Channel 198 deaths and with adjustments given further investigations are statewide Total of deaths is now 1700 again 198 deaths were announcing since yesterday for a cumulative total of 1700 deaths This is well north now of two times the fatalities blessed fatalities that we suffered in New Jersey on 9 11 We know that this number is the worst of all to report to you And I have to tell you does not get any easier on us or any of you to speak these numbers or to hear them These aren't numbers by the way These are people mothers fathers sons daughters neighbors co workers friends and even if they are complete strangers they are our fellow New Jerseyans It let us never ever ever let this get abstract thes air riel live human beings members of our family blessed souls who we have lost allow me to briefly And I wish we could do this for all 198 today and 1700 since the beginning of this crisis But allow me to briefly commemorate three of those we learned we have lost the Reverend H Gene Sykes was the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Bayonne Look at the pastor man What a guy born in Florida He would make New Jersey his lifetime Longtime home rather alongside his wife Fanny and their Children God bless him and we send our prayers to Mrs Sykes and their Children He was an Air Force veteran so we thank him for his service to our country And he worked in the private sector before making the ministry his full time calling He served as vice chairman of the board of commissioners of the Bay Own Housing Authority that was vice president of the Bay own branch of the N Double A C P His loss leaves a hole in the fabric of bone certainly in the part of this family and we mourn with his family in that entire city Kevin Leyva Kevin There he is Bless him was an E M T In North Bergen and it's ST Clare's Hospital A Patterson a native he and his wife Marina called Pompton Lakes home Kevin was only 24 years old Bless him We thank him for his service for an extraordinary lifetime for his service to our state and to our families We are with Marina and his family and friends in prayer and we will not forget him In Kevin Is is a stark riel life example of the fact that while Judy when she goes through the numbers she would agree with me This hits disproportionately an older communities Um none of us our immune from this And let us never forget that God bless Kevin South Jersey lost a true community leader yesterday with the passing of Steven Rabbits there Steven who headed his family's business operating five shop right markets across the region But Steve will perhaps be best remembered for his many philanthropic pursuits In his longtime support for community nonprofits and other organizations which counted into the millions literally millions of dollars We know that his legacy will be carried on by his family God bless you Steve It is for these three and for everyone And let's remember this that we must continue to practice social distancing because social distancing is our best weapon to prevent the spread of Corona virus that took their lives and the lives of more of now 1700 members of our New Jersey family I know when we know the congressman knows all of us know that it's not fun that we know what could be inconvenient But this can't be a time of convenience With said this many times This is no time to panic but it is equally so No time for business as usual This is the fight of our lives This is a fight to protect our families our friends and our neighbors It's a fight for the literally the heart and soul and future of our state We need you to stay home period And certainly whenever possible we need you to wear a face covering even a home made one when you're going to the supermarket And I've got a friend who came in late to our press briefing yesterday and left before the end of it We are all wearing some form of a face mask of face covering all the time We only take these off because otherwise I'm not sure you'd be able to understand us The fact of the matter is I'll put this on as I leave I know Judy Andy Pat Lisa we all will and we will leave and will keep them on for the balance of any amount of time were remotely near anybody Um and we have to be that way It's so weather again Whether you're wearing it to the supermarket whether you're in a room like this everybody has got to adhere to that Remember this is a war with two fronts and again I want to keep harkening back to church You'll never have so few done so much for so many It actually turns out in this particular war it works both ways One front is for the many the nine million of us to smash down the back of the flat on that curve so that we have a lower amount of people who are infected which leads to a lower amount of hospitalizations Lower amount of folks who are in critical care situations lower amounts who need ventilators It literally passes exactly through that curve We need to smash that curve down over here The many of us while the few the extraordinary heroic health care workers the first responders the essential retail folks the longshoremen the NJ transit folks the warehouse folks while the few over here particularly our health care workers are frantically building out one foot in front of the other our healthcare capacity beds ventilators personal protective equipment medicines that we need to run those ventilators the actual ranks of our health care workers themselves It works both ways and our hope is that those curves meat in an acceptable level that allows our system in our state to digest the cases that we have in the very best way possible keeping us fewer people as we can Sick and infected and please God the least amount of fatalities we could possibly have a CZ We come through this God bless you all for everything you're doing for the health care workers as heroic as they are for everyone else who's in this fight I want to pull up a map right now We showed you this the other day This is progress so it's not We're not over the hump here by any means This is a map by county of the new cases that we're seeing and as you could see and I'll explain why our social distancing is in fact beginning to show effect here So there is light here there is the early stage that we are in the early stage of progress It's beginning to slow the rate at which the numbers of folks are getting infected In this case How quickly folks uh the number of cases by county are doubling When I showed this last time maybe last week Judy I think we only I think had one yellow county which was which is Mom of my county A yellow means you're doubling the amount of infected folks every 5 to 7 days The oranges every 3 to 5 days There was only one yellow and there were several Red in the red was doubling within three days We have no red at the moment The last couple of counties we had recently were in the South where the numbers were small but the rate of infections was steep Um this is really progress Are we spiking any footballs No way We're not near the end zone It's still going up The curve on the line looks like it's beginning to flatten of positive cases but we're still having more positive cases We've gotta not only continue to flatten the curve we have to get to a plateau and then begin to go down as fast as we can on the other side And we can't do that alone This is isn't about you or me It's about all nine million of us As we've said before this is not a time for selfishness This is a time for selflessness that so many of you so many millions of you are doing the right thing God bless you Thank you Please keep it up Many of our communities of faith have taken this to heart especially given the season There have been online seders and many churches will be offering online Easter service Is these air critical means for us to come together even though ironically we have to stay apart I know it's not what we're used to or necessarily what are taped our faiths teach us uh or what it will look like God willing next year But right now it is what we have to do Pat will before we take questions as as always go over compliance But I have to say given that last night was the first