Shocking reversal: NJ beats national cancer death surge during pandemic

🏥 New Jersey saw an 18.8% drop in cancer deaths from 2016–2024, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

📉 The decline equals nearly 2,600 lives saved, credited to hospitals maintaining cancer care through the crisis.

⚠️ NJ trends contrast national data, which showed higher cancer deaths during peak pandemic years.

While cancer patients across the U.S. had lower survival rates during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey cancer trends show that cancer mortality rates actually improved during the pandemic years, according to new data analysis from the New Jersey Hospital Association.

New Jersey cancer mortality drops during COVID-19 pandemic

NJHA data found that cancer mortality declined 18.8% among New Jersey patients between 2016 and 2024, including the COVID-19 public health emergency declared in January 2020 and lifted in May 2023.

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The decline in New Jersey’s cancer mortality in the pandemic years is the equivalent of 2,595 lives saved, said NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett.

She credits the decline in deaths to the planning, resilience, and incredible focus of New Jersey’s hospitals and clinical teams.

“New Jersey’s healthcare system maintained continuity of care for patients battling cancer, even in the midst of a deadly pandemic that demanded a systemwide response,” Bennett said.

NJ hospitals credited for maintaining cancer care access

Among the nearly 19% overall decline, men consistently experienced higher cancer mortality than females, according to NJHA data, but both groups showed a downward trend over the study period.

Cancer rates, hospitalizations rise despite mortality decline

Other key findings include

• While cancer prevalence dipped in the first year of the pandemic – possibly due to disruptions in screening and testing that delayed diagnoses – overall cancer prevalence increased from 54 per 1,000 population in 2016 to 64 in 2024, an increase of 18.5%.

• Cancer hospitalizations increased by 67% between 2016 and 2024. The data shows a rise from 2020 onward, driven primarily by growth in same-day medical/same-day surgery care, reflecting a broader national shift toward outpatient and ambulatory cancer care. Inpatient cancer cases remained stable throughout the study period.

NJ cancer trends differ sharply from national data

New Jersey’s results differ from the national numbers. According to a February 2026 study published in JAMA Oncology, researchers found 13.1% more cancer deaths within one year of diagnosis during COVID’s peak years of 2020 and 2021 than expected.

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