COVID-19 activity still high in every N.J. county, map says. But things are slightly better in these 2 regi – NJ.com

Despite pleas for people to stay home and restrictions on dining and gatherings, New Jersey remains stubbornly stuck in the orange zone on the states weekly COVID-19 activity map.

For the sixth week in a row, all 21 counties are orange, indicating high coronavirus activity, according to data released by the state Department of Health Thursday.

The weekly COVID-19 Activity Level map breaks New Jersey into six regions and uses local health data to calculate where COVID-19 is spreading the fastest. If any region turns red on the map, virus levels are considered very high and all schools in those counties must switch to all-remote learning.

Because every region is still orange on this weeks map, schools across the state still have the option of opening for in-person classes when they return from winter break next week. But districts are still encouraged to consider switching to all-virtual learning while their regions are orange, according to state health guidelines.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

We urge everyone to stay safe. Avoid large gatherings. Social distance. Mask up, Gov. Phil Murphy said on Twitter Thursday after announcing 5,107 new coronavirus cases and another 90 deaths in his daily update.

Though they remain orange on the map, two part of the state the Northwest and the Central West showed a slight improvement over last week, according to the new data.

The percent positivity indicator dropped to moderate in the Northwest region of Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties after slightly less than 10% of COVID-19 tests in those counties came back positive.

In the Central West region of Hunterdon, Mercer and Somerset counties the percentage of people showing COVID-like symptoms dropped from high to moderate and the percent positivity fell slightly to 8.2%.

However, the case rates in both regions remained high, keeping the counties orange on the map.

All six regions in New Jersey continued to score a 3 on the state's COVID-19 Activity Level Index for the week ending Dec. 26. That means virus levels are "high" across the state.

The COVID-19 Activity Level Report calculates a score each week for each region using case rates, percentage of positive tests and the percent of people reporting cough, fever and other symptoms that might be the coronavirus.

The state was last red, indicating very high virus activity, in April. But it dropped to orange in May, then was green (low activity) or yellow (moderate activity) for most of the summer and fall as infection rates fell.

However, all six regions jumped to orange again in mid-November when the second wave of the pandemic hit the state.

The regions are:

-Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren

-Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson

-Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset

-Central East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union

-Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem

-Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland

This weeks map is based on data for the week ending Dec. 26 and likely does not include the results from people who were exposed to the virus during Christmas gatherings.

The color assigned for each region green (low), yellow (moderate), orange (high) or red (very high) is based on the COVID-19 Activity Level Index, or CALI, a score from 1 to 4 that health officials give each region weekly. The score is calculated using a formula that uses the case rate per 100,000 people, the regions seven-day average percentage of people who test positive and the percent of people who report coughs, fever and other symptoms that could be COVID-19.

As of Thursday, the pandemic has killed at least 19,042 people in New Jersey since the first death was reported in March.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.

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COVID-19 activity still high in every N.J. county, map says. But things are slightly better in these 2 regi - NJ.com