Please note that the MTANJ Office will be closed on Friday, April 2nd and will re-open on Monday, April 5th.
The Governor will not be delivering a press conference in
observance of the holiday weekend.
This morning, Governor Phil Murphy announced an additional 4,699 positive COVID-19 cases bringing the statewide total to 804,037. An additional 30 deaths were announced, increasing the statewide total to 22,023. There have been 4,350,920 vaccinations administered as of this morning, with 2,717,720 first doses of Moderna or Pfizer, and 1,630,829 fully vaccinated New Jerseyans.
NJ is third in vaccine supply administered, eighth in daily doses administered (94,000), and eighth out of fifty in percentage of population having received at least one dose.
The Governor also gave an overview of the Department of Health's predictive modeling charts. The Department's graphs demonstrated two different scenarios, with both models showing increased cases, hospitalizations and possibly deaths given the holidays throughout the end of March and April. The moderate scenario is based off of an ideal situation which would include continued high efficacy vaccinations, mask wearing and social distancing guidance while considering the current reopening plans. This scenario could reduce significant spread by the end of July. The second scenario is based off of less ideal circumstances, in which the State would continue to see only a slight decrease throughout July, following the expected April uptick.
To make vaccination appointments more easily attainable, the State is announcing a new tool which can be found at covid19.nj.gov/finder. The service will be able to aggregate information across multiple scheduling platforms, letting users know what appointments are available around the State. The service is currently available in its beta version.
The following NJ residents were made eligible for the vaccine as of Monday:
Governor Murphy announced that he signed an Executive Order increasing the outdoor gathering limit to 200 people, effective Friday at 6:00am. The indoor gathering limit will remain at 25 people. The following activities remain uncapped in outdoor settings:
- Religious services
- Political activities
- Weddings
- Funerals
- Memorial services
Additionally, the threshold seating capacity for entertainment venues to be considered a large venue has decreased from 5,000 to 2,500. The indoor seating capacity for indoor venues will increase from 10% to 20% and outdoor capacity will increase from 15% to 30%.
The Governor also announced that the special enrollment period for the Get Covered NJ state health-care exchange will now run through the end of 2021, extending the May 2021 deadline. The recently signed federal American Rescue Plan will allow more people to qualify for financial help and get covered. To learn more, visit getcovered.nj.gov
Tuesday, March 30th, Governor Phil Murphy, joined by Senate Health Committee Chair Senator Joe Vitale, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Human Services Acting Commissioner Sarah Adelman, Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride, and Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency Director Shabnam Salih, visited the North Hudson Community Action Corporation to highlight the $20 million investment in the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY2022) budget proposal for Phase 1 of the Cover All Kids campaign. Read more here.
