The number of people tested positive for the new coronavirus in Paterson increased by 76 to 5,117 on Sunday afternoon, according to municipal government data.
But that’s the smallest daily increase since April 20. Over the past several days, the number of new cases has steadily declined, suggesting a possible downward trend in new infections.
“While the verified case counts have declined for the past four days, this may not necessarily be an indicator that our cases will not spike in the near future,” said public health officer Paul Persaud. “I hope this downward trend continues.”
Persaud urged people to continue social distancing, washing hands, and wearing masks.
The largest number of new infections with 262 cases were reported on April 16. In late April, the daily infections count appeared to settle at above 200 cases.
Health officials in Paterson have been conducting aggressive epidemiological investigations and contact tracing. A weak point has been the lack of a testing site in the city. However, officials said nearly half of those tested for the virus at the Passaic County testing site at William Paterson University were Paterson residents.
Mayor Andre Sayegh announced a testing site will open on Monday at the old Barnert Hospital for residents.
The number of deaths in Paterson increased by three on Sunday to 166.
Paterson has the largest outbreak of the virus in Passaic County.
Passaic County has 13,364 infections with 632 deaths. Overall, New Jersey had 126,744 cases with 7,871 fatalities on Sunday.
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