City Of Summit Releases Total Coronavirus Case Numbers For 2020

SUMMIT, NJ — The city of Summit released its December coronavirus case numbers and the total residents testing positive for the virus from March through December 2020. A total of 237 people tested positive in December, with a total number for 2020 of 971.

Of the recent cases, the city said, seven people were hospitalized, ages 60, 65, 66, 79, 81, 84, and 93.

Case numbers are sometimes tweaked as more information comes in from death certificates and regarding place of residence. But as of Jan. 5, these are the age breakdown for recent Summit cases, according to the Westfield Regional Health Department:

• 39 cases ages 18 and younger;
• 51 cases ages 19 to 29;
• 31 cases ages 30 to 39;
• 39 cases ages 40 to 49;
• 33 cases ages 50 to 59;
• 29 cases ages 60 to 69;
• 5 cases ages 70 to 79;
• 5 cases ages 80 to 89; and
• 5 cases ages 90 to 94.

The total death toll from coronavirus among Summit residents remains at 18, with the last reported fatality in October.

The city said the breakdown of case origins is as follows:

• 97 cases report no known exposure;
• 48 cases with positive household contacts;
• 37 cases unable to contact;
• 22 cases with a known exposure;
• 10 cases exposed at work;
• Eight cases refused to be interviewed;
• Seven cases were hospitalized (ages 93, 84, 81, 79, 66, 65 and 60);
• Three cases with exposure at a social gathering;
• Two cases associated with long-term care;
• Two cases associated with travel; and
• One case associated with participation in sports.

The December case count is slightly higher than the 215 number released for November.

See the breakdown for November in this story.

The Census Bureau's population estimate is that approximately 22,000 people live in Summit.

Vaccinations planned for Union County

The County of Union announced on Monday that it would begin taking appointments Tuesday at 9 a.m. for those who want to receive coronavirus vaccines, starting with health care workers. The vaccines will be administered starting Thursday.

The county said that eligible health care personnel, as defined by the New Jersey Department of Health, can make an appointment through the County’s registration webpage, http://www.ucnj.org/vaccination. The site will start with "phase 1A" workers, which include doctors, nurses, dentists, EMT's, their office staffs, mortuary workers, and similar workers.

The state is vaccinating residents in phases. The phases are:

Phase 1A- Healthcare workers and long-term care facilities
Phase 1B- Other essential workers
Phase 1C- Adults 65 and over and those with underlying medical conditions
Phase 2- General public

(Also on Monday, Summit Medical Group began vaccinating its patients who work in health care and are 18 and up. Read more: Summit Medical Group Begins Vaccinating Health Workers)

Gov. Phil Murphy reportedly said Tuesday that he'd like to start vaccinating the general public by Memorial Day.

State trends

The state is currently in the second wave of the virus.

Just before Christmas, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that there were 111 fatalities among residents from Tuesday to Wednesday, the highest one-day toll since July. The state also marked a seven-month record-high in terms of total coronavirus hospitalizations, with 3,841 new hospitalizations (3,612 who had tested positive and 279 who were awaiting their test results).

A total of 765 patients were in ICU beds and 485 patients were on ventilators.

On Dec. 22, 426 patients were discharged from hospitals, and 498 new patients were admitted.

As of Tuesday, 355,000 Americans had died of the virus. (You can see which states had the highest death toll in the past week on this CDC map.)

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. Got photos? Please include express written permission from the photographer for us to use them.

To be the first to get news alerts with breaking stories in your town, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters.