For vaccine information on where, when, who, and how, please visit capemaycountynj.gov. The Cape May County Department of Health administered a total of 21,535 doses so far. The New Jersey Department of Health reports that 58,904 Cape May County residents have received at least one vaccine dose and 54,189 have been fully vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 60% of the County’s population is fully vaccinated.
As with most of the State of New Jersey and many areas of the Country, the daily case rate of COVID-19 rose in Cape May County over the past week. It appears the more transmissible Delta variant of the COVID virus is within the County population and is likely accounting for many of the new cases. Fortunately, hospitalizations have remained relatively low, with 11 covid positive patients admitted as of Thursday’s report.
The attached chart shows the number of daily cases reported over the past ten days, with Cape May County averaging about 20 cases per day. This is well below the numbers from January when the County was averaging approximately 40 new cases per day.
While Cape May County has been reported as having the highest average daily case rate, the actual average number of daily cases in Cape May County remains well below last winter’s highs when the pandemic was sometimes averaging 40 cases per day. Among the top ten counties with the highest daily case rate, Cape May County has the second lowest number of total daily cases.
Nevertheless, the County is updating its messaging to residents to continue to encourage everyone to get vaccinated but also to remind residents of the mitigation techniques that help to slow the spread such as sanitization, social distancing and wearing masks in indoor settings where social distancing is difficult. To that end, like many private businesses, the County has reinstituted the policy to require members of the public to wear masks when conducting business at indoor County facilities.
“The Cape May County Department of Health continues to monitor the various COVID variants, including the Delta strain that is dominate currently,” said Cape May County Commissioner Director Gerald M. Thornton. “We believe these actions are in the best interest of the visitors to our building, along with our employees and follows the recommendations of the CDC. Our Department of Health continues to provide weekly availability to get vaccinated, which is the best way to stay protected from COVID-19.”
Many private entities continue to offer vaccine shots, many on a walk-in basis. The Cape May County Department of Health also offers walk-in shots and is conducting mobile vaccine clinics around the County. For more information on obtaining the vaccine, quickly and free of charge, go to https://capemaycountynj.gov/226/Health-Department or call (609) 465-1187.
For more information, including the daily reported case numbers, go to https://capemaycountynj.gov/1418/Covid-19-Dashboard. Cape May County has recorded 9,350 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, 8,811 of those are now off quarantine.
