Gov. Murphy: NJ Has Largest 2-Day COVID Death Toll in 7 Months

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey saw more than 100 deaths related to the coronavirus on back-to-back days for the first time since the spring this week, as Gov. Phil Murphy continued to urge residents to practice caution for the upcoming holidays.

The number of hospitalizations also reached a seven-month record high, and the number of cases in schools continues to climb.

“They remain the No. 1 reason we can’t get lax in our precautions, in our social distancing, in our wearing of masks,” Murphy said of the new numbers during a news conference on Wednesday.

The state recorded more than 100 new deaths on two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time since the end of May. There were 131 deaths on May 29, and 113 on May 30; there were 104 and 103 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Out of the 103 deaths reported on Wednesday, 11 came from the state's long-term care facilities.

Murphy echoed a call he and other officials have made for several months, advising residents not to get together with anyone outside their immediate household for the holidays. It was a call that was made in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

"Don't screw up Christmas," Murphy said. "Don't go big, don't go multi-generational. Keep it to your immediate family."

Murphy and other state officials believe deaths have been rising because the cold weather and the holidays have compelled people to go inside more often and engage in larger groups. They saw the trend start to rise sharply after large gatherings were reported around Thanksgiving.

“In the weeks following Thanksgiving, the number of residents needing hospitalizations or needing an ICU bed or needing a ventilator all jumped,” Murphy said. “Our healthcare workers are all doing heroic things, but it is up to us to keep our loved ones out of the hospital.”

He also said hospitalizations are up across the state, and that there isn't one place that's worse than the others.

"The one thing we can not let happen is to let our hospitals get overrun," Murphy said. "All levers remain on the table, and they have to remain on the table."

Murphy released other numbers to show that the second wave of the coronavirus continues to impact New Jersey:

• The state marked a seven-month record-high in terms of total coronavirus hospitalizations, with 3,841 new hospitalizations. This included 3,612 who had tested positive and 279 who were awaiting their test results;
• 765 patients were in the intensive care unit (ICU) beds on Wednesay
• 485 patients were on ventilators
• On Tuesday, 426 patients were discharged from hospitals, and 498 new patients were admitted
• The hospitalization numbers included more than 100 new hospitalizations individually on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• The test positivity rate was 12.97 percent on Dec. 19, and the transmission rate was 0.97 percent;
• 70 percent of COVID-19 transmission comes from private-settings;
• There were seven new outbreaks and more than 31 new cases in schools since last week. There have been 105 cumulative outbreaks and 405 cumulative cases in schools since the beginning of the school year.

Murphy said he's been pleased with the way schools have managed coronavirus cases saying the transmission is going largely from the outside of the school buildings into the schools."

“It’s not as though you can just go in there having been exposed and not expect something to happen inside the walls," he said.

"This is a very stressful year. Educators, kids, parents, staff, administration. I speak to all of the above regularly, and I salute them for staying in there, hanging in there in an incredibly difficult school year.”

At the end of the news conference, officials said that just because families can't get together for Christmas, that doesn't mean Santa Claus can't pay a visit; just don't leave out the milk and cookies for him because he'll have to leave his mask on at all times.

"Santa has been deemed essential travel," Murphy said. "He's cleared for takeoff."