New Jersey’s COVID-19 online dashboard, which has been providing daily updates on cases, deaths and other data, no longer will be update on weekends and holidays, the state Department of Health has announced.
The change for daily cases and deaths took place last weekend, the Department of Health said. The state stopped reporting weekend vaccination updates on Oct. 14.
This is the first time since New Jersey reported its first case of the coronavirus on March 4, 2020, that there will not be daily updates to the coronavirus case numbers.
Case counts for Saturday and Sunday will be reported on Monday, with all three days worth rolled into one figure, a Department of Health spokesperson said. It does not appear that they will be presented separately on a tab showing all new confirmed cases over time.
The dashboard, located online at covid19.nj.gov, has been a one-stop shop for information on the coronavirus pandemic since the early days of the pandemic.
The website first contained information on case counts, the death toll, and the current state of restrictions and mandates. As the pandemic continued, additional information was made public on the dashboard, including vaccination counts, long-term care outbreaks and hospitalizations.
Gov. Phil Murphy highlighted the pandemic numbers during daily briefings for the first year of the pandemic. As the briefings became less frequent, and then ended entirely, daily case counts and other new data were updated on the website daily.
New Jersey has reported more than 2.38 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the first case in March 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 437,803 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. There are also numerous cases that were likely never counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 35,030 COVID-19 deaths — 31,914 confirmed fatalities and 3,116 probable ones.
New Jersey has the 10th-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Michigan — as of Thursday.
More than 7.1 million people who work, live or study in New Jersey have reached fully vaccinated status. Nearly 8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began in the state on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 4.3 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
