After slowing for a few days, COVID hospitalizations in New Jersey took another big jump on Sunday, crossing over 6,000 for the first time since April 2020.
Net hospitalizations rose by 328 people Sunday, a 6% jump from the prior day, to 6,075 in total.
That's the first time the state has topped 6,000 since April 29, 2020, and it means the number of people in the state hospitalized with COVID-19 has quadrupled in just a month.
The record is just over 8,000, which was set in mid-April 2020, and some of the state's top doctors fear that mark will be broken before January is over.
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There are some signs, though, that the state's hospitals are starting to cope a bit better with the surge. As of 7:45 a.m. Monday, only two of the state's 79 emergency rooms were on divert status due to patient volume, lack of beds or staff, or a combination of the two. A couple of weeks ago, it was not unusual for a dozen or more to temporarily be on some kind of divert status at various points in the day.
The fresh surge in Jersey stands in contrast to New York, which on Sunday reported its first day-over-day decline in net hospitalizations in three weeks.
