Contact Tracing Not A 'Witch Hunt' Gov. Murphy Says

NEW JERSEY — Nearly half of the New Jersey residents called by contact tracers are refusing to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to Governor Phil Murphy.

Speaking at his Friday briefing, Murphy said that 45 percent of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and were contacted have refused to provide them with information they need to help inform others of exposure. (Watch the stream below).

Murphy noted that, while he doesn't condone underage drinking and partying, the goal is not to get people in trouble for that. The goal is to help protect and save lives.

Additionally, contact tracers have successfully reached 63 percent of people they have called. The goal is to reach 100 percent, a goal Murphy said they expected to reach by fall.

"Let’s be perfectly clear: contact tracing is about public health. Period," he said. "No one is out on a witch hunt. No one is asking questions that have any focus other than trying to stop the spread of this virus."

Murphy also reported 384 new coronavirus cases and 12 new confirmed deaths. State officials have reported 184,061 cases, 14,007 confirmed deaths and 1,853 probable deaths.

The Department of Health added contact tracing to its coronavirus data dashboard. The data shows the contact tracers' success rate and how many are working in each county.

DOH Commissioner Judy Persichilli warned that refusing to answer their calls or provide information can endanger friends and loved ones.

"That means all those individuals don’t know they were exposed to COVID-19 and could be infectious," she said.

Contact tracers will identify themselves on calls as someone working with the local health department. If concerned it's a scam, hang up and call the local health department, Persichilli said.

New Jersey has 1,344 contact tracers — 15.1 for every 100,000 people. The state hopes to reach 15 contact tracers per 100,000 people in every county and to double that also by the fall, Murphy said.

Here's the data as of Friday:

New Jersey has an insufficient number of contact tracers, according to the Covid ActNow group. With an average of 387 new cases daily, New Jersey needs 1,935 staff to trace all new cases in 48 hours.

At this level of contact tracing, the state is unlikely to successfully identify and isolate people fast enough to prevent new outbreaks, according to the nonprofit group.