Passaic County’s COVID Cases: See Wayne Updates

WAYNE, NJ — New data has been released that shows the coronavirus continues to have an impact on Passaic County (see town-by-town totals below).

Passaic County reported 64,378 cases on Friday, an increase of 63,966 over the previous week.

Wayne Township Mayor Christopher Vergano reported 427 new cases in the first 19 days of April during an April 24 news conference.

The number is an improvement from March, but not where Vergano hopes to be.

"We're a little less than we were in March, but we still need to get that number down," he said.

Watch the full video here:

The disease’s impact is reflected in the state Department of Health's most recent "COVID-19 Activity Level Report," which is issued weekly. The most recent report, released Thursday, says Passaic County is in the “yellow zone.”

If the county is in the "orange" zone, it means it has a rate of 10 to 25 cases per 100,000 people. “Yellow” means the county has a rate 1 to 10 cases per 100,000 people.

If the overall activity is at a "orange" level, state officials say, school districts in those counties would have to take more serious steps — such as quarantining or even shutting down schools — if a child shows the symptoms of COVID-19.

"When it is high risk, there are some recommendations that we make together with local school boards," said Edward Lifshitz, medical director for the state Department of Health.

Indeed, a number of school districts still provide remote instruction even as the number of new daily cases has dropped in recent weeks.