So so are you Dave Cut me out here Our protocol is has been that we're gonna uh when were in any setting with more than a modest amount of folks We're gonna where Our masks and including for press conferences both coming in and leaving Uh and we'll continue to do that We just had a V T C with White House and Judy and Pat and Senator Booker who's gonna be with us in a minute was with us And you know we were massed for the entirety That attic Except we were speaking Speaking of Senator Booker here he is Hello sir Um and so uh maybe I'll drink to sit with the top here for a few minutes just now That won't stay Um we're gonna follow that protocol And so we were in any any meetings of any significance and were packed in or were big halls We will adhere to that So good afternoon I'm sorry We're a little bit behind today It was largely due to a I think a very productive call with White House on Senator And Judy and Patkin can weigh in here honored today to be with the woman of my right Who needs no introduction The Commission the Department of Health Judy Person Kelly to my far left state the police Superintendent Colonel Pat Callahan and to my far right the director of the Office of Innovation Beth Novak And again I'd like to extend a special particular welcome to Senator and dear friend Cory Booker Senator Great to have you with us Well hopefully get a minute or two to discuss the federal response I was honored on Friday I believe to tour the days were running one of the next the field medical station in Secaucus at the Meadowlands Exposition Senator And I think uh Senator and I are trying to line up our schedules to do the same Senator Booker and I on Wednesday for the field medical station in Edison New Jersey s so honored to have you uh Senator God bless you again We were just on the vtc with each other together A couple of folks in the audience The director the Department of Homeland Security Uh Mr Jared Maples Cory Booker's chief of staff Mack Clapper Dear friend is with us and the medical director of the communicable disease service Normally sits up here with us I apologize that nothing personal at the Department of Health Doctor Ed Lifshitz in and Ed in particular will be here to answer any questions you may have on the epidemiological front You did but Ed was very gracious about it Um as we have been doing of late and will continue to do Let's get to the The number's up front and they as usual of late have been sobering Since yesterday we have received another 3663 positive test results That brings the statewide total to 41,000 and 90 again 3 3663 as you could see new test positive test results bringing the statewide total of 41,000 and 90 on And sadly we must also report another 86 deaths due to cove it 19 complications And with these are statewide total has now eclipsed 1000 It sits now at 1000 and three again each one of these blessed souls Blessed lives We pray and mourn with their families and friends and uh and God rest them all As you know since the end of the week Our flags around the state have been in half mast in whatever symbolic but I have to say is well substantive and heartfelt tribute to these lives lost I also wanna celebrate for a minute Four of the lives that were lost literally just learned not many moments ago The passing of a good friend Jersey City Councilman Michael Youn I had literally exchange notes with Michael probably about not not more than a week ago Look at that guy with that bow tie He was a respected leader not just in Jersey City but in how Hudson County a good man a great professional a terrific husband Father Grandfather We stand with Jersey City and with Hudson County in mourning his loss We send our deepest prayers and thoughts to his family an outstanding public servant and a really really good guy Colette le Moth Gala She was most recently a senior program officer at the Nicholson Foundation but she is remembered fondly by so many of her many years for so many of our many years at the New Jersey Department of Health Kuti is you know Colette was raised in Newark educated at Yale and dedicated her life to eliminating health disparities and improving the health and well being of vulnerable populations Across New Jersey She was a prominent voice in both population health and environmental justice Policy Fact She was working with my wife first lady Tammy Murphy in the search for solutions to our are more mortality infant and maternal mortality crisis among African Americans She will be sorely sorely missed that she was loved by so many God bless you Colette Daisy Dorine Adora Nilla Uh look at Daisy Bless her She served as a nurse at the Hudson County Correctional Center for more than 20 years and we lost Daisy yesterday morning She was a single mom She lived in Nutley for many many years She was a proud member of District 11 99 j After me and I was back and forth with Soup Cleary its leader yesterday morning Daisies lost I spoke yesterday with Daisy's daughter Denise and came away with a deep appreciation for how much she gave to her family In her community again A heroic health care worker Single mom a blessed soul in a life Life lost How about Susan Sick Ella She was a registered nurse there Susan for 37 years working at both Clara Mass Medical Center in Northern State Prison She was also a wife Her husband Stephen works for the state medical examiner's office a mother a grandmother and aunt and a sister In fact here she is holding her first grandchild Justin Her loss will be felt by so many in our hearts and deepest sympathies and prayers Again with her family they joined the souls we have already memorialized including Yesterday and Social media We hawk and finance director longtime Board of Education member Rich Barsa in Ha Vieira Rodriguez Javi was a member of the child Study team a Beckton regional high school Every single one of them named and unnamed was a cherished member of our New Jersey family in everyone will be remembered and never for gotten I know these numbers can be scary Seeing the faces we have lost makes all this all the more real I think for each of us but we cannot give in to fear or sadness and we must resolve to continue our fight together to crack the back of this crisis and flatten the curve so we have fewer and fewer lives lost and friends to mourn And we could do this We're now two weeks into our most aggressive push for social distancing I know it feels much longer by the way for all of us Trust me we all up here feel that too But we have to do this We have no choice We have to take it seriously and we have to bat 1000 pat will Before we turn to questions and answers Pat will give us a quick overnight compliance update Well we began our first discussions for responded to this emergency as far back as January Well more by the way than a month before our first case of Cove it 19 was ever confirmed We knew that our best chance of getting out in front and staying in front would require a data driven approaches have said many times before and Beth embodies this Judy and her team embody this We are in Moneyball operations We think if you get the highest quality data and you make your decisions based on the data you make the right decisions Ultimately we would not leave anything to chance or rely on anecdotal evidence to the very best of our abilities We knew that only an objective fast bait fact based And as I said Moneyball approach would get us through this And it is through this approach that are aggressive stance on social distancing has taken shape That's an important point to note here We didn't just pick social distancing because it seemed like it might be a good idea to try We did it based on the fax based on historical in current fax with great help from Beth and her team through the Office of Innovation And I want to give a particular shot up toe Lakshmi Super Main Ian in partnership as well is as well as in partnership with Judy and her team of the Department of Health We have built a strong bless you modeling program that we can use with great and increasing confidence So today as I predicted over the past few days well we've been together I would like to