Gov. Phil Murphy declared New Jersey is “standing in a very dangerous place” Friday as he announced the rate of transmission of the coronavirus is higher than it was when hospitalizations were at its April peak and that the figure is expected to climb.
The state’s rate of transmission, or Rt, stands at 1.35, above the key benchmark of 1. The last time it was that high was April 7, 115 days ago. The governor has attributed the increase to a rise in indoor house parties and other events where people don’t follow mask or social distance rules.
“Look, the numbers are setting off alarms that we take very seriously. We may still be among the leaders in having lower case numbers and daily positivity rates, but we are standing in a very dangerous place. The alarms are going off,” Murphy said during his regular COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.
The state’s rate of transmission, or Rt, stands at 1.35, above the key benchmark of 1.
“The only way to silence these alarms and get back to the process of moving forward is for everyone to take them seriously. We are not past this. Everyone who walks around refusing to wear a mask, or who hosts a house party is directly contributing to these increases,” he said. “This has to stop, and it has to stop now.”
Murphy added: “I am not announcing any specific action [Friday], but consider this as being put on-notice. We will not tolerate these devil-may-care, nonchalant attitudes anymore.”
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The spike in Rt means that each new case is leading to more than one additional infection and the virus is spreading. The rate of transmission had been below 1 for weeks during the strictest parts of New Jersey’s coronavirus lockdowns, but has wavered above and below 1 in July as more reopening steps have occurred.
New Jersey’s positive cases had dropped significantly in recent weeks before a bump upwards earlier this week, which pushed the state backward to new positive tests to where New Jersey was about a month ago.
Murphy announced there were 10 additional deaths and 699 new positive COVID-19 cases Friday. There have been 181,660 cases since March and 15,798 deaths, including 13,923 lab-confirmed deaths and 1,875 probable deaths.
Though hospitalizations dipped back below 700 patients on Thursday evening, with 695 people being hospitalized, including 113 people in intensive or critical care with 45 of those people being on ventilators.
At the same time, there are 34 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, where people visiting the Garden State or returning home are asked to quarantine for 14 days.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.