How to curb the trend of positive Covid cases in Ocean County

The amount of Covid-19 cases in Ocean County has been steadily going up of late following Thanksgiving and heading towards Christmas and New Year's.

For everyone to have a safe, happy and healthy conclusion to 2021 and beginning of 2022 and beyond, there's a few things that have to be done by all to curb any negative trends.

Ocean County currently has eclipsed a total of 89,000 Covid cases since the pandemic began in March of 2020, according to the Ocean County Health Department. There's also been a spike of late in cases in Ocean County including 391 coming in on Friday afternoon.

"Obviously we are seeing a large increase and that's of a concern to us," Dan Regenye, Ocean County Public Health Coordinator tells Townsquare Media News. "It's not surprising, it does match an increase we had this time last year as well."

Regenye believes a big reason for the spike may be linked to Thanksgiving and other holiday gatherings to this point.

"That's statewide, that's nationwide, I don't think that's unique to Ocean (County). We are experiencing a high volume of new positives with this though so that's something we continue to work diligently on in getting some of the messaging out the best ways to help prevent some of this further spread," Regenye said. "We just continue to urge residents to be cautious with that especially those that are the highest risk. The messaging has not changed since the beginning. (For) those that are high risk, please do everything you can to take all the necessary precautions and to avail yourselves to any of the vaccination opportunities."

Overall, Regenye adds that since vaccinations have been administered, Ocean County has eclipsed 121,000 shots -- that's just what the OCHD has done through their clinics.

"We have a lot of partners out there to help service the residents of Ocean County and we encourage the residents to access one of those points," Regenye said.

As the Covid vaccination process and booster shot process continue, there remains some pause and caution among those hesitant to get the shots.

If you've been fully vaccinated, and it's been the duration of time allotted for a booster shot, such as 8-months with Moderna which is what the OCHD has offered in their clinics, then Regenye recommends taking that next step to protect yourself.

"We're definitely recommending the booster shot with this. What we're seeing in a lot of the communication, the data that we've seen is that there is a waining immunity over the course of time and that's why the booster is so important -- that's typical with a lot of other vaccinations as well, that over the course of time, that vaccination can only carry you for so long," Regenye said. "It's definite that the vaccine is effective and protective of the serious illness. The vast majority of our hospitalizations right now are in unvaccinated populations."

In Ocean County, most of the people getting Covid right now overall are the younger population of individuals.

"All ages are getting it, (but) what we're typically seeing is more like in the 20-30/low 40 age range are getting it and those are the more active folks who are out there," Regenye said.

For more on the current Covid spike in Ocean County, watch the latest episode of 'Eyes On The Jersey Shore' with guest, Dan Regenye.