Transcripts For CSPAN New Jersey Governor Murphy Coronavirus Briefing 20240713

Announcer next, Governor Phil Murphy gives an update on the coronavirus update with state health officials. Speaking from new wark, this is n hour and a half. Governor murphy thank you. Sorry for being a few minutes late. I want to say good afternoon to everybody. Our thanks to Rutgers Newark for allowing us to use their space for todays briefings. So to nancy cantor and her whole team a big shoutout and a big thanks. Tomorrow, we will be in trenton at 2 00 p. M. At the war memorial. And so well be trying to give you at least one days advanced notice as to where you will find us. As this now routine, i am joined by the woman who needs no introduction the director of the partment of health, judy persikeli. And colonel pat callahan and we are joined again and i welcome him back to pats left by the departments of Health Communicable disease medical dr. Edward leftshif. Good to have you back. Before we get to the latest testing results, ive got a few announcements and updates on what weve been up to. Before i do that, i want to give Sheila Oliver a shoutout who is running the d. C. A. As fast as furiously as ever before, the Lieutenant Governor and i made a decision some number of days ago that we would divide and conquer. They are doing great work. So give them a huge shoutout. So if for no one else but for john mooney at a minimum where are you, john . After careful discussion and consideration with the department of education and the Attorney Generals Office, we have applied for the available federal waiver to cancel all student standardized testing scheduled for april. We fully expect this waiver to be granted, and counsels office is already working and an executivive order to address the impacts of this decision on other areas of state law and that will be forthcoming. With students at home and not in their regular class rooms, it is simply not feasible for us to be able to move forward with testing in my meaningful way. This decision will not impact the graduation requirements of any student. I want to repeat this this decision will not impact the graduation requirements of any student. The number one priority most must be for our students to work on the lessons before them and to use the time as best as possible to keep up with their current studies. Ny parents have moved into a duel role of classroom educator and it would not be fair for them to pick up the title of test proctor as well. Ive got no update in terms of how much longer sclool be out. But it is still until further notice. Weve not made any more definitive assessment until at least until when. Secondly, as was announced last night by state treasurer liz and she and her team as usual are doing a great job. More than 900 million for the current fiscal year has been placed into reserve. We did not make this decision lightly, but right now given the impact, this emergency is having on our economy, it is the right decision to protect our states fiscal stability. I will go through a series of other offline meetings and engagements that we have had since we last were together with you. But among others on that list, ill just move that up to right now. I had a good meeting with the Senate President and speaker this afternoon. We kept our distance. But we met yesterday afternoon for about an hour in our offices , and we began a process of discussing how we see the budget process unfolding. Ive got no news for you right now. It so depends on how our federal colleagues turn out today. Hopefully today. Thats going to tell us a lot in terms of the road forward. And speaking of, which i do remain hopeful from the ongoing conversations that ive been having with our congressional delegation most recently, just got off a call with senator bob menendez, corey booker just reached out a moment ago with our delegation, with minority leader Chuck Schumer and his team, Speaker Pelosi and the white house directly that a direct cash infusion from washington to states will soon happen. Im knocking on wood as i say that. I fully intend to keep burning the phone lines to washington to see this through. More on that in a couple of minutes. I cannot stress this enough that new jersey and the residents need the assistance not to ensure us through the current emergency but the state programs that will help us emerge on the other end will not be compromised. And i know the same goes for my fellow governors and their residents. I want to acknowledge to my right the director of the office of Homeland Security and preparedness, jared maples. Good to have you. Following on a productive conversation with President Trump from yesterday and again in a minute ill go through some other conversations weve been having, we will soon receive a second shipment of sorely needed protective equipment or p. P. E. From the National Stockpile from for our medical personnel. An additional m95 maxes and 84,000 respirators among other gear. As i welcome this development and believe me, i welcome it and for it i am extremely grateful. We are still in need for equipment for our hospitals and responders. m extraordinarily grateful to the sector partners including some of new jerseys Legacy Company who is have emerged with generous p. P. E. Equipment donations and other sorely needed meaningful steps. I mean, this redefines the hrase if it takes a village. As good as we might be here as good as our legislators are here and in washington, were getting help. Were not there by in means. Ill give you a today example. Weve been informed by pse g that it will be making a donation of 50,000 m95 masks. I thank the entire pse g family to pitch in to help our new jersey family. Just to name some other interactions. I was touched an hour or so ago by tim cook and lisa jackson of apple as we all know new jerseys own lisa jackson, theyve offered to send us some gear. Glacks sew. Walgreens has stepped up. We mentioned prudential. Pat, i think that donation has not only come our way but the gear has been distributed as far s i know to say barnamus, holy name, hack and sack and morristown. Did i get that right . Goldman sachs, i mentioned yesterday. Verizon, comcast, home depot, hard rock, not necessarily equipment bless you. Making allowing their employees to have more administrative leave, wuawua upping staff wages. Pipe fitters local 24. Jim mcmanus contributing masks. Sherwin williams contributing masks and demroves. Its gloves. It is deeply felt and deeply appreciated by all of us, especially our healthcare workers and First Responders. And as i mentioned yesterday, colonel callahan of the state police are actively engaged in furthering this and working with the private sector to meet our emergent p. P. E. Needs and anyone with supplies to donate at this time, they should email to the new Jersey State Police at. Org. Ations at mjsp i think youve told me you received over 350 emails. Again, a great example of the spirit in which the state lives every single day and certainly at a time of crisis. Next step, the departments of Environmental Protection and Community Affairs along with the board of public utility sent a letter to all municipal Water Utilities calling on them to voluntarily suspend all water shutoffs during this emergency. Our private utility providers have already voluntarily suspended shutoffs, and we need all water providers to follow suit. I hope i dont need to say this. But i will say it. I want to be perfectly clear to these utilities. If you do not voluntarily suspend shutoffs, i will order you to suspend shutoffs. No new jerseyian should fear for losing their access to water throughout this emergency. Water utilities have until tomorrow to confirm with the d. E. P. That they are taking this step. God willing, they all will, and for that, we are thankful and appreciative. And if they dont, we will make them. Next, yesterday, i announced the launch of our new jobs portal nj. Gov cite. Ovid19. Its a cite where resident who is have lost within that cite residents that have lost their jobs can find and apply for a new job at one of our essential workplace. And i am proud to say that we are the first state in the United States to do this. The response has been nothing less than overwhelming. In the first 24 hours, the page was visited by more than 88,000 job seekers. And as we continue to be contacted by more and