N.J. reports 5,095 new COVID-19 cases, 51 more deaths as hospitalizations,

New Jersey reported another 5,095 cases of the coronavirus and 51 additional confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Christmas Day, while the statewide transmission rate fell further below the key benchmark of 1.

Gov. Phil Murphy has urged residents to keep gatherings small with only people in their immediate family bubble during Christmas and New Years celebrations to avoid a surge following the holidays.

“Stay safe as you we celebrate the holidays. Social distance. Mask up,” Murphy said in a tweet Friday.

The state had reported 80 additional deaths on Thursday.

The statewide rate of transmission dropped for the 12th straight day, from 0.96 to 0.95, the lowest it’s been since Sept. 2.

Any number over 1 means each person who gets COVID-19 is spreading the disease to more than one person, and getting the rate below 1 is considered key to suppressing the pandemic.

Statewide hospitalizations dropped to 3,669 patients being treated for confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases as of Thursday night. That’s much lower than the more than 8,000 patients at the peak of the first wave in April. Hospitalizations have hovered above 3,500 since Dec. 8.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care rose to 753 from 749, and the number on ventilators remained the same at 524.

The seven-day average for daily new cases increased Friday to 4,597. That’s down 4% from a week ago, but up 12% from a month ago.

Officials say the largest percentage of recent new cases — more than 60% — are a result of transmission in private settings and are coming from all over the state.

Since the outbreak started in March, New Jersey has reported 454,902 cases out of more than 7.46 million tests administered. Those totals do not include rapid tests.

The state of 9 million residents has reported 18,595 deaths — 16,650 confirmed and 1,945 probable fatalities from complications related to the virus.

SCHOOL CASES

The state Wednesday reported seven new confirmed in-school outbreaks in New Jersey, which resulted in 31 new cases.

There have now been 105 confirmed in-school outbreaks across the state, resulting in 459 cases among students and staff members across 98 schools.

Those numbers do not include students or staff believed to have been infected outside school, or cases that can’t be confirmed as in-school outbreaks. Though the numbers keep rising every week, Murphy has said the school outbreak statistics remain below what state officials were expecting when schools reopened for in-person classes.

The extensive rules for schools, which include social distancing guidelines for classrooms and strict mask requirements, have made schools among the safest places in the state, he said. The governor said of the 250,563 cases reported overall statewide since the school year began, only 2/10ths of 1% are “traced to activity within our schools.”

AGE BREAKDOWN

Broken down by age, those 30 to 49 years old make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents who have caught the virus (31.5%), followed by those 50-64 (24%), 18-29 (19%), 65-79 (11.2%), 80 and older (5.9%), 5-17 (6.7%), and 0-4 (1.4%).

On average, the virus has been more deadly for older residents, especially people with pre-existing conditions. Nearly half the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents 80 and older (46.9%), followed by those 65-79 (32.6%), 50-64 (15.9%), 30-49 (4.1%), 18-29 (0.4%), 5-17 (0%) and 0-4 (0.02%).

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of late Thursday morning, there were more than 79.4 million positive COVID-19 tests across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.74 million people have died from coronavirus-related complications.

The U.S. has reported the most cases, at more than 18.6 million, and the most deaths, at more than 329,100.

COUNTY-BY-COUNTY NUMBERS (sorted by most new)

• Middlesex County: 42,584 positive tests (511 new), 1,415 confirmed deaths (213 probable)
• Bergen County: 45,064 positive tests (448 new), 2,016 confirmed deaths (260 probable)
• Essex County: 45,459 positive tests (443 new), 2,121 confirmed deaths (242 probable)
• Monmouth County: 29,887 positive tests (443 new), 905 confirmed deaths (100 probable)
• Hudson County: 41,759 positive tests (442 new), 1,514 confirmed deaths (163 probable)
• Ocean County: 30,455 positive tests (375 new), 1,229 confirmed deaths (75 probable)
• Passaic County: 38,839 positive tests (373 new), 1,277 confirmed deaths (149 probable)
• Camden County: 27,150 positive tests (299 new), 722 confirmed deaths (58 probable)
• Union County: 35,396 positive tests (291 new), 1,353 confirmed deaths (174 probable)
• Burlington County: 19,517 positive tests (245 new), 561 confirmed deaths (45 probable)
• Morris County: 19,205 positive tests (225 new), 770 confirmed deaths (175 probable)
• Atlantic County: 11,395 positive tests (170 new), 337 confirmed deaths (18 probable)
• Gloucester County: 13,314 positive tests (151 new), 349 confirmed deaths (10 probable)
• Mercer County: 18,030 positive tests (139 new), 671 confirmed deaths (37…