Maplewood Shows 1 New COVID Case As Essex Ramps Up Vaccinations

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — New Jersey officials announced last week that state employees and volunteers dubbed the "COVID-19 Community Corps" will be knocking on doors in towns that haven't reached 70 percent of their adult population getting their first doses, the state's target goal. In Essex County, that will mean Newark, East Orange and Irvington.

Maplewood and several other Essex County towns have already exceeded the 70 percent goal, but still are seeing new cases.

As of Friday, Maplewood had one new coronavirus case confirmed since the day before. Nearby Millburn had the same.

Maplewood's total COVID fatalities since the beginning of the crisis are 36, according to the state. See the other towns' numbers here: Essex County COVID Updates: Vaccine Visits, Town-By-Town Cases

Last week, New Jersey announced for the first time that there were no deaths reported in New Jersey hospitals since a day last July. Deaths began ramping up again in fall when facilities reopened, and came down starting in spring 2021 with vaccinations.

Studies have shown that the vaccine is at least 95 percent effective against the virus, and among those who still get the virus, it will reduce the chance of hospitalization and death. The CDC said that people can consider themselves "fully vaccinated" two weeks after their final shot.

But the crisis isn't over.

Current NJ Hospitalization Number

On Monday, the state reported four new coronavirus deaths confirmed since the day before, and 304 hospitalized battling the virus, 57 of those in ICU and 29 on ventilators.

A report last week said that 98 percent to 99 percent of recent covid deaths were unvaccinated people, but new variants of the illness have been emerging. Only people age 12 and up are eligible for the vaccine right now.

Read more about this story: Essex County COVID Updates: Vaccine Visits, Town-By-Town Cases

Eric Kiefer contributed reporting to this story.

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