N.J. coronavirus deaths increase to 11,880 with 162,068 total cases. Outbreak continues to slow as state reop – NJ.com
New Jersey’s death toll from the coronavirus increased to 11,880 on Wednesday as officials announced at least 162,068 total positive tests have been confirmed, though officials say the outbreak keeps declining.
Gov. Phil Murphy reported 112 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 652 new positive tests among the 9 million residents of the state, home to the nation’s second-largest outbreak.
“The growth in numbers is greatly attributable to the number of tests we are recording – we have significantly slowed the rate of spread of the virus,” Murphy said during the coronavirus briefing in Trenton. The state has seen more than 837,000 coronavirus tests to date, an increase of nearly 20,000 from Tuesday.
The state’s peak in hospitalizations happened on April 14, with more than 8,000 coronavirus patients across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals. There were 2,250 patients reported as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, though data was missing for one hospital.
Of those, 612 patients were in critical or intensive care, while 459 were on ventilators.
“As we see from our hospital data, we continue to trend in the right direction on all the vital indicators,” Murphy said. “This is why in the aggregate that we think we’re ready for Stage 2.”
The total number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey is cumulative and does not reflect the likely thousands of residents who have recovered. There may also be infected residents who have yet to be tested, though the state has more than doubled the daily tests being administered in recent weeks.
New Jersey’s number of daily hospitalizations, new deaths, and new cases has declined since the peak and Murphy has gradually lifted the near-lockdown orders he installed in March to slow the spread of the virus.
The county-by-county breakdown of cases and deaths include:
- Hudson County: 18,460 with 1,192 deaths
- Bergen County: 18,376 with 1,595 deaths
- Essex County: 17,811 with 1,687 deaths
- Passaic County: 16,277 with 940 deaths
- Middlesex County: 16,066 with 1,004 deaths
- Union County: 15,911 with 1,086 deaths
- Ocean County: 8,853 with 755 deaths
- Monmouth County: 8,332 with 619 deaths
- Mercer County: 7,033 with 485 deaths
- Camden County: 6,645 with 346 deaths
- Morris County: 6,540 with 619 deaths
- Burlington County: 4,700 with 302 deaths
- Somerset County: 4,619 with 423 deaths
- Cumberland County: 2,431 with 79 deaths
- Atlantic County: 2,284 with 163 deaths
- Gloucester County: 2,278 with 149 deaths
- Warren County: 1,182 with 132 deaths
- Sussex County: 1,128 with 149 deaths
- Hunterdon County: 1,006 with 61 deaths
- Salem County: 653 with 44 deaths
- Cape May County: 629 with 50 deaths
Another 854 cases are under investigation to determine where the person resides.
On Monday, the governor said the state will enter “Stage 2” of its multi-phase reopening plan on June 15, beginning with allowing outdoor dining and nonessential retail stores to welcome customers inside at reduced capacity. Hair salons and barbershops will follow June 22.
Officials on Tuesday released new data that shows the coronavirus rate of reproduction in New Jersey has fallen steadily over the last few months, so much so that each new infection has led to fewer than one new case for weeks now. Each infected person led to more than five new cases 10 weeks ago, when Murphy’s stay-at-home orders started.
That announcement came after a group of anonymous state Department of Health employees sent a letter to lawmakers Monday charging that New Jersey’s handling of the virus inside nursing homes was “an unmitigated failure” that led to “preventable deaths” and questioning whether Murphy’s administration is “making things up as they proceed” in order to reopen the economy.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
Murphy has already allowed parks, beaches, boardwalks, and lakes in New Jersey to reopen. He increased the limit on outdoor gatherings to 25. Indoor gatherings remain capped at 10.
The governor announced last week that child daycare centers in New Jersey can reopen June 15, outdoor, non-contact organized sports can resume June 22, and youth day camps can operate beginning July 6, all with restrictions. The governor also said live horse racing can return, without fans, as early as this weekend. And he said the state is hoping to allow larger indoor gatherings, including those at churches and other houses of worship, by the weekend of June 12.
More than 1.1 million New Jersey residents have filed for unemployment since aggressive social distancing started in mid-March, causing the state’s unemployment rate to surge to 15.3%, though the number of new claims has fallen in recent weeks. Many say they’ve been waiting for weeks to get paid and have struggled with the state’s busy phone and online systems.
Murphy’s administration has said it plans to cut $1.3 billion in state spending thanks to plummeting tax revenue. The governor has warned of up to 200,000 public-worker layoffs if the federal government doesn’t provide more direct aid to states.
As of Wednesday’s morning, more than 6.4 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. Of those, more than 381,000 have died and more than 2.7 million have recovered.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.