Mercer Co's Weekly COVID Cases Up 10 Percent: See Town Updates

Princeton NJ

09 January, 2021

8:02 PM

Description

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — The coronavirus continues to take a grim toll on Mercer County, impacting local businesses and schools in the region, according to updated state data (see town-by-town totals below). Mercer County reported 164 new cases on Friday, taking the total positive cases to 20,067, an increase of 1,909 and 10.5 percent over the previous week. The rise is reflected in the state Department of Health's most recent "COVID-19 Activity Level Report," which is issued weekly. The most recent report, released Thursday, says Mercer County is still in the "red zone" for coronavirus cases. The "red zone" means the daily new COVID-19 virus case rate, per 100,000 people, rose to "very high" in all 21 counties. That means they exceed 25 cases per 1,000 people over a seven-day average. The latest reports say the overall coronavirus activity level also rose from "moderate," or "yellow," to "high," or "orange," in recent weeks in all 21 New Jersey counties. With the rise to a "high" level, state officials said, school districts in those counties may have to take more serious steps — such as quarantining or even shutting down schools — if a child shows the symptoms of COVID-19. "When it is high risk, there are some recommendations that we make together with local school boards," said Edward Lifshitz, medical director for the state Department of Health. Indeed, a number of school districts have shifted to remote instruction as the numbers have risen. The overall coronavirus risk rose to "high" in each of the counties because: The new daily case rate in each of the counties rose to 10 or more per 100,000 people. The percent of COVID-19-like illnesses rose above 5.52 in each of the counties. The percent of positive cases rose above 10.01. Mercer County officials provided the following breakdown of cases by town: East Windsor Daily cases: 17Total cases: 1,565 Ewing Township Daily cases: 16Total cases: 2,041 Hamilton Township Daily cases: 30Total cases: 5,473 Hightstown Boro Daily cases: 3Total cases: 397 Hopewell Boro Daily cases: 0 Total cases: 41 Hopewell Township Daily cases: 5Total cases: 495 Lawrence Township Daily cases: 12Total cases: 1,334 Pennington Boro Daily cases: 1Total cases: 71 Princeton Daily cases: 3Total cases: 530 Robbinsville Township Daily cases: 3Total cases: 589 Trenton City Daily cases: 25Total cases: 6,325 West Windsor Township Daily cases: 5Total cases: 656 Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email [email protected] Get breaking news alerts on your phone with our app. Download here. Sign up to get Patch emails so you don't miss out on local and statewide news.