Locally, 16,622 people have been infected by the virus and 596 have died from related complications, as the county averages 250 new cases per day in the past week.
By Matt Skoufalos | November 22, 2020
NJDOH COVID-19 Dashboard – 11-22-20. Credit: NJDOH.
Another eight Camden County residents have lost their battles with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and 404 others have tested positive for the virus since Wednesday, according to reports from the Camden County government.
That brings the local impact of the pandemic to 16,622 infected residents and 596 related deaths.
In a written statement Friday, Freeholder Director Lou Cappelli affirmed that “every death caused by this crisis is a tragedy, and we must do everything in our power to prevent any additional loss of life.
“Please continue to heed the advice of public health experts to keep yourself and others safe,” Cappelli wrote. “I know that we have all grown tired with the pandemic’s impact on our lives, but with the first vaccines seemingly just months away, we only need to hold on a little longer until greater relief arrives.”
The recently deceased hailed from five local communities:
- a Camden City woman in her 70s
- two Cherry Hill women in their 70s
- two Gloucester Township women, one each in her 70s and 80s
- a Haddon Township woman in her 80s
- a Pennsauken man and woman in their 90s
In the past week, Camden County averaged 250 new infections per day, and the county is battling its highest positivity rate (10.7 percent) and Rt, the variable that measures the rate of transmission of the virus (1.32), since the onset of the pandemic. Those statistics mean, respectively, that 11 of every 100 local residents tested for the virus will be confirmed as COVID-positive, and that every COVID-positive person will infect 1.3 others.
The average age of a COVID-19-related death in Camden County is also trending downward, having fallen from the 70s in the early days of the pandemic to age 65 today.
“All of these are not good signs for our residents and for the health of our county,” Cappelli said in a virtual briefing Thursday. “The death rate is a lot lower than it was in the spring, owing to younger people among the infected,” he said.
Dr. Reginald Blaber, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Virtua Health. Credit: Lourdes Health System.
Dr. Reginald Blaber, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Virtua Health, said his hospital expects to break the record numbers of COVID-19 patients it saw in the spring after Thanksgiving.
“We don’t know when that peak will end, but we do know that, absent a vaccine, we’re not going to see relief until the spring,” Blaber said.
“Now is the moment where we have to come together,” he said.
“We have to protect our loved ones, our friends, our coworkers, because we’re all going to want to come together in Thanksgiving,” the doctor said.
Blaber said hospital staff are “really anxious right now,” and described them as “battle-hardened” but exhausted.
“Healthcare workers are more likely to get infected than those in the community,” he said. “We have to remember that we’re not only putting ourselves in harm’s way and our families in harm’s way, but we’re putting the nurses and doctors in harm’s way who would have to care for us if we get this illness.
“Anything that each of us can do to protect them would be really appreciated,” Blaber said. He urged those who aren’t certain of their COVID status, or who fear they’ve been exposed to the virus, to get tested.
“If the testing is available, and you think that you’ve been exposed, and you’re asymptomatic, then you definitely should get tested,” he said.
“If you’ve been exposed and you develop symptoms, you should just assume that you have COVID, and you should isolate yourself from your family to the degree that you can, and certainly not go to work and not go out,” Blaber said. “Almost 50 percent of those with COVID have no symptoms.”
LTC cases and deaths
Long-term care (LTC) facilities account for almost half of all deaths in the state and 14% of those infected, and new cases continue to occur there.
Of 16,622 reported local COVID-19 cases, 2,408 (15 percent) have originated in a Camden County LTC facility: 1,666 are residents and 742 are staff.
LTCs are believed to be associated with 59 percent, or 353 of 596 total deaths in Camden County: 350 were residents and three were staff.
New cases
According to the New Jersey Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, on November 22, Camden County was fourth in the state in new COVID-19 cases, with 325.
