Locally, the pandemic has infected 9,539 Camden County residents and claimed the lives of 554 people.
By Matt Skoufalos | August 21, 2020
NJDOH COVID-19 Dashboard – 8-21-20. Credit: NJDOH.
Two more Camden County residents have lost their battles with novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and 27 others have been sickened by the virus, according to reports from the Camden County government.
That brings the impact of the pandemic to 554 related deaths and 9,539 infected people.
The latest deceased persons were a Cherry Hill woman in her 70s and a Haddonfield woman in her 40s.
Throughout New Jersey, 188,817 people have been sickened by COVID-19, and 14,112 have perished from causes related to the virus. In addition to those lab-confirmed fatalities, the state also recognizes another 1,829 probable COVID-19-related deaths.
“As we look forward to the fall, we should take stock of everything that we have learned about fighting this pandemic,” said Camden County Freeholder-Director Lou Cappelli, who urged residents to wear face coverings and cooperate with contact tracers if called.
“Wearing a mask is the number one way to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Cappelli said. “Large gatherings, especially indoors, where there is little or no mask wearing, are extremely dangerous.
“Failure to be forthright with contact tracers inhibits our ability to prevent those who have been exposed to coronavirus from exposing others,” he said.
“If we can take these lessons and act on them moving forward, we will be much better off than when this crisis began in the spring.”
Camden County OEM ships PPE to long-term care sites across the county. Credit: Rich Ratner.
LTC cases and deaths
Long-term care (LTC) facilities account for almost half of all deaths in the state and one-fifth of those infected, and new cases are still being discovered there.
Of 9,539 reported local COVID-19 cases, 1,881 (20 percent) have originated in a Camden County LTC facility: 1,344 are residents and 537 are staff.
LTCs are believed to be associated with 57 percent, or 317 of the 552 total deaths in Camden County; 314 were residents and three were staff.
More than half the 56 LTCs in Camden County (34) have experienced at least one case of COVID-19.
New cases
According to the New Jersey Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, on August 21, Camden County was fourth in the state in new COVID-19 cases, with 23.
Since Wednesday, the newest local cases (51) are:
- a Barrington man in his 30s
- a Bellmawr woman in her 20s
- a Berlin Township man in his 30s
- six Camden City women, three in their 40s, one each in her 20s, 50s, and 70s, and a young girl; and six men, three in their 30s, two in their 40s, one in his 70s, and a young boy
- two Cherry Hill men, one each in his 20s and 50s, and a teenaged boy; and two women, one each in her 40s and 70s
- a Clementon man in his 30s
- two Collingswood women, one each in her 30s and 40s; and a man in his 40s
- six Gloucester Township women, three in their 40s, two in their 60s, and one in her 30s; and four men, two in their 20s, and one each in his 40s and 50s
- a Haddon Heights man in his 30s
- two Haddon Township women, one each in her 30s and 40s
- a Haddonfield man in his 70s
- a Lindenwold man in his 40s and woman in her 50s
- two Pennsauken men, one each in his 50s and 60s, and a young boy
- a Pine Hill woman in her 40s
- a Voorhees woman in her 30s and man in his 40s
- a Winslow woman in her 70s, and a teenaged girl and boy
The Camden County and New Jersey Health Department are working to facilitate trace investigations into all cases.
