Governor Phil Murphy stated that New Jersey is “standing in a very dangerous place” on Friday when he announced that the rate of transmission of the coronavirus is higher than when hospitalizations were at their peak in April and that the number is expected to rise.
The state’s transmission rate, or Rt, stands at 1.35, above the key benchmark of 1. The last time it hit that peak was April 7, 115 days ago. The governor attributed the increase to an increase in internal parties and other events in which people do not follow the rules of mask or social distance.
“Look, the numbers are triggering alarms that we take very seriously. We may still be among the leaders in having lowercase numbers and daily positivity rates, but we are in a very dangerous place. Alarms are ringing, ”Murphy said during her regular COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.
The state’s transmission rate, or Rt, stands at 1.35, above the key benchmark of 1.
“The only way to silence these alarms and return to the process of moving forward is for everyone to take them seriously. We have not passed this. Everyone who refuses to wear a mask or throws a house party contributes directly to these increases, ”he said. “This has to stop, and it has to stop now.”
Murphy added: “I am not announcing any specific action. [Friday], but consider that this is put on notice. We will no longer tolerate these carefree and carefree attitudes. “
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The increase in Rt means that each new case is causing more than one additional infection and the virus is spreading. The transmission rate had been below 1 for weeks during the strictest parts of New Jersey’s coronavirus blockades, but has dropped above and below 1 in July as more reopening steps have occurred.
New Jersey positive cases had declined significantly in the past few weeks before an upward surge earlier this week, pushing the state back to further positive tests toward where New Jersey was about a month ago.
Murphy announced that there were 10 additional deaths and 699 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday. There have been 181,660 cases since March and 15,798 deaths, including 13,923 laboratory confirmed deaths and 1,875 probable deaths.
Although hospitalizations decreased to less than 700 patients Thursday night, with 695 people hospitalized, including 113 people in critical or critical care, with 45 of those on ventilators.
At the same time, there are 34 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, where people visiting Garden State or returning home must be quarantined for 14 days.
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