NJ reports no new confirmed COVID deaths Tuesday — first time in 16 months
For the first time since those first, uneasy days of the pandemic, New Jersey reported no newly confirmed deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Not since St. Patrick's Day of last year, March 17, 2020, had the state released a daily update with zero confirmed COVID deaths, according to NJ.com.
Eleven days ago, in the June 25 update, New Jersey hospitals did not report any deaths within the previous 24-hour period, the first time that had happened since July 30, 2020.
Not every in-hospital death has the certainty of being confirmed as a COVID-related one, however, and the lag from lab confirmations can distort the true daily death toll.
The state's dashboard reported six hospital deaths in the last 24 hours dating back to Monday.
There were just under 200 new COVID cases in the state reported Tuesday, 145 confirmed and 54 probable. Rate of transmission is 0.95, indicating a decline in spread, and 263 people remain hospitalized statewide.
According to the dashboard, 5,054,750 people who live, work, or study in New Jersey have been fully vaccinated.
More than 26,000 New Jerseyans have likely died due to COVID-19 since March 2020, 23,774 confirmed and 2,703 probable.
Patrick Lavery is New Jersey 101.5's afternoon news anchor. Follow him on Twitter @plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.