share some of that data with you and what we could see together is that while we're not anywhere close to being out of the woods as of yet we're clearly on the right path to get there So here goes The first slide for example shows the progressive rise in the total number of positive test results As I have said many times before we fully expect these numbers to rise to the levels They're rising too and we expect them to go higher However what we're seeing in real time and over the past week is a decline in the growth rate of new cases from 24% day over day on March 30th to roughly 12% today This means that our efforts to flatten the curve are starting and I say starting to pay off even with lag time in getting testing results back from the labs There may still be anomalous days with spikes and troughs and we've seen them already But the overall curve that we fit into the data is beginning and I say beginning and I use that word again cautiously beginning to flatten Our job now is to keep flattening it to the point where our day over day increase is not just 12% but zero that brings us to our second slide The shadowed line shows us where we would be had we done nothing had we allowed for business as usual The second line below shows us our trajectory If everyone relaxed their social social distancing and stop staying at home so you could see the big uptick there that's projected infections And for those of you may not be able to see that that is approximately Beth Three million infections Am I right I believe that's three million and you could see the opportunity to be meaningful E under that Ah if we keep doing the social distancing the range remains wide and it remains uncomfortably high at the high end But it is assuming we continue this social distancing and that's the key by the way it remains meaningful e even at the high end below the numbers at which we had done or for which we have done nothing again If we continue to practice ourselves social distancing if we continue to practice smart hygiene if we continue staying home unless we absolutely need to go out or are needed to get get to an essential job we could stick ourselves much more toward the curves on the bottom And if we do we get to the peak of that flatter curve much more quickly which means we could drop down the other side of that curve much more quickly as well again At a minimum the peak between the lower curve in the upper curve is a 420,000 between those two bottom curves rather plus positive cases that we can prevent This should be all the incentive we need to keep doing exactly what we're doing Because this is not a game It is in every sense and we've seen it already two starkly a matter of life and death So this is projected infections Let's go to the next slide We don't have a terrible we don't have a lot of them This is projected hospitalizations and is Judy said this is the one that she lives with Um this is again projected hospitalizations under a couple of different scenarios If we keep if we keep our current practices we could get through the peak with the hospital beds that were preparing the new wings the reinstated buildings the field medical stations It will be tough and it will be stressful but our health system can get through this intact However if we relax our social distancing and we put ourselves on the higher curve We will overwhelm the system to the point that all of our contingency plans and then some will need to go into effect Our health care system will be overrun with a surge four times what it could be That is a nightmare scenario on a good day But in a sustained pandemic such as this it would be literally disastrous We already are doing all that we can and turning over every stone to uncover every end 95 mask every set of gloves every face shield every piece of peopie along with every ventilator we could possibly mobilize We have a tough enough job as it is on the lower curve by the way but we believe fully that we can make it given our rate of peopIe acquisition However if you all stop if we stop with our social distancing and we go to that higher curve than it is not only your life that it is in much more danger because of lack of supplies but it will also mean that our medical personnel and our first responders will be in that much more danger as well Our goal is to not just have the PP and ventilators we need although that is a huge goal But to get them to where they will be most needed in the coming days In coming weeks one more slide for you This slide shows us the That's sorry That's the PP needs I just went through and I want to keep if you could uh these This slide shows us the next one mon shows us currently where those of you which zip codes were currently those of your visiting cove in 19 dot NJ dot govern taking our self assessment are reporting from and as of this morning this self assessment has been used nearly 200 and now 9000 times So this is not the easiest to read but the county's The ZIP codes were in counties per sec Middlesex to in Middlesex too and Hudson 1/3 in Passaic and one in Somerset Those are the most often self reports right now From these self reports we could get an early snapshot of where cove it 19 symptoms are beginning to be exhibited and with greatest frequency these are the potential hot spots that we're currently tracking so we could begin to assess our future equipment and peopIe distribution needs Our goals from Day one had been twofold One is to flatten that curve and to give our health care system the ability to withstand the onslaught and to ensure that the equipment and pee pee or front line responders need gets to where it's needed most efficiently And before there's a crisis thes modeling scenarios which Beth and her team and Judy and hers are constantly updating Our how we meet these twin challenges I say constantly updating literally These models tomorrow will look differently than they look today and they look differently today than they did yesterday It's how we save lives and it's how we ensure that will come out of this sooner and that we come out of it as we know we will Stronger Together we could all take some pride in the work that we've done so far The curve is flattening but this is no time to spike any footballs or to take our foot off the gas Even if the curve is flatter we still have a week and 1/2 to go At least until we hit the peak This is not over and not by a long shot are charged to you Remains the same Keep social distancing Keep washing your hands Keeps staying indoors Keep being smart Stay at home Now if I may switch gears before we hear from Senator Booker and make a couple of announcements first Today I'm signing an executive order to allow retired public employees to return to work in whichever capacity they can to help us throughout this emergency without impacting their pension status Right now we need all the experienced help we can get whether it be retired law enforcement officers returning to duty or nurses who can return to University Hospital or folks who could help staff the Labor Department's unemployment insurance phone lines And we need to remove any roadblocks that can keep them from service on testing a reminder that both the Bergen Community College and PNC Bank Arts Center drive through sites which were running in partnership with FEMA are operating still on a staggered basis Tomorrow April 7 on Lee the Bergen Community College site will be open in the PNC Bank Arts Center site will be open then on Wednesday April 8th Each site opens at 8 a.m. and it operates until it reaches its capacity of 500 tests You must be both a New Jersey resident and you must be exhibiting symptoms of respiratory illness to be tested across the state There were 15 other publicly run inaccessible testing sites These could be found by going on covert 19 dot NJ dot gov slash testing However there are many more sites being run by hospitals or other private sector partners that are not listed If you believe you are showing Corona virus symptoms please call your primary care practitioner right away and they can assess you And if you meet the standard for testing they could