Belmar Coronavirus Cases Jump 13 Percent In September

BELMAR — Belmar's coronavirus cases have increased 13 percent this month, and Monmouth and Ocean counties in particular are both seeing noticeable increases.

Belmar's cases increased from 61 on Aug. 31 to 69 on Monday.

New Jersey had 617 new COVID cases on Thursday, its highest two-day total of cases since Aug. 14. Many of them were at the Jersey Shore, and Monmouth County saw 238 new cases last week (Sept. 13-19).

Of those, 49.5 percent involved people under 25 years old, said Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone.

The bulk of those exposures are from youth athletic facilities, school sports practices and gatherings that occurred during Labor Day weekend, said Arnone.

As Patch reported just this past week, there was a cluster of 13 COVID cases among youth ice hockey teams that practice at the Middletown Sports Complex.

The Middletown Sports Complex had to close its two indoor ice rinks for several days so they could disinfect.

The county health department investigated and so far, no cases have been linked to restaurants or retail food establishments in Monmouth County, according to Arnone.

If a contact tracer calls you, please pick up the call and work with them, he added.

"Contact tracing is a vital part of reducing the spread of COVID-19 throughout Monmouth County," said Arnone. "We continue to stress the importance of preventative actions the public can take including social distancing, wearing face coverings and washing hands frequently.