Westfield Loses Two More Residents To Coronavirus

WESTFIELD, NJ – Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindle said Tuesday that two residents in their 80s have passed away from coronavirus in the last week, bringing the total fatalities of Westfield residents to 51 since the beginning of the pandemic.

There were 483 cases reported in Westfield for the month of January, Brindle said. Eleven of the residents were hospitalized, ranging in age from 49 to 85.

Westfield’s total number of cases to date is 1,603.

The ages of the January cases ranged from 11 months to 99 years old, broken down as follows:

Age breakdown for January

• Age 9 and under: 44 cases
• Age 10-19: 116 cases
• Age 20-29: 48 cases
• Age 30-39: 44 cases
• Age 40-49: 74 cases
• Age 50-59: 85 cases
• Age 60-69: 30 cases
• Age 70-79: 21 cases
• Age 80-89: 13 cases
• Age 90 and above: 7 cases
• Age unconfirmed: 1 case

Of these 483 cases, 114 confirmations were received since the last update on Jan. 22 through Jan. 31, Brindle said.

The most highly impacted age group for the month was ages 10 through 19, representing 24 percent of the newly reported cases, Brindle noted.

"Regional Health Officer Megan Avallone reports that Westfield, like the rest of New Jersey, is showing a high level of activity once again, and January continued to trend as the worst month to date," Brindle noted. "Throughout January, the department investigated 1,439 cases of COVID across the eight municipalities it serves, representing 24 percent of the total cases since March. The last two months combined have accounted for 44 percent of the total cases."

Mayor Phil Murphy said in a press conference Tuesday morning that there was good and bad news in terms of coronavirus in New Jersey.

He said that in the last day, 71 more fatalities were confirmed in New Jersey, and 3,367 new positive cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours. Hospitals in the state are currently treating 2,892 covid patients, with 516 in ICU and 366 on ventilators, he said.

"Each of those numbers — and those are the ones we have to watch like a hawk — continue slowly but surely to head down. Absent what impact these [virus] variants may have, that is very, very good news. And obviously, we're watching the whole scene, especially the variants."

But he said that during the storm on Monday, 254 patients were released from hospitals after battling the virus, and 297 were admitted. Read more: Gov. Murphy Urges NJ To Stay Home In Snow

The total death toll from the virus in New Jersey is now 19,455.

As of Tuesday, 446,000 Americans had died of coronavirus.

In Westfield, this is the information on where the people who tested positive in January were exposed:

Westfield has a population of approximately 30,000.

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Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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