NEW JERSEY—Gov. Phil Murphy today ordered all 9 million state residents with non-essential jobs to indefinitely stay at home, announcing new restrictions on civilian life designed to suppress the spread of Coronavirus, or COVID-19.
“We must flatten the curve,” Murphy said. “While it’s no time for panic, it’s also no time for business as usual.”
All retail businesses are ordered to close at 9 p.m. tonight., Murphy said, except an increasingly limited list of critical retail businesses, including: grocery stores and food banks, pharmacies, medical marijuana dispensaries, medical supply stores, gas stations, auto mechanics and repair stores, convenience stores, banks and financial institutions, hardware and home improvement stores, laundromats, dry cleaners, printing and office supply stores, pet stores, stores that sell supplies for young children, mail and delivery shops.
Restaurants, liquor stores and bars providing take out services may also stay open, Murphy said. Work at construction sites may continue as can trucking and transportation sites, he said.
Home health care attendants, health aids or nannies, are essential services, Murphy said.
“Literally all businesses must move their employees to work from home wherever possible,” Murphy said.
All gatherings are cancelled until further notice, including weddings, in person services or even parties, he said, apologizing to those preparing to mark life’s milestones.
“This is not time for people to be acting selfishly and taking a gathering underground,” Murphy said, “but this is time to think about your family, your friends, your neighbors—and to do the right thing.”
Residents can still go for a run or a walk outside, Murphy said, but “we order everyone to continue practicing social distancing and to keep a safe six foot distance between you and others.”
The state has a new online website to provide resources to citizens, amid revelations that foreign actors are using disinformation to attempt to sow discord in American society. (More on that below.)
“At the end of the day, what we are doing will be far less painful than if we let this virus run amuck,” Murphy said. “No one is immune to Coronavirus… Let’s do this New Jersey: let’s be smart, let’s save lives…”
New Jersey has 1,327 confirmed cases, Murphy said, and 16 total deaths.
“God rest their souls,” Murphy said of those who have died, including four members of one single family.
Murphy, speaking on Saturday, March 21, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency drive-thru testing center at Bergen Community College in Paramus has tested about 1,000 people in two days.
The FEMA testing site is only for people who have symptoms of Coronavirus—such as cough, fever and shortness of breath—not the worried well, Murphy has said.
The FEMA testing site in Paramus opens at 8 a.m. daily and remains open while testing supplies last. People should bring identification, but fees have been waved for those who do not have insurance.
The testing center closed early both Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21.
Most will contract virus
Most of us are expected to get Coronavirus, Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said, urging people to heed social distancing guidelines.
“Incidents of Coronavirus will be significantly widespread,” said Persichilli. “Social distancing is the key to stopping this.”
Murphy said immediate goals are to: expand hospital capacity, suppress new cases, and expand testing capacity.
“We are almost certainly going to need every critical care bed in the State of New Jersey,” said Gov. Murphy said, and the state is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand that capacity.
All hospitals in New Jersey are expected to respond, Persichilli said. There are about 2,000 critical care beds currently operating in New Jersey, and Persichilli said expanding current capacities can likely handle a moderate surge of new patients.
Building field hospitals, reopening closed wings and shuttered hospitals, and decanting entire hospitals could be utilized to handle a moderate increase.
“If it goes to a more significant increase, we need to be able to adjust critical care,” said Persichilli.
“I’m more concerned, quite frankly, with the availability of the workforce, and the availability of ventilators, since this is a pulmonary disease,” said Persichilli. “It’s hitting the lungs; it’s causing bad pneumonias. [Those are the two things we’re working on:] workforce, with the nursing association, and ventilators, with aggressive outreach to vendors: That’s worked on 24/7…”
If you think you may have the virus, stay at home, she said. Monitor yourself for 72 hours, monitor your temperature, and be in touch with your health care provider.
Of those who contract COVID-19: 85 percent will recover; 15 percent will need to be admitted to the hospital; and 5 percent will need critical care, said Persichilli.
The mortality rate could be 1 percent of those who contract COVID-19, going up to 3 percent, depending on the hospital system’s ability to respond, she said.
Persichilli said we should wash hands frequently, urging: the droplet infection can stay on inanimate objects for three to five hours. She said she uses hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol when performing her public duties.
“Coughing into your sleeve, social distancing, staying six feet away from people: I can’t emphasize that enough,” she said. “Stay home, practice good hygiene and do it for a long period of time.”
Utilize trusted sources of information amid foreign intrusions
Murphy also warned citizens to use trusted media and state sources amid active disinformation campaigns on social media.
The federal intelligence community says a foreign power sent out a bogus message claiming “a federal lockdown is coming,” which is part of a coordinated disinformation campaign designed deliberately to sow discontent and panic, a Murphy administration official said. The state’s new online resource center is covid19.nj.gov.
WATCH: Murphy speaks from Paramus FEMA Testing Site on Friday, March 20:
President Donald Trump provided updates from the White House on Saturday, March 21
Today is the sixth day of the 15 days to slow the spread, said Vice President Mike Pence. The guidelines are posted below.
The overwhelming concern is that a wave of patients contracting the virus could crush hospital capacity and exacerbate worst case scenarios if critically ill patients cannot receive treatment.
All branches of the government working together to save American lives, President Donald Trump said.
“Every American has a role to play in defending our nation from this invisible, horrible enemy,” Trump said.
Private industry has been called upon to manufacture supplies to respond to the crisis, which is expected to get worse before it gets better.
A major disaster declaration for the State of New York has been approved, Trump said.
All land borders in the United States have been closed to non-essential travel, Trump said.
Tax Day has been moved to July 15 instead of the traditional April 15 as economic turmoil roils amid the pandemic, Trump said.
Foreclosures and evictions are suspended for 60-days, the Department of Housing and Urban Development ruled, Trump said.
There will be no standardized testing for students for the remainder of the school year, Trump said.
Interest on students loans has been waived and borrowers are allowed to suspend student loan payments for 60 days, Trump said.
An executive order evoking the Defense Production Act has given a clear call to action for the private sector to help produce and supply much needed masks, ventilators and other supplies, Trump said.
The President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America: 15 Days To Slow the Spread