night of Passover it's a refreshing compliance report and I want to give a particular shut up because we've been back and forth so intensively with the community and religious leaders in in Lakewood So Pat will give more details what it look like overnight But folks you're doing everything you can We know that Please keep it up Quick shift of the gears to testing our to FEMA partner Drive through testing sites tomorrow Friday April 10th of the two Rather I apologized Bergen Community College will be the one that's open That site will open at 8 a.m. and remain open for a least 500 total tests To be tested you have to be both a New Jersey resident and you must again be exhibiting symptoms of a respiratory illness on SAT So Bergen Community College open tomorrow on April 10th On Saturday April 11th both sites will be open Bergen Community College will be open for the general public and the PNC Bank Arts Center will be open exclusively for health care workers and first responders Both sites will be open at 8 a.m. Then each will be able to take up to 500 tests and again for both sides You two get a test You must be symptomatic and then as I have said already but I want to repeat Both Bergen Community College and the PNC Bank Arts Center will be closed on Easter Sunday A quick note on these sites I must give Congressman Andy Kim and his colleagues including others by name Congressman Donald Payne Congressman Chris Smith a huge shot out for their help in ensuring that we continue to have famous partnership on operating these sites because of their work will be in this together with our federal partners through the end of May at the least And Andy thank you to your for your help of leadership there and a swell of your colleagues across the state There are 18 additional publicly run an accessible testing sites These can be found by going on cove it 19 dot NJ dot gov slash testing However there are many more sites run by hospitals or other private sector partners that are not listed At last count Brady O'Connor tells me there at least 57 in total 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 as to where you should go to get a test And again we have a symptom self assessment at Cove in 19 dot NJ dot gov Ah and that self assessment also gives us valuable data as to where we may be seeing the first wisps of smoke from a potential hot spot So we encourage you to take our self assessment Justus nearly as 220,000 others have because it allows us Not only does it give you peace of mind or give you away for but allows us to make smarter decisions going forward as toe wear valuable for instance personal protective equipment and other supplies may go switching gears yet again That's again That's the site where you want to go and check out frankly ah whole range of comprehensive answers for your questions including to do that symptom self assessment Yeah switching gears for a couple of thoughts and announcements I've taken a lot of feedback on closing state parks and county parks Ah farm or of it supportive and some folks were saying Gosh golly I was out jogging in my neighborhood Ah and there are a lot of people on the streets walking or jogging And have you thought about the the cost benefit of folks being out on the street is supposed to end in the confines of a park on the answers we have So I want to make sure folks understand a couple things very clearly here Uh and it brings me no personal joy by the way And this is not a life sentence This is not gonna last forever In the Morris we stay at home with a more social distancing We exercise at home or when we are we're outside of our home and hopefully you're only going out If you have to the faster we'll get through this But here are the facts In the first good weather weekend of the spring the evidence from State Park police and other observations up and down the state was unequivocally an enormous amount of gathering in close proximity of individuals at both state parks and county parks Additionally uncomfortably high number of out of state license plates so as we have from moment one beginning in January made every decision we have made based on fact science and data We didn't just wake up on a women decide to close state and county parks We did this because of congregations by the way our state park police and other first responders is pat can expand upon By the way we're putting them in harm's way when they go in and have to break up congregations of folks So we didn't do We didn't take this lightly We did it based on the facts as we saw them again I'm hoping more Muchas anybody It's not a life sentence that we get through this as fast as humanly possible And we will if we flatten that curve and we all stay home and only go out when it's absolutely essential And by the way to the very rightful questions of Hey what about amount jogging on the street or taking a walk on the street Be careful We accept that That is Ah an outcome here Not unintended We understood that that is a consequence of this action Please be careful This can't be either or it has to be And both we had to shut these parks and we need you to be careful into those who say Gosh golly we're more rural How about just you know how about our Here's the problem The entirety of the rest of the state of New Jersey will be on your doorstep in your park and or beyond New Jersey folks from out of state in the region who will want to be in that park We have some of the nicest parks Forget the Northeast in the entire United States of America So again I say this not to be a jerk not to be argumentative We did this based on the fax and we will continue to keep this posture until we're through this And again if you're out there walking or jogging please please be careful We learned this morning that nearly 214,000 Maur New Jerseyans filed for unemployment insurance benefits last week This is another record It's one we don't like breaking by any any means But as we have said before we know that many of you are having difficulty accessing your benefits because of long wait times or online legs We know this We're working as hard as possible to make it easier given the age of our systems and the unprecedented stress they are under is Labor Commissioner Roberts Sarah Angelo noted when he was here on Saturday First remember what we've said before but this is important No one will be denied one penny of their unemployment benefits Second is the commissioner recommended Try accessing the online system either late at night or early in the morning when volumes are lowest in Please be patient We understand your frustrations believe me but would ask you to please be patient if you're calling on the phone when you do get through please remember that the person on the other end is there to help and is probably also dealing with the strain of making sure their own families are protected During this time Let's all be kind to an understanding of one another because we're all leaning on one another And for those of you who want to keep working and help us get through this emergency the job's portal at Cove it 19 dot NJ dot gov That website contains more than 50,000 active jobless ning's listings rather from more than 630 employers across an array of essential industries So if you've lost your job due to this emergency there may be another one waiting for you joined the more than 470,000 individual users who have already clicked the job's portal link at Cove in 19 dot NJ dot gov or who have gone directly to jobs dot cove in 19 dot NJ dot gov Next Today I am signing an executive order extending the grace period for residents who may be finding themselves unable to pay their insurance premiums because of a loss of income or other impacts From this emergency my order will require a minimum 60 day grace period for health and dental insurance policies in 90 days grace for home and auto insurance renter's insurance life insurance and for insurance premium financing arrangements among others I got asked by this by some friends of mine at the Breakfast Club on 105.1 Charlotte Main and D J Envy and Angela you the other day and this was in the works