United States: New Jersey has reported another 2,738 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 14 confirmed deaths as scientists started to sound the alarm on yet another most transmissible omicron variant. The following data has been released on Tuesday.
The scientists mentioned that BA.2.75 might be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infections. The expert says vaccines and boosters are still the best defence against COVID-19.
The state-wide positivity rate for tests conducted Friday, the most recent day with available data, was 13.70 percent. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention considers positivity rates above 10 percent to be “high.” The positivity rate is substantially lower than its peak of 40.83 percent on January 1 during the heigh of the omicron variant.
Moreover, the rate of transmission in New Jersey was 1.05 on Tuesday. When the transmission rate is above one, that means cases each new case leads to at least one additional case.
There were 972 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported all over the state’s 71 hospitals as of Monday night. That is the highest number of patients since February 22.
Along with this, in spite of the recent increase in the cases meanwhile, the number of people getting admitted to the hospital remains significantly lower than when it peaked at 6,089 on January 10 at the time of the rise in the cases of Omicron variant.
In addition, six New Jersey counties are currently considered at high risk for COVID-19 transmission- Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Monmouth as well as Morris. Those in high-risk areas are highly recommended to wear a facial mask indoors in public as well as on public transportation and stay up to date on vacations, as per the CDC.
Furthermore, the state’s 15 other counties are in the medium-risk category, including Middlesex, Bergen, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Warren, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union as well as Ocean.
