By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
The Cape May County Department of Health announced Sunday that 35,208 county residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 22,434 had been fully vaccinated.
The department noted the county has “consistently led the state in per capita administration of the COVID vaccine” and that a study has shown over the past two weeks have had the fewest new cases per capita of any county in New Jersey.
Overall, however, active cases, which had dropped below 300, have climbed above 300 again.
As of March 28, there were 354 active cases countywide among residents, but only two in long-term care and three among non-residents – two in Cape May and one in North Wildwood.
On the website covidactnow.org, which the county has cited in the past, Cape May County remains at “very high risk” – along with the entire state, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and Connecticut.
Lower Township and Middle Township had the most active cases as of Sunday, with 75 and 70 respectively, following by Upper Township with 53, Wildwood with 41 and Ocean City with 35. Other active cases included Dennis Township (25), Wildwood Crest (15), North Wildwood (13), Woodbine (9), Cape May (6), West Cape May (5), Sea Isle City (4), Avalon (2) and West Wildwood (1). There were no active cases in Cape May Point or Stone Harbor.
There were 26 new cases reported in the communities on Sunday, led by Lower Township (8), Middle Township (7), and Ocean City and Upper Township (3 each).
On Saturday, there were 43 new cases including in Ocean City and Wildwood (7 each), Lower and Middle townships (6 each), Upper Township (4).
On Friday, March 26, there were 62 new cases among county residents including Lower Township (13), Middle Township (12), Upper Township (9), Ocean City, Cape May, Wildwood and Dennis Township (5 each), and Woodbine (4).
There were 24 new cases on March 25; 36 on March 24 and the death of an 85-year-old man from Middle Township; 35 on March 23 and the death of a 73-year-old woman from Upper Township; and 23 new cases on March 22.
Since the pandemic began more than a year ago in March 2020, there have been 193 fatalities, including 96 in the communities and 97 in long-term care facilities in the county. There also have been 7,721 recorded COVID-19 cases with 7,172 of them off quarantine.
Statewide, nationally
In New Jersey, as of Monday, there have been 21,869 confirmed deaths during the pandemic and another 2,535 suspected deaths.
The state Department of Health reports 792,616 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 107,657 “probable cases” over the past year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 546,704 deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, 30,085,827 cases of the coronavirus and 146 million doses of vaccine administered.
