Before we begin I have to show off a new mask but courtesy of a friend of ours Pete still Unisys of the state police I want to give Pete folks who helped put that together a couple of things off Topic Good afternoon everyone before we jump in other than mask updates Um I wanna wish one of my predecessors a guy who's been a mentor to me for going on 20 years Happy 85th birthday to Governor Tom Kane Ah a guy who not only distinguished himself Azali dir of this state as a member of the Legislature uh educational opportunity fund by the way Born thanks to him 51 years ago but obviously on extraordinary governor And I think quite relevantly in this time of crisis someone who the nation looked too to find the answers of what happened And what can we do differently as it relates to the aftermath of 9 11 in the commission that he chaired along with Vice Chair Lee Hamilton And he would want me to say that uh that he treated Lee is a partner every step of the way So God bless you Governor Kaine Happy birthday that we were supposed to do something together and J pack and I would just say I hope someday the dust settles that we're able to do that together Pat do you mind Well it looks like it's already past here But any 32nd update on folks which folks should know about whether just real quick about a thunderstorm watch that's in effect for most counties It's a west to East storm There was some hail just a few minutes ago out there Winds could get up to 50 or 60 on It's gonna get pretty cold tonight So just possible local power outages S o as the governor he says And Joe feared early So if if there's a downed power line just don't touch it reported We have our BP you folks up the rock standing by to assist with all power outages Thanks God Amen And if you do have your powers not not only don't go near a down line but if your power goes out don't assume your neighbor called it in Please call it in yourself In the more density of those calls the faster you'll get um your provider to come out and help one other off topic but incredibly important note I want to acknowledge that today is Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance Day Today we remember the six million Jews and millions of others senselessly murdered by a hateful regime whose legacy is of their ignorance of and disregard for our common humanity Never again I'm honored to be joined today with that by the woman of my right who needs no introduction The Commission Department of Health Judy Person Kelly to her right Another person who needs no introduction The state epidemiologist Dr Christina 10 Thank you folks for being here and a guy to my left Who needs no introduction State Police Superintendent Colonel Pat Callahan the director The Department of Homeland Security Preparedness Jared Maples is with us I don't see Apparently there you go Paramount Guard Deputy Counsel is with us as well as some other teammates Again Apologies for being later today We had previewed this that we're getting started much later than than usual And by the way we will as well Tomorrow I believe again we're going to be a 3 p.m. Ma and tomorrow here for similar reasons I'll get to in a moment The reason today is earlier Judy and Pat and I on many others did a tour of our third field medical station There are some pictures which has been set up with 258 I heard beds in the Atlantic City Convention Center We're bringing the station up just a CZ We are beginning to Seymour Hospitalizations migrate in the state toward the central and southern regions and Judy will get into that in a little bit more In her remarks we had predicted that the spread of the virus would move from north to central the South and have prepared and built out capacity to God willing stay one step ahead of that We were joined by many and we kept our distance But I want to give a particular shot out to Major General Jeff Mill Horn and Lieutenant Colonel David Park of the U S Army Corps of Engineers They have been extraordinary U S Army Major General John F King agitated General Brigadier General in our National Guard Jamal Beale Mayor Marty Small Casino Reinvestment Development Authority executive director Matt Doherty And as Judy has noted we migrated very early on under her leadership toe a regional strategy So importantly we were joined both by Kevin O'Dowd who's the CEO of Cooper University Health care who was the southern region coordinator on his doing extraordinary job as well as by Lorry Herndon who was the CEO of Atlantic Care among others It is really amazing to see a space like the Atlantic City Convention Center turned into a field medical station and I thank the hard work of the women and men of the Army Corps in partnership with our team the troopers Department of Health and many others Our federal partners are brothers and sisters in labor for making all of this possible As with each of our field medical stations these air much needed space is to ensure that we have the capacity that we need not just for today or tomorrow but also from when we begin to reopen our state at which time we must be prepared for new cases It is simply just prudent planning Tomorrow I will be and I suspect they'll have company for my colleagues here will be with commanding General Todd Sema night of the U S Army Corps of Engineers He's the top guy to tour The new bed space is being constructed at East Orange General Hospital and at Newbridge Medical Center in Paramus and the Army Chorus provide providing tremendous assistance at both General Seven Night is the guy you see frequently ATT the White House briefings and on television He's an extraordinary leader I know him by reputation I've never met him But I know my reputation because the defense attache when I was served as U S Ambassador in Germany was a mentee of General Sema night It's some vory excited to be with him tomorrow again I want to thank the Army Corps for all their help Let's get to today's numbers We're announcing today 3643 new positive test results pushing our total to 92,387 And as you could see were announced Lee with the heaviest of hearts 379 new deaths This is the highest single day number that we have hit and these air not numbers these air human beings bringing our total human lovely to 4753 lost precious lives separately and is a subset of this I want to note that we have tested every I'm happy to say every veteran at the Paramus Veteransmemorial home and we will be doing the same for those living at Menlo Park and violent are our veterans deserve nothing less I'll come back to Why was it while would while while why I was in Wildwood this morning But part of that was I went over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial which I always do when I'm one Wildwood with Joe Griffey's my dear friend and a great veteran leader and said a prayer for all of our veterans but especially those who have been impacted in our veterans homes by this awful virus As I said we reported another 379 precious lives lost in the total Now is 4753 We continue to see a trend emerging and I say emerging in the leveling of the rate of new cases and you could see that in the chart in front of you we have a significant there's no question about it flattening of the curve But that is not enough and I wish it were to go back to business as usual not by a long shot We need to begin to see this curve finally to start its decline And so we must keep our strong social distancing and policies in place for a least the next next several weeks of return to this map courtesy of The New York Times every day And it bears out the lines from the graph And it shows that the rate of the spread in this case measured by how many days it takes the caseload to double has also significantly slowed We must keep this map in its lightest possible shade if we're able to begin to reopen our state and even yesterday one day to the next I recall yesterday saying that Bergen County had 20 days to doubling Now that's happily up to 21 days Let's keep that those numbers going up not down In the nightly reporting from our hospitals there are 7594 residents currently hospital hospitalized with Cove in 19 of whom 1930 are in our