By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
New Jersey now has 5,368 coronavirus deaths as the total number of cases climbed to 99,989 on Thursday, though officials continue to say they are seeing hopeful signs of the outbreak stabilizing.
Gov. Phil Murphy said the latest numbers include about 307 new deaths and 4,227 new cases.
“We continue to see the curve of new COVID-19 cases remain significantly flat, even with today’s slight uptick in cases,” Murphy said. “As we map the outbreak across the state, we continue to see a slowing in the rate of spread.”
Murphy said as the total cases near 100,000, it is important to note that thousands have recovered.
“This is a cumulative number. Our first positive case announced on March 4,” Murphy said. “Of the 100,000 total cases, roughly 46,000 have now exited two-week incubation window. Even as we prepared for tomorrow, there are tens of thousands of residents who have now likely defeated the virus.”
But the latest numbers show New Jersey residents should prepare for the near-lockdown restrictions to continue, Murphy said.
“We can’t ease up one bit on our social distancing,” Murphy said. “We need to see more progress and more slowing.”
Still, it’s difficult to get a complete picture of how many people in New Jersey currently have COVID-19 or how quickly it’s spreading. That’s because the state is testing only symptomatic people, test results has been backed up for up to seven days and the state has not reported significant increases in daily testing.
Murphy has said his administration is paying close attention to the number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus in New Jersey as key indicator for when the outbreak has slowed. As of 10 p.m. Wednesday, the state reported 7,240 patients at New Jersey’s 71 hospitals, a decline for the third consecutive day and down 12.7% from the peak in hospitalizations of 8,293 patients on April 14. Those numbers include those who tested positive and suspected cases.
Of those 7,240 hospitalized, 1,990 were in critical or intensive care and 1,462 were on ventilators.
The 99,989 positive coronavirus test include 13,769 cases at longterm care facilities.
At least 752 people have been discharged from hospitals in the 24 hours leading to Wednesday night, though information from three of the state’s hospitals was missing from that total.
More than 100,000 residents have tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the state.
Coronavirus cases as of Thursday, April 23
| LOCATION | CASES | DEATHS |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 99,989 | 5,368 |
| New York State | 263,754 | 15,740 |
| New York City | 138,435 | 14,996 |
| Pennsylvania | 37,053 | 1,421 |
| Philadelphia | 11,226 | 443 |
| United States | 843,981 | 46,859 |
| Worldwide | 2,659,557 | 186,131 |
Note: Data includes positive cases of COVID-19 reported by the CDC, state health officials and other health agencies since Jan. 21. New York State totals include New York City. Pennsylvania totals include Philadelphia. Updated: April 23 at 1:05 p.m.Table: Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media Source: Johns Hopkins Univ., NYMag.com, Philadelphia Health Dept., State Health Departments in NJ, NY, PAGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper
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