Around Toms River: Coronavirus Update, School Board Meeting

TOMS RIVER, NJ — While the nation's attention is focused on Washington, DC, and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, here's what's happening in Toms River this week.

The Board of Education meets this week.

Also, here's an update on the coronavirus numbers in Toms River and Ocean County.

Ocean County remains in the orange "high risk" category due to the rates of transmission of the coronavirus. As of Monday, Ocean County had 39,787 cases, up 3,711 from 36,076 on Jan. 11. Toms River has 575 new cases in that time, with 6,606, up from 6,031 on Jan. 11, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

Ocean County has had 1,447 deaths from complications of COVID-19, up from 1,298 as of Jan. 3. Toms River has 244, up from 226 in that time.

There have been more than 568,000 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus via PCR test in New Jersey since March 2020, including 3,511 new PCR positives reported Monday, according to the state Department of Health. As of Saturday, 3,432 people were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, with 632 in intensive care and 426 patients on ventilators, according to the state COVID-19 website. The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs and those on ventilators has decreased over the last week.

Around town

The Toms River Regional Board of Education is scheduled to meet Wednesday. The meetings are held virtually for public participation. You can watch the meeting at this link. There is an executive session at 6 p.m. and the public portion of the meeting is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Township Council is scheduled to meet next Tuesday, Jan. 26

Headlines you may have missed from last week:

Toms River Man Accused Of Failing To Register As Home Contractor: Thomas Carlevale, 34, has been arrested on charges he failed to register as a home contractor. He served time for theft after authorities said he abandoned a Sandy home repair job in 2016, court records show.

State Turns Over School Funding Code Sought In Brick, Toms River: School district officials said an expert is needed to analyze the algorithm and see what it shows about how it's applied to the state's division of equalization aid and the cuts under S2.

Toms River Seniors Urged To Apply For NJ Property Tax Rebates: Toms River senior citizens can still apply for the state's "senior freeze" property tax rebate program.

Toms River Man Seeking Living Kidney Donor: Gerard Ceraso received a kidney from his wife, Michele, 11 years ago. It's failing, and he's in need of a new transplant.

Toms River Police Induct New Class I Officers, Jail Supervisor

Toms River Ticket Splits $1.7M Jersey Cash 5 Jackpot

Megamillions Ticket Worth $10K Sold In Toms River

Here's How Close Toms River Area Hospitals Are To Capacity

Click here to get Patch email notifications, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Toms River Patch on Facebook.