Westfield Saw Highest COVID-19 Case Increase In Early January

WESTFIELD, NJ — Mayor Shelley Brindle said in her update to the Town Council on Tuesday night that the first week in January saw the highest number of new cases in Westfield since the start of the pandemic last March.

She said that the first week in January saw 137 new cases, the highest weekly total to date.

Back in August, the town went a week without a new case.

The death toll remains at 44. (See numbers from December here).

Brindle said Tuesday, "More locally, COVID-related hospitalizations at Overlook [Hospital] are up approximately 11 percent since the beginning of January, but thankfully have not climbed back to the mid-December levels seen post-Thanksgiving."

In Westfield, the total number of cases reported to date was 1,260 as of January 6.

She said that on Tuesday, the town will honor those lost to COVID-19 "as part of a broader, nationwide moment of remembrance which is being planned in collaboration with the ministerium. Thanks to those in the community who have reached out to provide the names of family members lost to the virus, which we will incorporate into our ceremony. This information is being collected by email at covid19@westfieldnj.gov. Final service details will be confirmed later this week."

Vaccination news

On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy said that people 65 and over will be vaccinated as part of the second phase of vaccinations, phase 1B, as well as people 16-65 who have certain health conditions (read more here). They can register starting Thursday.

The Union County Board of County Commissioners announced on Wednesday the opening of an online registration system at www.ucnj.org for those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

The state has already started vaccinating front-line workers, nursing home workers and residents, and certain other essential workers as part of phase 1A.

As of Wednesday, more than 382,000 Americans had died of the virus. (You can see which states had the highest death toll in the past week on this CDC map.)

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