NJ COVID hospitalizations at new low since records began last year

The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in New Jersey reached its lowest point Friday – 385 – since records of the pandemic began being publicly reported in March 2020.

The overnight low was less than 5% of the peak on April 14 last year, when 8,270 patients were hospitalized and facilities scrambled to convert cafeterias and doctors' lounges to critical care areas. Without those emergency steps, the state would have fallen short by more than 250 beds. 

And Friday's low also slipped below the summertime nadir of 389 patients, reached in September.  

"New Jersey may finally be putting the worst of the pandemic behind us," said Cathleen Bennett, CEO of the state hospital association.

"For the first time since September 2020, our number of hospitalizations has fallen below 400," Gov. Phil Murphy said in a tweet. "With our decreasing hospitalizations and increasing vaccination numbers, we are crushing this virus."

The steady decline in hospitalizations has been paralleled by decreasing numbers of people infected and dying from COVID-19. On Friday, 329 new infections were reported, along with four confirmed deaths. Eighty-five patients were in intensive care units, and 53 were on ventilators.

Vaccines that provide nearly complete protection against severe illness and death from COVID are responsible for the progress in slowing the pandemic.

More than 4.5 million state residents were fully vaccinated as of Friday, with another 776,000 having received one dose of the two-dose regimens manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. From mass vaccine centers, the immunization campaign has moved to doctors' offices, pharmacies and pop-up sites around the state.

“With vaccination increasing, we are once again able to enjoy the social activities and the greater freedoms that signal a return to normalcy,” said Bennett. “The data is clear – New Jersey is on its way back.”

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The association has gathered reports nightly since March 20 last year from all 71 of the state's hospitals and posted the totals on the state Health Department's dashboard of important data.

Over the last 15 months, the data have delineated a roller coaster account of the pandemic's progress.

After the state's first COVID infection was confirmed on March 4, 2020 – in a 34-year-old man hospitalized at Hackensack University Medical Center –  the number shot upward to 1,478 patients hospitalized just 20 days later, when the hospital association began reporting its tallies. 

The totals soared through April, before heading precipitously downward and staying low through September. Two additional waves followed, due to the spread of the disease caused by winter holiday gatherings and the movement of people indoors. At the peak of the second wave, 3,873 patients were hospitalized. 

Lindy Washburn is a senior health care reporter for NorthJersey.com. To keep up-to-date about how changes in the medical world affect the health of you and your family, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: washburn@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @lindywa