more essential employers, the number of availability jobs is increasing. Since yesterday, the number of open jobs, i think i said yesterday there are about 8,000, thats gone up to more than 12,000 for more than 100 employers across a variety of essential areas. Again, i urge every resident willing to step up to be part of our Front Line Workforce to nj. Gov and apply for a job. I also encourage essential employers looking for workers to connect with us through the cite to have your openings posted there. Certainly our Unemployment Insurance system is an important safety net for the many thousands of families being impacted by this Public Health emergency. But this is an opportunity for Front Line Work and to be part of seeing as emerged stronger than ever which we unequivocally will and for our states economy to rebound faster. Again, to find a job or to post job, its a onestop covid19. Nj. Dov. Before we get into test results and lives sadly lives lost, i want to mention a minute ago and i apologize judy to go on for another minute just to touch upon other developments, engagements, conversations, followups that weve had since we last gathered. First of all, on the enforcement front, just to prove that there are both knuckle heads out there on the one hand. And on the other hand, we are enforcing behavior. Charges are being brought against a defendant who got into a dispute with an employee of weeghmans coughed on the woman and after doing so said that he had the coronavirus. He then refused to cooperate with the police to either give him them his name. A summons is for terrorist threat and obstruction. This is not an e. O. Violation but it demonstrates active Law Enforcement and the steps that we are taking. I want to give the Police Department a shoutout and the mamas county Prosecutors Office a shoutout. And as pat knows better than anybody, asjha red knows better than anybody, we are up and down this state, and we will not take any noncompliant behavior, never behind egregious behavior like this. So thank you. Again, a shoutout not just to our healthcare workers but our First Responders in this unique environment were living in. I spoke to President Trump. And that was a productive call. We had a shortly after our press gathering, we had a v. T. C. , a Video Conference call with the vice president. We then last evening had a productive Conference Call with the administrator of fema as well as fema region two had tom von essen and those conversations as well as the one with the president continued to go very well. We mentioned yesterday that the president gave his support personally. Fema reiterated their active support for our field, for Field Hospitals. Pat, tell us where you expect those locations to be . Please. We have theyre enroute now. We were going to get into this tomorrow, but since the gov asked and hes my boss, were going to have one is going to thet meadowlands exhibition second one will be set up and the third one at atlantic Cities Convention center and the fourth one will be at our urban search and recues facility with that location to be determined at a later time once we are able to analyze the best and most effective place to set that up, g vombings. Gov. Youre gracious to me. I went out of order. Tomorrow, youll be speaking as well as we would expect colonel park who is based in philadelphia who is one of the senior members of the army corps of engineers who is camping in at the rock right now. So thank you for that. So Field Hospitals were on the all of these conversations. P. P. Have already refered to. Obviously, the federal our support of the direct cash assistance for states was on the list of all of these conversations or at least with the president and vice president. And then we also raised that we had applied as of yesterday for emergency laration under the stafford act. Want to thank thed a minutes to the administration. Senator menendez and sharing notice on that respect as well as our outstanding 502f under title 32 as it relates to federal support for the National Guard activities. Those are both pending. We raised on all of the calls that i mentioned. Again, thirdly, i mentioned already a very good productive early stage discussion with the Senate President speaker. And i want to give a big shoutout to the leadership from both sides of the aisle, minority leader bram nick and i exchange. A very productive meeting yesterday Late Afternoon with mr. Sweeney and coughlin. I want to give the le jiss lay active colleagues a big shoutout of thanks as were trying to find our way through this together. In realtime in washington right now having just gotten off the phone with senator menendez and exchanged notice with senator booker, the markets are up today, i suspect because there is the potential for Real Progress in washington. And its too early to say where this turns out and where it ends and where it lands. But as we sit here now, there are big elements in what is being negotiated consistent with what we have believed all along has been had been elements of what we believe needs to be a federal assistance program, a big direct Stablization Fund among other elements as we understand it that are currently on the table, a big direct state Stablization Fund, big support for mass transit, Unemployment Insurance, big support, Community Development like grants, big chunk for hospital help both generally and specifically to covid19, a big help towards small businesses. So fingers crossed. If those elements in in particular in large scale remain parts of what is ultimately agreed upon by the president , thats good news in the midst of an incredibly challenging world right now, that would be really good news. I want to give our entire delegation a shoutout. Bill pascrell was on the phone with me. I want to give each and every one of them a shoutout but in particular bob menendez who is a particular bulldog. Its not filed that the commission has the word officially. I know President Trump mentioned this last night, but i want to give ourself as model pat in the back because i think we were one of the first states if not the first state in america to suggest and ask that the real i. D. Time frame be pushed back. And it looks like it may be headed that way. If thats the case, that would be a good result not that we dont think we need it. We do. But to do this in an orderly fashion given what were dealing with, i think wed all agree to make sense. Its not part of government. I want to make sure everyone knows and hears me saying that, its a 501 c3. But i want to give a shoutout to the first lady. And the new jersey icon who is have stepped up and launched the new jersey pandemic relief fund. It was kicked off this morning ith the likes of jon bon jovi, charlie puth, danny devito, steven co ber and Whoopi Goldberg and others. New jersey poundforpound, ill put our talent and iconic figures up against any other american state. Its not part of government. Its not part of government but i will promote it just as other private sector players, no other state can pull that group together as i just mentioned on a moments notice. The board of directors again with the likes of ray chambers and nine know wells and other who is have been there for the state of new jersey across both sides of the aisle putting america and new jersey first, theres no other state in america that can come close. So bless them and bless everybody in the boarder village who are helping us out in this time of great need. Now, to test results. This is a sobering report generally from me and judy, well give you the details. We are reporting today an additional 846 residents testing positive bringing the statewide total to 3,000 3,675. 