Mayor: Westfield Had One COVID-19 Death In July

WESTFIELD, NJ —Mayor Shelley Brindle announced Friday that an 80-year-old Westfield resident died from COVID-19 last month after being hospitalized with the virus. The mayor did not identify the person who died.

In her Mayor's Update blog post on the city's website, Brindle reported that 48 cases of COVID-19 were identified in Westfield in July, after there had been 19 cases in June. Of those 48 cases, Brindle noted, 21 were residents who identified as being fully vaccinated.

"It's worth noting that all 21 of these breakthrough cases had mild symptoms or remained asymptomatic," Brindle said. "While breakthrough cases are occurring, the CDC has stated that the unvaccinated are still eight times more likely to get infected, and 25 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID."

Of the 48 cases in Westfield last month, ten were were in the 30 to 39 age group, which was the age group with the most cases. Nine cases were in the 20 to 29 age group. According to Brindle, the age breakdown of the 48 cases was:

• Ages 9 and under - Five cases
• Ages 10 to 19 - Four cases
• Ages 20 to 29 - Nine cases
• Ages 30 to 39 - 10 cases
• Ages 40 to 49 - Four cases
• Ages 50 to 59 - Seven cases
• Ages 60 to 69 - Seven cases
• Ages 70 to 79 - Zero cases
• Ages 80 to 89 - One case
• Age 90 and above - One case

While July COVID numbers are up from the previous month, Brindle pointed out that, thanks to vaccinations, the numbers are down substantially from the 108 cases reported in July of 2020.

Despite this, Brindle said Megan Avallone, director of Westfield Regional Health Department, reported last week that all six regions in New Jersey were showing an increase in case rate and percent positive rate from the week before.

Union County also is currently categorized as having a "substantial" level of transmission, and the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in public if they live in an area with "substantial" or "high" transmission levels.

As of Monday, 5,356,361 people in New Jersey had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. As of last Friday, state vaccination rates had increased 16 percent from the previous week's rate, with an average of over 20,000 doses being administered per day.

According to Brindle, as of last Friday, 75 percent of the entire population of Westfield had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The statistics showed that 95 percent of Westfield residents 65 and older, 95 percent of those 30 and older and 96 percent of all adults had at lease one dose of the vaccine.

New data also showed that 60 percent of Westfield residents ages 12 to 17 had received at least one dose of the vaccination, according to Brindle.