For new jerseys hardest hit hospital. The States Health commissioner and the state superintendent also joined the governor to give an update on the death toll positive cases, and executive orders related to the virus. Gov. Murphy good morning, everybody. Of director of the Office Homeland Security and preparedness is in the house, and i suspect he will be joined someief counsel plotkin at point. Before we get to the daily update, late yesterday afternoon, i received a call hagen, the deputy secretary of the u. S. Department of health and humans services. He informed me that of the 395 hospitals hardest hit nationally by covid19 and which collectively will share 12 billion under the latest distribution of federal funds, 53 of those hospitals are in new jersey. Altogether, these 53 hospitals will be receiving 1. 7 billion directly from the federal government. That is the second largest amount of funding awarded only behind new york. This funding will be deposited automatically, no further paperwork required, with the hospitals in the middle of this upcoming week. Getting more critical Financial Aid to our hospitals and health systems, no one knows this more than judy, to support our Frontline Health care workers has been a constant and central part of our ongoing dialogue with our federal partners. Was beingtion negotiated, we continued to make the case and demanded at the highest levels that the breakdown of funds be needbased and that new jersey receive its fair share. I am incredibly satisfied to see this need being fulfilled, and i thank president trump, secretary azar, and there seems, and i think as well our delegation further efforts. Takenf our hospitals have , quite simply, a financial beating over the past two months, in addition to the general beating they have taken, as all of their resources have been focused on getting their staffs, everything they need, to everythingd and covid19. Patients need to be this virus. We cannot afford to lose one hospital or frankly even one nurse or doctor from one hospital. This federal funding will certainly help our Health Care Systems remain on a Firm Financial standing, and we will work closely with them to understand how these funds are being used to advance access and treatment for residents. Access is a big deal for us, and we are learning about the hard way through this crisis. Ensuring the health of our Health Care Systems is critical to our getting ourselves on the road back. When we look at metrics, we need to fall in line for us to restart and recover the health of our hospitals, one of the most vital. That is not just about bed capacity or ppe stocks, although it is about that. It is also about the ability of our hospitals to stay open, be fully staffed, and provide the levels of care that we will need for the covid19 cases we know will come as we begin to reopen our economy, our society, our businesses. This 1. 7 billion dollars will certainly help ensure that our entire Health Care System is itself healthy to join us on the road back, and again, i think our federal partners for hearing us on this critical need and for delivery. Now to the latest information on our battle for covid19 against covid19, we are 12nouncing an additional 29 positive state results right total of 123,717. They are starting to rise again, but we need to remember we do not have a complete picture of the denominator. Lets go back. Lets remember. These are folks that have been tested, as judy and ed know far better than i, that is a proxy for the folks who may be better affected or the denominator, but it is not the denominator. As we have gone from zero capability to test to having among the most robust testing of any state in america, part of it is due to infection. Certainly another part of an uptick like this is due to the fact that we simply have a lot more access to testing. We can hit the map now. This county map of new jersey continues to get lighter and lighter as the rights of the doubling of new cases continues to slow, and again, our hope is we get as many counties frankly, we want all counties, lighter 30 plus day shade. However, we will be watching these start of the coming days to see if the reopening of our parks was successful. The reports from the park personnel, state police, and local police on the ground will be a big determinant of compliance as it relates to social distancing. I dont want to get too far but the my skis, reports back from these early preliminary anecdotal, so far, so good. But these numbers will also tell a significant story. If we hear more reports of knucklehead behavior at our parks and we see the metrics we need to meet being met over the next couple of days and weeks, then we know that you all have taken to heart your responsibility, continue to take to heart, i might add. You have done and extort an area job so far in helping us mitigate this pandemic. Frankly, knowing new jerseyans, this is what we should expect. We are smart. We have all followed best practices, and together, we are flattening the curves, and we are making progress. But, and i hate to keep saying but, if we hear reports of people either taking not their health or the health of other goersowers park seriously, we will not hesitate to close them again. And if those reports are followed by spikes in the numbers of new cases and increases in the spread of covid19 over the next couple of weeks, then the action would be justified. I certainly hope it is the first of these two scenarios. I want everyone to enjoy the six ordinary week. The weather is unbelievable. But enjoy it responsible. I know we can to we will be able to move forward. Our Health Care System, as of last nights nights reporting, hospitalizations continue to drop significantly, with 5713 patients, unless you correct me, currently hospitalized for covid19. That is a drop of more than 1000 patients in one week. And across every region of the state, you can see north, central, and south, we continue to see progress with each reporting drops in the number of hospitalizations. Yesterday, you could see the south