The amount of positive Covid-19 coronavirus cases in Ocean County has risen to 1,408 in the latest tally Thursday afternoon by the Ocean County Health Department which includes 152 new cases.

Lakewood Township has 524 of the 1,480 cases in Ocean County.

Toms River has the second most with 221, Brick has 139 cases.

Many people and groups across Ocean County have been hunkering down and staying home, but others have not and are being criminally charged for violating Governor Murphy's executive order.

Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Dan Regenye says one of the reasons social distancing is so important is to prevent exposure of the virus.

"Anytime you have a group of people coming together, that's the root of exposure of most concern when people get within six-feet of each other for prolonged periods of time," Regenye told WOBM News.

He said we need to everything to protect each other especially the high risk populations which are senior citizens and those with underlying medical conditions.

Here is the updated positive case count in Ocean County:

Barnegat39
Barnegat Light2
Bay Head2
Beach Haven4
Beachwood12
Berkeley91
Brick139
Eagleswood0
Harvey Cedars0
Island Heights2
Jackson120
Lacey37
Lakehurst3
Lakewood524
Lavallette3
Little Egg Harbor10
Long Beach Township5
Manchester72
Mantoloking0
Ocean Gate0
Ocean Twp. (Waretown)4
Pine Beach0
Plumsted4
Point Pleasant Beach4
Point Pleasant Borough48
Seaside Heights6
Seaside Park2
Ship Bottom4
South Toms River17
Surf City4
Stafford29
Toms River221
Tuckerton0

*The data represented above by the Ocean County Health Department identifies the municipality or mailing address which was self-reported by the resident at the time of testing. It may not necessarily represent the municipality of residence.

Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Dan Regenye said that if you experience symptoms such as a fever, dry cough or have difficulty breathing, start by remaining calm, then call your primary care physician, insurance company and even the Ocean County Health Department.

"If they do experience any of these symptoms the major thing is not to panic but to stay informed and contact their health care provider if they have any concerns," Regenye said. "If they're working with us, and we're either self-monitoring or we're working with them to be tested...if their symptoms get worse, we would ask them not to present themselves at the hospital or their physicians office. Work with us and we'll get you to the proper level of care with the proper notice to those establishments so you can get the proper level of treatment that's needed."

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