and we didn't have a definitive answer So I want to give them a shot out for helping us give us a little even more impetus to get this done sooner than later Additionally this order makes it clear that all claims covered by the insurance policy must be paid out to those who are within this these grace periods and also that insurers can't demand repayment of unpaid premiums in a lump sum at the end of the grace period But rather they must spread these back payments out over the remainder of the insurance term This is akin to the sort of methodology that we expect mortgage bankers to deal with your payments when this when they're 90 day grace period is up it can't just be 90 days and then you face a big lump sum payment It's got to be in that case hopefully tacked onto the edgier more at the end of your mortgage In the insurance case smoothed out over the life of your premium payments and insurers will be required to provide each policyholder with an easily readable written description of the terms of the extended grace period not only should know New Jersey and lose their insurance during this emergency but we cannot leave them in a weaker position once it ends We're all in this together and that's the only way we will also be able to come out of this together It's that spirit we continue to see from our business community as well So I want to give a quick shout out And thanks to Marriott who would form does yesterday that they will be providing rooms at the Marriott Courtyard Newark free to the nurses and doctors working long hours and who may need a place to stay that re enter dra reenergize and prepare for the next shift This is part of Marriotts Nationwide Rooms for Responders initiative to provide $10 million in free rooms to our health care providers who are doing heroic things every day So the Marriott we say thank you into the woman of my right who in a prior life was a nurse I know this will be greeted with great great joy by our first line health care providers and we continue to also thank the many of you across the state who continue to inspire us with your generosity and your willingness to do things within your communities that are carrying us through this emergency and lifting our spirits We are overwhelmed by the number of stories you are sharing on social media using that hashtag and J thanks you and I've enjoyed Retweeting several of them myself Here are a couple of other great stories that I love the share Rohan University Joshua Meyer Clinch Parmar and Colton Jack Obuchi working with their mechanical engineering professor And there he is on the left Dr Francis Haas have taken to making polycarbonate intubation boxes that they're donating to help protect our frontline health care providers across South Jersey A huge shot up to each of them And here's one that brings a special amount of joy to me And I know also to Colonel Pat Callahan and tow commissioner Judy Purse Achille Here's a picture of Dr Jim Prig He's an E R doctor at ST Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson Kevin Slavin was with us a few weeks ago my first day back in fact and spoke about Jim's struggle with Covert 19 He's also worked alongside our search and rescue team is a volunteer physician In late March as I mentioned he contract it covered 19 and for a while there it was touch and go But yesterday and this is a picture from yesterday Dr Prune was released from the hospital ST Joe's the same place he works I think he's got into some sort of rehab As I recall right His strength and his perseverance in the face of everything should be all we need to find our inner strength of power through this emergency and come out stronger and ready for the next day Justus Dr Jim Pruden has God bless him And that's the message I ask you to hold close We are going to get through this unequivocally Yes we're going to see bad days How can you not acknowledge that when you have 198 of our blessed brothers and sisters in the state who have lost their lives again Yes we're gonna learn of more members of our unique and diverse family who we will lose But we are going to get through this and we're going to get through this together Let's live the Let's Live the words of the pioneering German doctor Dr Albert Schweitzer whose belief that we are all one family led him to found a hospital in West Africa that saved countless lives And I quote Dr Schweitzer one who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity Yes there are a lot of obstacles before us for us here It's our work to find more P p e and to source more ventilators and have more beds and to have more than we need and make sure our health care workers get the relief they need for all of us You may have the inability to get to work or the fact that you can't be with your friends at school It's the disruption of your routines It's even having to wear a safe covering on your face while at the supermarket I get that we get that we all do But the nine million of us can play and are playing a huge role in getting getting ourselves out of this faster With fewer infections fewer hospitalizations in please God fewer fatalities Every day we get stronger every day We're more prepared to see ourselves through this This is the spirit we all need to muster now and for the weeks ahead So on this holiest of Thursday's in Passover season remember this is New Jersey and we can do anything with that It is my great honor to introduce a fierce representative of our state of his district Ah guy who goes to bat for us every single day Please help me Welcome Congressman Andy Kim Thank you Governor I appreciate so much your leadership in your team in everything that you're doing to shepherd us through this crisis right down Thank you for letting me join you here today for this conference I wanted to just start by talking to those and wishing everyone that is listening and watching that I hope you are safe I hope that you are healthy I hope your love ones are staying safe and healthy If you need help in any way I hope that you're getting it And if you are not please reach out to me to the governor to others that are stepping up to try to make sure that you have a voice and you have what you need We're not just talking about the health concerns about the Corona virus or about financial concerns that I know are on the minds of so many of you But making sure that we're thinking about our own mental health thinking about what it is that we can look out for each other and our neighbors I talked to people who are down on their last dime and they're hungry and they're concerned If that is you please reach out to somebody as we together we're going to get through this My office and I myself were fielding thousands of calls throughout Burlington County and Ocean County and I wanted to share some of what we're hearing The first and foremost question that we're getting from people are the concerns that they have Are they healthy Are their parents healthier The Children healthier their wives their husbands healthy and their lack of knowledge and so many fronts worries them greatly I know that's something that I felt an experience firsthand as I was exposed early on to someone who was tested positive and had the quarantine myself wondering whether or not that was something that I may have passed along to my parents or to my family and that hangs with you with stays with you And I know so many others are experiencing such a deeper level and I think we want to make sure that we have That type of clarity is why myself the governor of the New Jersey congressional delegation across both parties all recognize the importance of increased testing There's really nothing else that we can doom or important than understanding where this virus is in order to be able to slow the spread of this and ultimately be able to beat it We won't be able to just think about this on a public health side But we know that our economy is not going to be open We're not gonna be your oath to reopen our small businesses until we have understanding of how to turn the corner on this public health crisis Our state and our counties have been working