Tourism linked to COVID-19 rise at shore

By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff

Although the numbers of new COVID-19 cases were low in Cape May County, and Atlantic County reported only a single death over four days, state and county officials were grappling with statistics showing southern New Jersey has a much higher positivity testing rate than central and northern Jersey.

The Cape May County Department of Health on Monday added a new statistic showing the number of out-of-county residents who have tested positive in the county. Local officials also said young people – from 17 to 32 years old – with coronavirus symptoms are showing up at medical facilities.

Gov. Phil Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said at their Monday press conference that as overall COVID-19 statistics have been improving across the state, there is nearly double the rate of residents testing positive for the coronavirus in the southern part of the state. They were questioning whether that could be attributed to increased activity at the Jersey shore or from other factors. They did not have an answer at their press conference Monday afternoon.

The overall daily positivity rate on Monday was 2.42 percent, Murphy said. Persichilli broke down the numbers by region, showing the rate of 1.55 percent in the northern part of New Jersey and 1.94 percent in central New Jersey. The southern part of the state is showing a rate of 5.37 percent.

“It may have to do with the shore,” Murphy said, referring to the summer tourism boom bringing people to shore communities. “I hope it’s not the canary in the coal mine for shore-related infections.”

Persichilli said state officials have been discussing it but didn’t have an answer. She added it could be that the overall number of tests are down or an increase in testing of seasonal workers. “We have to look at it,” she said.

Denis Brown, administrative aide to the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders, who issued the new Department of Health release Monday, said the new addition on the daily report shows the out-of-county residents who test positive. 

“We had 29 over the past week compared to 33 residents,” Brown said. “Combined, the two numbers are just below 9 average cases per day over the last week. It should also be noted that Cape May County typically has over 500,000 on a non-holiday summer weekend versus less than 100,000 year-round population. Also, this number of cases is still significantly below our peak when we had a number of days with 20-plus cases.”

Brown released the department’s report Monday evening showing that there have been 714 cases of COVID-19 since reporting began and 61 deaths. The department showed 33 county residents tested positive over the past week – about 4.7 individuals per day, compared to 29 residents, or 4 cases per day.

There were only two new reported cases in the county – one in Wildwood and one in Lower Township – and three in county long-term facilities, all in Middle Township.

Only three communities have active cases in the double digits – Middle with 15, Wildwood with 13 and North Wildwood with 10.

Avalon, Cape May Point, Sea Isle City, Stone Harbor, West Cape May and West Wildwood have no active cases, Ocean City has one and Upper Township and Wildwood Crest have two each. Cape May and Dennis Township have four each, Lower Township has nine and Woodbine has six.

“Although widespread testing is being done throughout New Jersey, new cases are popping up from people failing to social distance,” the county Department of Health stated Monday. “The majority of cases testing positive in Cape May County last week were young adults who were socializing without regard to the threats of spreading coronavirus. Most of these people are short-term visitors with permanent residence from another county or state. 

“Although Cape May County has one of the lowest numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in the state, it is important to remember that when summer populations swell, the chances of disease spread are much higher,” the department added. “Cape May County can see more than half million people on an average non-holiday summer weekend. Without protection, crowded settings and social gatherings are prime conditions for contracting the disease.” 

“It is important for our business community and visitors to understand the importance of proper social distancing, hand hygiene, and wearing a mask,” said Cape May County Freeholder Director Gerald M. Thornton. “These are going to be the keys for continuing the reopening and keeping people safe.”

Cape Regional Medical Center is reporting that many young people between the ages of 17 and 32 are showing up at the urgent cares and the emergency room with symptoms of coronavirus, the county department reported. 

The New Jersey State Health Department requires the local health departments to document positive cases to their permanent address. Therefore, out-of-county or out-of-state visitors who test positive are not counted in the overall numbers for Cape May County. As such, the Cape May County report will list out-of-county positives separately and they will not be reflected in the New Jersey state numbers.

“As these numbers continue to grow among this age group, it is obvious that social-distancing measures are not being followed,” the county Department of Health stated. “The key elements to reducing the spread of the coronavirus involve social distancing, proper hand hygiene and wearing face masks when you can’t social distance. Yet there are still people who refuse to wear masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19.” 

Overall, there are 66 active cases in the communities and an additional 57 in long-term care facilities. Of the 714 total cases, 530 are off quarantine.

Atlantic County

In the four-day period from Friday, June 19, to Monday, June 22, there were 153 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Atlantic County, according to the Atlantic County Division of Public Health.

There were no deaths on Friday, Sunday and Monday, but a 68-year-old Hamilton Township man died from COVID-19 complications Saturday.

Compare that to Thursday, June 18, when the Division of Public Health reported four fatalities – a 47-year-old Linwood man, an 80-year-old Northfield woman and two Northfield men, ages 58 and 82. Three of the four, officials said, were residents of long-term care facilities with pre-existing conditions.

On Monday, there were 13 positive test results, 10 of them in Hammonton, two in Egg Harbor Township and one in Pleasantville among residents from 14 to 70 years old.

There were 53 positive results Sunday, including 24 in Hammonton, 19 in Hamilton Township, three in Galloway, two in Atlantic City and Egg Harbor Township and one each in Somers Point and Pleasantville among 13 women from 7 years of age to 58 and 40 men from 17 to 60.

On Saturday, 30 of the 44 positive test results were in Hammonton. There also were five in Atlantic City, four in Hamilton Township, two in Egg Harbor Township, and one each in Galloway, Northfield and Pleasantville. It affected residents from 18 to 88 years old.

And on Friday, 26 of 43 new cases also were in Hammonton, plus five from Egg Harbor Township, three each are from Atlantic City and Galloway, two from Pleasantville and one each from Absecon, Buena Vista Township, Somers Point and Ventnor. Those affected ranged in age from 15 to 70 years old.

By Monday, the Atlantic County death toll from COVID-19 was at 191 with a total of 2,795 infected.