NJ Coronavirus Outbreak Slowing; 'We Are Making Progress:' Murphy

TRENTON, NJ — The outbreak of the new coronavirus in New Jersey is slowing, with 94 additional deaths and 3,219 additional positive tests reported Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy said.

The state now has 64,584 total positive cases, and 2,443 residents have died of complications from the coronavirus since the first case was detected in New Jersey on March 4. But the rate of increase has slowed, Murphy said, with just a 4 percent rise from Sunday's counts.

"The flattening of that curve tells us we’re making progress," he said, although urged residents to continue to adhere to the social distancing orders. "While the curve is undeniably now flattening, it is still rising. We have got to hit that plateau and then aggressively bring it down."

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The 4 percent increase in positive cases from Sunday to Monday is the smallest day-to-day percentage increase since the outbreak started.

Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Other numbers are showing improvement as well, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.

The number of people hospitalized, including confirmed cases of the coronavirus and ones under investigation, was 7,781 as of Monday; Persichilli said that number had grown 1 percent from the day before. Of that number, 1,886 were in critical care units, and 1,611 of those in critical care were on ventilators — about 85 percent, she said.

"The past few days we have been as high as 97 percent" of critical care patients on ventilators, she said.

Persichilli said 556 patients who had been treated for the virus have been discharged, about 14 percent of those who had been hospitalized — an increase from 11 percent.

"So we are slowly making progress, discharging more people and holding hospitalizations and, more importantly, critical care patients somewhat even," she said.

That slowing of the growth rate comes as a six-state regional council was announced Monday to develop a plan to gradually lift stay-at-home orders, reopen businesses and schools, and return people to life beyond staying at home, while also working to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus. Read more: NJ, PA Join Regional Coronavirus Reopening Council

Murphy said he knows people are eager to get back to life, but he said resuming business and school has to be done carefully.

"If we aren't careful, it can boomerang," he said. "We don't get to the economic recovery unless it's on the back of a health care recovery."

"I'd like to be able to look back and say we overprepared" for the outbreak, Murphy said. "That would be the best mistake we can make."

Other items announced Monday during the briefing included:

Triage recommendations have been sent to all of the state's hospitals that establish the rules for how a hospital handles a shortage of ventilators during a surge of critical care patients.

"No one will be denied care based on stereotypical judgments of a person’s worth," Persichilli said.

The only way a hospital will be permitted to consider it is if it has taken every step possible to increase its surge capacity to care for critical care patients. It will be individualized assessments based on objective medical criteria, she said.

"This is intended to be a last resort," Persichilli said.

Cable and telecommunications companies are now prohibited from turning off internet and voice service due to nonpayment until 30 days after the public health emergency has ended. Murphy's order, signed Monday, also mandates that all service downgrades, service reductions or late fees due to nonpayment are prohibited unless they are imposed in accordance with a policy approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Additionally, any internet or voice service that was disconnected after March 16 due to nonpayment must be reconnected.

Murphy said most companies have taken those steps voluntarily but they have been inconsistent.

"Our children need internet access for remote learning, our workforce needs the resources to telework, and families need to be able to keep each other informed," he said. "It is critical for our New Jersey residents to maintain these connections and not have their ability to communicate with the outside world severed."

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