1st Reported Death, 48 Coronavirus Cases Now In Ocean County

A man in his 70s has become the first Ocean County fatality from the new coronavirus, state officials announced Thursday, and there are now 48 positive cases of the virus in the county, according to health department officials.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, who announced the death and three others during Gov. Phil Murphy's daily press conference, did not provide additional details about the man who died.

Officials with the Ocean County Health Department said they were withholding the man's hometown, but said the man "was high-risk based on age with underlying medical conditions."

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There were 25 new positive cases in Ocean County "that came in overnight," Murphy said, but neither he nor Persichilli could confirm how many of them were from Lakewood.

In its Thursday afternoon update, the Ocean County Health Department said there are 48 cases in the county now, up from 16 on Wednesday, including 22 new cases in Lakewood.

"We had a conference call with leaders last night where there was a rumor that there were 100 cases in Lakewood," Murphy said, but so far authorities have not been able to confirm them.

A flurry of tweets Wednesday night and early Thursday from the Lakewood Scoop shared admonishments from community leaders to stop holding gatherings of any kind, and said there were "dozens of cases." Halls across the township closed on Wednesday, and the Lakewood Scoop reported the police department would be issuing summonses to anyone who does not comply.

That response came after Lakewood police broke up two weddings in the township on Tuesday night, each of which exceeded 50 people.

Murphy addressed the issue of people across the state continuing to ignore the warnings about large gatherings.

"It is time to cut the crap," Murphy said. "We simply cannot have this, whether it's weddings, funerals, baptisms," or parties in people's basements, he said, directing his comments to young people.

"It has to be enforced and it will be enforced aggressively," he said. "It's not because we're trying to be jerks. It's because we're tyring to lessen the stress on the health care system."

In addition to the Lakewood cases, Brick, Barnegat and Stafford were announced as having cases. Toms River's total increased to four, Jackson now has five cases and Manchester has three. Berkeley, Barnegat, and Stafford have two each, and Brick, Point Pleasant, Little Egg Harbor and Surf City have one case each.

As of noon Thursday, there were 742 positive tests for COVID-19 in New Jersey, and nine people have died from it, according to the state health department. More than 50 percent of those positives are people who are hospitalized, officials said. The first case in New Jersey was identified on March 4.

COVID-19 is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Note: This article has been updated with information from the Ocean County Health Department.

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