By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Gov. Phil Murphy said the increasing rate of transmission of the COVID-19 virus in New Jersey is “a warning sign we need to do more.”
In his coronavirus briefing Monday, July 6, the governor said the increase can be attributed in part to reopening the economy and in part to cases from infected people coming from hot spots outside the state.
A transmission rate that has climbed to 1.03 – above 1.0 for the first time in 10 weeks – shows an increasing rate of spread of the virus statewide, Murphy said. The transmission rate is how many people are infected by each new case. It hit a low in mid-June of 0.70, or less than one new person infected for each case. Now it has climbed just above one new case for each person infected.
Murphy said over the holiday weekend there were various outbreaks reported in New Jersey linked to travel to other COVID-19 hot spots nationwide. He cited an anecdotal finding in Hoboken that 13 cases were travel-related, including a dozen to hot spots, but that daily contact tracing helped uncover that detail quickly.
“We need to be smarter and we need to work harder,” Murphy said. The 14-day self-quarantine for people coming from or going through a hot-spot exists to prevent flare-ups, he added. The website covid19.nj.gov/travel provides guidelines to determine if self-quarantine is necessary.
The governor thanked the millions of people who are being responsible, but chided the selfish few who are not following the guidelines of required masks indoors and recommended masks outdoors.
“Just one selfish person can undo the hard work the rest of you all have done,” Murphy said. He said that in context of wanting to continue down the road of reopening the state’s economy and that he didn’t want to “hit another pause” again, as he did a week before in stopping dining inside restaurants because a small number of New Jerseyans were being irresponsible.
“We all need to be wearing face coverings, even when it’s a hot day like today. COVID-19 doesn’t care about the weather. It only cares about finding another person to infect. Don’t be a willing host,” he said, adding people should get tested and self-quarantine if necessary.
The number of new cases in New Jersey grew by 216 overnight since Sunday with the total now at 173,611. There were 861 residents hospitalized for COVID-19, with 187 in intensive care and 152 ventilators in use.
There were 20 new deaths reported overnight to make the new total 13,373, with an additional probable deaths at 1,856.
“This thing is brutal,” Murphy said about COVID-19. “In some cases it hits you and passes and you never knew you had it and in other cases – in our case (N.J.) 15 or more thousand people – it crushes you. Yes, it crushes older folks more frequently, yes it crushes folks as (state Health Commissioner) Judy (Persichilli) reminds us with co-morbidities more frequently, but it takes out younger folks as well. We can never take anything for granted here.”
Face masks, he emphasized, are what reduce the risk of transmission to others.
He said he saw many people walking on the boardwalks at the Jersey shore wearing face masks, but he also saw many others without them. (In Ocean City over the holiday weekend, the resort was handing out special gift bags to families that were wearing the masks as an incentive to get people to put them on.)
“This isn’t about you. This isn’t about politics. This isn’t about how you think you look in the face covering. It’s about us being able to continue down our road back as one New Jersey family,” Murphy said. “Let’s lead the nation in this.”
In her report, Persichilli said the positivity rate in testing for COVID-19 is double what it is in other parts of the state.
Overall, she said, the rate is 2.14 percent. In northern New Jersey, the rate is 1.77 percent and in central New Jersey, it is 1.66 percent.
In southern New Jersey, however, the rate is 5.38 percent, Persichilli said.
“I think it’s fair to say that as we took the steps to reopen, we knew we were taking on some more risk and that’s probably a partial contributor to the increase in the rate of transmission, although the positivity rates remain positive,” Murphy said after listening to Persichilli’s report. He added New Jersey wasn’t expecting the “explosion” of COVID-19 cases in other parts of the country, which may have added “another increment” to the increases.
During questions, the governor said the state is considering a requirement for masks outdoors, but said that determination has not been made.