Coronavirus (Image: CDC)
The rate of coronavirus infections in Ocean County has dropped dramatically over the last several weeks, officials said at a meeting of the Ocean County Commissioners on Wednesday.
“I’m happy to say that, fortunately, we’ve seen a tremendous change in the number of our Covid-19 cases,” said Commissioner Gary Quinn. “They have gone down extremely – drastically – from the holidays.”
According to data from the county health department, the average number of new cases daily heading into the new year was approximately 2,000 per day as the omicron variant ramped up its spread. But the numbers have since plummeted, with the county now seeing under 300 cases per day, mostly mild.
“Unfortunately, this is going to be here for a lot of years to come, but fortunately people are figuring out ways to deal with it,” Quinn said. “We just entered our third year of dealing with this in the United States, and I think if we continue the path we’re on, we might see them beginning to ease up on some of the mandates.”
The numbers continued to decline Wednesday, with the health department reporting after the meeting that there were just 185 cases reported. The demand for coronavirus testing has also dropped precipitously, however the county is still offering testing at Ocean County College three days a week: Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Residents can still register to obtain a free vaccination on the department’s website.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Ocean County has recorded 127,159 cases of Covid-19 and 2,562 deaths.
