5 NJ Counties Remain In Red Zone: White House COVID Task Force

NEW JERSEY — Five of New Jersey's counties remain in the "red" zone for coronavirus outbreak severity, according to the latest report by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Seven, on the other hand, have been downgraded from the highest threat level over the past two weeks.

The report, released Feb. 7th, classifies five of the state's 21 counties as being in the red zone. There are 11 counties in the "orange" zone and five in the "yellow" zone (see list of red, orange and yellow counties below).

The White House task force report is not the same as the COVID Activity Report that's been released by the Murphy administration every week and helps determine if schools will shift to remote or hold in-person instruction.

In the White House report, seven New Jersey counties were downgraded out of the red zone since the Jan.24th White House Coronavirus Task Force report for New Jersey. Those were: Middlesex, Bergen, Monmouth, Gloucester, Cumberland, Sussex and Warren.

The report comes as New Jersey reopened parts of its economy for the first time in months, and officials say that average daily cases have been falling in recent weeks.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced last week that he's rolling back some restrictions on indoor gatherings that he set in place in November. Read more: Gov. Murphy To Loosen NJ's Indoor COVID-19 Rules

New Jersey also says it's working out the kinks in its vaccination distribution system as concerns are rising about its efficiency. Read more: NJ's Top 10 COVID Vaccine Questions: What You Need To Know

Counties that are in red zones have more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result of above 10 percent. Counties in the orange zone reported between 51 and 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result between 8 and 10 percent.

Yellow zone designated counties have reported between 10 and 50 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result between 5 and 7.9 percent.

According to the Feb. 7th report, the following New Jersey counties are classified in the red zone:

• Ocean
• Hudson
• Passaic
• Atlantic
• Salem

The following New Jersey counties are classified in the orange zone:

• Bergen
• Middlesex
• Essex
• Monmouth
• Morris
• Union
• Burlington
• Gloucester
• Cumberland
• Sussex
• Warren

The following New Jersey counties are classified in the yellow zone:

• Camden
• Mercer
• Somerset
• Cape May
• Hunterdon

The latest report shows a 29 percent decrease in the rate of new cases per 100,000 people statewide from the week before, as well as a decrease in the test positivity rate of 0.2 percent. The state's test positivity rate stands at 9.6 as of Feb. 7, the report says.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in New Jersey are also down. The report notes there were 2,272 new hospitalizations for the seven-day period ending by Feb. 7th. That's an 8 percent decline from the previous seven-day period.

Under the Trump administration, these reports were not made public by the task force. Instead, they were obtained by The Center for Public Integrity.

After months of being hidden from public view, weekly reports sent to New Jersey by the White House coronavirus response team have a new, publicly accessible home.

Cyrus Shahpar, COVID-19 data director for the Biden administration, announced the move in a tweet in January.

“First post: We are now sharing previously hidden weekly COVID-19 state profile reports with the public,” Shahpar tweeted.

The release of the weekly state reports is the latest move by the Biden administration, officials said, to bring more transparency back to the White House.

Within hours of Joe Biden’s inauguration, press secretary Jen Psaki held her first press briefing at the White House. During it, Psaki — who served as the chief spokeswoman at the State Department under President Barack Obama — told reporters she had a “deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also said Americans should expect a “transparent, open and honest” response to the coronavirus under Biden.

The latest New Jersey report does not include a summary or recommendations that are typically provided by the task fource.

The Dec. 13th report, provided by The Center for Public Integrity before vaccines were approved for public use, offered this summary:

• New Jersey has seen an increase in new cases and stability in test positivity.
• 100 percent of all counties in New Jersey have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones).
• During the week of Nov 30 through Dec 6th, 28 percent of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVlD-19 case; 53 percent had at least one new staff

The report also offered these recommendations for the state:

• Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for those at risk for adverse outcomes.
• Please utilize all antigen tests to find community asymptomatic spread.
• The silent community spread that precedes and continues to drive these surges can only be identified and interrupted through proactive focused testing for both the identification of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals.
• Proactive weekly testing of groups representative of the community (teachers, community college students, county workers, staff in crowded or congregate settings, hospital personnel, large private sector employers) will help identify the depth and breadth of community infection.

With reporting by Kara Seymour