direct you where to go to get a test Last count According to Brady O'Connor we had 47 testing sites around the state and again we have a symptom self assessment at covert 19 dot NJ dot gov along with a wealth of other information Resource is I want to thank the men and women of the I B W Ian letter giving it a shot up in is their state political director who made a donation of much needed pp and 95 masks and type of gloves jackets and booties so I b w we say thank you A couple of other updates spent a fair amount of time both last night and this morning with colleagues fishing with our fishing lines out for peopIe in places as far flung as the PRC the Philippines Taiwan and Israel I had a very productive session this morning with Bob Garrett and his senior medical team and Hackensack Meridian both to thank them for their efforts and for them to update me what they're seeing on the front lines including things like converting cafeterias in tow hospital wards and a lot of other really good work As I mentioned Senator Booker and I along with Judy and Pat we're just off of a very productive VTC with the vice president Um you know he and I were on the phone both Saturday and Sunday We've already said this publicly We got another 500 ventilators yesterday to 50 patter with us in another 2 50 or arriving later today I believe we also heard which is terrific news today that FEMA will extend its partnership with the state for the two testing sites at Bergen Community College and PNC Bank Arts Center until the end of May May 31 So that was a huge lift of burden off of us We thought that for a moment or two that may have ended earlier I want to thank Senator Booker and our congressional delegation for helping us make that case as clearly as it was made Um we are going to have Department of Defense medical personnel with us beginning tomorrow and Pat may want to give you a little bit of detail on that again I want to thank the senator and our congressional delegation and I just got off the phone literally with the presidents of the details of this our early But we had asked if we could have New Jersey Could have access to a piece of the beds that are on the U S And s comfort in the president came back called me a short few minutes before I walked in here to say indeed they would grant that to New Jersey So that's a big step for us In addition to all the other capacity that news is lily hot off the press and I think the president and vice president were on the call together before I close I want to take a moment to salute some of the folks around our state who are digging deep to help us get through this emergency Yesterday on Twitter I gave thanks to Pen Sorkin's Sean and Jeffrey Jones the operators of tailored tutoring who are providing free help to kids who were learning from their homes as well as the craft distillers across our state And there are many who have turned to producing hand sanitizer that they're distributing the local residents and public health and safety workers Today I want to put a spotlight on Earth Angels for Dementia a nonprofit based in May's landing Atlantic County that provides service is and support to caregivers who are helping residents and families living with dementia Now they're turning their focus to helping those fighting cove it on the front lines covert 19 on the front lines by providing free meals to our public health workers and first responders Right now these folks are working harder than ever and we need to make sure they have the energy to keep up with this ever shifting landscape If you'd like to sponsor a meal for some of South Jersey zeros please visit Earth Angels for dementia dot org's That's Earth Angels for dementia dot or GE and I can't thank you enough And by the way if you have a hero out there and you want us to know about it check out hashtag NJ Thanks you hashtag n j Thank you Let us know if somebody is making a difference in your life right now And we would love nothing more than speaking about them not just the individuals in the organization's Nor can I thank you all enough for all the things everybody out there is doing that we need you to do in your communities everywhere Your families your friends your neighborhoods were working as one family should We're looking out for each other and we're supporting each other in the best way we're doing That is by practicing social distancing How crazy is that We're here for each other by being not near each other but we've talked about this before There's a bond There's something bigger than each of us in all of us that we are establishing here in New Jersey like never before And I'll bet like nowhere else in our country don't be lulled again into thinking that we have We can hit our peak early if we can indeed achieve those best case scenarios Curves I talked about that Things go back right away to the way they used to be It will be several weeks beyond that at least as we ride that downward curve So we all have to stay disciplined And remember it's a marathon not a sprint in your frustration your lack of patients your anxiety We understand it completely We get it But the only way we whip this is to stay doing what we're doing Staying home Stay in smart doing all the things we've talked about in terms of how we win wars We could do this where New Jersey were used to doing the impossible God bless you all And thank you with that Please help me Welcome An extraordinary fighter for our interests as a councilman as a mayor is a U S Senator is a guy with a life story unlike any that I know Please help me Welcome Senator Cory Booker Thank you Very much Governor I really appreciate you and I appreciate your whole team Uh this has been a remarkably challenging time but I've got to witness up close three incredible really greatness of the governor and his extended team The King Martin Luther King was assassinated Anniversary of assassination was just this past weekend He taught us to the effect that it's not where you stand in times of comfort and convenience It's times of challenge and trial and difficult that you really do get to see the true character of individuals And it's been a privilege for me as a child of New Jersey to see at this time of our greatest most unprecedented challenge that we are fortunate enough to have a governor and the team that he's surrounded with We know now where he stands I've got to see him at all hours of the day and night in the midst of this crisis and I want to thank him and his team They have been It's been an honor of mine and my team toe work so closely with them before I start with some of my prepared points that I want to go through Um I do wanna reiterate some of the things the governor said about my past I have been a no elected leadership During 9 11 I was an elected leadership during Hurricane Sandy a za councilman as a mayor respectively Those were difficult and tragic times but it might seem odd for me to say they were times in my life where I saw the best of America and frankly the best of New Jersey In times of tragedy of loss of life of destroyed homes and businesses we are state that constantly defines ourselves as being a fate that comes together We show that we are Jersey strong during those times of challenges and as the mayor of this of our state's largest city Even when it wasn't a tragedy a national emergency I saw the capacity of this state's compassion and empathy and action whether it was the fallen officer or firefighter or whether it was shooting victim or a house fire I've seen the ability of our state to respond to darkness with overwhelming light and brilliance This now is one of those times of unprecedented challenge where we are in the depths of a crisis that will endure for weeks on and it is a time that calls for all of us to demonstrate the best of who we are as we face this difficult time I want to thank all of those heroes in our state on the front lines in the trenches every day from people who are putting themselves and their families in fact at risk because they're willing to sacrifice for others That vulnerability as the writer burn a brown teaches us is the necessary ingredient