846 new, judy. I believe thats right to a total of 3,675. I believe that means new jersey is the number two state in the nation. But i would also rep mind everybody that we have been aggressive and particularly of rate in our testing regime. But that is a fact. We have also learned with a heavy heavy heart of an additional 17 covid19 related deaths. God rest each of their souls. We join their families in mourning these extraordinary lives. This is by far our largest single day report of new deaths. So it is with a particularly heavy heart that we report this today. We have now lost 44 fellow new jerseyians. And if anyone is looking to me for a reason to justify the steps that i and we have ordered, i can now give you 44 of those reasons. Again, as we have been saying for the past many days, we have been fully expecting the number of positive cases to increase dramatically as our specimen collection capabilities increase and in particular as the private sector Lab Companies have increased their scale and ability to process these tests. These numbers are vital. While they are sobering on the wund one hand, they are information we need to flatten the curve and stay out ahead as best we can of this outbreak. Our fema partnered testing sights remain open daily, and more county sights are opening up. So again, the fema partnered test sights are the two one at Bergman Community college which opened friday. The second at p c arts which opened yet. Pasaic like to know that county will be opening a place tomorrow at william parterson university in wayne. Pa sight is open only to yic county residents and you should have a referral from your doctor. Again, please only seek a test if you have symptoms. We just do not have the capacity or capability to test the socalled worried well. We understand why folks would be worried. We get that. We understand it. But if you dont have symptoms, please allow the folks who do have symptoms to get into these testing opportunities first. As this new sight in pasaic and come online and new specimens are tested, again, we fully demand the numbers of positive tests total tests, in fact, will go up dramatically into the many, many thousands as weve been predicting. Judy has a little bit of a window today on the nonpositive tests. And i will let her go through that. But thats something that folks have been rightfully asking for. I get the positives. But whats the universe look like . And we have an imperfect first window into at least what that may look like. Let me also say this. We cant flip a light switch here. If we could, we would. And we would have done it a long time ago. It takes time for us to see the impacts of social distancing. So while we cannot wait to see the numbers plateau and eventually decrease, we do not know when that will be. And we will continue to take every step possible to insure social distancing. Were having a meeting after this session later today, our first real deep discussion about modeling and where this is headed. I urge everybody again to not be alarmed by the numbers of positive tests. The more we have the facts, the more we can make fully informed decisions as opposed to just educated guesses. And again, yes, the number of positives is big. Its getting bigger. It will continue to do so over the coming days. But again, they are critical knowing that data, and again, weve got our first window into the broader nonpositive data. Getting our arms around that is going to be critical to winning this battle. I urge everybody and i know theres inpatients. If i inpatience. If i could ask you for one, patience. We understand what its like being cooped up at home. But we need you to continue to stay at home and do the basic stuff. Wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds. If you do go out of your home, practice both safe respiratory hygiene and social distancing. Frankly, if youre in your home, exercise social distancing. I cannot stress to you enough the need for social distancing. We know by the way just think about this we know that it takes up to two weeks for people to show signs of the illness. So new cases today could still mean new cases two weeks from now and so on and so on, unless and this is the important part unless we act today to slow the spread. Were doing everything we can. We have the chart today . We do. Again, i want to remind everybody, were doing everything we can to lessen the amount of sick people and fatalities. Literally, were spending 24 hours seven days a week on that. But even if we have the same number of people who get infected, and we fail in our efforts to lower the number, and we will not fail, by the way. But even if we do, i remind everybody the volume under each of those curves is the same. But the red curve wreaks havoc. The blue curve allows the healthcare stop be able to digest the same amount of cases, but in a more manageable period of time. Again, from day one, weve had two choices, two stark choices, and we have clearly gone all in on choice number two. Choice number is to let the virus run its course along that red curve with enormous amounts of infections and meaningful larger amount of fatalities and economic havoc. Or on the other hand, rip the economic bandaid off, take the pain up front, shut the place down to all nonessential to leaving only essential activity up and running and by doing so meaningfully lower the amount of fatalities and folks who are sick. As you can see from the numbers were reporting today, we sadly cannot bring that fatality number to zero. Were 44 precious lives lost in our state. But that number will go up. The positive test results will go up. It is partly because of Community Spread and a big dose because were testing a lot more folks. Again, the Silver Lining is, the more we understand the data, the better we will be equipped to deal with that data and get out ahead of this. Before i turn it to judy, and by the way, i think in terms of formal remarks, its just me and judy today. Pat will weigh in. I hope thats ottke. But you wont be bashful. You want to get it off your chest, i know. We are hearing too many reports of some nonretail businesses which are violating both, in fact and in spirit, the order requiring 100 work from home with limited exceptions. Some businesses have gone as far as to deem all of their employees essential to force them to report to work. Others are simply refusing flatout to follow the order. Let me be clear, if i could, my executive order is not a polite suggestion. It is an order. No one, and i mean no one who can either do their job from home should be going to work in an office. We must have 100 compliance. This is about Public Health. And its about peoples lives. Your employees lives, their familys life and your life. Inquire inquiries about failures to come mile should be directed ive gotten a couple directly to me where the firm is not complying with what were asking them to do. So here test number you call. 6099636817. Again, before i turn things over to judy, i want to thank again to the overwhelming amount of new jerseyian who are helping us by using common sense and by being a role model to for others. Its not easy on you, we know. And not easy on your family. Its not easy on us or any of our families. This is truly and in every sense of the word an unprecedented time for our state. But we are unequivocally going to get through this and were going to get through this together as one new jersey family stronger than ever before. With that, please help me welcome the commissioner of the partment of health, judy persacelli. Good nch. The number of cases of good afternoon. The number of cases in our state continue to rise. And they continue to rise quickly. As of 8 00 a. M. This morning, new jersey has now the second highest number of cases in the nation. With the ongoing spread of covid19, i am once again emphasizing that social distancing is vital to slow this process. Weve seen in other countries such as china and south korea that taking aggressive actions can flatten the curve and decrease the number of new cases. Strict enforcement of these initiatives have led to dramatic decreases in these countries in south korea, theyve viewed social distancing as the main effort of mass protection. Their residents stayed home because they recognized it was the right thing to do to protect their communities. Due the relatively high trance missbility of the virus, the impact of social distancing on the peak of the epidemic and the phonetial delay of the peak is likely to depend on the early measures that the governor has put in place. According to the study by the European Center for Disease Control and prevention, its exactly what you must do. This reinforces or stance that these types of aggressive social distancing initiatives can have similar effects in new jersey. We dont expect to prevent every single case, but we are trying to limit or to spread out the number of new cases. Similar to what has been seen across the u. S. , we are seeing a significant amount of cases under the age of 65. About 35 of our cases are between the ages