The newest local cases (404) are:
- an Audubon man and woman in their 70s
- two Barrington women, one each in her 30s and 60s, and a teenaged girl; and two men, one each in his 40s and 50s
- four Bellmawr women, two each in their 30s and 60s, and a teenaged girl; and three men, one each in his 20s, 60s, and 70s
- four Berlin Borough women, two in their 40s, and one each in her 20s and 50s; and two men, one each in his 20s and 60s
- three Berlin Township women, one each in her 20s, 40s, and 50s
- a Brooklawn man in his 30s
- 34 Camden City women, nine in their 40s, seven in their 50s, six each in their 20s and 60s, five in their 30s, one in her 70s, and nine teenaged girls; and 26 men, six in their 40s, five in their 30s, four each in their 50s and 60s, three each in their 20s and 70s, one in his 80s, four young boys and three teenaged boys
- 21 Cherry Hill men, six each in their 30s and 60s, four in their 40s, three in their 50s, one each in his 20s and 80s, two teenaged boys, and a young boy; and 17 women, seven in their 40s, five in their 30s, two in their 20s, one each in her 50s, 60s, and 70s, three young girls, and two teenaged girls
- a Chesilhurst man in his 60s
- two Clementon men, one each in his 50s and 60s
- eight Collingswood women, five in their 20s, two in their 30s, one in her 40s, and a young girl; and five men, three in their 40s, and one each in his 20s and 30s
- a Gibbsboro woman in her 50s
- two Gloucester City men, one each in his 20s and 40s; and a woman in her 30s
- 23 Gloucester Township men, eight in their 20s, five in their 30s, four in their 40s, three in their 60s, two in their 50s, one in his 80s, four teenaged boys, and a young boy; and 20 women, eight in their 20s, seven in their 30s, four in their 40s, one in her 50s, and four teenaged girls
- five Haddon Township men, two in their 20s, one each in his 30s, 60s, and 70s, and a young boy; a teenaged girl, and a woman in her 30s
- three Haddonfield men, one each in his 20s, 40s, and 50s; and a woman in her 80s
- a Hi-Nella woman in her 20s
- three Laurel Springs women, two in their 20s, and one in her 30s
- a Lawnside woman in her 30s, and man in his 60s
- 10 Lindenwold women, three each in their 30s and 50s, two in their 20s, and one each in her 40s and 60s; and five men, three in their 40s, one each in his 30s and 50s, and a young boy
- two Magnolia teenaged girls, and two women, one each in her 20s and 80s; and a man in his 20s
- a Merchantville man in his 30s
- two Mount Ephraim women, one each in her 20s and 60s
- four Oaklyn men, two in their 40s, and one each in his 30s and 60s
- 19 Pennsauken women, six in their 50s, five in their 20s, three each in their 30s and 40s, two in their 60s, five teenaged girls, and a young girl; and 12 men, five in their 30s, two each in their 50s and 60s, one each in his 40s, 70s, and 80s, two teenaged boys, and a young boy
- eight Pine Hill women, three each in their 20s and 60s, and one each in her 40s and 50s; and three men, one each in his 40s, 50s, and 60s, a young boy, and a teenaged boy
- three Runnemede men, two in their 60s, and one in his 20s; and two women in their 60s
- two Somerdale women in their 40s, and a teenaged boy
- two Stratford men, one each in his 20s and 50s, and a teenaged boy; and two women in their 50s
- eight Voorhees women, three in their 50s, two in their 40s, one each in her 30s, 60s, and 70s, and a teenaged girl; and seven men, two each in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, one in his 60s, two young boys, and a teenaged boy
- four Waterford women, one each in her 20s, 30s, 50s, and 70s
- 22 Winslow women, eight in their 20s, seven in their 40s, four in their 30s, three in their 50s, and two teenaged girls; and 17 men, seven in their 40s, three each in their 50s and 70s, two in their 20s, one each in his 30s and 60s, three young boys, and two teenaged boys; and a teenaged person of unknown gender
- a Woodlynne teenaged boy, and man in his 50s
The Camden County government and New Jersey Health Department are working to facilitate trace investigations into all cases.
Read our ongoing round-up of COVID-19 coverage here.
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