VIRUS UPDATE: COVID-19 CASES ON THE RISE

Red Bank schools, including the middle school, continued on all-remote learning Monday after a planned return to a hybrid schedule was postponed. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Governor Phil Murphy warned of a delayed post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge Monday, while cautioning New Jersey residents against gathering over the coming holiday season.

Data show a continuing steep increase in hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Monmouth County. (Monmouth County government data. Click to enlarge.)

Some new data from the resurgent pandemic:

• New case totals have continued to climb in Red Bank, where 68 positive cases have been recorded since December 1, according to date released Monday by the New Jersey Health Department. By contrast, 28 cases were detected in the first week of November.

• Statewide, nearly 15,000 new cases were detected between Friday and Monday, including a near-record 6,046 Sunday, the state reported on its pandemic dashboard.

The state’s 71 hospitals were treating 3,346 COVID-19 admitted patients as of late Sunday. That followed an increase of 31 over the weekend, while the total requiring ventilator assistance declined by a handful.

• Over that stretch, 1,056 Monmouth County residents tested positive, according to the state.

As of Monday, 827 county residents had died from COVID-19, an increase of six since Friday, with another 92 fatalities considered “probable” results of the virus.

• Red Bank schools had been scheduled to resume a hybrid instruction schedule Monday, after three weeks of all-remote. But Superintendent Jared Rumage announced a delay in that plan Friday.

“The month of November resulted in 269 new positive cases in Red Bank, and although we have avoided school-based infections, the high community spread poses an unpredictable threat to our school community,” he wrote in a message on the district website. “We are currently aware of nearly 50 students and staff who remain in quarantine due to a recent exposure to COVID-19, predominantly through household contacts. Additionally, we are aware of approximately a dozen students and staff that have tested positive since our transition to full-remote on November 13, 2020.”

As a result, the district will remain on full-remote at least through Friday,  and while officials are “fully committed to maximizing our opportunity for in-person instruction,” Rumage wrote, “I must recommend that we all prepare for the possible extension of full-remote learning.”

He said he would have an update Thursday.

• “We are noticing that the mask and social distancing protocols imposed by executive orders (Federal, State and Local) are not being adhered to,” Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli  wrote in a community message Friday. “Please follow regulations in place and wear a mask and be sure that you are socially distanced while patronizing businesses or venturing out of your home.”

Fair Haven has had 139 residents test positive since the start of the pandemic.

• In their daily update Monday, Monmouth County officials reported these cumulative cases town:

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