Chatham's 2020 COVID Infection Rates Were Low Compared To State

CHATHAM, NJ — While no town in New Jersey has truly made out well during the coronavirus pandemic, the Chatham's were among the most successful towns in keeping their infection rates low. In fact, Chatham Borough had the lowest infection rate in Morris County and one of the 50th lowest in the Garden State in 2020, according to new research.

A new report issued this week by the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers University–Camden unmasks the broad, regional impact of COVID-19 upon New Jersey municipalities during two waves in 2020.

In 2020, officials reported a case rate of 1,689 infections per 100,000 people in Chatham Borough — the lowest in Morris County and one of the 50 best in New Jersey. Chatham Township had a case rate of 2,408.94 per 100,000, which ranks as one of the 130 lowest of the 561 municipalities with reported data.

Rutgers-Camden's report also identified how towns fared during New Jersey's fall spike, compared to the initial spring 2020 outbreak. Read more: Report Shows Town-By-Town NJ COVID Impact, Infection Rates Ranked

Chatham Township had one of the 15 lowest case increases among reporting towns in New Jersey from spring to fall. Reported cases increased 133.64 percent in that span — only four New Jersey towns identified lower case rates in the fall than the spring.

Chatham Borough's fall peak was 188.46 percent greater than its spring peak, according to the report, which was one of the 70 lowest among reporting New Jersey towns.

The municipality-level data shows that towns within a county can have very different case rates than others within their county, according to the report.

"The large variation across municipalities on this indicator supports the importance of examining variation in other indicators measuring COVID-19 impact," the report says.

Morris County's highest 2020 case rate came from Dover, with 8,694.93 per 100,000 people — the eighth highest rate in New Jersey. The total is more than five times greater than Chatham Borough's infection rate last year.

Rutgers-Camden's report, however, doesn't analyze deaths. Morris County and several other New Jersey counties don't publicly release COVID-19 death tolls by town. The New Jersey Department of Health has identified 943 confirmed deaths and 241 probable deaths from the virus.

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