for true courage and we see that kind of courage and hear her heroic nature in our state Yet again I do want to say something Is the governor so rightfully acknowledged the loss of life that we in this period of crisis and that our state leaders and folks meeting this challenge or dealing with a frenetic pace of activity I do want to remind for the mental health of our state that we cannot trample upon this time of grief For so many New Jerseyans this is a time off pain and hurt as there are people were losing their parents and their grand parents and their siblings and their family members There are also people who have put their entire lives decades over years into building up their dream a business or some kind of nonprofit that now see the clouds darkening and the potential of the unimaginable loss This is a time that we should be present with our pain and our grief and be present for each other That is not a sign of weakness In fact that only will add to our grit and greatness This is going to be a very challenging time and he's coming Weeks will be a true test of who we are and I I want to encourage us as we are isolated from each other Let's still be present with one another As we talk about social distancing let's still reach out to one another That more than ever is going to be critically necessary I am proud that in this time of challenge we have seen a lot of bipartisan work and watching the governor and the vice president engaged today only demonstrates our commitment to people and not to politics And as a result of that some good things have come from a bill The care is act which I am proud of It's an in perfect bill doesn't have everything in it that I would want But I want to highlight some things that have come through and frankly highlight some things that are still development The first and perhaps one of the greatest concerns that we hear about is just the unemployment benefits for New Jerseyans We're seeing unprecedented record numbers of unemployment claims and I want to make a few things quickly Uh if you could At critical points is Number one We have expanded the length and duration of unemployment benefits and those who are eligible Right now the amounts themselves have increased and there'll be an additional $600 in emergency unemployment relief for the next four months This bank's means that New Jerseyans also might not have been eligible are now eligible for unemployment insurance So do not just assume that the old rules apply There are now qualifications If you are self employed a gig economy worker independent contractor like ride share drivers all of those are now eligible for unemployment insurance AndMe or federal officials are being called up to work in the Department of Labor to deal with this surge There's obviously long waits but your resource is that you get Yesterday the Department of Labor released updated guidance to states for implementation of the pandemic unemployment insurance and one of the things we should knows that the guidelines the new guidelines being written will provide up to 39 weeks of benefits to quote those who qualify again A new expanded qualification pool and something that I hope can reassure some people is that those payments are retroactive for weeks of unemployment starting on or after January 27th 2020 So while my may take you a little time to get through and get those benefits they are retroactive back to January Should you should you qualify And that's very important A lot of folks are asking about those direct payments and this bill includes direct cash payments I was fighting for larger cash payments and form or frequent cash payments something that we can go back to in the next bill But for now 80% of NEWJERSEY families 80% of NEWJERSEY families qualify for these direct cash payments And as we heard directly from the secretary of Treasury and the vice president today is they are intending that those first direct cash payments will go out the week of April 13th That's next week Those direct cash payments should start going out for people who have direct deposit information already on file with the government And so that again is the vast majority of New Jerseyans will get up to $1200 for individuals $2400 for couples plus an additional $500 for child That's up to people earning about $75,000 as individuals and 100 and $50,000 is couples And those payments will phase out for people up to $99,000 for individuals and double that If you filed a tax return in 2018 or 2019 you do not need to do anything to receive that benefit And for Social Security represents recipients You do not need to take any additional action but you can go again to my website booker dot senate dot gov slash corona virus to find out information about anything that I'm talking about but also critical information about those cash payments If you're concerned about whether that you will receive them or not And then finally the biggest area that we're getting people reaching out to me about is that the bill includes an additional $10 million available per small business in New Jersey and nonprofit that's includes churches and religious organizations that have less than 500 people can get what's called the new paycheck protection program enough to $10,000 in Small Business Administration s B A emergency grants for small businesses This is a considerable opportunity for a lot of businesses were still rating some rules and guidance on this But the program is already starting to get up and going and I encourage folks again to visit my website for more information or the S B A's website and where the governor and I already talking about trying to make sure we find ways through our offices to streamline that because these are a resource is to our small businesses helping people keep folks employed It will bring people back on toe work as well as um frankly help make sure that when our economy needs to pick back up after the governor sees fit to begin relaxing rules many weeks from now that we have businesses that can get going full stop I want to say that there's many other aspects to this bill that bring critical a tow our state billions and billions of dollars including flexible dollars for our state government as a whole toe operate money going to the localities community development block grant money going out But every single county every single county in New Jersey will have streams of revenue that will be helping them their localities or individuals This was a very generous bill on many fronts and something that I believe could help a lot of New Jerseyans right away I want to say finally that we are going to be looking towards a Kobe for me Senator Menendez and the entire New Jersey delegation or already in talks that we anticipate Maur will have to be done Comments to that effect have been made from the speaker of the House all the way to the White House themselves and I want folks to know that my priorities are in working with the governor are gonna be to make sure that we get Maur Resource is for our municipalities or county governments and our state governments We want to make sure that direct payments to New Jerseyans that we Seymour direct payments going and we're gonna be fighting for future payments We also want to make sure that a lot of New Jerseyans who are worried about health coverage overall there are 25 plus 1,000,000 Americans that do not have health coverage including hundreds of thousands here in New Jersey And we want to make sure that we are getting Maur Resource is to them And I have called upon the president to specifically make sure that we expand the enrollment period here in New Jersey and nationally for people that do not have health insurance that we do the common sense thing to expand enrollment in the Affordable Care Act The Governor Murphy has ad come on board on my request along with Senator Menendez to make sure that we open a special enrollment period The Trump Administration right now has decided against reopening it But really my question for the President is if you were not gonna open up health insurance enrollment during a health care crisis that has killed close