By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
As Gov. Phil Murphy made the long-awaited announcement that gyms will soon be allowed to reopen for indoor workouts with restrictions, New Jersey on Wednesday reported 11 more deaths attributed to the coronavirus and 288 new cases.
Meanwhile, the state’s rate of transmission dropped for the fifth straight day and remained below the critical benchmark of 1, which shows the outbreak is declining.
The Garden State has now reported 15,914 total deaths related to COVID-19 — 14,134 confirmed and 1,780 considered probable — in the nearly six months since the state’s first case was reported March 4.
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That’s the second most coronavirus deaths in the U.S. Nearly half of those — at least 7,069 — have been of residents and staff members at nursing homes.
The state has reported 190,306 total positive tests in that time — the eighth most in the nation — out of more than 2.72 million total administered tests. More than 33,600 residents have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Of the newly reported deaths announced Wednesday, seven occurred in the last five days, Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. The other four happened earlier and were just recently confirmed.
“Even though the numbers of lives lost continues to decline, we are still losing lives to this virus,” Murphy said. “We cannot give up until that number hits zero — and even then, we have to make sure it stays there.”
New Jersey’s latest transmission is now 0.80, officials said. That’s down from 0.83 on Tuesday.
The rate had pushed past 1 last week, prompting concerns. Any number above 1 means each newly infected person, on average, is spreading the virus to at least one other person.
