COVID-19: Cases up (5); fatalities down (3)

Today was an unusual day, number-wise, for COVID-19 in Haddonfield.

The Camden County Department of Health reported that five Haddonfield residents have tested positive for the novel coronavirus: four on Saturday and one today. On Saturday: a male juvenile, two females in their 10s, and a female in her 20s; today: a female in her 10s. This brings the total number of confirmed cases locally to 111 — 9.58 cases per 1,000 of population.

At the same time, the Department announced a downward adjustment to the number of Haddonfield fatalities, from 7 to 4. The change was part of a county-wide adjustment, made as 27 out-of-jurisdiction and “possible” cases were removed from the tally.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, the County noted, “Patient information provided at the time of their passing is often incomplete and/or inaccurate. The Health Department investigates every suspected death caused by COVID-19 for accuracy after it has been reported. Over the course of these investigations, the Department has updated inaccurate records so that they contain correct, up-to-date information. As a result of these efforts, the breakdown of deaths per municipality has changed.”

For Camden County, the total number of cases now stands at 10,451, with 547 fatalities. The number of cases represents 20.35 per 1,000 of population.

New Jersey passed a milestone today, as the number of cases rose to 200,154 — 22.53 per 1,000 of population. The number of deaths stands at 14,274, with another 1,791 suspected.

The transmission rate for New Jersey — a key metric — rose today to 1.12, up from 1.07 last Thursday. (A transmission rate of 1.0 means that, on average, each new case will produce one additional new case. When the transmission rate falls below 1,0, it’s a good sign. When it rises above 1.0, it’s cause for concern.)

Statistics for Haddonfield, Camden County, and New Jersey are updated on Haddonfield[dot]Today each week day.