Wayne COVID Numbers Trending In The Right Direction: Mayor

WAYNE, NJ — COVID-19 case numbers are going down in Wayne Township as vaccinations rise, Mayor Christoper Vergano reports.

As of Feb. 26, 514 residents tested positive in February, a marked improvement from January and December, when over 1,100 residents tested positive. Vergano did report four new deaths in February during his latest coronavirus briefing, however. Read more: Extra COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Coming To Wayne

"Certainly 514 is a lot better than the 1,102 we had last month, but we have to bear in mind that we still did have four deaths this month," Vergano said.

Vergano noted that Wayne, New Jersey and much of the country is coming up on one year of the coronavirus pandemic, a stark reminder that, though hope is on the horizon, New Jersey isn't out of the woods just yet.

Since March of last year, 5,015 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, Vergano said.

The township's trend follows one that's been seen across New Jersey as of late.

For the third straight week, all of the Garden State except Atlantic County is out of the "red zone," according to federal officials.

The weekly State Profile Report, made in collaboration with the White House and other federal agencies, measures COVID-19 risk through metrics such as new cases per 100,000 people, percent changes in new cases and positivity rate.

See the full weekly report.

Some counties have fallen into the "yellow zone," but Bergen, Ocean, Hudson, Monmouth and Passaic Counties stayed in the "orange zone."

The Feb. 14 report showed three New Jersey counties in the red zone (Ocean, Passaic and Atlantic) and seven in the orange zone (Bergen, Middlesex, Essex, Monmouth, Hudson, Morris and Warren). Read more: All But One NJ County Now Out Of COVID-19 'Red Zone': Feds

As numbers get better, state officials have reduced coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks.

For instance, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Feb. 22 that houses of worship could expand from 35 to 50 percent capacity. Murphy also suggested Feb. 25 that indoor-dining capacity will increase to 50 percent "sooner than later."

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.