of 30 and 49. And approximately 24 of those individuals have been hospitalized. This is just a reminder to younger individuals that they are not immune from covid19. They also need to take steps to reduce their risk of exposure. As always and as ive stated previously, we continue to remain concerned about our most vulnerable populations. And were working regularly with our partners in Nursing Homes and other longterm care facilities to try to minimize the impact that this virus can have on our elderly. As of this morning, we have had in ast one confirmed case 19 of or longterm care facilities. This causes us concern. Many of the facilities are in the same county where is we have large numbers of cases generally such as essex, middlesex and morris. We know that as cases continue to rise, our hospitals will be caring for patients with covid19. The department is modeling for this anticipated need in order to have the bed capacity required to give these patients the care they deserve. We expect to have more to say on this modeling later on this week. As the governor said, we are sad to report that weve had 17 new deaths for a total of 44 deaths in our state. There were five new deaths in burgen county alone. Three in morris county. Three in essex county. O in hudson and one each monmouth, paseic and union county. Deaths were related to nursing care facilities. These are our most vulnerable population. Today, we are working with the leadership of the facility in woodridge to assist them in the movement of their residents to another facility. This may result, unfortunately, in the closure of that facility. A facility that has cared for the most vulnerable population in woodridge and the surrounding area for decades. This is the result of some of home, ill with influenzalike illnesses. And they have a number of residents who have tested positive for covid19. Unfortunately, we have been monitoring the Organization Since friday evening. And we are working with the sisters that own and take care of the residents for an orderly transition. Today, we are also announcing 846 new cases for a total of cases over 3,600. The county breakdown of the new cases is as follows. Seven. 61, spurlington, camden 16. One. You in chers six. 107 mercer, eight. Middlesex 62. Monmouth 53. Morris 28. Ocean, 36. Paseic 63. Somerset 31. Sussex, three. Union 43. Warren, three. And we are still gathering more details on these cases and 316 additional cases. Weve been asked questions about a more Detailed Analysis of test results particularly regarding the Positivity Rate of the test, meaning the percentage of lab results that are positive compared to the total number of lab tests performed. According to the data that weve collected this morning of seven laboratorys that are sending us covid19 results, there were more than 12,000 tests performed on residents of new jersey, of which approximately 3,600 have tested positive. The overall Positivity Rate is 27 . Thats a really important rate. That tells us how many tests weve performed and how many have tested positive. That will help us in our Predictive Modeling of the type of care that these individuals require. It also means that the majority of the results have been negative. But we remind people who test negative and have symptoms that its important for them to stay still stay at home while you are sick because it might mean that youve been infected with another respiratory virus. So were working around the clock and our Public Health and Emergency Preparedness Response Teams are coordinated throughout government as well as the healthcare sector and other Public Health partners to respond to the needs of the residents of new jersey. We will get through this. But we have to work together. Thank you. Governor murphy judy, thank you. May i ask you or come in bind you with a couple of questions. Weve had 19 positives in Healthcare Facilities in the state. I believe that the denominator in terms of the longterm care facilities is 375 . Does that sound right . So thats about 5 of the total. Secondly, is it fair to say and doctor, i would love for you to disagree with me here, the getting the negatives for the first time, a window on the negatives in addition to the pure math, by definition thanks to the bully pulpit that weve all exercised the overwhelming amount of folks that have been tested are symtomatic, right . Yeah. Yeah, thats what weve been following. Theyre mostly symptomatic. I guess if theres a further piece of good news, is the asymptomatic folks are not even a part of that. And to repeat the health awaring which i want to repeat that people who are symptomatic, youre not superman. You still have to make sure youre not being contagious or whatever it is you have. You know, be smart, is that fair to say . Right. Governor murphy one last comment doctor, would you disagree with that . Two people i should never disagree with are my wife and my boss and my bosss boss. So i wouldnt disagree with that. Thats certainly accurate. We know that a lot of people out there have mild symptoms and are concerned. We know were in allergy season and it could be difficult to tell. People get nervous and go ahead and get tested as well. Were trying to reserve testing for people with symptoms. Sotto tall cases so far, bergen continues to be the highest number. This is of the total of 3,675. Bergne has 371. Second is essex 372. They are the two most populace county in the county. The bergen number continues to be 2x, the second place county which is essex. Monmouth at 288. Middlesex at 277. Andion onnow is the fifth highest at and union now is the fifth highest. I wanted to make sure you heard the overnight numbers. Ns the first overnight report with a number of new cases was not led by bergen. You had essex at 63. Middlesex at 62. Paseic at 63. So thats both good and bad news, right . So thats probably some element of Community Spread and also some reality as weve said already that a lot more people are getting tested. I dont want to pound the same, so thank you, judy for everything. And most importantly for your tireless exemplary leadership. I dont want to beat the same drum. Were going to go left to right. So give me a second but youre on deck, sir. Stage left to right, by the way. Stage left to stage right. So were going to come this way. My left. I apologize. Were at war. This is no question about it. Ive said this before. Lets remember what the ingredients were to win world war ii. Independent wasnt that we panicked. We were smart. We worked our tails off. We were proactive. We were aggressive. We had courage. Those are the elements that are going to likewise get us through this. And we will un equivocally get through this as one family, united and stronger than ever before. Dante kaluchi is on the microphone. Im not hearing any amplification out of that, sorry. James dombrowski, the post eagle. Are we seeing a decline across the state . Whats going on . Reduction in crime . Yes. Weve actually, year to date seen a 25 reduction in crime as compared to last year and an 18 decrease in shootings. My usual stays that way. Brent . One question. I know there was talk about hotels being used for quarantine. Do you know what that would look like or if thats going to happen . And then i have more questions. Keep going. Ok. Base and who the president said in recent days about the economy versus reopening the economy, can he do anything to lift that . I mean, thats going on in the state . Could he cause businesses to be reopened with federal authority . Three, theres also been discussions about people getting dying before getting positive tests back about covid19. How is that being handled . Are you concerned about numbers being off a little bit because that . And do you have a slide show . No, im good. Go ahead. Governor murphy im going to have pat address hotels. Judy will address folks who are passing before their tests. I will say the president s got the biggest bully pulpit in the world. And if the president of the United States says x, it has a huge impact. To the best of my knowledge other than exercising the federal purse strings, that is not necessarily translated into direct action. But theres a moral situation associated with the presidency of the United States that is unlike any other office in the world. I would think, and i spoke to him yesterday, he made this point to me that hes made in public