Reevaluating Wayne's Coronavirus Status As Summer Winds Down

WAYNE, NJ — Northern New Jersey has served as the epicenter of the state's coronavirus epidemic since the pandemic started, but according to a recent Patch report, other communities are now climbing up the case and fatality list.

The report compiled lists of all New Jersey towns and their latest number of coronavirus cases and fatalities as the pandemic continues to impact the country for what is now the sixth consecutive month.

Compiling that list was more difficult when it came to Passaic County communities.

Passaic County is one of three in New Jersey that don't post maps and lists of case locations, instead relying on towns themselves to report numbers.

Though Wayne Township has been rather active in posting numbers — often daily — there are occasional discrepancies between numbers posted to their website and numbers the state provides.

Passaic County published numbers through July, but has since stopped. The county does not release fatality numbers, though Wayne Township Mayor Christopher Vergano does share that information.

Since July 4, Patch found, the biggest increases were in beach communities like Manasquan and Sea Isle City, though some suburbs like Hillsborough also saw large increases.

Per capita rates, however, do paint a more somber picture in communities like Paramus, which have among the highest rates in the state.

For instance, Wayne reports a 5.13 percent increase in cases between July 4 and Aug. 23, ranking 435 in the state. However, the township ranks 64 in the state when it comes to the rate of cases per 1,000 people, with 28.75 cases.

When it comes to fatality rates based on the rate of cases per 1,000 people, Wayne again has one of the higher numbers in the state, ranking higher than all but 15 towns with a rate of 3.64.

Wayne is among the highest towns in New Jersey in terms of total cases with 1,558, more than all but 21 communities. The township ranks ninth in coronavirus deaths with 197.

Read the full Patch report here: Latest Town-By-Town NJ Coronavirus Cases, Deaths, Spikes Ranked

Have a news tip or press release you'd like to submit? Need to request a correction? Email montana.samuels@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.