as hard as they can on this and we're grateful for the help and having FEMA ramp up with two testing sites in North Jersey But we need 1/3 FEMA site of federally back site in South Jersey when we need it right now especially at a time we're seeing the numbers continued to climb exponentially I've still alongside my colleagues to call for this third testing site have been joined by every single member in this bipartisan delegation and I'll continue to call for this site until we get it And even then I will continue to push for every single federal dollar we can get to support New Jersey through this crisis I appreciate the governor's request in helping us push forward for this third FEMA site And as we have a full had delegation we had a full congressional delegation and bipartisan and bicameral way submitted a letter letter letter to the FEMA on March 27 Today is 14 days later and we have heard no response and we are in a pandemic We need quick decisions and we need a strategic response 14 days ago the number of positive cases in Ocean County was 484 as of yesterday and I'm sure the numbers will go up as we hear them Yesterday was 2856 in Burlington County 14 days ago was 88 and just yesterday we heard those numbers at 801 due to the limits of testing capabilities were left to wonder Is this just the tip of the iceberg Is there something Maur that work should be expect And what will the next 14 days bring We want a largest senior communities in the country We have one of the little we have retirement communities long term care facilities and just on my way up to Trenton I was hearing a report that the White House is now warning that Philadelphia may very well emerge as another hot spot with cases starting to spike We need to get ahead of this now I pressed the head of FEMA for a region on a phone call the other day and congressman Nor Cross congressman past Grail Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman among others have all cited this as a top priority for our state I want to make sure that as many people in this state in New Jersey have access to the tests and the access to the medical equipment that is necessary Well we understand that testing isn't just important for us to understand the spread of the virus and the concerns and the public health front But it's critically important to understand how we're going to be able to move forward and get our economy up and running responsibly This is how we're able to keep watch if we don't have a coordinated and sustained testing regime we're not gonna be able to keep watch on the virus as we start to restart our economy Additional testing not just for who has been tested positive but also testing for antibodies To be able to understand who might have immunity to this will be important aspects of this going forward in terms of how we open our economy safely and responsibly The second major question that I hear from people is what help can they get financially Even before this crisis we lived in time when 40% of Americans couldn't handle a $400 emergency I had personally repeated that statistic thousands of times to highlight the fragility that so many Americans lived in And I had heard those stories specifically in Berlin to county in Ocean County Now we see that fragile reality put to a test of the greatest test that we have faced with regards to everyone in this country facing it together Everyone is impacted by this crisis I'm glad that we were able to highlight uh these stories both of those that have survived but it's so important to highlight those that have passed the tragic stories of those amongst us I heard from someone yesterday told me about their first time attending a funeral by Zoom Yesterday I heard from a woman who was filled with anxiety about her struggles getting groceries and beyond to go outside And we had a telephone town hall where we had so many people hundreds of people telling their stories about their jobs that they lost in the work that they lost We need to be doing everything we can to be able to help New Jersey and suffer that are suffering right now And the cares act increased unemployment support And as we passed direct payments they be able to help people through this crisis I've been pressing to make sure that the federal government is getting our state everything that we need on passing this help to the people The most important thing is getting people help Right now we've also been making sure that our small businesses can stay afloat I'm on the Small Business committee on the only member of Congress on the Small Business Committee in Congress and I've been pressing on this as a top priority I'll be honest with you I've been disappointed with some of the rollout of the paycheck protection program We need to be doing better Small business owners are struggling to keep people on their payrolls and their doors open I've been pushing the S B A and Treasury to get the guidance out as soon as possible in a coordinated way rather than the piecemeal way that we've seen so far to Bill to make sure that support gets to our small business owners immediately These are tough times but New Jerseyans air tough when we're going to get through this together I've been inspired by these acts of heroism that I see every day in our neighbors just doing their jobs Our doctors are nurses AMs personnel grace restore workers and so many others that are putting themselves in harm's way We owe all of them a debt of gratitude in our efforts to put this crisis to an end And I want to end by just thinking once again Governor Murphy and I my colleagues throughout this state for engaging in this collective effort as we're trying to get the job done Thank you Andy Thank you Um you know in the category of it takes a village no matter how good a job we do is a state We need help Uh and that includes local county faith leaders Uh nonprofits in boy It short does include our federal government Uh and and I thank you and your colleagues on both sides of the aisle who represent us so fiercely and so well in Washington and we're going to need it You rightfully point out whether you're out of whether you have lost your job You're a small business or frankly the state of New Jersey with expenses that look like this And revenues that looked like this We need all the help we can get right now more than ever before And I want to thank you for all of that Great to have you with us today Switching gears to my right to the woman who needs no introduction Please help me Welcome the commissioner of the Department of Health Judy per securely Thank you Governor Good afternoon Um as you know the cove in 19 outbreak has impacted our entire state Our local health departments are working around the clock to protect their communities and respond to this outbreak And as we know given the increasing cases and spread of the virus in the state they need additional support Understanding the importance of our frontline public health workforce the Department of Health is allocating $5 million in federal funding that the state has received to support our local health departments statewide The funding will support critical local public health efforts such as contact tracing providing guidance to a long term care facilities assisting community testing sites supporting individuals who need a safe place to quarantine and much other needed cove in 19 related activities The allocation will be based on the population size of the communities they serve New Jersey's 96 local health departments are the public health boots on the ground and we realize the enormity of this outbreak has put an enormous strain on their operations We certainly hope this funding will support them during extremely challenging time I want to also report that I visited our federal our federal medical station Ah at Secaucus this morning I had the privilege to meet with the extraordinary team from the State police the National Guard and our volunteer corps of nurses and physicians They had two patients admitted there yesterday went well and they're expecting Ah five more this afternoon Pharmacare is providing full pharmacy