Gov. Murphy Press Conference, Jan. 19
- “We’ve built a capacity for an aggressive vaccination push,” said Murphy. “All we are missing are the vaccine doses we need.” Murphy said he is hoping President-Elect Joe Biden will be able to get the drug companies to push out product faster.
- Murphy complained again about the efforts that Walgreens is making in getting long term care and group home facilities inoculated. “They need to punch at a higher weight class.” Walgreens and CVS are part of the federal program to vaccinate long term care facilities and group living centers. Murphy said that CVS is doing a better job. So far, 90% of nursing homes are scheduled, 90% of intellectually and developmentally disabled centers and homes are scheduled, 74% of residential care facilities are scheduled, and 64% of assisted care facilities are scheduled.
- The state is opening a phone bank to schedule vaccinations but there won’t be anyone to answer the phones until Jan. 25 because those people are still in training.
- Murphy said that he is still confident he can make his original goal of 70% of the population vaccinated in 6 months. He sees us in a “dramatically different and better place by Memorial Day”.
- In the past 24 hours, 240 COVID patients were discharged, 347 COVID patients admitted, and there were 45 unconfirmed COVID deaths.
- Murphy said that West Virginia, which has the highest rate of vaccinations in the country, is doing so well because they didn’t take part in the federal program for vaccinations. They are handling everything by the state.
- The state is expecting 55,575 doses of Pfizer and 56,100 doses of Moderna next week. December’s numbers were 18% lower than originally expected. So far, January is 1 ½% lower.
- Murphy said he is pleased with the stability of the COVID case numbers since we are beyond the two-week post-holiday period. He would still like to see hospitalizations decline and see the RT below 1 so we still need to be vigilant.
- The statewide positivity for tests drawn on Jan. 15 was 10.12%. In North Jersey 9.67%, Central Jersey 10.37%, South Jersey 10.79%.
- LOCAL LONG TERM CARE FACILITY CHANGES: Atrium: -1 resident case (8), +8 staff cases (15); United Methodist +4 staff cases (24); Terraces +3 resident cases; Advanced Subacute: +3 resident cases (18), +1 staff case (16); Carneys Point: +1 staff case (10); Eagleview +18 resident cases (32), +10 staff cases (23); Merion Gardens: -8 resident cases (14); Golden: +5 resident cases (46), +5 staff cases (40); Friends +1 resident case (9).– by
by Karen E. Viereck, Editor/Publisher
