NJ Sees Flattening of Virus Curve; Murphy Says State is Not Ready to Open

By: Edward Norassian

New Jersey isn’t ready to reopen yet, according to Governor Phil Murphy – but it is getting closer.

The state posted an additional 3,457 new positive results, for a total of 105,523, the governor’s office said. Cases have risen by less than 10% for 19 straight days; in mid-March, the daily increase was 20% to 82%. Ventilator use continued to trend down, with 1,442 in use as of April 24.

“New Jersey, which trails only New York in terms of the U.S. states hardest-hit by Covid-19, has now lost a “staggering” 5,863 residents, Murphy said, more than those lost in World War I, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. He urged residents to adhere to stay-at-home orders, saying it’s working to slow the spread,” said Crain’s New York Business.

“We cannot let a beautiful spring day like this allow us to slip in any way,” Murphy said Saturday at a press briefing. “The 5,863 deaths must be our inspiration so we do not lose another 5,863.”

“As we look at the curve of new COVID-19 cases — again, these are positive tests – we see continued flattening,” Murphy said in a statement. “We cannot ease up one bit on our social distancing. Again, let’s leave this on here for a second and remind everybody.” The curve of infections is “undeniably flattening and that’s in the face of a lot more testing.”

He was quick to point out that with 105,523 cases “we don’t know what the denominator is, we don’t know how many people are infected in this but we guarantee you, that’s not the number. We know that’s the number of positive tests, but what exactly that denominator is, people around the world literally are trying to wargame that. We need to see more progress and more slowing before we can begin implementing any effort to get ourselves on the road to the new normal that awaits our state on the other side of this pandemic.”

Progress has been slow, but it is happening, the governor pointed out. “For the 24 hours preceding 10:00 p.m. last night, our hospitals reported 686 discharges. Notably, if you look at the three-day average, we still see discharges exceeding admittances, and this is another important measure for hospital readiness and the availability of beds who need them. Again, those curves are all going largely in the right direction. We need them to go down aggressively, and that is what we will need to see, and God willing, will see sooner than later.”