to 10,000 Americans including over 1000 New Jerseyans then what are you waiting for there are many New Jerseyans that have underlying health conditions from diabetes to respiratory concerns that this puts them at even higher risk folks who worry that they might not have the resource is to cover the medical expenses We need to take that fear and insecurity off the table I asked the president United States to make a decision what he can do to ensure that all Americans who want health insurance can get it through the enforceable care act It is these issues and others that my office will continue to fight for on again if you need to reach out to me or my team Our office we have people all over the state are ready to answer questions or concerns Please visit my website but I will finally just say T what the governor said Our strength ultimately lies with each other Our ability to come together to stand together toe work together In the state of New Jersey there is no crisis As we've seen throughout American history There is no crisis greater than who we are as a people and now more than ever we need to demonstrate that strength that unity now We're seeing that already And I am grateful to the people of New Jersey for your continued grit You continued courage and continued strength God be with us as we continue to work through this very difficult time Thank you Governor Thank you Senator Thank you for your fierce advocacy on our behalf That cares Act makes a big difference for our state It's not The final step is you rightfully pointed out We need a lot more helpful but it's a step in the right direction on that same video call I stressed And I know you support this the most The maximum flexibility in terms of payments to states We need as much latitude as possible so we can continue to be there for folks who are sick or lost their jobs or small businesses But thank you for everything for it you've done or what you will do Bless you with that May I introduce the woman on my right Who needs no introduction The commissioner of the Department of Health Judy persecuting Thank you governor And thank you Senator Booker Um as I've mentioned previously the department has been a modeling impacts on our hospitals Ah by this epidemic on a daily basis The tool that we have presented Thio to you It's called Chime It's developed by Penn Medicine and it's focused on the impact of the surge on hospital in Resource is today We looked at a model ah that indicate similar to time that the next two weeks we will see significant activity in our hospitals As the governor shared predictive modeling relies on several inputs Ah the impact of social distancing heaven that was implemented in New Jersey over a series of steps just about 14 days ago The number of positive cases reported daily Ah the number of cases in our hospitals and their length of stay by critical care and also by medical surgical beds and along with the number of positive cases and cases under investigation All of those inputs help us to predict the need for resource is and hospital beds You may also be aware of one developed by the University of Washington Um they developed a model It's published online Many people have seen it It's published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation It's designed again specifically to address planning needs of hospital administrators and local government governments And that is the model that you may see The Corona task force of the White House using these types of models are projections They're based on available data and assumptions on they are helpful in planning both for bed capacity and the distribution of resource is well I'm sure by now you're asking or are we prepared Uh after reviewing three or four different models Are we prepared Well you know that our hospitals have been working to double their critical care capacity We are aggressively working toe open alternate care sites which include the field medical stations closed hospitals empty long term care facilities closed rehab building sites closed wings of existing hospitals and also hotels Today we have identified and we're standing up over 26,000 care spaces That's in addition to the additional space is that I know the hospital's air standing up and in addition to the available beds the governor just reported from the US comfort Additionally we're not included in that number are the number of hotel rooms that we will be able to house recovering individuals We know these these resource is will be greatly in need as the cases continue to increase in our state as the governor mentioned were reporting 3663 new cases for a total of 41,090 cases in the state On the screen you'll see the dashboard which is available on the Department of Health website sadly were reporting 86 new deaths 14 deaths were from Essex County 11 each from Bergen and Passaic County's nine from Ocean Seven each from Middlesex and Union five each from Hudson Mars in Somerset counties for from Monmouth County 34 Mercer County two from Sussex and one each from Kate May and Warren County's And we're still determining the county of residence for one additional death 15 of these new deaths were residents of a long term care facility So we now sorrowfully report 1000 and three fatalities in our state and we offer our sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones The breakdown of the 100 of the 1003 cases are as follows 60% are male 40% or female The age range 1% under 30 years 6% 30 to 49 years 16% 50 to 64 years 32% 65 to 79 years and 45% or 452 of the cases over 80 years of age We are now collecting information by race 33% of the reported cases are white 12% black or African American 2% Asian 7% other And we are still searching our records for 449 or 45% of the cases we are reporting on our dashboard Ah the underlying conditions 399 of our cases do have underlying conditions Those conditions are reported as 12% diabetes mellitus 20% cardiovascular disease 4% cancer 7% chronic renal disease 8% asthma emphysema or COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 10% other chronic conditions The county breakdown of the new cases is as follows Atlantic 10 Bergen 570 Burlington 99 Camden 90 Cape May 8 Cumberland Tenn S 6 369 Gloucester 30 Hudson 340 121 Mercer 71 Middlesex 299 Mom with 178 Morris 122 Ocean 187 Passaic 419 Salem three Somerset 51 saw 6 24 Union 419 and Warren 19 And we are still gathering more details on 324 of the new cases today there have been nearly 84,768 tests performed with 36,826 positives which equates to a percent positivity rate of 43.44% Ah 159 of our long term care facilities in the state have at least one documented coded 19 positive case we are calling today as we sit here There is a team of people calling every long term care facility or assisted living or dementia home to determine their adherence to our directive to notify their residents Staff and relatives of the residents of an outbreak in their facility were also reporting today The three of our state's five developmental centers have at least one resident who have tested positive for covert 19 and sadly there has also been one death associate ID with a developmental center resident The individual was in his eighties at high risk and passed away in a hospital As you know CDC recommended the use of cloth face coverings in community settings to help reduce the spread of cove in 19 I want to remind everyone that individuals should be careful not to touch their eyes nose and mouth when we moving your face covering individuals should do the following When using a face covering put the cloth face cover on using clean hands Put the cloth face cover on with ear bands or straps and avoid touching the front of the cloth Face cover especially if it has been used already for the day Clean your hands first with hand hand sanitizer If you need to adjust your cloth face cover while shopping or going out for essential items clean your hands before you remove the cloth Face cover Fold the outer part onto itself This is a potentially contaminated side and store it in a paper bag Worse your hands again After removing as a reminder Cloth