GOV. MURPHY PRESS CONFERENCE, FEB. 8
- Gov. Murphy stated that the state has now administered over 1 million vaccinations. Since they administered their first shot on Dec. 15, it took them 29 days to get to a quarter million shots, and then 10 days to get to 500,000, and 16 days to get to 1 million shots. Murphy said this shows forward progress and that they aren’t wasting any doses. He said they are still on track to his goal of getting 4.7 million eligible New Jersey residents vaccinated by the beginning of summer, which he said was between Memorial Day and the 4th of July.
- The April 20 school and fire district and May 11 municipal elections will be held in-person. No decision has been made on the June election, but Murphy said he is optimistic for in-person elections because the COVID case numbers are going down, the number of vaccinated people are going up, and the weather warms.
- Murphy cautioned that today’s positive COVID case numbers are low today because of lab reporting issues.
- There are 31 UK variant COVID cases in the state. It has been found so far in 11 of the state’s 21 counties. Ocean County has 12 cases, Essex County 4, Burlington County 4, Atlantic County 1, Hudson County 1, Mercer County 1, Middlesex County 2, Monmouth County 2, Morris County 2, Passaic County 1, and Warren County 1.
- The FDA is scheduled to review the vaccination data from Johnson & Johnson on Feb. 26. If given approval, Murphy said doses could be out in March with hopes of 100 million by April.
- Of the 811 school districts in the state, 95 are all in-person (+6 from Feb. 1), 491 in hybrid (+21), 190 all remote (-23), and 35 a hybrid mix (-4).
- The statewide positivity for tests drawn on Feb. 4 was 8.5%. In North Jersey 8.43%, Central Jersey 8.74%, South Jersey 8.25%.
- LOCAL LONG TERM CARE CHANGES: Brightview -5 resident cases (1), -5 staff cases (1), -3 resident deaths (0); United Methodist +1 resident case (5), +1 staff case (28); Terraces +1 staff case (9); Mullica Gardens -3 staff cases (0); ManorCare West Deptford +1 resident case (25); ManorCare Washington Twp. +1 resident case (64); Cedar Grove +1 resident case (97); Southgate +1 staff case (11); Eagleview +1 staff case (42), +1 resident death (4); Golden +1 staff case (44).
— by Karen E. Viereck, Editor/Publisher
