VIRUS UPDATE: MONMOUTH DEATHS TOP 1,300

More than 90 individuals braved a cold rain for COVID-19 vaccinations at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank February 27. (Photo courtesy of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

New Jersey averaged 65 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past year, Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday, as he noted the one-year anniversary of the first.

In that time, Monmouth County has lost more than 1,300 residents to a pandemic now being battled with a trio of After climbing sharply beginning in late October, the number of Monmouth County patients hospitalized for COVID-19 began easing in January. Below, positive test results continue to rise in Red Bank. (redbankgreen chart from Monmouth County data. Click to enlarge.)

The New Jersey Health Department reported the state’s confirmed COVID-19 death toll stood at 21,294 Wednesday, one year after a 69-year-old Bergen County man became the first to die as a result of the coronavirus infection.

“We had no idea at that time how many more lives we would lose, and how many families would be impacted,” Murphy said at a briefing on the pandemic Wednesday, before observing a moment of silence.

“The toll of this virus has been staggering. It exceeds the number of New Jerseyans lost in any war,” he said. “In one year, we have lost an average of 65 residents per day. And today, we still don’t know how many more we will lose.”

Among those he called out was Rumson resident Paul Ahn, who died February 8 at age 69.

Another 2,474 deaths are listed as “probable” results of the virus, with more than 1,800 having occurred prior to June 25, Murphy said.

• Monmouth County’s confirmed-death toll rose by one to 1,303 Wednesday, with another 130 classified as “probable” results of the virus, the state reported on its COVID-19 dashboard.

• With 293 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday, the county has now had 54,327, with another 5,902 classified as “probable,” the dashboard indicated.

• County officials reported these cumulative cases by town on January 1 and March 10:

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