face coverings aren't recommended for kids under the age of two People who are incapacitated have difficulty breathing or cannot easily take off their masks Additionally the Cove in 19 Outbreak is impacting the operations of programs across the state which includes our New Jersey medicinal marijuana program Since Cove in since the Cove in 19 pandemic began in New Jersey the Department of Health has been working closely with patients caregivers and dispensaries to ensure access is maintained for the over 74,000 patients enrolled in the department's medicinal marijuana program We've allowed dispensaries to provide curbside drive up dispensing service is we've allowed them to help patients who are medically fragile and are sick and reduced all care giver fees to $20 so they could more easily get assistance accessing the dispensary ings We also are dressing the workforce issues at Theeighty sees We've implemented a new employee on boarding process that reduces the way time to get new employees working from weeks Today's even with these actions Over the last few weeks the division of medicinal marijuana has been tracking some excessive weight times an increased utilization at some of our dispensaries like grocery stores and pharmacies individuals seem to be making purchases at an increased rate due to the pandemic It's important to note however that supply remains strong and these problems are not industry wide We continue to explore additional regulatory solutions but for everything we do via waver or emergency rule the industry needs to be able to accommodate it So like all essential businesses the dispensaries are doing their best to respond to this public health crisis It's vital that patients and caregivers understand that these businesses are essential It will not be shut down during the pandemic We strongly advised patients and caregivers to limit your trips to the 80 sees toe once per month Plan your future purchases if the eight e C of your choices crowded goto one that isn't and for everyone during this time become be patient and be understanding Thank you Thank you Judy has always extraordinary leadership and thank you for your words A couple of quick things I I want a note that again 159 under the 375 long term care facilities That number was 10 days ago in the teens That's what we predicted at the time that it would go up at a relative relatively steep curve and it has top five counties infected have been the same for the past few days These air total infections Bergen still far away Number one at six Number two Hudson three Passaic for Union five and you mentioned race And that's something that you and I have spoken Beth and I spoke about it overnight That's something that we have wanted to get to That's the first cut of this That's a number that God willing will be able to regularly maybe even daily give you an update on Ah and the data is right now in perfect But we've had a lot of incoming requests to tryto clarify clarify as best we can that the racial profile of our particularly of our lost loved ones So for all the above Thank you Beth as you uh take us through a couple of your analyses again Sometimes these slides are are hard to read I know At least one if not several of the ones I head up there were hard to read It's important for folks to realize um that we're not doing this um without uh without reason And that had we let a love to make sure if you could hit this one more time had we decided in January to sort of sit back and let this thing run its course whether it's chime or the Laxmi or the state of Washington Um whatever it might be the numbers of infections the numbers of hospitalizations relative to even now our worst case projections So I'm not even comparing what it would have been too Are Nirvana out Look I'm talking about what it would have been multiples of what is right now our worst case projections Folks need to hear that for two reasons Number one What you're doing is making the difference It's making a big difference And we have enough data now to say that comfortably and with equal passion If we don't keep doing what we're doing we're still gonna be in a world of hurt where our health care system no matter how good a job we do to prepare will be overwhelmed like a tsunami In both of those statements while they may seem at odds with each other both are verifiably truth So with that please help me welcome our chief innovation officer Back to the table again Breath Novak Great governor Thank you very much And uh let me apologize that the wonderful and heroic staff member on your Danish who makes the slides who's under 40 doesn't realize that everyone reading them is over 40 So we will put some dark text on some light backgrounds next time to account for that Amen to that But thank you to him for all of his help with that until last week I was here to talk about technology more generally and this week I wanted to expand on that discussion to focus more on as Judy has discussed The governor has talked about the important role that data is playing in this crisis allowing us to govern on the basis of fact to measure when our efforts are working and to support those on the front lines with the information that they so desperately need to make What are life and death decisions Data is really helping all of us though here a TTE the table and on the public to understand the seriousness of this crisis and how every one of us to emphasize your point has a really important part to play in fighting the scourge By staying at home we showed you that one curve about what could have happened or would have happened had we not stayed at home But don't forget that's not even the worst case There are places in which people not only didn't stay at home they went out and had parades They went out and had parties They got together And those numbers are looking worse for those jurisdictions So we're really really can't emphasize enough how important it is for us to all comprehend the data that we're looking at in order to understand the ways in which when we do things right we can save lives and we can reduce the rate at which the virus is spreading We're very lucky in the state I might add toe have people in our Office of Innovation in the Department of Health Ah strong compliment in the State Police also in the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness And of course the tech professionals in our Office of Information Technology who understand and can work with data and technology to allow us to deliver these products so that we can work in this data informed way and so that we don't miss anything We're working with outside partners as we mentioned like Professor Lakshmi Subramanian of the Koran Institute of Mathematics who was in turn in touch with professors at M I T And Berkeley and Caltech and all around the world and governments around the world to make sure that we're using data and again predictive data to allow us to do as much as we can Here we do run multiple models in order that we can constantly understand the best and the worst case scenarios and to be clear those in models are informed by and they're tested against what we're actually seeing on the ground in terms of reality So what did we see yesterday What we saved if the day before would constantly tweaking the model to make sure that it's actually fitting the progression of what we're seeing here in New Jersey Even as we look at what's happened in Italy in Iran in other places to understand what could happen we're running this predictive modeling daily that is both counting the current state and looking ahead to what could be to allow us to make sure again that we have a good sense of what could come and that allows us again to be able to understand what we need to do more off So knowing for example that as you've already pointed out our numbers went from cases that were multiplying previously by 45% day on day 2 20% and now to 12 and a little bit over 12.1 point 8% That tells us that we're going in the right direction But there is still a lot more that needs to be done to get that number down to zero A couple of just additional pointers