Chatham Borough Mayor Talks About Increase In Breakthrough COVID Cases With Delta Variant

CHATHAM, NJ — Although the State of New Jersey looks favorably on Chatham Borough’s high vaccination rate, its mayor cautioned residents that even the borough’s vaccinated should take safeguards during coronavirus’ Delta surge.

Kobylarz made his statements during Monday night’s Chatham Borough Council meeting, based on discussions he said he’s had with health officials over the past couple of weeks.

Though vaccinated people, he's learned have less of a chance of contracting COVID-19, he discussed the uptick in New Jersey’s breakthrough cases, which he defined for the public as those that have tested positive for the illness, in spite of full courses of any type of COVID-19 vaccine.

According to a previous news release from Chatham Borough on Sept. 8, some of Chatham Borough’s breakthrough cases were addressed in the total COVID case count for August 2021. Of the 37 total cases that month, 19 of those cases - or more than half - were in fully-vaccinated adults. The remainder of the cases were in children under the age of 18.

On Monday, Kobylarz said as of Sept. 9, there have been eight new cases reported in the borough, though he didn’t state whether those were among the vaccinated or unvaccinated, bringing the total case count to 561 since the pandemic’s start, for Chatham Borough.

Over a period of the past five weeks, Kobylarz said there has been a dramatic rise in case counts, with 40 new in Chatham Borough.

Morris County, he said, is listed as an area with a high rate of transmission, where the CDC recommends mask-wearing.

He said with Chatham Borough’s vaccination rate so significant, with about 97 percent of the borough’s residents over the age of 18 having received their full course of COVID vaccines, any new vaccines among borough residents “would be marginal at best.”

However, statewide, he cited that 5.69 million New Jersey residents or 62 percent of the population, have received their full course of COVID vaccinations. That is up from 5.24 million five weeks prior or 59 percent of New Jersey’s population, Kobylarz said. Countywide, 67.2 percent have received a full course of vaccines, which is up from 64.5 percent five weeks before.

In New Jersey, he cited that numbers in breakthrough cases, though low, are still on the rise, with less than 0.28 percent who are fully vaccinated contracting the virus, 80 of them or 0.002 percent having died; and 356 or 0.007 percent who were hospitalized. Among the fatalities, Kobylarz said 87 percent have been in the 65 and up age group.

Though he said, being vaccinated lower’s one chance of contracting COVID, the reality is breakthrough cases are happening.

He quoted one public health official he recently heard address the topic, who said people need to “disabuse themselves that vaccines are bulletproof, they are not,” stating a belief in having no risk post-vaccination as “unrealistic.”

Kobylarz said one expert expressed that the chances to have symptomatic infections have increased since the Delta variant, additionally citing a New England Journal of Medicine study that “COVID vaccine effectiveness is considerably lower against the Delta variant.”

Some issues he said, have developed from “dropped health precautions like masking,” stating the likelihood to catch COVID-19 is higher than it had been, even in the earliest days of the pandemic.

What were recommendations he passed on to residents to challenge breakthrough infections?

“Don’t leave it all up to the vaccines,” Kobylarz said, sharing what he'd been told, which included for residents to mask up when they’re out in public, avoid large gatherings and to limit travel.

RELATED: Over Half Vaccinated In Chatham Borough's 37 August COVID Cases

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