either requiring critical or intensive care And there are 1501 ventilators currently in use in our field medical stations Air treating 72 patients I might add Judy in pat I heard from Kevin Oh Dad that they may actually be taking patients in Atlantic City as early as later today or tomorrow Eso Atlantic City is not just looks good in its structure on by the way it does but it's ready to go for the 24 hours preceding 10 p.m. Last night our hospitals reported 630 discharges So putting these raw numbers into focus we can see in this chart that the number of patients in either critical or intensive care has been relatively stable over the past week as has the number of ventilators in use Certainly we want these numbers to decrease before we can move to our next phase But not seeing any significant increases is a good starting point Daily new hospitalizations continued to fluctuate but hold below their recent high and you could see that this is an incredibly important metric for Judy and her team and for all of us and it ties almost directly with the rate of of spread that we show on those that map every day The fewer people who test positive the fewer who need to go to the hospital The fewer who were in intensive care the fewer who need ventilators Please God the fewer who we lose it's just really mathematical and cause and effect While this is never abstract thes air human beings these air precious lives The fact of the matter is the math is almost explicit when you look at the amount of infections and finally we see the number of discharges versus the number of new admittance is and we need to get that reversed again I think in fairness Judy you'll get into this I think at least one hospital hadn't reported from the day before so this is a little bit for four days So this is I'm sorry 400 cases So this is a little bit um and we are relying on the data Is there They are submitted to the hospital association So this is a little bit skewed but nonetheless important and valuable As I noted these air riel numbers and they are valuable metrics We know we need Thio significantly increase our testing capacity I said this I think yesterday by at least roughly double if not more to know we have what we will need Thio trap and contain future outbreaks And every other state by the way without exception is facing the same limitations we are in this fight But the numbers that we're getting from our hospital's Israel on the ground data they're not estimates their definitive measures of our progress and the challenges which remain there among the most invaluable data As we prepare our plants for ultimately reopening our state As I mentioned a few minutes ago we have the sad and heavy duty to relate the news that another 379 of our residents have passed And as as we do every day we would like to honor a few of those lives Darlene May Andy's was a health educator and risk communicator responsible for planning organizing and conducting various emergency management operations right here for the Mercer County Division Public health Before that she had worked for the 100 county team In fact she helped craft the health education materials and tools that Mercer County is using as we speak in its current cove It 19 emergency response well known well respected and loved by her colleagues and peers Darlene is being remembered for her patience and kindness for in her innovative thinking and for her love of family and her faith that she was only 54 years old I spoke yesterday with her sister Barbara who lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia Um and as you can imagine like like all these conversations it was emotional and God bless and God God God speed the precious life of her sister Darlene Daryl Johnson There's Daryl both of the left and the right Another way Someone told me just as I was coming over that Durell at one point worked as a bouncer that he never had to break up a fight But he worked as a bouncer and I'm not surprised Um Darryl Johnson worked in the guidance office at Morristown High School and also work part time at Morristown Medical Center Born and raised in Morristown he remained committed to his hometown for his entire life He was only 43 years old when we lost him He leaves behind his ex wife and best friend Melissa with whom I spoke yesterday and four Children Caitlin who I also spoke with who's 22 in a senior Montclair State University A J Emma and I reminded her that we have an Emma and Macy and they span in age from 20 two years in Caitlin's case to just four years old In Blessed Macy's case as well as by the way Darryl's mother he leaves behind is Lynn his brother Wayne his sister in law Kate And his loss isn't just felt by being felt by the members of his family and friends but by so many across Morristown We keep all of them in our thoughts and prayers God bless you Darryl And here is Carol Wolfe surrounded by her kids of Newark New Jersey and she's surrounded by by the way left to right Scott Chris Steven with whom I spoke yesterday Mom thrust God bless Carol who We lost her daughter Dawn in her son Mark Now imagine this All four of her sons are Newark firefighters and Dawn is a nurse at Overlook Hospital Think about that for a second Unbelievable Born in Newark Carol attended Our Lady of Good Counsel and earned a secretarial job at Prudential following graduation she and her then young family would relocate to Phoenix Arizona but eventually come back as we all do to New York where she became a nurse's aide at Hospitality House In addition to her Children Carol also leaves behind 13 grandchildren five siblings in a large and special extended family And Carol Bless her heart was 73 years old Don't forget I mentioned her son Steven who's in the white shirt in the middle more on him in a couple of minutes Remembering these lives is not easy for us to do We wish nothing less than for these faces to still be counted among our New Jersey family But these are the faces we must remember every day and remind ourselves that why we're fighting Cove it 19 We can't afford to lose any more Darlene's or Darryl's or carols in The only way we do that is by maintaining our aggressive positions on social distancing until we know for sure that we have broken this pandemic So that means for now we have to take steps like keeping our parks closed that I know lots of folks don't want to see that or hear that but we have to We have to keep requiring face coverings while you're out shopping We cannot rush to reopen anything and risk undoing all the extraordinary work that you have done so far That's why our schools are still closed and will be until we're certain that we could keep everyone is safe as possible We're not going to open our school's back up until we are convinced by the science and medical professionals that doing so would be safe for students for staff and by the way for their families And even when we get to the point that we believe a reopening the safe imprudent and we will get there by the way we will not hesitate to require additional protection things like requiring face coverings or certain configurations of classrooms If we believe that by doing so we will make our schools even safer I understand the concern being felt by so many parents about what their kids are missing by having schools closed Believe me we're living it as well especially the parents of old older students who were looking forward to sports seasons or props or graduations We get it but we can not rush this week just cannot do that My number one job is the health and safety of our state every single one of us And as I said yesterday public health leads everything Public health creates economic health Public health creates educational health in another's principles I cannot and will not equivocate One of my childhood idols was President John F Kennedy In just three short years as president he inspired a nation toe look within and to channel our strength for the common good And I was struck recently reading in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis He addressed the nation with the following words and I quote the president Many months of sacrifice and self