on data just to understand where some of this comes from Is the governor already pointed out Some of that data comes from you 207,000 anonymous users of the symptom tracker that we looked at That's giving us some advance notice of which counties actually have sick people who may be likely to give to need medical care that allows us to get sort of a sort of hot spot and get some sense of how to plan ahead And that's so important in this world in which asymptomatic spread is contributing to growth of covert 19 So the more notice we can get the better of where we might have hot spots where the disease might be progressing are hospitals of course and a whole range of facilities is Judy already talked about a reporting in to the Department of Health and New Jersey Health of the Hospital Association about the equipment that they have The mass the glove the ventilators how much they're using how much they have on hand Many different actors air reporting in so that we get a comprehensive picture of the data were also getting daily reports of course about donations and availability of PEOPIE that allows us to route the supplies there What most needed And I know you've talked about Governor some of these big donations and big ticket items but I think it's also really heartening And I want people to know that when an auto body shop in Medford donates 20 and 95 masks that matters When a family owned boarding kennel in Morristown offers 100 exam gloves it matters We have a landscaping company in Cranford that's offering 65 protective goggles Every little bit counts and we want to encourage you to go to the donations page you see in front of You Cove It 19 dot NJ dot gov slash donations to please donate your Pee Pee People are also donating of their time and that's giving us more data We have 17,219 at least before this press conference That number has probably grown medical professionals who volunteered in the last 10 days Those people are coming not only from New Jersey but from thousands of ZIP codes literally every single state D C And Puerto Rico So we encourage you to go to slash volunteer covert 19 and dot NJ dot gov slash volunteer We're looking for a whole range of different professionals to help us and again that gives us more data about people and so that we can move people to the places that they're needed We're getting data about your specialties and your expertise thanks to what you're telling us but also where you want to go so we know where we can deploy you whether it's in person or online getting people to the places they can most help So that gives us lots of information that we're able to work with and that can allow us to know where we need to route supplies and hopefully to predict not just where we need supplies today but where we need them tomorrow Let me just wrap up by saying Of course using data is not always easy As you can tell just by my short remarks There is a lot of information to keep on top of and we solved that problem by talking to one another a lot There is a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes across departments on collaboration across agencies and actors to allow us to make sure that we're collecting as much information as possible and importantly that we're sharing that information so that we can operationalize it to inform our work and know where we need to get supplies people all the things that you've heard about Finally we also get data from the website Cove it 19 dot NJ dot gov 2.4 million users have used that website in the last two weeks You can search for information there but you can also type in a question and receive a direct response Thanks to our collaboration with the Federation of American Scientists and a network of 600 volunteer scientists were helping to answer the questions you have about the virus that not only gives you answers to the questions but tells us what additional information we need to put on the Web site for all people Since if you have a question someone else probably has it and we can share it with other people Similarly we've had 400,000 users of the business information hub including 13,000 live chat sessions thanks to our partners in the Business Action Center and the E E D A Who are again thanks to the questions you're asking allows us to know what additional information we need to publish on the Web site Make available through the 211 hotline and again push out to people so that you have the answers you need not just about the virus but of course about how it affects your business how it affect your lives how it affects your communities We asked people for input to the e T A Ask people for what kinds of support you need And again that data what you told us allowed us to develop a series of grant and loan programs Tim Sullivan was up here a couple of days ago and telling us that we got is you'll recall 10,000 applications in the 1st 76 minutes of putting Those service is online again because they were responsive to what you told us to the data and information we got from you So in short as we have seen in the news stories data is helping us to see the difference between those states like ours that have responded aggressively to the virus And those places that have not done so in New Jersey were using data to measure how we respond and toe hold ourselves accountable And by that I mean every single one of us accountable for flattening that curve We've all known for years that the re use and re use of aggregated an anonymous data can help with tracking disease propagation and responding to a pandemic And while data and technology cannot stop the pandemic they can help us respond effectively and efficiently Thank you Beth Thank you Um a couple of quick things Someone called me the COBOL King much Sure that was a compliment But we've gotten a lot of folks have raised their hand and say they out of programming Kobol Is it fair to say we're gonna put a volunteer page for the for the COBOL fast with the thanks to our collaborators Yes We're goingto have where I want it First of all thank the outpouring of volunteers medical professionals that we've seen donations of peopie but also technologists who have stepped up thanks to your remarks the other day people coming out of the woodwork offering their assistance to help us And we are using a lot of volunteer help already And we're going to be standing up a site this week to allow us to take on volunteers of a wide variety Since there is so much you always talk about the talent in this state that's what we need to tap into It's all hands on deck And we're gonna um have some more to talk about that about this week and I just before we get a quick compliance report from patent I know you got to go here shortly so I wanted just repeat something I said earlier regardless of the model that's being used And we should While you don't have one single answer to the question on the test that that shouldn't be something that we were concerned about We actually should welcome the fact that there are different models and that we're looking at this through a number of different prisms But regardless of which model you look at there is a runaway freight train Amount of infections and hospitalizations and fatalities that is is Beth has rightfully said is probably even worse than the three million number that I referred to earlier particularly if if we had allowed that runaway freight train to begin its momentum in January early February Uh so the very good news on the one hand is thanks to your efforts everybody we don't have that But here's the challenging news is that the range that were operating in from Best toe worse still envisions potential swamping of our health care system Too many people sick too many lot lost lives if we don't keep on it if we don't keep our foot on the gas so thanks to you all and you deserve the credit all nine million of you out there thanks to you all We have brought the runaway freight train numbers down meaningful e and that's really good news the problem is that even in that range that we're now operating we could still if we're not careful If we take our foot off the gas if we give up on social