service is and lab core is providing full testing Service is according to the data reported from our hospitals there are 7363 hospitalizations of individuals testing positive for covert 19 or persons under investigation 1523 individuals are in what we would call critical care are licensed critical care and 1551 of those individuals are on ventilators We've been predicting a 1 to 1 ratio of critical care to ventilators We have also told you that our hospitals air increasing their critical care capacity And as you can see with 1523 individuals identified in critical care more of them are in the hospital family on ventilators We continue to work on a plan to address challenges in our long term care facilities This is a statewide as well as a national problem We've also received reports that some of our veteran homes have been severely impacted by covert 19 specifically the home in Paramus the home in promise has 40 confirmed cases Five are hospitalized Since the beginning of March they have reported 34 deaths However only 10 are related to Cove it 19 We have three veterans memorial homes in New Jersey to date Collectively they report 58 cove it positive residents and 14 deaths directly related to Covert 19 The director of these facilities reports that they have had staffing issues and the Guard has sent 40 combat medics and 35 combat medics to to Paramus Excuse me and 35 to the mental park facility In addition the Department of Health located to our volunteer corps five licensed practical nurses and four registered nurses who will report to the veteran homes on the 13 As I've said we're continued to work on a statewide plan to assist our long term care facilities that do not have the sufficient physical space to be able to cohort Cove it positive patients on a separate floor or a separate wing again We're looking at this regionally and I've been in contact with several facilities who are preparing to accept cove it positive patients only in locations in the north central and southern regions Right now 262 of our facilities Report at least one cove it 19 case Overall there are 3388 residents in our long term care assisted living and dementia facilities Testing positive for Cove it 19 The overall population of these facilities is slightly over 75,000 We're concerned about several of them that have increasing cases and outbreaks and our inspection teams have been in contact with all of them and some of them can expect a visit Sadly 198 new deaths have been reported to the department 20 of these new deaths were residents of long term care facilities As I've stated before there's 262 long term care facilities in the state reporting at least one covert positive case These case numbers include reports from long term care nursing facilities approximately 200 assisted living facilities and other settings Sensors residential memory care housing All in There are approximately 110,000 residents of New Jersey and our specialized homes There are now 1700 fatalities in our state The racial break breakdown for the deaths that we have reported our white 61% black or African American 22% Asian 6% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander less than 1% And we are still investigating 11% of the deaths All of these families these individuals are in our thoughts and prayers According to the data from this morning of the seven laboratory sending US covert 19 results which is over 95% of the tests performed in New Jersey one healthy 1 100,478 tests have been performed 43,313 have returned positive for a positivity rate of 44.11% As cases rise and we put into effect more social distancing requirements we of course know that people are anxious and concerned This anxiousness coupled with being separated from loved ones takes an emotional toll We understand that I want to share the mental health care's number again For those who need emotional support during the Cove in 19 outbreak behavioral care specialists can help you or someone you love at one 866 202 help H e L P 1866 to 024357 For individuals that have general questions please Called to 11 or text NJ cove it 2898 211 This is a difficult time for all of us So please be kind to one another Be patient and take time to take care of yourselves and your loved ones We are all in this together and we must take steps to protect one another Thank you Judy Thank you A couple of follow up items of I may that this last point we've said this We've got an overwhelming amount of folks in this state who in this extraordinary moment even while social distancing we're all coming together in one cause in this does he There's a bonding going on that is completely at odds with the physical reality blood and importantly and particularly a times of spirituals on holy seasons We've also got members of our state in our community who are alone and feeling that loneliness and folks who have already extent mental health challenges or or dependencies or addictions and other challenges And we must not forget that we are one big nine million member family Well most of us are the majority of us maybe coming together That's not working for everybody So I want to just underscore your last point Counties again The top five total cases continue to be the same Five Bergen in order Bergen Essex Hudson Union Passaic Judy You've been talking about a 1 to 1 ratio Ah of critical care beds and ventilators If the math is right we're even north of 1 to 1 right now Exactly Any any colors toe how you get there These air folks who are not in critical care but still requiring a ventilator Well what we have asked all of the hospitals to do as you recall is to increase their critical care capacity by 100% So we had 2000 license beds I'm sitting here before you today to assure you that every hospital has done that So we have about 4000 beds that can accommodate critical care patients So that's where you see the increase in the ventilators But we still need our ventilators You bet I mean it Just to repeat Thea the public service announcement that I think we make it every gathering that we need We're gonna need more ventilators more personal protective equipment more beds more health care workers more medicines that support all of the above We've made progress on all fronts and hats off to the folks who are working tirelessly to make that progress But we're not We're not remotely home yet and we have to continue to remind ourselves that we are still relative to where we think we're headed short on all the above And that's not withstanding Extraordinary For instance we talked about yesterday extraordinary creativity on the part of our hospitals and healthcare systems The extraordinary daily efforts from health care workers The field medical station you reviewed today great example of cooperation with our federal partners But we have a ways still to go Just acknowledging on the racial Ah data again the African American number 22% That is relative Let's not forget this folks relative to about 14 or 15% representation of the general population in New Jersey And that's something that's we're seeing elsewhere in the country on That's something that we're very focused on Um you mentioned also the Asian community Uh that is also north of its representation of the general population Um and give me a chance to saying India you the first Korean American ever to be voted for Congress I know you are from New Jersey second ever in the country First Asian American from New Jersey elected federal bless you and thank you for leading in so many respects including being a role model for gobs of young people in the state who look up to you Look and the concerns aren't just on the health side We need to make sure that we understand that we gotta fight a bank You fight against any type of discrimination against the Asian American community in this state and across the country as well I was speaking to somebody Speaking of which someone from Asia who was helping us We we we literally running a phone a worldwide phone banking system right now to find personal protective equipment Pat's been right in the middle of that He knows I was speaking somebody from