discipline lie ahead months in which our patience and our will will be tested But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing End of quote now We are now nearly one full month into our strongest social distancing measures There are still a least weeks to go and even when we begin to reopen it's not going to be all at once And things were not going to just pop back too as they were We all must be prepared for continued sacrifice and self discipline because going back to the way things were and doing nothing would be our greatest danger We will get there Folks in the new normal may not look at least at first like the old Normal But we will get through this together as one New Jersey family stronger than ever before Sadly as we've already seen not without casualty Too many lives have been lost Sadly we expect more will be lost But our job collectively is to keep doing what we're doing Toe limit the number of infections the number of hospitalizations the number of intensive care unit beds the number of ventilators and police God the number of fatalities Keep at it folks It is working You're doing an extraordinary job We will get there together if I may on some other topics I had a very good call this morning with the Colombian ambassador Ambassador Calderon Hey is a great friend of our countries and of New Jersey New Jersey has one of if not the largest Columbian communities of any American state And he wanted me to know that he and the the entire country were with us in our hour in time of need and we promised we would get together with the community in New Jersey when the dust had cleared by the way at a safe distance and celebrate together I mentioned I was in Wildwood I went down to be with Mayor Pete Byron Senator Michael Testa members of the Wildwood council representatives from Cape May County toe Look at the damage that was rot on the boardwalk on April 13th 8 days ago And indeed it's quite striking It's a very compact area but boy the mother nature when Mother Nature moves furiously as she did today and may still the damage is jaw dropping And so I wanted to see it with my own eyes In addition to going over and saying a prayer with Joe Griffey's I wanted to see with my own eyes Ah and and I said I've got no magic ones but we've gotta work together and try to figure out how we make that whole again While would I said Asai stared out I said It is I think the best beach in Forget New Jersey on the Jersey Shore in the United States of America It's an extraordinary jaw dropping natural gym and we want to do everything we can tow work with Our are our friends both in Wildwood and Cape May County And again I want to give Mayor Byron and Senator Tessa in particular A shout out I mentioned meant to mention this today Tuesday I mentioned mentioned this yesterday on this justice just to say that among the conversations that have been having I've spoken with some of if not the the owners of the big sports teams in New Jersey Josh Harris is one of the owners of both the devil's on the Sixers And as you know the Devils play in Newark and the Sixers practice and have their headquarters in Camden John Mirror of the New York football Giants and Chris Johnson and his team the New York Jets Just to make sure we had our lines as we always do with those teams open there's no I've got no conclusion as to where things were headed as it relates to a large sporting events But we each on each side of this conversation is wanted to make sure that we were open and comparing notes as events unfold pleased to announce today that many New Jersey residents who are facing hardships in paying their private student loans and were not eligible for relief under the Federal Cares Act can now qualify for much needed assistance Under this initiative eligible students who hold federal family education program loans or privately held student looms may receive a minimum 90 days for Barents relief for borrowers waving late fees protections against negative credit reporting a cease in debt collection actions and the ability to enroll in other applicability assistance programs This is an initiative that service is servicers have opted into and we should note that Borrows should contact their servicers to utilize the relief options Justus we mentioned what we got the mortgage bank relief Go to your mortgage lender directly A supposed to Through some middle course we expect additional servicers to sign on to this initiative and I want to thank those who have already done so I'm extremely grateful to commissioner banking insurance Marlene Career Day for working with lenders to get this relief program in place I also want to thank the head of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority David Sokolow for his work to provide this relief to borrowers under Hesse We announced the Hesse efforts in March and it bears reminding residents that this relief is also available And to get more information please visit the Department of Banking and Insurance at Dobie dot NJ dot gov Dobie D o b i dot NJ dot gov In this information will also be added to our online information hub is you could see it covert 19 dot NJ dot gov By the way while you're on that site you can also visit Cove in 19 dot NJ dot gov slash testing to find the location of the 27 public and community based testing sites available across the state And there are many more sites which your primary care practitioner could direct you to if you meet the requirements for testing All told there are currently 73 testing facilities in New Jersey As I have mentioned a solid testing regime will be critical in Are Reopening Strategy A key piece of any serious reopening strategy must include the ability to test trace and isolate We're punching good news and bad news where punching way above our weight and working with all of our partners We have the fourth most tested amount of folks in New Jersey of any American state with the 11th largest population and we're working with every partner that makes sense including our state's flagship university Rutgers But the federal government must step up in a big way here That means not only on the kits and the PEOPIE which we do need help with but also on The resource is to do this work potentially for an extended period of time in the absence of either yet and I hope it's yet and if someday soon we'll get them of proven therapeutics or ultimately a vaccine Also on a separate note If you have dependent Children and are not required to file a federal tax return whether it is duty or income limitations or if you receive Social Security survivor or disability payments or rail railroad retirement benefits you have until noon tomorrow to register with the IRS to qualify to receive your $500 per child stimulus payment please visit i rs dot gov and use their new non filer online two Finally before I hand things over to Judy I want to give a few thank you's and shout outs First I want to thank both United Airlines and Delta Airlines who are providing no cost round trip flights for out of state health care workers who are coming to New Jersey in our hour of need to help us on the front lines This is a great example of our corporate partners stepping up to help out And in fact today I think Judy you previewed this last week A flight from United is bringing in 34 caregivers from Centura Health in Colorado Our friend Peter Benko uh who will be deploying across hospitals There are part of the Catholic Healthcare Partnership of New Jersey so two sent to her health In addition to United Airlines and Delta we also thank you Next up this is a picture of Jill Terek from James Byrd Jill owns and operates Furry Paws apparel but now Jill is turning her sewing machine from making bandannas for our four legged friends to making face coverings for our two legged heroes And she's already donated hundreds to health care workers across Central Jersey including at ST Peter's and Robert Wood Johnson University hospitals in New Brunswick Thank you Jill and I know you were just one of many people out there who are finding tremendous you with new ways to use your skills to help us out and I'll finish where I alluded to earlier