distancing even somewhat we're gonna be in a situation where no matter how good and prepared we are we won't be able to handle it in Too many lives will be lost So I'm begging everybody Please stay the course I know that Senator joins me The Colonel Commissioner Beth as chief of our innovation team each and every one of us Jared please stay the course in the temptation I came in here was a beautiful day outside The Temptations will grow and not lessen You're too fearful that too many people will hear Hey this is working and sit back and maybe put their feet up We cannot let that happen under any circumstances We've got to kill this And then once we've killed it we can responsibly begin to put one foot in front of the other So Judy thank you for everything Beth Thank you Likewise And by the way if you were to come back and if we were to talk about these curves Tomorrow they would look differently And God willing you'll continue to look better But they'll only look better if you all out there and we do our share and do our part Pat do you mind giving us a quick overnight compliance report Anything else that's on your mind Short to your point about the Department of Defense Medical staff governor and welcome senator Thanks for stopping by the E O C Today Um I talked to Major General John King He is on his way up from Georgia now He's been tapped by the Department of Defense to be the command and control overseer of the medical staff that's coming Ah 170 staff members will support the Edison site as well as 85 at the Atlantic City Convention Center I will be meeting with him an adjective General Beale tomorrow morning Thio certainly welcome him to New Jersey and to offer our appreciation for his service to New Jersey as faras the overnight really over the weekend Since we didn't have it there was a large party in Rumsen That subject decided to play a concert from his porch and they did not disperse too easily But there were several charges filed there into that point to stress the amount of data that the governor and Beth have talked about If nothing else think that your actions at a gathering like that may lead potentially to somebody not getting a ventilator That's the reality of this virus Eso If people think it's no joke and there's levity around it's not because if you sat in the meetings that we said in disgust the reality of what's coming down in the next couple weeks to the governor's point we're doing everything that we can But these parties may leave to somebody not not being on a ventilator and that's the truth of it So I just wanted to stress that Newark issued 66 summonses and closed 12 businesses in Hamilton a subject under arrest for driving under the influence while being pressed It processed spat and coughed on the police officer in Hillside A woman was charged for having a 20 plus people at her residence and we'll watch A gentleman was under arrest for violating a temporary restraining order He too spat and coughed on officers claiming he had Cove in 19 in Kearney a subject under arrest for burglary also coughed on officers indicating that he had Corona And just beyond the Koven governor there was four shootings over the weekend in Trenton Unfortunately eight people were struck Five of those people survived and three homicides occurred We as always have had a long standing phenomenal relationship with Trenton Police Department and will continue those efforts in all that we can to ah if not decrease But hopefully totally stop the violent crime that's ah occurring in our capital Thanks God Colonel Thank you And God rest the lost lives I got up This is a surprise for the Colonel He sent me a photograph over the weekend I want to pull that up if I could This is a real photo Uh uh This is G uys from the colonel walking through an area suspected of having minds planted underground a minefield And this was apparently common practice that the G I would pick up the jackass because the jackass would unwittingly just meander through the field kind of behaving on his or her own and inadvertently stepping on a mine and blowing everybody up So all the jackasses out there who we now have to carry to make sure they don't make life worse for the rest of us We know who you are and we will not relent the party And Rumsen by the way I was told was by a Pink Floyd cover band I'm myself from a Pink Floyd fan I'm from the Syd Barrett error Ah but the fact of the matter is in the language they used against the police officers who showed up purportedly was so vile and so unacceptable And the things they said I just cannot fathom somebody coughing on somebody in claiming that they've got Corona virus Now we're at war We need the great news is overwhelmingly millions of New Jerseyans air doing the right thing and it's It's pain It's hell It's hard in Folks have stood up and stood tall in such a big way But as usual is a vast minority who are ruining it for the rest of us So all the jackasses out there on all the knuckleheads out there get with the program We will not relent until we have 100% compliance Pat Thank you for that I heard before you go to questions I heard the queen speak yesterday which is pretty incredible I don't know how long she's been on the throne but it's only the fourth time she spoke other than her annual Christmas greeting And as I mentioned on television yesterday the prime minister among so many others who are sick are in our prayers And she too went to the same period in history that you and I have talked about Cory And it's that period of in World War Two when the citizens there and here eventually But in her case it was there did not know that I didn't yet understand uh how overwhelming the opposition was or they sensed it but they didn't They didn't yet understand where it was headed Ah and she spoke to that And she spoke to the fact that she herself had given a speech with her sister when they were too when she was Princess Elizabeth at the time and I thought I mentioned Churchill again If if we could all learn a tip of a finger neo of his leadership and the grit and the courage of the folks Ah citizens at that moment in time particularly early on before the U S Had joined in and all obviously all the American heroes who helped win the war But I thought of his famous line which was August of 1940 Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few And I thought to myself Yes and no He met in that speech the amount of the millions of citizens who owed their their safety and security at that moment to the brave r A f pilots who had fought the mighty German life Wafa toe to toe But I thought to myself both then and even more now the analogy is and we've said to you we're fighting a war with two fronts social distancing and healthcare capacity and healthcare heroism So the so few in our life today are those health care workers those first responders The folks are at the front lines dealing with this on behalf of the millions of us But it works both ways too And I have to say this gets back to the compliance and so many millions of you out there doing the right things that so many are also doing your part for the so few over here This does work both ways The heroes at the front lines Sadly in some case giving of their lives in our health care system First responders But over here the work on behalf of millions to flatten the heck out of that curve to bring it down as aggressively as we have and we must continue to do You were also giving them a lifeline You're giving them a way forward It works both ways Then in 1940 in England and now 2000 and 20 of the great state of New Jersey You gotta go Where you gonna Uh I'll stay for about seven more minutes If there's any questions for me when you do Q and A I would love that We're gonna start over here Matt You're first up Tibet here So a few things here Governor Um first I'm curious if you have any updates on um the Abbott Labs five minute testing You mentioned that just curious were using those where they're being used Any updates from the Commissioner on the total amount amount of people that have been treated and released uh any updates on the website about total st