in, blue had been trending up, has begun to flatten. That is on top of the con downs we have seen come downs we have seen. Treated as and have total of 393 of our fellow new jerseyans. Stay on that for a second. Letter member, those field medical stations are not just there for this week or last week or next week, but in the likelihood that this virus comes back and bites us, heavy capacities of beds, ppes, ventilators, Health Care Workers will be very important, and that is something we look for to working with our federal partners on. There were 1715 patients reported in either critical or intensive care, and that has also trended overall downward. Not quite the same steepness of reduction, but a reduction. Ventilator use stands at 1230, and that is a decrease from yesterday. There were 370 eight new hospitalizations yesterday. That is the lowest oneday count since last weekend. Liven discharges, 525 patients were released from our hospitals yesterday, and that is the sort of trend, gap you want to see. All of the important metrics in our hospitals continue to show positive trends. We need to keep seeing these lines moving positive directions before we can put new jersey on the road back and before we are able to responsibly restart our economy. Remember, we are operating under two very simple ideals. First, Public Health creates Public Health. You can have the confidence that you need as it begins. Dates. Data determines that means as we discussed as we see the numbers unfold, we can see a better idea of a specific timetable for our restart and again, this can never and must never be only about numbers. These are precious lives we have lost to our infected or who are hospitalized, but the numbers do lead us, whether we like that are not, in either bad, less constructive directions, or of late in much more positive directions. We are the biggest determinants on that. And by the way, because the data determines dates, that is why this weekend and how we all respond is so important. So, unfortunately come even with the positive trends we are seeing, we continue to lose too many of our precious brothers, sisters, residents to covid19, and with the heaviest of hearts, we report 205 additional lives lost from among our new jersey family. Our statewide total is now 7742. Unfathomable. Lets remember a few of them right now. These are dennis and his brother ,ames or jim cricket traverso two on separable brothers from neptune. They passed away from covid19 roughly one week apart. They were renowned in neptune in monmouth county. They formed a shared love for antiques and classic cars and then in adulthood settled their families only blocks away from each other, continuing their tight bond. Train enthusiast and craftsman and was also considered nothing short of a craftsman when it came to cars. He had a daughter, tracy, and a grandson. And that is jim cricket on the right. A love on the left, had of history and made that his secondary location, as a dealer in collectibles and as a recognized specialist in antique glass. He leaves his two daughters, denise and margaret, with whom i had the honor of speaking yesterday afternoon and heard so much about their dad and their uncle. He also leaves behind six grandchildren and one great grandchild. Two was a bond between brothers that even death cannot break. We wish them and their families peace. God bless them both. Look at those two guys. Bless them. Speaking of a couple, heres another one, charles and oradell. Mylod from charlie and betty. They were married for 55 years and passed within 48 hours of charlie was an army veteran and a programmer for ibm. He was also a lifelong baseball fan, first of the brooklyn dodgers, and then, unspeakably, of the giants. And as we know, the dodgers were the first ones to leave brooklyn for california, that was kept quiet while the giants formed their deal, because Major League Baseball needed two teams out there, i only wish i could speak with charlie and understand how he migrated from the dodgers to the giants. Betty, a nurse for 50 years, by the way, was a yankee stalwart. They were both from new york but settled where they raised their three sons, charlie, junior, with whom i had the honor of speaking yesterday, eddie, and john, and the assistant Coach Little League baseball. Both were active in the life of st. Josephs church in oradell. As a couple, they leave their sons and seven grandchildren. Charlie leaves behind eight brothers and sisters, and that he leaves a brother. They also leave so many friends. This is a tremendous love story. Eddie, and john and their families, to lose charlie and betty in such close proximity together is indescribable. May god bless them and each and every member of the family. And finally, this is inglewoods leonard trugman, sitting with his wife of 55 years, reva, with whom i had the honor of speaking yesterday, who, by the way, is also being treated for to covid19. I am knocking on wood, so far, so good, and bless her. Leonard was a writer and worked in business before settling into a teaching career, first at the city college of new york where he also studied engineer. Leonard would earn an mba from Fairleigh Dickinson and was even halfway through a phd at the Stevens Institute of technology, where he, by the way, also taught. Member of theong temple of israel in ridgewood, a , andre of Shabbat Services he love the state of israel, visiting 17 times during his lifetime. He was also a veteran sports fan. In addition to his beloved reva, we also keep in our prayers, he leaves his son jonathan and daughter robin and their families, including five grandchildren. He also leaves behind his sister barbara. May his memory be a blessing to all. Friends, and neighbors who we have lost are the reason why we cannot rush our restart. We have lost so many already to covid19, and we know, sadly, tragically, we are going to lose more, but if we are reckless, we will lose not just more but many more beyond that. We know that will happen if we are not smart and if we are not responsible. We have to learn from everything