Remember I mentioned Newark firefighters Stephen Wolf Steven Again is one of four brothers who are firefighters and his sister's a nurse That's Stephen on the right After losing his mother Carol and we we praise turned God rest her soul Earlier Stephen needed an outlet and he turned to a skill that he enjoys cooking He took over the kitchen at Firehouse number seven It's started preparing meals that have been delivered the local seniors who are staying at home and also to the health care workers at University Hospital Judy's old stomping grounds and Newark Beth Israel and ST Michael's medical centers He also enlisted his fellow firefighters to help on the prep line and it deliveries You could see one of his colleagues there So do you Steven especially at the time for this time for you and your family and to every hero out there working hard to keep our state running New Jersey Thanks you We know that across our state There are emerging many more happy stories than sad and I asked you to continue spreading messages of hope and optimism by sharing them with every New Jersey and through the social media hash tag and Jay thank you Finally I encourage everyone to remind them to tune in at 7 p.m. Tomorrow night for the Jersey for Jersey fundraiser for the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund against seven PM tomorrow night April 22nd Jersey for Jersey will feature some of our states I would argue our nation's and I would argue the world's biggest stars Bruce Springsteen Jon Bon Jovi Jon Stewart Whoopi Goldberg Charley Pu Wth Schism Danny DeVito Halsey Chris Rock Kelly Ripa Chelsea Handler and say Con Se Kwan Barkley among others It will all be broadcast live on your local television stations I believe every major network is carrying it and it will be streamed online And 100% of the proceeds will go to help those impacted by Cove in 19 And with that please help me welcome the woman who needs no introduction The commission of the Department of Health Judy Person killing Thank you Governor Well good afternoon as the governor mentioned today we traveled down to the field medical station in Atlantic City I want to add my thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers for their commitment to working with the Department of Health to bring this site online A CZ the governor mentioned I reported last week about Peter Benko New Jersey natives sending nurses from Colorado Well today I met Dr Rick Scott another New Jersey native who responded to the call from ah help for help and traveled from his home in North Carolina to give back to his home state He will be the chief medical officer off the field station in Atlantic City Ah the station expects to bring in patients a CZ early As today Our alternate care sites are increasing bed capacity and allowing our acute care hospitals to focus solely on those individuals Those patients in need of the most critical care thes sites are important and easing the burden on our hospitals In addition to the three medical stations the department is we're also working closely with the Army Corps to reopen closed hospitals and as you know we're using a hotel toe offer health care workers a place to crash your quarantine and also a place for those individuals who cannot go home to quarantine Ah place for them to stay a safe place Nonprofits counties or local responders also have the ability to set up similar hotel rooms and should work with FEMA for congregant sheltering authorization If they are interested in setting up this housing for their workforce they should contact their local or county office of emergency management now for today's report As the hospitals reported last night 7594 hospitalizations 400 of them should have been reported the day before So we really have seen over a flattening out of the hospitalizations This is basically flat on it has been for the last three days There are 1930 individuals in critical care and 1501 of them of those individuals are on ventilators that 78% are as I reminded you yesterday we've been asshole Aya's 97% just a week ago This is the lowest percentage of patients on ventilators that we have had for quite some time Last night there were nine hospitals on what we call divert most of them on critical care divert Five of those hospitals on divert were from the central region That's the first time we have had central region hospitals more on divert than the northern region And as we have shared we are seeing the increase in cove it 19 individuals and persons under investigation We've seen that increase come from the north and it's now hitting central And most of the critical care beds in the central region right now are full There are 432 long term care facilities in the state reporting Cove it 19 cases That's either long term care facilities or assisted living facilities They report a total of 11,527 cases 2000 and 48 deaths have occurred in these facilities related to Cove in 19 As you know yesterday we posted a line listing of covert positive cases at long term care facilities and assisted living and development of adult developmentally disabled congregate homes This data is self reported by the facilities and some facilities today informed us that the data needs to be reconciled with their current information that they have seen some gaps so we're working with them and will provide updates on a regular basis However the basic direction of Cove it positive patients or residents and covert positive deaths are the same There's just too many of them Additionally as reported over the weekend 21 facilities were reviewed by our survey staff for the staffing adequacy the availability of P P A and their infection control procedures According to data reported this morning Of the labs that are reporting to us on their Positive Cove in 19 results 167,233 tests have been performed on individuals with 74,884 returning positive for a positivity rate of 44.75% That has stayed stable at 44% for quite some time This completes my daily report but I want to share some national data on increasing calls to poison control centers The hotlines are reporting that there's been a 20% increase in calls related to exposures from household cleaning products Indus infections We know we have been encouraging everyone to clean frequently touch surfaces but it's important to do so safely CDC is covert 19 website CDC dot gov slash corona virus slash 2019 Dash encode has information on how to clean your home safely For example you should wear disposable gloves to clean and disinfect Use E p a registered household disinfectants and ensure proper ventilation when cleaning Follow the instructions on the label to ensure safe and effective use of these products to protect your health As always I thank you for staying home and maintaining social distancing Stan and Social solidarity with all of us Stay connected Stay safe Stay healthy Stay doing what you are doing to do your part to save lives in New Jersey Thank you Judy Thank you May I give you a couple of follow ups If that's okay First of all counties Which of Red Out Just in terms of positive cases It's the same six which dominate But let's remind remind everybody There are many cases in every county and there are fatalities in every county But the top six in terms of positives continue to be burger and followed by now Hudson Essex Union Passaic and Middlesex Um you mentioned the central hospitals on divert and and I want folks to know there was not a random We were not on a random walk in terms of where we worked with the Army Corps In terms of opening these field medical stations on I want to give Judy and her team have padded his and and our federal colleagues a big shout out We we expected this um and therefore the sequencing of Secaucus to Edison to Atlantic City eyes Something that was not by accident Shall we put it that way Um there are There are always bad apples I just I'm not sure I know how many of them there are We're gonna We're gonna know what the end of the day But um with all due respect Oh Judy and I were in violent agreement on this is we discussed this earlier With all due respect to the long term care operators who are