How many people in New Jersey have actually had COVID? With so many of us using at-home tests, the world may never know.

Hello again, good people!

On Thursday of this week, New Jersey reported 20,338 confirmed positive cases of COVID, as the omicron variant continues to run rampant. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.65 million people in the state have had lab-confirmed cases of COVID. Maybe you're one of them.

Or maybe, like me, you're not -- even if you know you had COVID. Because if you only used over-the-counter rapid tests, you're probably not included in the state's official count.

So when you read Gov. Murphy talk about how the current positivity rate for is "shockingly high" at 31.1% -- meaning nearly 1 in 3 people getting a test is infected -- please know that the actual number is definitely much, much higher.

In my own case, I showed symptoms and had taken several rapid tests at home, over the course of a few days. And this was before insurers agreed to cover the cost of at-home tests! Those positive rapid test results were good enough for my doctor, my employer and our health insurance company -- but in New Jersey, it's not good enough for the Department of Health, whose count only reflects the PCR tests you get at pharmacies, testing sites and medical facilities.

Given the possibilities of user error and the less-than-perfect accuracy rate of rapid tests, I can understand some trepidation around accepting at-home tests as official. Results of the free, at-home PCR tests the state sends out -- which are lab-confirmed but imperfect -- do get reported to public health officials. Like so many other things about this pandemic, it makes sense ... but not really.

With so many folks testing positive yet never showing a symptom, does it even matter if the "real" case count is accurate? I think it does, and not just for the sake of record-keeping.

Because we talk about the invisible, existential burdens we've all carried through these last two troubled years, and why it seems like everyone is constantly inches away from total collapse, it's because of situations like this, where nobody's exactly sure what the real facts are and and you're just left with the feeling that for as bad as "they" say things are, the situation is probably much, much worse.

Also this week, Murphy signs abortion protections, a cannabis-COVID connection, what omicron and menopause have in common, retail doings and a new prisons chief:

SIGNED AND SEALED: Now-former Sen. Loretta Weinberg stuck around to make sure Gov. Murphy signed into law the hard-fought protections for reproductive freedom. A set of new laws enshrines the right to end pregnancy, regulates birth control prescriptions and requires a study of whether cost is an impediment to some who seek an abortion.

CANNABIS CONNECTION: OK, some of you out there got super psyched this week reading a headline about cannabis compounds possibly blocking COVID infection. But, bummer: The research was very preliminary and not tested on human subjects. Keep wearing that mask and don't share your smokes!

NIGHT MOVES: When I had COVID back in October, delta was still the variant du jour. But reading that night sweats are a major reported symptom of omicron, I'm starting to wonder. Here I was, blaming perimenopause! If you've had omicron, how have your symptoms been?

OPENINGS, CLOSINGS: Another ACME supermarket, this one in Middlesex, is set to close permanently, leaving about 47 left in the state. And in Metuchen, the CVS pharmacy store is closing, as part of that chain's plan to "shift focus to digital."

SHE'S IN CHARGE: After a nationwide search for a new head of New Jersey Department of Prisons, the agency's acting chief, Victoria Kuhn, is getting the job permanently. Kuhn replaces Marcus Hicks, who resigned after NJ.com reporters exposed violence and scandal inside the state's only women's prison.

Finally, if you've been a blood donor in the past or have ever considered it, now could be the time. Our Elizabeth Llorente reports on what the American Red Cross is calling the worst blood shortage in a decade, and notes a drop in donations since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Check the story to learn why you shouldn't hesitate to donate.

See you next week, everyone. Be kind to each other.

P.S.: RIP Ronnie Spector, a foundational rock voice and savior of the E Street Band.