Asian today and he said Listen if we're able to get this to you could you please remind folks that this is no time to be splitting along us versus them lines in particularly for our Asian brothers and sisters and I said I promised I would to really to announce that we have success of this particular front butt When we do I promise to repeat that Had anything you got on compliance peopie capacity or other matters of importance in Great to Have You with us as always Thank you Governor and thank you Congressman to for always being accessible and answering on the first ring I appreciate that as far as compliance goes overnight and these are all executive order violations so I'll go through them quickly Subject charged with theft He was stealing a refrigerator from a recycling center and Randolph in New York They issued 34 summonses on closed to businesses and I think it's important to point out when we talk about the uh it takes a village that more than 700 citizens in Newark since the executive order was signed have called the Newark Police Department Asked for them to come break up gatherings in sight folks and more than 700 people have engaged in that effort as well because they know how seriously the social distancing is In Brick Township subject charge for having a barber shop in Salon open in Clinton Township subject charge for having offensive signs and using obscene gestures on Route 22 in Union City At large gathering was broken up A subject was sighted A woman who was engaged in an altercation spit on the victim claiming she add Cove it subject down in Camden was admitted for an overdose drug overdose He did test positive and was to be isolated in a hotel that was being paid for by the county He refused to stay at the hotel site It's obscene things and ultimately was admitted for a psychiatric testing In Linden Wall a basketball subject was charged for refusing to leave and disperse from a basketball court that was closed in Paterson Tavern was cited for remaining open for business and then Elizabeth The liquor store was sighted for having not only a large gathering in front but having a back room filled with people consuming alcohol And the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division did shut that business down onto the governor's point I think he opened up with it with regard to last night being the first night in of Passover and Lakewood that the amount of appreciation for the compliance in the adherence to the executive order go a long way just to show how serious were taking this And on a time when I know that Passover and Holy Week is a time when we do want to get together that that's certainly greatly appreciated very quickly on the ventilators We are delivered in the process of delivering 120 of those today from our warehouse I believe tomorrow over 240 ventilators will be distributed I had submitted a request for FEMA to support our non congregate sheltering on April 6 and today being April 9th in three days They have approved that this morning which is huge for us And that's the support vulnerable populations that need to be isolated as well as our healthcare and first responders that need to be isolated as well that so they don't go home and contaminate and infect their families And to the congressman's point about the third testing we are pushing FEMA hard for that and hoped that you're supporting the entire delegation support as well A Zoe EMS ask of FEMA have that third site stood up Hopefully in the near future That's all I have got that I would just add to your comment not just about Lakewood which I had mentioned earlier and we think our leadership there but up and down the state with a one of the most significant and largest Jewish communities of any American state second largest per capita I think Fourth largest overall Um for folks to have kicked that sacred holiday off in his compliant of fashion as possible particularly given we mentioned this yesterday I've participated myself is a Murphy and countless seders particularly given how communal and how family oriented in how much of a gathering Um uh holy period Passover is particularly on that first night Um it's quite gratifying So I want to say a particular thanks up and down the state to our Jewish brothers and sisters with that let's take some questions I got mad on this side after he stretched and he's got John up first about did we get a GED and gender for the deaths I know we've got nothing for it here that today Sorry for did that Uh can you discuss Governor Your chief counsel His positive test How did he get a test if he was not symptomatic Ah and you have said in the past you haven't been tested Does that change your decision on getting tested Um And on the hospital data Can we get an idea of how complete this data is How many hospitals are reporting in uh how often it's going to be updated Is it a daily throughout the day Um and there's some definitions that we're asking for What What exactly is something like big capacity expansion potential mean But the biggest question on that is what should we do with these numbers What should people looking at this How to read these charts What do you want You want people to take away from this numbers and governor on the shopping restrictions that you announced yesterday you indicated that the number of 50% of capacity would go down That's potentially about to go down What are the measures that you're looking at to tighten limits What metrics do you want to see where you ratchet things down again And what was there anything specific that prompted decision to limit retail Judy I'll jump in first descent rate and then you could come in and maybe Patton you may want to add a word Actually she real quick agent engender of the deaths Do you mind doing that one Yeah sure E Think you just shut yourself off The range is twenty two hundred three years Ah 1% or 13 are under the age of 34% or 75 between the ages of 30 and 49 17% 288 between the ages of 50 and 64 33% 572 between the ages of 65 79 And 44% or 748 are over 30 age of 80 There are still 1122 cases or 66% that are still um that we are still looking into You know I'm gonna correct that of 1122 66% We know the race Um sorry for confusing that gender Sorry Did you Ah gender It continues to be about 58% male and 41% female Um and the race is based on 1122 cases and it's 683 or 61% white 242 or 22% black or African American and 6% or 68 Asian and less than 1% is Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander And 47% are now reporting as having underlying conditions Um as it relates to Matt Plaque in and I know Matt who's obviously not here Matt would want me to say that in a day that we announced 100 98 deaths and there are 1700 folks have lost their lives He appreciates everyone reaching out to him but he's doing fine Mad as I understand it I don't want to get This is a personal situation for him But as I understand it he came in contact with a number of people who it turned out had tested positive And even though he didn't have symptoms he felt it was the right thing to do Now why does he get a free pass to do that Because literally every single executive order that I've written sets up but governor and certainly this period have been written by Parimal Matt in their colleagues Eso we need this guy about on the phone with him on four different calls this morning He was never in this room with any knowledge that he may have said the minute he took the test or suspected he had been around people again he was not symptomatic And thank God remains not so Um he has been self isolating at home And again we've been on the phone with him constantly Probably much to his annoyance Uh secondly it hasn't changed my metric for two simple reasons One is I don't have any symptoms I hope it stays that way And secondly including Matt I just don't go near people This is the closest near folks I haven't been with Matt in the whole bunch of days And even when we were in the same building we were 20 And I keep it that way with basically everybody 20 feet or more apart So there's anything to report on that I promise we'll come back Um 50 