Covid-19 Cases Tick Up in Ocean County, But No Deaths Among Vaccinated

Coronavirus (Image: CDC)

Ocean County has seen a slight increase in coronavirus infections over the past week, but so-called “breakthrough” cases among those who have been vaccinated remain low, and no deaths have been reported amidst those cases.

On Wednesday, the county added 200 new cases and saw seven deaths overnight, according to county health department data. One of the deaths was a patient in a long term care facility.

“It’s high,” said Ocean County Commissioner Gerry P. Little, regarding the case load. “We were, for the last three or four days, below 200.”

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County-wide, there were 186 known “breakthrough” cases of Covid-19, described as a coronavirus infection of someone who has received one of the three available vaccines. Of those cases, five resulted in hospitalization and there have been no deaths reported.

“The good news is that there are only five hospitalizations out of the 186,” said Little. “None of them have ended up in critical care and nobody has died.”

As debates surge in the political realm regarding the vaccine, Ocean County’s data indicates that the jabs are working. The data collected over the past week shows that 86 percent of new cases were among unvaccinated people. The rate of breakthrough infections is actually on the decline, Little said, as in previous weeks the breakthrough portion of the case load hovered around 20 percent.

“Those cases are going down, but the caseload is still over 200, so it’s clearly folks who are not fully vaccinated,” said Little.

The county has provided 113,100 doses of Covid-19 vaccinations since its effort began early this year.

The Ocean County Health Department is planning to host mobile clinics where both flu shots and coronavirus vaccinations are available. The clinics will be held across the county, mainly utilizing space in library branches, however there will also be clinics in community centers and senior communities. A full list of these locations, plus times and dates, can be found on the health department’s website.