By Allison Perrine
NEW JERSEY – The state has officially vaccinated more residents in the fight against COVID-19 than the number of those who have received positive PCR tests for the virus, Gov. Phil Murphy reported Wednesday during his routine press conference.
As of Wednesday, Jan. 27, 642,613 New Jerseyans had received the vaccine and that number is expected to increase soon, which Murphy said is “desperately needed.” His optimism stemmed from a call with members of President Joe Biden’s administration at the White House announcing that vaccine allocations will soon rise.
“This will allow us to make better decisions about statewide distribution,” said Murphy. “Make no mistake, however, that we, like every other state, need greatly increased vaccine production and delivery.”
According to Judy Persichilli, state commissioner of the Department of Health, the state expects that individuals will receive their second dose of the vaccine at the same location where they received the first dose. Anyone who registered through the state’s system should be notified by the weekend with information about their follow-up appointments by email. Later in the week, the state will enable the automatic generation of appointments for patients to receive their second doses of the vaccine if they registered through the state, she added.
She noted that anyone who received the Pfizer vaccine is supposed to get their second dose 21 days later and anyone who received Moderna’s should get theirs 28 days after the first. However, “there is no known loss of efficacy of the second dose as long as someone receives that second dose within six weeks of receiving the first dose,” said Persichilli. “So, we don’t want anyone to panic if it’s not exactly at the 21- day or 28-day limit.”
There are a total of 606,492 positive PCR tests detecting COVID-19 in the state, an increase of 3,950 overnight. There have also been 70,045 positive antigen rapid tests, an increase of 1,080 overnight. That brings the total to 676,537 since last March. Additionally, the positivity rate as of Jan. 23 was 12.62 percent and the statewide rate of transmission was 0.91.
As of Jan. 26, there were 3,190 individuals hospitalized throughout the 71 facilities across the state, 221 of whom were still awaiting COVID-19 test results. Of that total, 578 individuals were in intensive care units and 406 were on ventilators; 416 patients were discharged while 375 new patients were admitted. The death toll rose by 107, totaling 19,091 statewide, with an additional 2,129 likely related deaths that have not been lab-confirmed.
“Fatalities are a lagging indicator, not a leading indicator, of this awful virus. These are folks who got sick…probably some number of weeks ago and may have been hospitalized or even longer, may have been hospitalized some number of weeks ago,” said Murphy. “And we mourn every single one of these lost lives.”
According to Persichilli, there have now been eight New Jersey residents who have tested positive for B117, the variant of the virus that emerged in the United Kingdom. Six of the eight cases are new with four coming from Ocean County, two from Essex County and two from Morris County. Ages of those infected range from 10 to 65, and one person has died from it, though the individual had “significant” underlying conditions, she said.
Additionally, one new case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children has emerged statewide, a systemic illness that results from exposure to COVID-19, bringing the total to 83 cumulative cases. Fortunately, none of those 83 children have died at this time, Persichilli said, though two are currently hospitalized.
“Stay safe. It’s more important than ever, with the variant in our state, to continue to mask up (and) social distance,” said Persichilli. “Stay home if you’re sick. Get tested. And remember for each other and us all, please take the call and download the COVID Alert NJ app.”
This article was originally published in the Jan. 28 – Feb.3, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