now, the past number of days. He doesnt want the cure to be worst than the disease. I dont think any of us do. I do think theres a responsible way to go about that. One of the huge levers available to get that done responsibly is the action that god willing, congress is taking today. That is as if it stays in the neighborhood that i was read into by senators menendez and booker coming in here, if it stays in that neighborhood, that is a huge jolt to the economy that will allow us both to fund the aggressive healthcare steps that we need, the p. P. E. , the healthcare workers, the hospital support as well as the huge dose of mark, that was good to see you going to your arm there. Were making progress. As well as the huge dose of small business, unemployed insurance, state aid, transit hit directly into the economy. Pat, any comment on your hotels in your deliberations. By the way, the army corps is at the rock. Weve got folks embedded literally in the rock morning, noon, and night. Please. To follow up on that, the fact that fema designated a federal coordinating officer today, i met him this morning at the rock, thats a good sign for us that designation of that type is made and we trust that that will shortly lead to that declare ration that you spoke of, governor. With regard to hotels and everything is really on the table. At this juncture, theyre in the bullpen phase quite frankly as well as with college dorms, and if i could touch upon the question with regard to a body that somebody has passed away. This is not from the health world. Ill kick that to judy. Were trying to allow families to adhere to their religious, you know, ceremonies and have that done in a timely fashion in this particular instance its a a jewish victim that were really struggling to make sure that those tests get done so we can offer those families the type of support and allow them to send their loved one off as they as they should according to their religious observes. Faith leaders have been leaders have been overwhelmingly extraordinary. I had a conversation last night, one of the most consequential bridges in the state, can we work through this together . He had a dilemma with someone who had passed. The responsible behavior was overwhelming and i would say likewise on the parts of the other folks that come into contact returning that meeting that same level of responsibility and care and sensitivity. Judy, the sad reality of folks who may pass before they get tests back . Any comments on hotels or dorm rooms as well . Judy we do have them in reserve. They would be for symptomatic individuals who have tested positive with moderate symptoms that are living in close quarters at home. And should isolate but perhaps cannot, because of the living situation. A they would be housed in hotel or dormitory. It would also be for our vulnerable populations, those living in shelters, the Homeless Population. That need also to isolate and does not have a residence. Or it could be a patient that gets admitted to the hospital and is under observation, tests positive and needs to isolate for a short period of time, after their hospital stay. It would be deemed safer environment not only for that individual but for their family or their partners and loved ones. The hotel certain reserve. Are in reserve. We have got it a great response from Hotels Offering up their residences. On those that have passed that could be covid19. Because it is disproportionately vulnerable elderly population, we expect their individuals that in the last stage of their life that have passed where their primary diagnosis is not covid19. The diagnosis could be congestive heart failure. Lungonic obstructive disease, Natural Causes and they could be covid19. They will not be tested. We dont believe it will disproportionately have any impact on our statistics. Minimus minimus de at this point. Taylorrphy pastor john remind me that that hotel that in changed names and logos trenton is another example of what we are talking about for homeless, low symptomatic. In fairness to the woodbridge reality you mentioned judy earlier, in many cases those were end of life patients to begin with. Judy absolutely right. They take care of a lot of hospice patients. Renowned,y this is a the sisters, bless their hearts, over the decades have an extraordinary in taking people home for the final journal. Their final journey. Troopers testing positive. Right before i walked in, another trooper came back positive, that is four out of 196 that are training from home. Gov. Murphy four plus two. I didnt see you back there. Thank you very much. Theyou can see you say town of the county that the whitemans the wegmans is in. Monmouth county. For the commissioner can you tell us more about saint joes, the nursing home . Its not a hospice, correct. Gov. Murphy longterm care. Can you tell us more about why you would close it down . For both of the experts, the cure worse than the disease, when do you think that as experts in this field we should be allowing people to go back to regular jobs, as opposed to non essential jobs . Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, four months, when it is all gone . Im assuming when schumer you said experts you are not referring to callahan and murphy. With the sisters that called us on friday that 12 of their employees were home feeling ill with respiratory symptoms. Additionally, they have about 89 residents. Between their longterm care section and their assisted living section. I do not have the exact numbers but a number of them were exhibiting respiratory symptoms. Three of the residents had been admitted to the hospital and had tested covid19. Theuse of the individuals, employees that did not come into the sisters were working around the clock to take care of almost 90 residents. Us, i can telld you it was an extremely stressful situation. We reached out to other longterm care facilities in the region. I can tell you the collaboration was extraordinary. They were able to get nurses and aides to go in over the weekend. But it was really the sisters that called us and said, we dont think we can continue this with the employees that are ill. If they are in quarantine now for 14 days. And the in ability to get the adequate staff to give the residents the care they require and deserve. Would you help us find places for the residents to be placed . Thethats why i said ultimate result may be closure. It is not something we are mandating. But we will work with the sisters for an orderly transition. And then well continue to work with them on perhaps closure. Gov. Murphy a question of how much im going to let dr. Lifshitz answer that. Dr. Lifshitz just remember one thing can gov. Murphy were having our first intensive modeling discussion after this. We will have more on this over the coming days. Dr. Lifshitz . Me start by let saying that reasonable people can certainly disagree on the counterbalancing, the Economic Impact and social disruption versus the potential saving of human life. And certainly as a physician im going to come down more on the saving of human life the more important. Being more important. Im certainlyre, aware of the tremendous amount of disruption going on in the state right now. Goingrateful the state is ahead and doing that sort of thing because i do think it is important to save as many human lives as we can in this situation. As to how long. Arehe commissioner said we undergoing some modeling which may help give us a better idea but my real answer is this since we dont know sure how effective the measures we taking now are we have to wait and see. With to see the data coming in. What is happening with the hospitals. Whether they are getting overwhelmed or maintaining the flow. At this point, i cannot say any better than that. Besides we have to wait and see. We are too early. As has been mentioned, what we are seeing now in these numbers are not what is happening now. It was what was happening 10 days ago. Were seeing people now who were infected 10 days ago. Were too early to know exactly what we can expect to see with the response we have taken. Gov. Murphy thank you, doctor. I remind everyone we went to the most aggressive social distancing posture on saturday. Here we are in twostate. On tuesday. 