By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey saw two more deaths and a sharp climb in the number of COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, state health officials reported Wednesday.
Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said at a daily press briefing that the number of cases rose to 427, up 162 from Tuesday, including eight additional cases in Monmouth County.
Specifics about the new Monmouth County cases were not immediately available. (The state had reported 22 cases Tuesday; its COVID-19 dashboard figure was updated Wednesday to show 32. No explanation for the disparity was immediately available.)
Two people previously under investigation were removed from the statewide count after they “were determined to be out of state,” Governor Phil Murphy said in a tweet.
Five state residents are now known to have died from the virus, officials said. Information about the latest to succumb to the virus was not immediately disclosed, though Perischilli said both victims were in their 60s and had co-morbidities, or additional health risks.
Patients range in age from 5 years old to 95, she said.
As of 3 p.m., there are “still no presumptive or confirmed cases in Red Bank,” borough Business Administrator Ziad Shehady told redbankgreen by email.
As previously reported by redbankgreen, the owner of the Grandville Tower apartment high-rise in Red Bank has informed residents that two among them are self-quarantined with the COVID-19 virus, and that a third person who had contact with them “was subsequently confirmed to have contracted the virus.”
Borough officials, however, said they have not yet received official notification of an infection from the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission.
redbankgreen plans to have an update on the Grandville Tower situation shortly.
