals recently reduced visitor restrictions under the New Jersey Hospital Association's guidance. The NJHA eveloped a color-coded system to direct visitor policies to reduce COVID-19 risk. "Red" indicates no visitors with few exceptions, "yellow" means limited visitation and "green" loosens restrictions the most but leaves some limits.

The NJHA updated visitation levels Wednesday, placing North Jersey counties in the yellow and nine South Jersey counties — Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem — in the red.

People should check hospitals' websites to see if they put additional precautions in place, the NJHA says. But under the guidelines, yellow means the following:

• No visitors are allowed for COVID-19 patients, except for circumstances approved by the care team.
• No visitors are allowed for those who are immunocompromised, except for circumstances approved by the care team.
• Other types of patients may have one visitor at a time. They must follow requirements on masking, symptom screening and other precautions.

Red signifies the following:

• All visitors must be 18 years of age or older, except for exceptions approved by the care team.
• All visitors will be required to wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. Bandanas, gaiters or masks with exhalation valves are not permitted because they don’t provide sufficient protection.
• All visitors must undergo symptom and temperature checks upon entering the hospital.
• All visitors must perform hand hygiene before visiting a patient.
• Once in the hospital, visitors must remain in the patient’s room or emergency department bay throughout the visit, except when directed otherwise by hospital staff.
• All visitors must comply with hospital requirements to minimize the potential spread of infection.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's seven-day average for positive cases dropped to 3,058 per day — down 56 percent from the prior week.