disputing the data With all due respect the data is largely is Judy said I want to reiterate this uh whether we're off here or there by ah ah number or two And let's never let this become abstract These air humans The overwhelming overwhelming reality is there are far too many people who are dying in these facilities period Ah and the standards and the in the protocols The unevenness is incredibly disappointing I know for Judy it is for me and for the rest of us You didn't mention the racial The underlying conditions look like they've stayed about the same Would you mind hitting just cause that's also been about the same but it's worth repeating if you don't mind Certainly on the 3564 deaths that we have complete information on 49.9% are white 22.2% black 16.6% Hispanic 5.5% Asian non Hispanic and 5.8% other non Hispanic I also have the breakdown of 29,739 individuals who have been tested and have returned as a positive test 35% are white 21.1% are black 28.6% Hispanic 5.1% Asian and 10.2% other Thank you you took the words out of my mouth so we have been saying I think consistently for now a couple of weeks The African American representation among fatalities is about 50% higher than the representation in the state's population That the Hispanic representation among this among fatalities pardon me has been slightly lower just a pointer to lower than the overall representation But you took the words out of my mouth The African American testing number is about positive testing These are right is about consistent with fatalities But the Hispanic number is meaningfully higher as it relates the positive results So that's something that I know you're you and the team are going to stay on That is the first data point that we've had that is somewhat consistent with some of the reality that are our brothers and sisters are dealing with in New York City Judy Anything on veterans homes Do you wanna hit that Are uh Yeah I d'oh Just because I mentioned that we've tested everyone in Paramus someone again thank the V A Who are surging in this week in both Menlo Park and Paramus And ultimately they're there if we need them Thank God we haven't hope it stays that way And violent Menlo Park veterans home which A with a overall census of 226 reports Ah total um residents confirmed positive 60 pending five total hospitalized 26 total Resident Cove in 19 deaths 29 Ah And they also report staff uh uh have tested positive 36 staff members out of 445 in Paramus 239 is today's census and uh confirmed Positive Cove It residents are 119 They report 46 resident deaths associated with covert 19 um and 51 staff of 394 tested positive Vine Lin remains census of 282 They have one positive Kobe 19 patients and no death God bless them And let's hope violin stays as it is And God love God bless our veterans who we've lost And it's also they've got some staff positives But thank God no No fatalities among staff in any of the three home So thank you Judy And thank you for everything in your team is well Pat anything Could you on compliance peopie infrastructure Uh as you wish Yes sir Thanks Governor With regard to overnight Newark police issued 18 eel violations and closed one business in Mama's Township Gloucester County Trooper made a motor vehicle stop for motives Driving erratically Subject was found to be have several active warrants resisted arrest ultimately spit in the trooper's face upon being placed under arrest and was charged with aggravated soul Resisting an obstruction at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility Up in 100 county A Nen mate was intentionally in forcefully coughing and trying to spit on corrections officers She was charged with terroristic threats aggravated assault endangering another and throwing bodily fluid Patterson across three different events 10 people were cited for the EOE violations in Passaic Subject Three subjects were cited for being out for no reason driving at an unsafe matter in Paterson In Dover a barbershop owner was cited for having his business open in Lakewood Police responded Thio eight kids that were playing in the gym and cited the owner for a violation Also in liquid at the mom with medical center and irate patient pulled the fire alarm and proceeded to cause over $2000 worth of damage and was charged with causing falls public alarm and causing damage to property Uh just on the heels of a visit to Atlantic City's medical station Today I think one entity that we've not maybe appropriately recognized has been the members from Department of Corrections under Commissioner Hicks They have been phenomenal every step of the way on our incident management team all it's a caucus Edison now Atlantic City lieutenant Clay McLean who I've known for several years is just a phenomenal partner with us and I wanted to make sure that we gave them the proper thanks and gratitude for their assistance and supporting our efforts on Lastly just because I know a CZ the governor said We're a month in on the mental health aspects of this are a daily grind for many on I just wanted to remind people of the number that department Human Service is set up under the NJ Mental Health Care's Hotline which is 866 to 0 to help which is 866 to 024357 They have trained specialists on coal on on those phones from 8 to 8 p P M On I would certainly recommend that if anybody struggling with uh with the depression or anxiety because of of this virus that you take the time to call those specialists to walk you through any of the issues you might be having Thanks God Colonel Thank you And it's a It's a good reminder we're gonna start over here Brendan It's a good reminder that while the phenomenon continues to be overwhelmingly true that while we're all isolating we are in an almost spiritual way Uh coming together Uh people overwhelmingly get This is war and we have to do unusual things including this bonding that's taking place even though we're all staying away from each other But two paths point that doesn't apply to everybody Folks with mental health challenges with addictions folks who may be in an unsafe domestic environment Um there are folks that we cannot leave behind And so that would you mind just one more time That phone number for everybody Toe Uh yeah sure It's uh 866 20 to help which translates to 866 to 024357 And they're open from 8 a.m. to eight pm to assist anybody in need Thank you for that That's a great reminder We're gonna go right toe left would love you to limit yourself to three or four I'll get you Don't worry John You're up to bat Please Again if you could limit the's a little bit because we got a big crowd Can you speak broadly to what you're doing to get testing up to where you need it to begin the plan on specifically on testing What's the rollout on testing of vulnerable populations What that looks like and your partnership with Abbott and Rucker's What What will that be Will the state doing the testing Will they be providing access points Uh and have the veteran have the 90 V nurses arrived in Promise in Menlo Park and the governor Finally on the day you issue the EOE order for considering a release of some state inmates Since then about 15 inmates have died and we have We don't believe any have been released Can you explain the delay Zahra process behind myth in any reaction to that Thank you John Judy and Pat I'll say a few words and then can you come in And as you wish um listen we've cobbled you know you talk about cobbling it together We've gone from 0 to 73 sites And I think Ed Lifshitz said the other day bordering now and I suspect it's closer to 9000 and 7000 every day Um e And I'm incredibly proud of that progress And again we're the fourth highest tested state in America But it's not remotely where we all think it needs to be for folks to feel comfortable and confident to get back to some semblance of normalcy And so all I could say is Right now it's singles and doubles bunts moving the runner over to use baseball analogies But we need the feds in a big way not just in New Jersey My my My entire focus is New Jersey but based on the comparing notes with our regional partners and looking around the country we need that