Report Shows COVID Impact: How Did Cherry Hill Fare

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A new Rutgers-Camden report shows how each New Jersey town was impacted by the coronavirus in 2020, including how many cases towns saw during the second wave, infection rates and how much of a spike each town saw.

The second wave of the pandemic took place from June 30 through Dec. 13, 2020. June is when the summer reopenings ramped up.

During that time, Cherry Hill’s infection rate was 4,050.30 per 100,000 people. It was 173rd among the 561 municipalities that reported numbers statewide. Its increase was 591.57 percent, ranking it 164th in the state.

Upper Pittsgrove Township in Salem County saw the highest increase at 6,750 percent, while Rockleigh Borough in Bergen County had the highest infection rate at 31,720.43.

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The 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. Read more here: Report Shows Town-By-Town NJ COVID Impact, Infection Rates Ranked

Rather than focus on county-level COVID case data, the Rutgers University–Camden research institute explores how municipalities truly fared during the first year of the pandemic.

For example, Cherry Hill's infection rate was lower than nearby Voorhees, which saw 4,630.87 cases per 100,000 people. Cherry Hill's was higher than nearby Evesham Township in Burlington County, which had 3,547.01 per 100,000.

But Evesham Township had the highest increase of the three towns, ranking 106th in the state at 837.43 percent. Voorhees was three spots below Cherry Hill, ranking 167th at 573.13 percent.

The new research report from Rutgers University–Camden offers a visualization of variations in COVID-19 rates across New Jersey municipalities and illustrates the reality that nearby municipalities can have COVID infection rates that are very different from each and from average rates within their counties.

"This data offers insight for those planning equitable aid allocations across the state and within counties," said Sarah Allred, a professor of psychology and faculty director of the Rand Institute, both at Rutgers University–Camden.

Rutgers-Camden acknowledged that getting the town-by-town information was difficult. Indeed, Rutgers-Camden investigated every county to get the information, and if the county didn't have data, the institution researched every town and obtained the numbers.

According to the report, Cherry Hill had 2,870 cases during the pandemic’s second wave. As of Wednesday, there have been 9,151 cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago, according to the Camden County Department of Health.

There have been 44,349 cases and 1,135 deaths in Camden County. To date, 291,316 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Camden County. There are 181,590 people with at least one vaccine dose, and 118,282 people who are fully vaccinated.

On Thursday, officials will provide a local update on the county's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine rollout.

Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. will be joined by Caryelle Lasher of the Camden County Health Department for the event that will be livestreamed on Camden County's Facebook page and at camdencounty.com/live at noon.

"Thanks to an influx of vaccine doses we have already successfully vaccinated thousands of residents this week at the county vaccination center in Blackwood," Cappelli said. "Getting everyone vaccinated is the fastest way to end this pandemic and get back to normal. The vaccines are safe, effective, and we need everyone to get theirs as soon as possible once they're eligible."

With reporting by Tom Davis, Patch Staff