014 days out from saturday, i do not know if it makes a lot of sense to interpret the data between now and then. We do not know. May i . Privilege,rsonal commissioner, give a shout out to careon. I spoke to lizzie strauss. Care one, in particular with this challenge. St. Joes, judy mentioned this, this started to unfold on friday. We discussed it privately yesterday. Its come to a boil now. And as certain personal it is, it is new jersey when in doubt, we pull together in a want to give a care one a shout out. Governor. Just a couple questions if i could. One is on the federally run hospitals coming to new jersey now. Can you give me anymore color noon how they will work . Who is going to staff those, the supplies for those in how would somebody get admitted to a Field Hospital versus a typical . Upw would somebody end there . I do have another question. Were telling the story of a 25yearold, a kid of ridge went on a ventilator who was air late about us air lifted out of state. His mom is expressing ropelike she is hitting with try to get her son treatment specifically, im going to butcher the name of the drug. The demand for the drug was overwhelming right now. I am wondering what the state is doing behind the scenes. You are talking a ton about getting morets, supplies and ventilators but is there anything you can do in terms of speeding up production of this or other treatments . Gov. Murphy is that it . For now. So, let me do the hospitals, but the experts need to weigh in. These are four, hospitals 250 beds each. This will be a big story of displacement from our currently occupied Critical Care beds into these hospitals. The speed at which this is happening is unprecedented. I want to give the president and fema huge shout out. I will leave the details to the experts. I dont want to get into the details of any particular persons situation but my family became aware of this over the past couple days, this particular person. I got involved personally last evening. And ill just leave it there. That god willing were praying for this guy. Apparently a great guy, an incredible athlete. Forcould blame his mom screening out on behalf of her son . Beyond that i believe it there. Im not smart enough to know whether or not that drug is efficacious with this current virus. That is not what im saying. In that particular case i will leave that to the experts. Judy, could you comment on the Field Hospitals . Judy each hospital will be 250 beds. We have already identified the supplies we need for the hospital. Weve identified the number of staff, the number of rns, pharmacists. Weve separated the state into three sections, north, central and south. Id weve invited the level Trauma Centers to be the coordinating entities of north, central and south. That does not mean they will be personally running those hospitals. As you mentioned staffing is difficult right now. So, we are along with the individuals at the rock and nursing agencies that we currently have contracts with and nurses that are calling up every day volunteering, were keeping lists of names. Be putting together a centralized, coordinated Staffing Agency for the lack of better term. And we are getting approvals through higher ed to College Student nurses in their last semesters. This will fulfill their clinical requirements for graduation. So, the staffing yet to be determined that we have a plan. We have a plan for what we need to do to stand up these four Field Hospitals. To promotelan collaboration originally throughout the state. With the level i Trauma Centers and have transport. Last last evening i was on the phone with the Hospital Association and all of the ceos. And we have a plan to move and increase the Critical Care complement and every hospital. A continuum of care, Critical Care to step down. The step down units become Critical Care. Med surg units will more than likely be very full. Would go patients then to the Field Hospitals. We looked at the whole continuum. And the hospitals are right now aggressively opening up every single bed they have. And we have a number of hospitals that have said, i will clear out my hospital totally. And b available to treat patientes that have covid19. We hope by the beginning of next week we will have a complete plan that well be able to share with all of you. Gov. Murphy thank you. To repeat, the location of the beee will be metal lance will metal lance, meadowlands, edison, Atlantic City and the fourth will be deployed. For commissioner essentially its about childcare. Hospitals and Health Care Center seem to have trouble with staff calling out. Do you think as part of the rve,mpt to flatten the cu new jersey should shut the childcare program, early education, states such as massachusetts and ohio have done this. Should funding be provided for childcare subsidies due to the situation and should the children of these essential personnel in these take her centers have equal access to care . Froms been some hinting you governor and commissioner that you were going to take measures in this regard. Meanwhile, part two of the question, dhs seems to be ramping up support for day care. Should these centers be shut down . Whose right in terms of this policy debate . Gov. Murphy ill give my view of this. Senator catelli he and i spoke 78. H spoke saturday night. Ive been asked this question a number of times. Stepsou put in place the that we have put in place which are as aggressive as any stay in america, you have to be mindful of the fact that we are trying not to titlt the machine so much that it falls off the tracks. And in particular when you have First Responders and have kids at home for an extended time, you are in a proverbial between a rock and a hard place. I have to say over the past number of days, assuming i can and i will speak to myself and this is not official but assuming i can be satisfied and we can be satisfied that First Responders and Health Care Workers can have their day care needs satisfied in an equitable way, im migrating toward making a decision about day care more broadly. Somebody told me 85 of day care was already shut in the state. I do not know if you have heard that number. I have no basis upon which to validate that or not. But it is pretty clear this is becoming something that is, i ourdnt say a hole in strategy because we went into this with our eyes open. We knew we could not do all of this it once but i am personally migrating toward a decision that assuming First Responders and Health Care Workers are eaking care of, that we ar going to find a way to bring this down on the other side for the for seeable future. Know nationwide i think you heard me say before, 40 of nurses are the primary caregivers or single parents. We need the nurses on the front lines. So, good childcare is an imperative. Were working with the hospitals, doing a survey. T over my phonei this morning but i have not been able to Pay Attention to it. What percentage of their workforce cannot go to work because of childcare. Were doing it by county. So that we might be able to consolidate and bring up safe, good, responsible childcare close to the hospitals so that the nurses and First Responders know that their kids are safe and secure. And they can come to work. It is a huge issue. Its something we have not, i the governor sandoval got there there. The governor say we got the re. Three parts. Homeless people. The post office. Liquor we keeping stores open and why are they considered essential . On the homeless issue, jersey city came out trying to find hotels for their population. Any concerns about covid19 getting into that population and what is it mean . Post Office People call me up last night saying they do not have any protective gear. They are still taking mail from people that come to the post office. They dont know if they have anything. Liquor stroes being considered stores being considered essential businesses to keep o pen. Gov. Murphy i appreciate everyone bunching your questions together as much as you have we had Carol Johnson, r commissioner of Human Services the other day talking about some of the programs we are putting in place for the homeless. I wont repeat what she said that there is a huge exposure. Something goes wrong in society, the folks who need government the most, the folks who are left behind are left further behind. And so, weve spent a lot of time talking to congress on Bonnie Watson coleman about this. And judy may want to add in some color on that. Post office, it seems to be a some of the reality