New Jersey reported more than 20,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, thousands more than the prior record, as hospitalizations grew yet again to their highest levels in almost a year.
The state posted 20,483 new PCR-confirmed cases, plus another nearly 6,600 cases considered probable due to positive antigen tests.
That's nearly double what the state reported Tuesday and about 25% higher than the "old" record set on Christmas Day. Before the omicron variant hit the state this month, New Jersey had never topped even 7,000 positive tests in a day.
Hospitalizations were nearly 3,300 with two facilities still not reporting, up 10% from Tuesday and the most since early January.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
According to the latest NBC News data, only six states have larger increases in COVID cases over the last two weeks than New Jersey. About 1 out of every 30 new daily cases nationwide are in the state.