we report here, day to day. We have to learn from the data and from the trendlines that are pushing us in a good direction at the moment, but we also have to learn from the thousands of lives that we have lost. We have to learn that covid19 is real, it is verlander, and it is indiscriminate and who it takes from us, so lets keep doing this together. We can keep pushing these curves down, and when we do, we know we will have fewer and you were lives tohave fewer have to remember, because we will keep more of our family with us. Lets do this and make this weekend the point at which we realize we were ready to begin the process of our recovery. As i have said here before from time to time, and we all know this, you will know this, life goes on in this state. Deaths, other developments that have come in many cases, nothing whatsoever with covid19. As allconsuming as this is, we also know there is a life, and we lost two lives of people i knew over the last couple of days, and i want to acknowledge them briefly. First, union beach mayor paul smith. Paul was a really good guy. I spoke with his wife, sharon, yesterday, and she said, i agree, i am not too far from union beach down a middle team, he was union beach. He not only was the mayor, he was union beach. He was a friend. He won his election, i recall, by 71 and 61 , i forget which order. Read a 5k. He was gracious as we hosted a Sandy Memorial event with our two great senators, senator menendez and senator booker, and mayor smith hosted those he passed, unrelated to covid19. She was a lindy, giant, even though she was only four foot 11, as her husband reminded me. She was incredibly passionate about jewish causes, about causes related to the state of israel. A speech i gave at the u. N. A few years ago. She was president of the new jersey poetry society, and most importantly, she was a wife, a mom, a grandmother, and a greatgrandmother. God bless each of them and all of the lives we have lost. I have one quick announcement. Today i have signed extending the order of statutory guidelines that will be difficult to meet due to the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, the department of Environmental Protection is required to act on construction permits, including development in coastal areas and wetlands within 90 days, or the permit is deemed approved. This order will assure that dep has the necessary time to get the information it needs to make fully formed informed, rather, decisions. Before i turn things over to judy, i want to highlight a couple of people in our state who deserve a shout out. First up, 13yearold, there he is, James Freeman of monro township and middlesex county. Like many kids his age, his parents give him an allowance for doing his chores around the house, and certainly there has been no lack of those with everyone staying at home, but instead of pocketing his allowance money, james has been using a to buy filament for his 3d printer, which has been turning out your guards to make wearing a mask more comfortable, and he has so far made and donated 500 of them to Health Care Workers, First Responders, and essential workers. And james has even turned down offers to turn down money. He is doing this all by himself, one chore at a time. So to you, james, new jersey thanks you, and i hope your Community Spirit never, ever, ever dims. Headecond, we are going to to passaic county, where the spirit of giving back, celebration during the holy month of ramadan, is fueling the holy work of smile for charity in the Islamic Center of passaic county, among many other partners come i want to give out to partners, i want to give a shout out to you the Islamic Center and all of their brothers and sisters. Smiles for charity have been putting together food packages for 500 homes across the area, more than four times the usual need, helping to make sure that no family goes hungry. So to smile for charitys cofounder, passaic city councilman and friend salin p the countlessf volunteers keeping families fed, new jersey thanks you. And again, to all of you who are doing the right thing, and there are millions of you, i also thank you. Again come on this beautiful godgiven day we have got, lets make sure we have a good weekend and a safe weekend. Lets make sure we can keep our parks open for us to enjoy and that we can take the other steps we will need to take to responsibly reopen our state sooner than later. With that, please help me welcome the woman who needs no introduction, the commissioner of the department of health, persichilli. Commr. Persichilli thank you, governor, and good afternoon. We have seen a decrease in hospitals asians with a decrease of 4 of the daily rate. Since the peak, we have seen a 41 decrease in hospitalizations in that region. Aer that same period, we saw 26 percent decrease in hospitalizations in the Central Region. However, we continue to see increasing hospitalizations in the south, with some leveling off over the past two days. Hospitals are starting to transition from what we call crisis standards of care to standard operations. Crisis standards of care are situations where clinicians practice in extreme circumstances with scarce resources, like staffing, personal protective equipment, and ventilators. As hospitalizations decreased and intensive care beds and medical surgical beds have capacity, our hospitals are returning to standard procedures. Despite the increase in patients with covid19, our hospitals have treated almost 60,000 noncovid patients during this timeframe, since april 1. 90 of them returned home safely. 8 went to an alternative care setting, and 1 expired. This, ourl of hospitals remain true to their allion, to safely care for who come through their doors. Iere are, however, as reported, reports from across the country and here in new jersey that people are delaying care, specifically emergency care. That is why the new jersey president ,sociation kathy bennett, and i have done a Public Service announcement you will be seeing on social media over the next week. It will be telling new jersey resident