to our retail workers at the frontlines in supermarkets. Have, obviously, there is a federal component to that. I would just repeat what i said otherur labor leaders the day that we are going to have to, until we have the amount of gear that we are going to need, masss, masks, etc. In a fashion, the fema administrator said today they were pursuing the manufacture 500 million masks. Until we get to that point, will have to be an aggressive hygiene distancing mode. I want to thank the folks at the frontlines. I think it through every night when i come home at night open the mail. I go over and wash my hands with soap. I assume, if you are in that position you are in that in a hyper way. I had a very interesting shout out yesterday from a woman who for us aroundideo my state of the state address. Shes a recovery coach. She and her daughter did a video. That highlighted different elements of our administration. Kneese was on her profusely thanking me for keeping the Liquor Stores open as it relates to just the whole addiction front. She said, that was the alternative would have been crushing for a lot of people. The concern we got, i know we had this in patterson, is it was not just whether Liquor Stores were essential or not. It was that they were becoming social gathering places or maybe even traditionally heads of social gathering places in the back room. Different of said two things here which may seem at odds with each other but are consistent. Liquorwere ok with the store staying open but we are not ok with any social gatherings. We went from infinity to 250, were now down to zero. Pat and colleagues in Law Enforcement up and down the state will enforce that aggressively. Anything you want to add on the homeless . Im repeatedly told you that the homeless are in that category. Right before i i got in the car to come here we run a Conference Call with, on sheltering for the particularly the Homeless Population. I commend them for their attention to that. It is high on her list. Carol, when she up to before you, she has suggested some of the things she was looking at. Listing,ave the line but i can assure you that the department of Human Services is very aware. Were working with department of health to make sure a, they are protected. If they show respiratory symptoms, they get tested. And taken care of. Gov. Murphy i cant remember if he were here when Carol Johnson was with us. Can you how they connect and get carol, offline we will give you some of the things. Any comments on homelessness . I am then on the phone every day with commissioner johnson just phenomenal passion. Yesterday we were on with her, the attorney general and commissioner from children and families. Yesterdays call was about the release of the 1000 inmates. That difficult decision about are they better out, if they do not have anywhere to go . We were trying to identify those inmates being released. The Wraparound Services . What we did not want them to do someone leave jail, and then overdosed on fentanyl and heroin. That is how down in the weeds we are. Up to the use of hotels and dormitories. Were pretty thankful the weather has been cooperative. It was five degrees, we would be facing more serious challenges. The murphy in newark, mayor is a strong advocate about doing comprehensive policy work around reducing our Homeless Population both here in newark and up and down the state and we had gone into this. It has gotten even more challenging overtime. Thank you. Two questions on Data Collection and hospitals. Elise young. Om first, on the Data Collection with the new order that jared maples signed yesterday, doh started collecting those numbers. If i heard correctly you mentioned the results had come from 7 labs when there are 60 . You able to get all the data you needed from those labs . Hospitals. Can you repeat how many of the cases were involved with hospitalizations. Catherines question. Does the federal bailout package do enough to address your concerns about the states ability to cover unemployment in new jersey . Do we have the resources to handle that demand . If not, what should the congress be doing. If trump urges everything to go back to normal weather new jersey regulations stay in place . Gov. Murphy this may be a window on the future of our press covers is. Up having one member of the media saying on behalf of brent. Thank you for that. Please jump in. On Data Collection i do not think we would have had the negatives today zer two days ago, it is beginning to make a difference. I use the word an imperfect window in the broader data universe. I think you did not disagree with that. The adjective in perfect. But it is a step. Have donetates that it, we know connecticut has done this. Their experience adjusted take some time for the gaps of data to close. I will leave hospitals to judy. For catherine the answer is yes, but assuming the federal number it looks like it is going to be. I do not have the numbers in front of me. This was being negotiated. This is not a final bill. Senator menendez i believe told me that Unemployed Insurance Fund was 200 an something billion. Without having done tthe math for new jersey, that feels to me for catherines question at that scale federally between what the states fund that should be enough. Listen, i understand for elise, i understand, it is not just the president. Tom friedman wrote about this yesterday. I understand given the enormity of the impact on the the economy, i i can understand folks who want to find as fast and as short a road back to normalcy as possible. I get that completely billy got a do it responsibly. We got a do it responsibly. We are not there there. We have to stay the course. We believe we are basing our actions on the fact and signs associated with the spread of this virus. You cant. Flip a switch we had begun to aggressively for m any weeks get out ahead of this but we took our most taccone and steps on saturday. Onhat it draconian steps saturday. That is only three days ago. We need a longer runway. Judy, on any of these questions but especially the one i did not answer at all related to hospitals . Judy on the testing, we think and we are getting 92 of all the test results. Otherher 8 are from one hospital lab that does not have a direct link into our data system and some smaller labs and dont have a direct link, but 92 as of this morning is pretty high and the hospital . . Can you tell me how many cases had involved hospitalizations . Have a percent occupancy. I can tell you the north jersey hospitals are pretty packed. With all types of things, but certainly impacted by patients with covid19. With the 20 attack rate, is that good or bad . Judy 27 Positivity Rate so what that tells us is that of , 27 eople we are testing are testing positive. You heard the governor say these are symptomatic patients, which means the symptoms of respiratory disease are something other than covid19. I guess you could look at that as the glass is halffull, because the majority do not have covid19. 25 , 27 ,s around that helps us with our predictions of what percentage of them would require hospitalization and what percent of the hospitalized patients require Critical Care and that brings us to how many additional beds do we need, so it is a vitally important percentage, so glad we have it. We will use it in our modeling. Here washy my big aha the more data, the better. Gratified we are getting a better picture, and we have a ways to go. Dont anybody expect we will be in a different posture the next few days. Reporter you said to be determined on whether schools would be closed the rest of the year. Can you talk about your thought process and what factors you are looking at make that decision . As you know, a few states have made that decision. Second question is coming you said graduation requirements would stay the same, about half of the kids need that test to graduate and there is still a long process to go and no schools to go to to go through that process. Can you speak any worries about whether that will make it more difficult for students . And the last is a health question, i guess a followup on the previous one in terms of data to hospitalizations specifically. Yesterday, you gave some numbers on that, 600 or so and if you could update those. John, onhy so, schools, that is a decision we just havent taken yet. I dont have any more color on that. What are we