23 COVID outbreaks reported at schools across New Jersey

NEW JERSEY - Twenty-three outbreaks of coronavirus within schools have been reported across New Jersey since the start of the academic year, state officials announced Wednesday.

The outbreaks located in the following counties were linked to in-school transmission. State officials did not name the schools affected:

Atlantic- 4, Bergen-1, Cape May-1, Cumberland-2, Gloucester-1, Hudson-2, Mercer- 6, Monmouth-1, Morris-1, Sussex- 1, Union-1

"An outbreak is defined as three or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff with onsets within a 14-day period who are epidemiologically linked within the school setting, do not share a household and were not identified as close contacts with each other in another setting," said NJ Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli.

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The state encourages school districts to file weekly reports with the state on case counts for students and staff and vaccination rates.