as a national matter Ah and that's it all ends as I mentioned it's not just the peopIe but it's the front end as well as the back end I'll let Judy address the vulnerable patients I mentioned the Paramus All folks have been tested there but she can walk through sort of other steps that we have taken in We'll continue to take I think It's a little bit too early on to give you a full answer on what the Rutgers and or Abbott partnerships will ultimately look like It feels one observer Tell me if you all disagree that Rutgers has more scale potential more scale potential and that is going to be very important and turnaround time is incredibly important So it won't just be enough Even if I'm right that it's close to 9000 day that are being tested It's still many days until you hear back and that's that Can't be if we're going to really begin to reopen We've got to be ableto very quickly through testing again Contact tracing isolation steps We've gotta be very nimble and that's not where we are yet We're better than we were but we're not We need to be the V A nurse's I believe are there but the fertile Pat end or Judy on that Um and there is a process So if I wasn't clear on that parable could back me up There is a process which is this is as it relates to corrections that is underway and our hope is that it's going to be in batches So it's the most acute exposed communities in sort of some order para Milken remind you I believe it's a JJ first and then it's conditions and then it's whether or not you're within x days of your max And then fourthly I believe whether or not you were I believe considered in denied parole within a period of time So there it is being done in batches There's a multi headed participation because we have to get this right Pat mentioned Carol Johnson Human Service is human Service is is very much a part of this because we can't just throw somebody out on the street Parallels that approximately correct in the process Yes under the timeline laid out in the executive order their lists of eligible inmates that air then transmitted to the Emergency Review Committee The Emergency Review Committee has seven days to act on those lists and they're in the process of reviewing the 1st 2 lists And there were in the process of that as we speak So when we have more on that and we will let you know uh when we hit we've got through process A and this is these are the results will let you know what those are Judy Anything Testing generally vulnerable Our partnerships VEET nurses and or Pat or folks in inside the correction system Okay I'll start with the V A nurse's They were to be on site yesterday Um and the corps is coming in tomorrow Ah and they'll be primarily at Paramus Um on vulnerable populations and testing The governor has repeatedly shared that attesting strategy includes not only testing but contact tracing and then the follow up which primarily would be isolation And then it's retesting So it's not just one test and you know that the one tests the PCR test is a point in time It identifies at that point in time whether you're positive or negative the other tests The serology test is tthe e anybody test which may point in the direction that you have been infected and you have any bodies But I don't think anyone knows how long the any bodies This is everything that Dr Tan teaches me by the way So I look at her for I they don't know how long the anybody's last However while we're developing the testing strategy with Dr Tan and the epidemiologist We are looking at vulnerable populations of which long term care is ah specifically targeted primarily in the South We know that there's wide spread infections in the north We also know in the South that we can prevent that because there are a number of long term care facilities that do not have significant spread So we do have a plan to target the 16 or 20 of long term care facilities in the South with the help of Cooper University to test those individuals cohort appropriately and actually prevent further spread in the south of the state We also have a plan with Rutgers to test their saliva test in our developmentally disabled homes On that I think is going to start this week where then we're looking at corrections and health care workers helping them to return to work So we have vulnerable populations or what I call special populations because off their need congregate living there high risk on and then also trying to get people back to work And then we have a full testing strategy for the larger group which could be one of 50,000 tests a day to help open up the state More to come on that Tina Did you have anything Toe three Only thing to add commissioners Absolutely correct It's the issue of the testing strategy also involves the need to then take the next step Once you get the results you have to be able to act upon those results Because otherwise what's the point of doing the testing right If you're not gonna be able to take the next steps to isolate to be able thio d'oh contact tracing to be able to for example in the long term care facilities to appropriately cohort and to do all the appropriate infection control measures that needs to happen patches reminds me that the CDC is also they mentioned on the video call that we have with the White House yesterday Sending as a team I need to each state We're trying to get us uh early in that queue as possible We'll go back to Nikita but as we do John the one thing I want to say on the corrections question is uh two things One is we need to bring everybody along with said that many times it isn't enough to crack the back of this putting aside humanity putting aside doing the right thing If we don't bring everybody along we're not gonna be able to crack the back of this And I don't want folks to think that a process is a bureaucratic reality In the face of loss of life We've got to make sure if we're releasing folks we got to make sure that we're doing it right in every loss of life regardless of where they are is a tragedy But we've got to make sure we do something like that Uh properly Please Nikita Hi Governor So most my questions are gonna be off the Monmouth University poll that was released this morning s O That poll found out that you had a pretty good approval rating and then also that the President's New Jersey agree with most of the measures that you've imposed to Blanco But overwhelmingly uh the first question is do you think that you drove New Jerseyans to those views or do you think that they were already there before you impose these policies And then since 70% of New Jerseyans agree with your decision to close state and County parks do you think Jack Generally and others who attacked you over that measure we're in the wrong Are you surprised that you have a 71% approval rating And is there any concern that you know there's nowhere but down to go from here And Ah I hope that you could do a yes or no on this one But if President Trump flies here in October will you give him a hug Ah listen I would just You're probably gonna be disappointed by my answers I haven't read the poll of one of my colleagues gave me some of the highlights I've said this before Good bad or otherwise We don't run things based on polls It just isn't what we do We're spending every second of our lives tryingto of trying to save lives and keep people healthy It's gratifying I think that folks it looks like again I've only seen a couple highlights that they agree generally with what we're doing to save lives because that allows us to have the moral suasion that we need to continue to please God People stay at home that people that maybe there's enough trust that's been built up when they believe that and they need to They should Ah I much I have no insight on whether or not we drove people to that or not But I do think people believe when you make decisions based on science fact data those those are always gonna be better decisions That doesn't mean you always get it right And I'm not suggesting by any means we always get it right But I hope more often than not we do on and that's what we're going to continue to do Um and I'm not giving anybody a hug right now for