I'll finish my part of this Was there any one thing on limiting retail No John there wasn't any one thing but we're too many One too many stories of good and bad actors in the sense that hey this place is really doing it right Pat You've heard these They're they're calling You want to come in You know when your prescription is ready uh or they're limiting the amount of people inside the supermarket Great We heard too many over here and so we decided to get more explicit And what will what will look to on the 50% go down I'm not sure This man hold on one sec I'm not sure there's a specific um the moment that will look at But I go back to the state park comment I made earlier when we had such an overwhelming amount of evidence that people were gathering in clusters We reserve the right for that number to go down Let's let Judy answer and then I'll come back to get a quick follow up We want to keep moving today Judy you've got one on hospital data How frequently we hope to do that every day I guess Right Yeah Maybe bigger question What does it mean Sure they hospitals report Andi I'm happy to report that they all report at the end of every day Ah and it's as accurate as it is at that moment in time Uh we've gotten reports as early as 4 p.m. But most of the reports are around 10 p.m. the level of activity in the hospital particularly at a time like this the inn and the out is ah certainly evolving so we get it at a point in time So what do we look at Well the first thing we look at is the total number of hospital hospitalizations related to uh cove it Ah positive Definite covert positive cases and persons under investigation on that's the 7363 as of 10 p.m. Last night Then we look at the doubling time What that is is the number of days for the hospitalizations to double uh at the current rate and the doubling time Uh we want to see that increase because that means there's fewer hospitalizations So as of last evening the doubling time was 28.8 days The day before it was 14.6 The day before that it was 12.4 and additionally we look at the daily growth rate based on the last two days Last evening it was 2% the day before it was 5% and the day before that 6% So we want the daily growth rate to decrease We want the doubling time to increase And then we keep an eye on intensive care or critical care patients because we know that in a surge we may need 4 to 5000 critical care beds and ventilators So we're constantly monitoring that this should never become abstract and this is never mathematical These are human lives we're talking about But there is Judy a certain amount of math that is derived in terms of prediction predicting So the map I put up earlier wasn't hospitalizations but it was how frequently you're doubling infections But that does ultimately lead to the question of the total number of infections and how rapid that comes down in tow Who's goingto 80 As Judy has reminded us up to 85% of folks will have moderate thio mild to moderate symptoms but of that last 15% they're gonna need much more of an intensive health care experience including hospitalizations and ultimately critical care and sadly will lose some of those folks So there was one other question you asked I want to make sure Did you hit this bed Capacity expansion does that Did you I didn't answer that We know that every single hospital has expanded their bed capacity and they're critical care capacity has been expanded into their step down units And really what that means is that they get have the physical space to be able to put the equipment necessary around the bed that's required by the patient and then have a ratio of caregivers to patient at a higher level than a uh a typical medical surgical ratio That's the biggest challenge we have because the health care workforce is um not not It's dwindling as people leave to go on quarantine themselves and then come back Eso We're working very aggressively with staffing solution which is why that matchmaking process you in that matters so much You've got the folks who have raised their hand over here and you've got the needs over here and the needs air growing as folks get quarantine themselves John anything else again you've mentioned there's intensive care and you say sometimes critical care Is there a difference It think Okay all right Intensive care in critical care are the same That's me That's me butchering not medical person Probably butchering medical terms I say One thing is you're wearing a mask and we wear masks The other thing I want my answer Toa myself and others around us were all heavy face covering slash masks these days And we have been so it will stay that way Thank you at least And speaking of face coverings I think that you yes How many How does New Jersey have more patients on ventilators than it has in the I C U Does that indicate that some patients are on ventilators as a matter of course reliant on them say the way the late Christopher Reeve Waas and event is considered a chronic condition and not an emergency type situation Also at this point when are you expecting the peak of hospitalizations And finally I'm curious about the impact on the state budget For instance do you expect to be so generous after all with school aid And do you intend to bring the state treasurer to these briefings at some point to answer our budget questions I'll start with the non medical May I do that Turn it to you to the I'm intrigued by the idea of the state treasure of mine we should take that under consideration is a good good thought we are Are we likely to have the commission the Department of Corrections Tomorrow We will So that's one thing I meant to say earlier Many of you have asked us questions about the corrections system Judy's been communicating nonstop of Marcus Hicks but we've indicated I think for several days would like to get him here on He will be our guest tomorrow So I should have said that earlier The impact on the state budget is significant It's it's there's no other way to put it We've been who have been crushed with expenses that are skyrocketing as we deal on the front lines with people who were sick People have lost their jobs small businesses you name it It's too early to tell the impact on specifics as it relates to school budgets Um please bear with us on that which is why it may It may make sense I love I love the idea of the treasure being here and she's extraordinary but it might make sense to wait a little bit so we have a better sense of the landscape It's also why Andy's role in his colleagues in the House and are two senators matters so much We need let me repeat direct cash assistance right to the state and we need it in size and we need it such that weaken as liberally as possible Interpret how its use because we're getting crushed right now There's no other way to put it But more on the specifics of the budget at least if that's okay Judy do you mind going to the medical questions Yeah the critical care on our spreadsheet our dashboard eyes based on licence to Chris Critical care beds But we know that they've enhanced their ability to move out the critical care capacity so they're probably just outside of the critical care unit But in the unit where they've increased capacity to handle critical patients how about it uh thoughts on a peak Well we know that the Innovation Center has identified that peak could occur in 2 to 3 days um and could result in 14,400 hospitalizations and 2880 critical care cases Ah that's from last evening We look at this every day It changes every day Eso it's 14,400 hospitalizations and 2880 critical care cases They said the peak could happen as soon as 2 to 3 days Last evening I believe we had three hospitals on divert Um most of them on divert because of workforce issues I want to say this Thank you Judy for that And we'll go about your lease You okay We'll go back up here if we could met Um I want to thank Congressman Kim And I meant to say this upfront He told me he had he's stacked up here so he's got a jump I want to thank you Andy for being here for being a great friend a great representative and advocate on behalf of two of our most