Latest COVID-19 Case Numbers: Hopatcong, Sparta Through Jan. 28

HOPATCONG, NJ —COVID-19 cases in Sussex County may be lessening, based on some of the data from the county and the state.

A new walk-in testing center opened at the Sussex County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, although the new numbers seem to be trending downward.

The change appears to be reflective in the daily case count that the county of Sussex reports. On Jan. 28, the number of new cases was 81. On Jan. 21, new daily COVID-19 countywide case tally was 171. On Jan. 14, it was 218; and on Jan. 7, that number was 499.

Throughout the week-ending Jan. 28, the daily new case counts were under 200, with Friday's at 81. On Jan. 25 it was at 133; and on Jan. 26 it was 153. On Jan. 27, the daily case count was 115.

Throughout the week leading up to Jan. 21, the numbers mainly hovered over 200. On Jan. 19, it was 189; and on Jan. 20, it was 218. For Jan. 18 —after the long, holiday weekend, with a break in reporting —it was 880. The county noted the daily average from Jan. 14 to Jan. 18 was 220 new cases per day.

The COVID-19 death toll in Sussex county has continued to fluctuate. On Friday, there was one new death attributed to COVID-19. On Thursday, there were two. On Wednesday, there were four; and on Tuesday, there were 8. Between Jan. 21 and 24 there were five. On Jan. 13 and 14, there were no new deaths on either day. During the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend, there were 10 new deaths reported, over the four-day period. On Jan. 19, there were six new deaths, with four new on Jan. 20.

The county's latest COVID-19 statistics at its long-term care facilities showed an uptick in deaths during the week-ending Jan. 28. The former Andover Subacute II facility, which made international headlines for the makeshift morgue in its facility, had five new COVID-19 related deaths. The former Andover Subacute I had two new deaths on the county's report.

On Jan. 29, New Jersey’s Department of Health logged the COVID total death toll in Sussex County since the pandemic began in March 2020 at at 351. That figure was 337 on Jan. 22. On Jan. 14, it was 313; and on Jan. 7, the tally was 299. The difference from Jan. 7 and 14 was 14 deaths; between Jan. 14 and 22, it was 24; between Jan. 22 and 29 it was 14.

See the breakdown below since the pandemic started in March 2020, for total COVID-19 cases and deaths in the county, with numbers from the county and state.

See more details below for Hopatcong and Sparta. Vernon's numbers are also included, with it holding the highest COVID-19 case count in all of Sussex county:

On the case level per town, Hopatcong shows a decline in each of these weeks. From Jan. 7 through 14, there were 205 new cases; and for Jan. 14 through 21, it was 169. From Jan. 21 through 28, there were 104 new and positive cases.

The same with Sparta, with a downtrend over the previous three weeks. The week between Jan. 21 and 28, there were 85 new cases. The week of Jan. 14 and 21, there were 176. The week of Jan. 7 and 14, there were 385 new cases.

Vernon also had a drop in new cases. There were 132 new and positive between Jan. 21 and 28. For the week-ending Jan. 21, there were 176. There were 385 new cases between Jan. 14 and 17.

The County's Long-Term Care Facilities Outbreak Breakdown

There are several long-term care facilities throughout Sussex County that have experienced COVID-19 outbreaks. The former Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation II —the facility that made international headlines after 17 bodies were found in a makeshift morgue in April 2020 — experienced another significant outbreak in early January. The National Guard was sent in to help the facility with sanitizing and other tasks, with the facilities inspected and licensed by the state of New Jersey. See the chart below outlining new and cumulative COVID-19 case and death details for each, tracked by the county:

Northwest Region Case Rate

Regionally, during the week of Jan. 15, the COVID-19 Activity Level Report (CALI) for the northwest region — which includes totals from Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and Warren counties — has experienced a significant drop. The region switched on Jan. 22 —the latest report — from a "red" or "very high" level to an "orange" or "high level." For the week of Jan. 22, the case rate dipped regionally to 72.36 per 100,000 from 121.49 during the week of Jan. 15. On the Jan. 8 report, the regional case rate was 255.97 per 100,000.

See figures below among the Northwest region's latest CALI reports:

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