going to look to . We will probably be looking at a lot of the things we have been talking about today. I think folks should expect schools will be closed for a meaningful period of time here. Im hardly making news by saying that, but thats the case and when we have a more specific sense, i promise you will we will give it to you. Im trying to find my actual wording here. I think ie here, but said graduation requirements will not be impacted. Mistaken, so that is where i will hang my hat here we go. Sorry. Not impacton will the graduation requirement of any student. Some of those requirements are going through a portfolio process or going through an alternative test that may or may not be happening at this point . Gov. Murphy correct. My point is we will not stop kids from graduating from high decisionsause of were making about standardized testing. Mic. Your judith as of friday evening, 600e were in our hospitals and 100 positive. We dont look at that on a daytoday basis. Gov. Murphy to both of the sets of questions, though certain places that are obviously hotspots in the hospital community, holy name has been on the cover of the paper, been in the press. Our prayers continue to be with mike marron, who is battling this and their whole team, because they are really at ground zero. A municipality took it upon itself to map out positive cases in its neighborhood and order all residents, both well or sick to stock up on food and supplies for two months and for made them from leaving properties unless there was some kind of emergency and the staterder official said he would expand that order to the entire city, if necessary. Doen executive order 108, you support municipalities taking measures such as this, and from a government standpoint and Public Health standpoint, are independent orders like this one helpful or harmful . Gov. Murphy what was the community . I missed the community. It was newark. Gov. Murphy with cancer weve answered this already as it relates to newark. Orders, there is one that supersedes all others and it is ours, the state. With my consultation than others, the ability to either add to that order or take away from that order, so that is it. It is hard to say anything beyond that, but i also said mayor baraka i think it was a nots release, but most if all of what he said was consistent with what was said,. Order is thehe stayathome order so we think folks should be staying home and i think he agrees with that. You should go out only to get essentials, only to get stuff you need for your family, only going to work if you are essential. Otherwise, you are closed or working from home. Thats a fairly simple reality. I think i did say the other day we need restaurants to continue to stay open for takeout and i think the mayor understands that. Is consistent with overwhelmingly consistent with what we had sand. There is no question in terms of the executive order we have, we have to run this as one state. We cant run the risk of different rules and regulations from one community to another, and i think the mayor understands that. Hes as good a leader as they raise anywhere in the state and anywhere i know in the country. I think we ultimately are in a good place on that. Arounds real quick buzz rounds . R did you have any statistics on the number of charges or people you have arrested in the last day or so . Weve actually tasked our Regional Operations Intelligence Center and we are getting that information as for the request of the 21 attorney prosecutors. It hasnt been that high. Cases, andspecific we will in short order be able to give you a sense of what has been charged. Is that something you can just tell us at every press conference . Accidents and traffic violations are down meaningfully, not surprisingly given the number of cars on the roads. Reporter q took some action yesterday on freezing some spending. Weve heard from some school districts, should they be ready to be making changes in their budgets . As you know, theyre building budgets for the next school year. You are on the education beat. Is, to be clarified further by the treasurer, so i would tell everyone that weve last weekthe speaker and this shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone. We are trying to train our sales at a challenging time, but more details to come. Anyone else . Back, across . Reporter i just got any mail that i think it was a 30yearold man who is a mexican national. He tested positive, he was in the Bergen County jail. The Supreme Court order yesterday, does that apply to ice detainees . My guess is no and what will be done with them in terms of the release . Gov. Murphy do you have an answer for that. I would defer to the attorney general. Gov. Murphy can we follow up with either matt or the Attorney Generals Office . Thank you. Real quick, do you plan to name and shame people who have or businesses who have been price gouging and have there been reports of hospitals or Health Care Facilities unwittingly buying fake respirator masks gov. Murphy masks . Gov. Murphy on the first, i said this yesterday. Anybody who is trying to take advantage of this crisis should expect what is coming at them, because they deserve it. That ist know if naming and shaming or throwing the book at them versus half the book, but we will have no tolerance at all for people who use this crisis to somehow advance their own interests and to justify bad behavior. About 15 or 20 emails a day about people who claim theyve got some big warehouse somewhere. If only we could fork over a Million Dollars in cash upfront, theyll be happy to sell us jared knows this, some n95 masks. Have any hospitals wittingly or unwittingly judith under the pressure of trying to get ppe for their employees and keeping their employees safe to continue care, i know some hospitals have and ided to those calls also know theyve spent an awful lot of money, more than they normally would for those products. I can tell you that when they do that, i usually get a call asking for forgiveness rather than permission. I have great empathy for what they are trying to do, and i just ask that we keep our coordinated approach we have put in to keep that together, because i think it will spread. Donations and procurement to the people who needed it the most, evenly across the state. Gov. Murphy two things very briefly. You cant argue with why folks are as desperate as they are, given the heroism of the Health Care Workers and First Responders who are at the point of attack in many cases, not with the proper supply around the country, of the equipment they need to protect themselves. Secondly, to repeat something i said yesterday, weve gone from a whole series of parallel inputs on ppe and a whole series into anlel outputs hourglass on its side, where everything is coming into the one funnel on the intake and coming out in an organized fashion on the distribution side and that is making a difference. Thank you all. I want to thank the commissioner , the doctor and the entire health team. Colonel callahan, to you and yours, director maples, to all the folks. The colleague who has been here at every single press conference we have had, so thank you for always being there. Again, we will get to you in the interim, but if you dont hear from us before hand, we will be gathering tomorrow at 2 00 p. M. At the war more real in trenton. Well have judy and myself, colonel callahan and colonel park from the u. S. Army corps of engineers to talk more about bed capacity, Field Hospitals, etc. Thank you all. Housenesday, the White Coronavirus Task force provides an update on the outbreak and the federal governments response. Watch that life wednesday 5 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. The federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch congress, white house briefings, and updates from governors. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps. Watch ondemand any time, unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. South dakota governor kristi noem says she expects the Coronavirus Infection rate to reach the peak in her state in about eight weeks. She spoke to reporters about increased testing and other precautions the state was taking in response to the outbreak. Governor noem is everybody ready . I want to thank you all for coming in. I spoke with the mayors earlier today, i want to thank all of them who are stepping