Coronavirus cases stable in South Jersey, but statewide numbers are creeping up

As New Jersey officials prepare to further loosen restrictions on businesses and crowd gatherings, they acknowledged Wednesday that coronavirus cases are on the rise in many areas.

The growing numbers of new COVID-19 cases are largely occurring in northern and central counties, according to state data. Even as the number of new cases statewide has grown by about 20% over the last three weeks, according to an Inquirer analysis, case counts in South Jersey have remained stable.

“We are seeing some increased COVID-19 activity in our state,” Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said at the state’s regular coronavirus briefing Wednesday. “Every region besides the southeast and southwest has shown some backsliding in the last few weeks.”

Persichilli has said that she expected cases would rise due to emerging virus variants but that the ongoing vaccine distribution, along with continued mask use and social distancing, should keep the numbers relatively low.

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There have been more than 200 reports of cases linked with new variants in New Jersey, most of which appear to be the strain originating from the United Kingdom, she said Wednesday.

Gov. Phil Murphy last month expanded capacity limits on restaurants, gyms, and a number of other businesses from 25% to 35%. On Friday morning, that will lift to 50%. He also increased the limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings, citing case numbers and hospitalizations that were steadily trending in the right direction. He has said that were it not for the developing variants, he would be moving faster to reopen completely.

New York has followed a similar track, with restaurants in most of the state allowed to go to 75% capacity this month and New York City set to go to 50% on Friday.

In New Jersey, cases in northernmost Sussex, Passaic, Bergen, and Morris Counties have skyrocketed in the last three weeks, according to an Inquirer analysis, with Morris’ new counts increasing by 66%. In central Monmouth County, cases are up by 38%.

Hospitalizations, ICU patients, and ventilator use in the state remain significantly down from January, but the numbers have hovered in the same range over the last few weeks without continuing to drop further, Murphy said.

“We’ve seen that nationally, we expected it in New Jersey, and we’re living it,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve got to watch this like a hawk to make sure this doesn’t break out and up from that range.”

Eddy Bresnitz, a former state health official and physician who has been advising New Jersey on the pandemic, said that it was unclear if or when the state might see a new surge from the variants but that residents can slow the spread by continuing to follow pandemic guidelines.

More than one million New Jersey residents have been fully inoculated, officials said, with an additional two million having received their first shots. Murphy has said vaccine availability is expected to increase dramatically by early April, and he said Wednesday that the state is on target to vaccinate 70% of the adult population by this summer.

Graphics editor John Duchneskie contributed to this article.