Another Verona resident has died of COVID-19, the 22nd such death since since Essex County began keeping statistics on the pandemic in March 2020. Most of Verona’s COVID deaths occurred during the first year of the pandemic, and COVID was the third leading cause of death in Verona in 2020.
According to Verona Township Manager Joseph D’Arco, the deceased person was a male senior citizen who had been diagnosed with COVID on June 17. He passed away on July 2, but Essex County did not report the death until today. Essex County does not provide information on the COVID variant implicated in the person’s death or the person’s vaccination status. Verona began the year with two COVID deaths in January.
While Verona continues to see new COVID cases, they are far fewer than in 2021 and 2020. But Essex County has cautioned that new cases in any municipality are likely to be much greater than indicated in its daily report because its data includes only people whose test results have been reported to the state. Most at-home testing kits do not include reporting.
Verona’s vaccination rate has increased substantially since the start of the year, to 89% overall from 76%, according to the state COVID dashboard. State data indicates that 54% of Verona children ages 5 through 11 are now fully vaccinated and that 78% of teens ages 12 to 17 are so vaccinated. According to the state data, all Verona seniors are fully vaccinated. The state does not break out data on booster shots.