important counties Burlington in Ocean County And by doing so making New Jersey in every county stronger and better So thank you men Great to have you Please Governor We're seeing reports that the federal government will end funding for Corona virus testing sites this Friday in a few places those sites will close as a result Is this true If so will this impact in Jersey testing sites Um we've also seen that HUD is moving quickly to make over $82 million of Cove in 19 relief funding available to communities across New Jersey What are the state's plans for this money Ah and what kind of transparency will be put in place So tax players can be sure that money is being spent wisely and for its intended purpose Finally Senate leaders and today announced the creation of a task force to monitor NJ is public education system during this closure including around whether students are receiving the supports they need Do you support the creation of this task force And how would you assess how schools have done so far especially around the issues of equity So these are all me for a change You could put your feet up here for a few minutes Judy and Pat actually Pat May 1 away in the 1st 1 There was a moment in time and that lasted several days where we were hearing that FEMA may be pulling out of our two testing sites this Friday Um and we collectively appealed to FEMA and I personally appealed to Peak Gaynor who runs it and Vice President Pence And I'm happy to say as of Monday So this is now three days ago They committed to stay in with us until the end of May So our commitment in New Jersey from FEMA for those two sites is through May 31st I can't speak to whether or not that's different in other states but they are going to stay in with us Today was on with Sheila Oliver earlier and she continues to extraordinary job running not just his lieutenant governor but running the Department of Community Affairs We had a brief discussion about the HUD money too early to tell but she and her team are on it So when we have news on that front behind could you remind me and keep me an honest man on that front will give you a readout as soon as I got a more specific um I had to see the Senate establishing that task force We um uh is I think in every timeout we've said we welcome any other good ideas folks have from other branches of government or other parts of the state So bless them And if they've got some ideas that come out of this we we welcome them This is an experiment that we've never done before We've never gone through this before The commissioner Dr Rep Elect was with us the other day How How can I assess how doe I assess we're doing that You'd never could say You're batting 1000 You heard lack of access to devices challenges remote learning We heard some early stages Pat was really good early on and continues to be really good on getting a readout of food and secure kids and communities and families Um you know that's always something you want a CZ best You can't bat 1000 but you're always trying to get that perfection I think we're doing probably as good a job as any American state We entered this with the strongest number one rated public education system in America That's a good place to start Great educators the best in America if not the world great smart kids and families But again it's it's in You go into that also with an unevenness about this access to devices Your your best most reliable hot meal of the day through your school Those were those were realities for hundreds of thousands of kids So um we're going to do like everything else is I mentioned we're gonna do a I'm sure America will do a The world America and New Jersey will do big postmortems on how we did and where we can be better going for you Dave How are you You you switch seats with the least today So is alive A little little bit You threw me off but it's good to see you both Good to see you Governor Again Yes I am totally discombobulated by the change but I'm trying to deal with it Um a couple of questions Um we've heard a lot about the benefits of rapid testing and how that could help us in terms of reopening the economy preserving p p e e et cetera et cetera When do we have any idea what we start to see This on a widespread basis in New Jersey Um how many rapid test do we have now How important do you think this is in terms of you know moving forward Ah second question you mentioned um in your discussion about why the parks and so forth were closed We are seeing more walkers and joggers in the streets and not to sound silly but sometimes it is crowded Um would you anticipate or would you suggest Is there any guidance about wearing a mask while walking or jogging And is there a protocol that people should follow in terms of who gets out of the way I haven't seen it be an issue but people being people might turn into something a little nutty Um on the small business front any other plans in place or considerations in terms of helping especially the small business community I know a lot of them have expressed concerns about being left behind and not being able to cope with the enormity of what's happening Um to the commissioner who needs no introduction Like you've said yesterday that you've been through HIV AIDS Ebola I believe SARS and you've never seen anything like what we're seeing with Kobe Could you talk about the reasons why you're saying that And finally governor um you just had an operation fairly recently How are you holding up How are you finding the strength to deal with this kind of huge crisis Who are you leaning on I know you've meant mentioned Winston Churchill Are you leaning on Moses Your wife The Beatles Um what's your support system And how are you here Actually John do and sons Let me say the following I appreciate your asking I'll come to that in a second Rapid testing I don't know the amounts that we have in the state Judy do you know I don't know the volume we have Lisa do you know the answer to that Nice to have you with us by the way Hi Good afternoon everybody So I don't have an exact number of point of care testing those rapid test kits I do know that because they were recently approved a lot of the vendors are currently working with many urgent care's hospitals The one that's coming on the market most recently is what's called a moderately complex So you do have to have some complexity within your organization to be able thio utilize that test We're trying to work with our state public health lab partners and some of our um care providers to make sure that we're understanding exactly who is offering those tests And certainly the availability of tests and rapid testing that can be turned around in a couple of hours is going to be very beneficial And so we do hope that they will start flooding the marketplace soon and we hope to actually be able to understand a little bit better about where they're being rolled out and how they're going to be best utilized So David the in the intermediate term and I hope this is sooner than later I've had just in the past 24 hours a series of conversations on what sort of health infrastructure do you need to have in place to responsibly reopen as you and I have discussed on a number of occasions with Scott Got labor is the former FDA commissioner Vivek Murthy who was a former surgeon general to pick two people Judy obviously and her team and Lisa and their their colleagues are thinking about this a lot But everybody comes back to the ability to contact trace once you've whenever it is Please God I hope it's soon of the later Once within the four walls in New Jersey we bring this sucker Two is close to zero as possible You want to then have a health care infrastructure in place And I spoke the other day as did Governor Cuomo about the notion of trying to do something coordinated regionally and the ability Tell me if you disagree with this Lisa or Judy the ability at that point for sure to rapid test people so that you could quickly make an assessment quarantine if necessary is gonna be hugely important to our success in reopening as opposed to the alternative where you either do it too soon or you do it