COVID Spread In Ocean County: Delta Variant, Breakthrough Info

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — Here's the weekly look at coronavirus cases in Ocean County, including town-by-town totals and a look at related data since the emergence of the delta variant earlier this year.

The county averaged 139 new cases per day in the past week, the same as the previous week which was an average of 139 new daily cases, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

Hospitalizations in Ocean County have continued to decrease. There have been 29 hospitalizations from Oct. 1 through Oct. 25, a decrease over the numbers seen in August and September. The county does not have a breakdown by day of how many COVID patients have been released from hospitals.

Just under 15 percent of new COVID-19 cases in Ocean County in recent weeks are breakthrough infections in people who have been vaccinated, said Daniel Regenye, public health coordinator for the Ocean County Health Department.

However, people who have had breakthrough cases in Ocean County are faring much better, he said.

"The vast majority of those admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated," he said, and people who are in critical care units and intensive care units with COVID-19 "are almost entirely unvaccinated."

"Those that are vaccinated are experiencing much less severe symptoms," Regenye said.

The county continues to look at the data on COVID-19 to try to better reach people with information about the illness, the vaccines and the risks that have people hesitant to receive the vaccine.

That includes looking at the data surrounding deaths in Ocean County. He said the deaths involving long-term care facilities have been few over the last several months, but trying to pin down the ages of those who have died more recently has been difficult.

He said he understands the frustration that people have with wanting more data overall about the impacts of COVID-19.

"We are trying to figure out who are these people who are dying, so we know where we need to do more work" in providing information to the public.

"There are things people can do to reduce their risks with COVID," including changing their eating habits and losing weight, he said, but getting the data has been difficult because of the variety of sources — hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other places — where the information is coming from.

"It's challenging," he said. "You want to make the data useful, not just look at a number."

Officials continue to monitor the delta variant, which accounted for 99.40 percent of coronavirus cases in New Jersey over a four-week period ending on Oct. 2, CDC numbers show. The CDC variant proportions are based on representative CDC sequencing data gathered during that four-week period. There were 2,671 New Jersey samples that underwent sequencing during that time.

Ocean County and all of the Central Jersey East region has "high" COVID-19 activity, according to New Jersey's latest weekly report, through Oct. 23. The determination is based on metrics such as case rate, positivity rate and prevalence of COVID-like illnesses including fever and cough and shortness of breath. The region has the third-highest case rate in the state at 12.93 cases per 100,000, a rate of 5.90 percent for COVID-like illnesses and a 4.04 percent positivity rate.

There have been 23 deaths from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29, bringing the county's cumulative total to 2,186, according to Ocean County Health Department statistics.

The Ocean County Health Department data includes the seven-day town-by-town case totals. It also includes a breakdown by age of how many cases have been diagnosed in each age group.

The age breakdown is as follows for new cases reported as of Oct. 28: 0-18, 250; 19-44, 359; 45-64, 200; 65-74, 81; 75-84, 63; 85+, 22; total 975

The seven-day totals for Ocean County as of Oct. 29 are as follows:

• Barnegat Light: 1 new cases, 41 total cases, 2.5 percent increase
• Barnegat Township: 27, 2,669 total cases, 1.02 percent increase
• Bay Head: 0 new cases, 93 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Beach Haven: 2 new cases, 96 total cases, 2.13 percent increase
• Beachwood: 25 new cases, 1,488 total cases, 1.71 percent increase
• Berkeley Township: 73 new cases, 5,331 total cases, 1.39 percent increase
• Brick Township: 93 new cases, 11,236 total cases, 0.83 percent increase
• Eagleswood Township: 1 new case, 193 total cases, 0.52 percent increase
• Harvey Cedars: 0 new cases, 22 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Island Heights: 1 new case, 177 total cases, 0.57 percent increase
• Jackson Township: 85 new cases, 7,972 total cases, 1.08 percent increase
• Lacey Township: 65 new cases, 3,423 total cases, 1.94 percent increase
• Lakehurst: 1 new case, 384 total cases, 0.26 percent increase
• Lakewood: 255 new cases, 16,715 total cases, 1.55 percent increase
• Lavallette: 0 new cases, 205 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Little Egg Harbor Township: 39 new cases, 2,272 total cases, 1.75 percent increase
• Long Beach Township: 4 new cases, 248 total cases, 1.64 percent increase
• Manchester: 70 new cases, 5,163 total cases, 1.37 percent increase
• Mantoloking: 0 new cases, 32 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Ocean Gate: 0 new cases, 218 total cases, 0 percent increase
• Ocean Twp. (Waretown): 21 new cases, 847 total cases, 2.54 percent increase
• Pine Beach: 6 new cases, 236 total cases, 2.61 percent increase
• Plumsted Township: 16 new cases, 865 total cases, 1.88 percent increase
• Point Pleasant Beach: 3 new cases, 590 total cases, 0.51 percent increase
• Point Pleasant: 17 new cases, 2,900 total cases, 0.59 percent increase
• Seaside Heights: 2 new cases, 339 total cases, 0.59 percent increase
• Seaside Park: 1 new case, 134 total cases, 0.75 percent increase
• Ship Bottom: 1 new case, 124 total cases, 0.81 percent increase
• South Toms River: 14 new cases, 507 total cases, 2.84 percent increase
• Stafford Township: 27 new cases, 3,126 total cases, 0.87 percent increase
• Surf City: 1 new case, 82 total cases, 1.23 percent increase
• Toms River: 106 new cases, 13,265 total cases, 1.08 percent increase
• Tuckerton: 6 new cases, 337 total cases, 1.81 percent increase

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