RISING NUMBERS
NJ racks up COVID-19 cases as individuals and businesses prepare for bigger jumps as more testing rolls out »
HAMILTON » A third township resident tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Friday.
That brings the total number of confirmed cases to three in Hamilton Township. The latest case is of a 63-yearold man who remains hospitalized but was “doing well,” township spokeswoman Bianca Jerez said.
She did not say where the man is hospitalized.
The township’s other two cases involve a 48-yearold man and a 28-year-old woman who remain isolated at home. Township officials said test results are pending on eight others.
The three cases are among at least 20 in Mercer County, with five in Princeton, one in Trenton, two in Lawrence, two in Ewing, and one in Pennington, four in West Windsor and one in Hightstown, officials have said. The state has 742 cases with at least nine deaths.
One of the West Windsor residents positive for COVID-19 visited the New Jersey Athletic Club in Lawrence on March 9, 11 and 12, West Windsor health officer Jill Swanson said in a statement.
The Princetonians who tested positive attended or were in contact with someone from a Feb. 29 house party who tested positive for COVID-19. Officials said they expect the virus number will continue to spike but social distancing is one of the best ways to combat the spread.
“We will beat this, but it will take time,” Princeton health officer Jeff Grosser said in a daily message posted on the township’s new COVID-inspired website.
Jerez cited federal health privacy laws in refusing to provide more information about the three positive patients like where they work and places they visited while carrying around the virus.
“Our Health Department has been diligently working to conduct comprehensive investigations for each positive case,” the township said. “Anyone who was in close or direct contact with the individuals who have tested positive is contacted by the Health Department to inform them that they have been in contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
Many people show mild or no symptoms of the highly contagious virus, officials said, stressing people practice social distancing by staying at least six feet away from others and “operate with the assumption that when you leave your home, that anyone could have COVID-19.”
The virus hits harder older adults and those with compromised immune systems and underlying medical conditions.
At least 125 people contacted the health department about possibly being exposed to someone with COVID-19, officials said Thursday.
About 25 of those told health officials they came into contact with the two sickened township residents.
“We know that staying at home and limited physical interaction is difficult, but is a critical part in doing everything we can now to flatten the curve to keep people safe and save lives,” the township said. “We know that COVID-19 can have very serious consequences for our vulnerable populations, especially our seniors, and ask that you keep them in mind in the coming days and weeks. We will get through this together and we will be stronger for it.”
School officials said Thursday that a teaching aide at Morgan Elementary School died suddenly.
The school aide was Jamie Rocco, who posted on Facebook that she had been ill and quarantined. The circumstances behind Rocco’s death remain cloudy.
Many mourned Rocco’s death in Facebook posts.
A friend who worked with Rocco at the Fame Restaurant told The Trentonian her friend was a generous woman with a “larger than life” personality who’d dance around the diner during shifts.
“She would spend her last dime to feed a stranger,” Donna Ruiz said. “She was funny, intelligent, beautiful and just an all-around sweet woman. She shined bright like a diamond and would do anything to make you smile.”
Mayor Jeff Martin said the township hasn’t had any confirmed COVID-19 deaths.