the foreseeable future But if the president were to come to New Jersey clearly is the president United States and I would do right by that thank you very quickly So just to be clear the question was about October So no no hugs in October Still like my question my answer stands will come down to Elise Thank you Good afternoon Good afternoon Fitch today downgraded the state's credit one step and shifted the outlook to negative from stable Are you anticipating more downgrades from the other credit rating companies And how does the downgrade affect any borrowing plans presented At least my Lord if I were hugging someone I'd come out and hug you right now Just for the they know to file Davis you get ready for your question Um listen you never want to see a downgrade Uh Fitch was 1/2 step higher in its rating than both Moody's and Standard and Poor's So particularly in this environment I'm not shocked So they're now aligned with Moody's and Standard and Poor's in terms of their ratings Um I'm not going to get political This is no time for politics But boy we entered ah office two plus years ago of end of this crisis with a fiscal pea shooter Given the decades and by the way both sides of the aisle decades of fiscal mismanagement Ah of this state of one form or another Ah and I would love to have a stronger arsenal financially going going into not just our administration but more importantly into this crisis it is what it is I'm not shocked by it By any means it doesn't impact I assume you mean the discussions that we've had in terms of the potential to take advantage of the Federal Reserve yet it does not impact us there Uh I'm not sure we don't have any color yet in terms of rate so it will probably cost us a modest amount more which I bemoan but it is what it is and we'll make the We'll continue to make the best of it I particularly bemoaned the fact that we had spent two years doggedly increasing surpluses rainy day funds you know doing the stuff that that folks folks around the state do with their own lives And they expected the the state of New Jersey to be better and be a stronger you'll be a stronger fiscal steward And we had made an enormous amount of progress But needless to say we're blowing through a lot of that for the time being So thank you for asking please Good afternoon Governor Good afternoon So on medical marijuana access during Cove in 19 there's been a lot of concern that dispensaries are running out of supplies I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that Also are you planning to speak with President Trump tomorrow Thanks What is tomorrow's curiosity No just saying if you have plans to speak with President Trump tomorrow or in the near future later this week Okay On the ladder Right I don't have any specific plans but I have to say again I've never made a call that was not answered or returned I should say but at the moment to be determined we speak pretty regularly as you can imagine Um I don't have any unique insight on the medical marijuana reality other than many organizations like that are running low on supplies So that's probably not surprising Um I'm not actually saying that's a good thing We can come back ma and help me out if there's a specific will come back to you if we've got a specific insight I don't have one in particular in this one but it doesn't surprise me that there's a supply shortage just cause we're seeing that across the whole spectrum of of entities in the state right now Thank you Paul Good afternoon How you doing Um on a TV talk show you were quoted as saying the Bill of Rights is above your pay grade Attorney General Bar recently said that certain governors have infringing on constitutional rights He didn't name names but your administration brought charges against a woman for peacefully protest ng at the State House Um where specifically in the state Constitution do you find the governor has the power to suspend the Bill of Rights and specifically the rights to travel free speech peaceable protest and assembly I'm only surprised it took you this long to ask me I was wondering every day I walked in I was when we were small Shine When I said above the the above my pay grade I didn't mean that we were above the Bill of Rights What I meant was we got to do what we have to do to save lives here Uh and we'll continue to do that Obviously we respect the U S Constitution as well as our own We respect the Bill of Rights I have no insight on the charges that were brought against that woman Lily I've read about them I've got no insights and I probably even if I did have insights one of one of the lawyers here would advise me not to share them with you but I I literally have no insights on that And as I said I don't begrudge folks protest ng I would prefer strongly that they do that in a virtual way at home and social distance as we're asking folks to do in their lives As a general matter I don't begrudge folks having a different opinion I don't agree with them but I don't begrudge that And I have no more specific insights as to where I can lead you But I promise you that Param l or our team will come back to you But I'm not I'm not suggesting for one second we're above the law Where above the Constitution or above the Bill of Rights I just meant that was Lily above my pay grade My job right now is to keep people alive And I'm doing everything I can to that Thank you Do you have a question sir You know you're good day for coming down to you And please keep police in mind As you ask I shall try Thank you Um you report today that Central Jersey hospitals air getting crowded Is there a worried they could be overwhelmed Is there a plan to share staff and ventilators if necessary Any information about when the peak could come in Central Jersey and how long it could last governor Many public sector workers air hearing rumors about layoffs furloughs demotion salary cuts Have you made any decisions about cutting the workforce or freezing hiring Um well we need to cut the size of state government along with different programs And what do you think of Sweeney's plan to furlough many workers and let them collect unemployment And finally um this whole business about the 15 to 20,000 tests That would be quick tests What is the magic number with 15 to 20,000 I understand it's double of where we are now but it would seem to the average person who does not have the insight that Dr Tan or commissioner person Kelly might have that it would You'd need many more tests to have a sense about what's going on in our state 15 to 20 is just a drop in the bucket it would seem obviously there were experts here who are more qualified to answer that but I'll give you a least a quick perspective I've got nothing to reporter Update David and any Ah I think we are in a freezer repairman we are in a freeze right now Yes so that is actually in place Um and we have about just under a $1,000,000,000 of expenditures that are frozen in addition toe hiring What I create what I painted the other day and I would repeat today is we have two levers we can pull right now and we likely need to be able to pull both One is we need federal cash on the barrel direct state assistance and I would lead everyone Toe Look at Senator Menendez's leadership along with Senator Cassidy That's exactly the sort of bill that's exactly the sort of support that we need It takes into account the size of states the how crushed you are or not by this awful epidemic Uh et cetera So one lover is we need not only liberal interpretation of the cares act which we still awake Um but we need a lot more to the tune of many billions of dollars That's one federal cash federal cash assistance The other lever to Alisa's question Is these air not either or we need to be able to take advantage of the Federal Reserve's um facility to buy municipal Bonds We've got a leadership meeting actually just after this we have had good conversations on that Too early to tell what that looks like But those two levers are really important to us And they're not either or there And both because if this is the first lover you pull and you get this you're able to use those proceeds toe to pay this down