New Jersey suffered a significant increase in coronavirus deaths Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 537 deaths and 25,590 coronavirus cases.
Of the 537 deaths, 47% have been people over the age of 80. And 76 of the deaths have been from residents of long-term care facilities. New Jersey has 375 long-term care facilities, and 110 of the have at least one confirmed coronavirus case.
“We have lost another 182 members of our New Jersey family,” Gov. Phil Murphy said at the Trenton War Memorial during his daily COVID-19 press briefing. “Our prayers and thoughts and sympathies go out to their family and friends.”
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The 182 new deaths, while not all in the past 24 hours, as the governor stressed, were the largest number in any one day reported in New Jersey and more than the sum of the first 15 days since the state reported its first death. The day-over-day increase in deaths was 51% from Wednesday, the largest jump since March 24.
Of the 537 deaths, 47% have been people over the age of 80 and 76 of the deaths have been from residents of long-term care facilities.
The latest update includes 33,520 negative tests to date in New Jersey. The numbers included an increase of 3,489 new positive tests reported from a day earlier.
State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said she expects New Jersey to be able to cope with the jump in cases. However, she said that the ventilators available are not enough to attend the number of patients. President Donald Trump’s administration has supplied the state with 650 ventilators, but officials say they require 1,650 more.
New Jersey has the second-most cases among U.S. states, after New York.