'Very High' COVID Spread In NJ, First Time Since April 2020

NEW JERSEY — All 21 counties in New Jersey are now in the "red" zone for coronavirus, meaning they are all experiencing "very high" levels of coronavirus spread, according to the state Department of Health Friday.

The last time the state was designated a "very high" zone of coronavirus activity was in April 2020, when the government shut down most businesses and everyone went into lockdown. And even then, not every state in the county was showing high COVID spread; some pockets of the state, such as the Northwest corner, were showing "moderate" to "high" spread.

However, Gov. Phil Murphy told NJ.com this week that any new COVID restrictions are “highly unlikely."

New Jersey also recorded 33,459 cases Friday, yet another all-time record in the history of the pandemic. There have been 64 people who died in New Jersey hospitals with a positive COVID test in the past 24 hours. Also on Friday, there were 5,621 people hospitalized with COVID in New Jersey hospitals, according to the state's COVID dashboard.

The percent positivity rate for every part of New Jersey is either at 30 percent or higher (36 percent in the Central and Northern parts of the state). For comparison, in November the statewide positivity rate was between under 6 percent, according to NJ.com.

On Monday, 150 members of the New Jersey National Guard will be sent to help with staffing at a dozen nursing home and long-term care facilities across the state. This is to compensate for staffing shortages at these facilities.

In 2020 and 2021, when New Jersey counties would enter the "red" zone, they were advised to switch to virtual learning. Many school districts in the state decided to do that this week, with virtual learning continuing into next week. Here's the full list: These NJ School Districts Have Switched To All Remote

Get great local news. Sign up for Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com