and or you can augment over here with something over here But in the absence of those we have no choice We've got no choice We've got toe reassess the scale of our government which would be devastating both at the state level and at the local level something that would bring us not only not only no joy but it would it would run directly into the vast array of service is and programs that we have before folks um across the entire spectrum of our society So please God we don't get there Two other quick comments just to repeat what I said earlier It wasn't by accident that we sort of had have sequenced the field medical stations Judy and her team Pat and team Everyone who looked at this knew this was coming in terms of migration of the reality on God willing because this hit is like a ton of bricks that we've learned lessons in the northern counties that we're applying being as proactive as possible as it migrates again I'll have Christina answers because she's the epidemiologists It is as if you hadn't noticed I'm not but I only say 15 or 20,000 or more I said double or more because you hear that is a potentially a significant amount of a sampling daily by the way these air daily So if it's 20,000 that's 140,000 tests a week that you're getting back again scaled and rapid return Um druthers With a strong federal partnership I'd like to test everybody uh on a regular basis in the entire state I I'm only highlighting where as a non medical professional where I think the experts believe is a minimal minimal standard to be able to give folks that confidence Forget about what we think at one level what's what's it gonna take you to go to a restaurant or a movie theater or goto a park once we've reopened and you gotta have confidence that we've got a system in place that is both scaled enough Statistically significant We've got contact tracing that can be nimble and that we've got a plan to isolate folks So with all of that I will now turn it over the experts But just on the central part of the state a CZ the governor said We regionalized on purpose so that we did have the ability to move primarily equipment at this point throughout a region to send it to where it's needed the most that the intensive care units air are tight in the central part of the state We still have capacity because I really think we have flattened that curve so peaks or lower and uh capacity is available But we're prepared if we have to Thio move patients down into the southern ah part of the region if we have to But at this point I don't believe we D'oh We expect this heavy hospitalization to go through mid May by the way flattened and spread out Hey Judy Just add to that It's not like there are no cases Middlesex depending on how you define Central Jersey So that's another That's for another conversation right Middlesex Almost get 9000 cases Mom With where I am almost 5000 cases right here And Mercer You've got 2700 and 53 cases So you've got even though it's not at the Bergen Bergen has got 13,000 and 356 It's that at that level But these air many multiples double digits Thousands in Central Jersey Kristina help in terms of testing protocols Well you know well I think it's kind of hard to say that there's a magic number for the number of tests You know we have to look at testing also in the context of what tests are available What are the diagnostic tests in terms of the turnaround time Because that helps also give a context of what makes sense as faras You know what the testing strategy might be It's more difficult for example if you have to turn around time of results that's much longer versus say a point of care tests where you get a result within 15 minutes in terms of your ability to quickly act on it because again we have to remember we have to tie the test results ultimately to something that's actionable So it's uh this answer on testing started She really depends on the whole context of what we have what's available the characteristics of the tests themselves what people can ultimately do with the tests How how good the results of the tests are So this is continuously a work in progress that we're still examining and discussing on the health department End is we go We're gonna go back up Do you have a question sir before we get to the just tow underscore what Christina just said it's It's a number of different factors here including how quickly do you hear So Judy has said Ah as if I It's gotten better but you're still 5 to 7 days In many cases that's not enough right That's not fast enough You can't And then Christine is making the point Okay hopefully you get the test results back quickly Then what do you do You gotta have You gotta have the second step In the third step you're gonna be ableto isolate the person you've got to be able to trace who have been in contact with again that were pounding away on all of that But that sort of gives you a sense of the architecture that we're gonna need so that not only we feel confident you will feel confident You know what It's okay to go back out again please Thank you Governor Apologies in advance I was handed a few Um first is would you consider using an executive order to extend the deadline for property taxes from May 1st June 1st considering the state home order extends past the current deadline Or as excuse me sometimes grace period Um 2nd 1 is Do you have any update specifically on the end over nursing home And um are you investigating other nursing homes that are share the same owner Um third do you have any Or where Your comments on the wedding venue in Lakewood that's going to be allowed to Ah host weddings And then Martin handed me one from ABC six which is do you intend on keeping the Atlantic City facility open and running longer than the others to potentially allow for the summer season To begin with some sense some sense of normalcy search facility would give local officials some degree of confidence that they can handle a potential uptick in hospitalizations So may I jump in and then you all can come in Nothing new One property taxes Um and over I think Judy addressed another nursing homes We'll give a short repeat but I think you've already addressed this But we can come back on that The wedding venue Listen I I want to gather as much as the next guy but we can't allow that to happen So I'm not sure of Pat's got any more insights but um we we cannot allow folks to congregate on and that's gotta continue to be the case um in the Atlantic City facility Um we've already said that we sort of thanks to my colleagues they had sort of mapped out how these facilities and frankly it's more than facilities It's it's equipment Is Judy said is a general matter its manpower to our heroic health care workers about I think we also said this the other day in preview this notion We have to be prepared for this thing to come back and rear its head again and I know no one wants to hear that And God willing we could have the sort of stuff that Dave asked about in place so that we could have therapeutics that maybe developed over the next X number of months and ultimately a vaccine so that you could mitigate what it looks like when it comes back But we know from the H one and one experience This sort of virus does come back even if we bat 1000 in terms of all the steps we take So having these facilities available not specific to Atlantic City for instance but having these facilities available on against seeking federal funding to allow us to continue to keep them ready to go Eyes A is a priority as it relates to the shore and the season I was asked in while with this morning I would love nothing more to be ableto cut the ribbon on a great Jersey Shore We just can't It's it's It's April 21st We can't say that whether Atlantic City is open or not relative to whether the shore is wide open partially opened etcetera I don't think there's a whole lot of correlation with that but we're going to make all these decisions based on the facts and the science So thank you for that Anything on end over You think Largely hit it Yeah we're pretty much theater Knee general is looking into it as you know And as the surveyors go to the long term care