Over 500 New COVID-19 Cases Reported In New Jersey For Third Time In Four Days
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- There's concern over an increase in coronavirus cases in New Jersey as some people ignore social distancing orders.
In the dead of summer, as temperatures rise in New Jersey, so too do the number of coronavirus cases.
The Garden State reported 565 new positive cases of COVID-19 Monday, and the numbers have been slowly trending up since the middle of July.
The rate of transmission has also gone up again to 1.14.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced the new numbers Tuesday, warning the virus is not simply going away.
"We're not out of the woods yet, and we need everybody to remain vigilant," he said.
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"We're back to our baseline functionality, but that doesn't mean that the community can put their guard down," said Dr. Lewis Rubinson, chief medical officer at Morristown Medical Center.
He said his hospital is not seeing a spike, but he is watching the numbers statewide and across the country closely.
"COVID is clearly rampant in a number of different communities outside of our community, and it won't take much to bring it back into the community," Rubinson told CBS2's Nick Caloway.
Partially to blame for the upward trend are young people attending parties without social distancing.
More than 50 teens tested positive after a house party in Middletown, New Jersey, and dozens of lifeguards were sickened after parties on the Jersey Shore.
"And so both anecdotally, when you hear about house parties and other flare-ups that we've seen, when you look at the raw numbers, it's a mixed bag at best," Murphy said.
CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ Health Dept. | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211
Even with the uptick, the numbers are still very low compared to the peak back in April, but the number of new cases reported Monday is the highest number so far this month in New Jersey.
It's also the third time in four days that number has been above 500.
