See Hackettstown's Latest COVID Case Numbers Through Jan. 14

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ —COVID continued its dramatic surge in New Jersey in mid-January, with some schools that had transitioned to a virtual format after the holiday break, already back to in-person classes.

New confirmed case counts have fallen back as of Jan. 14, when the state reported its daily count at 20,624. In what Governor Phil Murphy previously called an “omicron tsunami” - after the first day of 2022 saw 29,740 new positive cases - the new case count crested to 33,459 on Jan. 7, New Jersey’s new daily record high.

After a slight dip in hospitalizations this past week for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, from 6,089 to 5,933 between Jan. 11 and 12 - hospitalizations falling further to 5,835 on Friday - the State of New Jersey questioned if the variant has peaked.

New Jersey Department of Health Spokesperson Donna Leusner told Patch it may take weeks to know, State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli suggesting the daily count could rise again to 8,000 hospitalized, by next month.

Though there’s been a drop in hospitalizations, President Joe Biden announced that over 120 military medical personnel are being sent to New Jersey and six other states, their arrival dates and locations not yet announced.

On Jan. 10, National Guard arrived to help after a COVID spike, with sanitizing and other tasks at the former Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation II, now called Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center. As of Jan. 6, their newest outbreak, which included some cases at the former Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation I - now renamed to Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation - climbed to 429 collectively in both facilities, the week ending Jan. 13. On Jan. 6, the total count for the two nursing homes was 390 cases.

There have been dramatic changes on other New Jersey COVID fronts during the week leading up to Jan. 14.

New Jersey’s school mask mandate was in jeopardy, after the legislative branch declined to extend Murphy’s emergency powers by another 45 days on Jan. 11. With executive orders like the K-12 mask mandates ready to expire, Murphy declared another 90-day state of emergency, to the ire of legislators on both sides of the aisle. This extended his mask mandate order and twice-weekly COVID testing mandates for unvaccinated teachers and healthcare workers.

While the state of emergency was renewed, COVID isolation rules were shortened in the schools themselves, with New Jersey’s Department of Health changing its K-12 guidance to mirror the CDC's, recommended isolation days dropping from 10 to 5 days for COVID-positive students and staff.

An Overview Of New Jersey's Northwest Region

In the midst of cases peaking, Morris County’s COVID testing center reopened at the County College of Morris on Jan. 10, to accommodate the demand for testing.

Though the School District of the Chathams remained open, Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa noted on Jan. 10 that since Dec. 15, there had been about 500 COVID cases districtwide. The district currently has a virtual component for any student uncomfortable to come to school and other accommodations for families, that the district intends to phase out in the coming week.
While Sparta Schools and Lenape Valley Regional High School currently remain virtual, each expected to return after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, the Hopatcong School District - which was temporarily remote - returned to in-person classes on Jan. 11.

Case Breakdowns By Town, County, Region

According to the County of Warren, Hackettstown has seen 1,690 new cases as of Jan. 12 since the pandemic started, with 1,516 marked "recovered." This is up from 1,590 new cases on Jan. 5, with 1,320 then deemed "recovered."

At the county level during that timeframe, there were 16,551 cases in total since the pandemic started, a rise of 1,358 from the prior week. This is up from the week of Jan. 5, when there were 15,193 cumulative cases and a rise of 1,250 cases.

Warren County's daily case average was 194 as of Jan. 12, as compared to the prior week's number of 179, with 67 the daily average, the week before that.

The week ending Jan. 12, there were nine new COVID deaths and one new probable, as compared to three confirmed COVID deaths as of Jan. 5.

The State of New Jersey’s Department of Health has currently logged the COVID total death toll in Warren County at 270 since the pandemic began, with it previously 254 on Jan. 7.

As of the State of New Jersey's Jan. 1 COVID-19 Activity Report or "CALI," Warren County, which is lumped into the Northwest Region with Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties - like all counties statewide - is listed at a "very high level" of transmission or "red" level.

Regionally, the score is "4," mirroring the statewide score, with the Northwest now having the highest case rate statewide at 304.2. The "COVID-Like Illness" or CLI percentage however, is the second lowest statewide at 14.74 percent, according to the report. The Northwest Region's positivity percentage though is currently the second highest statewide, at 36.62, according to the report.

The Northwest Region first plateaued at the very high designation with a CALI score of 4, having gotten there during the week of Dec. 25, from the previous "high" or "orange" level. During that week, two regions - the Southwest and Southeast - still stayed in the orange level of COVID transmission. At that point, the regional case rate was 139.89, the second highest of all the regions. The CLI percentage was then 12.68, the midpoint of the six state regions. The positivity percentage that week was 21.30, again at the midpoint of the state's six regional areas.

This story contains reporting from Josh Bakan, Carly Baldwin, Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Alexis Tarrazi, Matt Troutman.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.