N.J. coronavirus deaths increase to 12,377, with 165,346 total cases as more reopenings near – NJ.com

A day after Gov. Phil Murphy lifted his nearly three-month-old stay-at-home order, New Jersey officials Wednesday reported 74 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus and 611 new positive tests as the state is now just five days away from its next reopening stage.

The state of 9 million residents has now announced 12,377 known deaths related to COVID-19, with 165,346 known total cases, in the 99 days since its first case was reported March 4. Only New York has more deaths and cases among U.S. states.

Murphy said that means the state should expect in the coming days to surpass the 12,565 New Jerseyans who died during World War II.

Wednesday’s totals were 17 fewer new deaths but 236 more new cases than officials reported Tuesday.

Still, officials say the Garden State’s overall trends — including daily new deaths, cases, and hospitalizations — continue to drop. Wednesday marked the 12th consecutive day the state announced fewer than 1,000 new cases and the seventh straight day it reported fewer than 2,000 coronavirus hospitalizations.

New Jersey hit a one-day high in deaths — 460 — on April 30 and a one-day high in new cases — 4,391 — on April 16.

Murphy also said the rate of COVID-19 retransmission in New Jersey has remained below 1 for weeks and is currently 0.64 — meaning every infected person spreads it to fewer than one other person.

“These trends have been sustained over time, and they are evident across each region of our state,” the governor said during his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “But we’re still not out of the woods.”

Murphy noted Wednesday that even though the stay-at-home order is gone and businesses keep reopening, residents should continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing when out.

“In just 100 days, our state — as well as our nation and our world — have been turned upside-down,” he said. “Let’s keep doing all we can to put it right again.”

Murphy also announced Wednesday that the state should be ready to deploy its first group of new contact tracer hires next week. He said expects 1,600 new contact tracers to begin this month to supplement the 900 that are currently working to determine who infected residents have come into contact with.

This army, Murphy said, will help the state more easily track and snuff out any coronavirus flareups in the future.

“Our job, over the comings weeks, is to grow their ranks,” he said.

HOSPITAL TRENDS

Officials said there were 1,701 coronavirus patients reported across New Jersey’s 71 hospitals as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. That’s down 35 from Monday and down from more than 8,000 patients in mid-April, according to the state’s tracking website.

Of those hospitalized, 471 patients were in critical or intensive care, while 342 were on ventilators — about 11% of the state’s ventilator capacity. The former is down 39 and the latter 31 from Monday.

Officials reported there were 156 new coronavirus patients admitted to New Jersey hospitals on Monday, while 171 coronavirus patients were discharged.

LONGTERM CARE NUMBERS

There have now been at least 34,799 coronavirus cases across 550 of the state’s longterm care facilities, such as nursing and veterans homes, according to the tracking website. That includes 23,225 residents and 11,574 staff members.

That’s 164 more cases than were reported Tuesday.

The total includes 5,471 lab-confirmed deaths attributed to the virus at those facilities — about 44% of the state’s total COVID-19-related deaths.

That’s 61 more deaths than were reported Tuesday.

The deaths at longterm care facilities increase to 6,327 when fatalities suspected to be linked to COVID-19 are included. Of those, 6,215 were residents and 112 were staff members.

EXPLAINING THE TOTAL CASES

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.

Murphy this week has called on more residents to get tested to give the state more data.

There have now been at least 1,008,934 coronavirus tests conducted in New Jersey.

NUMBERS BY COUNTY

The county-by-county breakdown of total cases and deaths includes:

  • Bergen County: 18,667 with 1,635 deaths
  • Hudson County: 18,647 with 1,242 deaths
  • Essex County: 18,206 with 1,723 deaths
  • Passaic County: 16,524 with 982 deaths
  • Union County: 16,317 with 1,103 deaths
  • Middlesex County: 16,288 with 1,064 deaths
  • Ocean County: 9,100 with 792 deaths
  • Monmouth County: 8,563 with 652 deaths
  • Mercer County: 7,245 with 510 deaths
  • Camden County: 6,903 with 394 deaths
  • Morris County: 6,596 with 627 deaths
  • Burlington County: 4,836 with 344 deaths
  • Somerset County: 4,698 with 431 deaths
  • Cumberland County: 2,604 with 100 deaths
  • Atlantic County: 2,422 with 168 deaths
  • Gloucester County: 2,357 with 153 deaths
  • Warren County: 1,197 with 135 deaths
  • Sussex County: 1,144 with 149 deaths
  • Hunterdon County: 1,028 with 64 deaths
  • Salem County: 687 with 55 deaths
  • Cape May County: 652 with 54 deaths

Another 665 cases remain under investigation to determine where the person resides.

REOPENINGS CONTINUE

Murphy on Tuesday also increased limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings. That allows larger indoor religious services to resume and will permit large outdoor graduation ceremonies by July 6. But indoor dining and entertainment venues remain closed.

This comes as New Jersey — and its pandemic-stricken economy — prepares to enter Stage 2 of its gradual, multi-phase reopening plan Monday, when outdoor dining will be permitted and nonessential businesses can welcome customers back inside, at 50% capacity. Plus, child daycare centers may reopen.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Hair salons, barbershops, and nail salons can reopen June 22. So can pools and outdoor, non-contact organized sports. And youth day camps can operate beginning July 6. All will have restrictions.

Gyms, libraries, museums, and some government offices — such as motor vehicle services — are also expected to reopen during the stage, though there is not timeline yet for those.

Murphy has already allowed parks, beaches, boardwalks, and lakes in New Jersey to reopen.

The governor said Wednesday it’s too soon to allow indoor dining, even with reduced capacity.

“If the numbers keep going in the direction we see every day, we will get there,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to do this is a right, responsible, step-by-step way. We’re about to open up in a big way.”

Murphy has said repeatedly he’s basing his decisions on what to open and keep closed based on science, noting that “data determines dates.” But he has not provided specific benchmarks the state has reached to guide the process. Instead, he has pointed to overall downward trends.

Nearly 1.2 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.

Meanwhile, the state Economic Development Authority announced Tuesday it is expanding its $45 million grant program for small businesses impacted by the pandemic. The agency said it received 14,000 applications in the first hour.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 7.2 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the world, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. Of those, more than 412,000 have died and more than 3.9 million have recovered.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.