N.J. Reports Record Virus Deaths, Seeks U.S. Aid With Tests

(Bloomberg) --

New Jersey cases of the new coronavirus increased by less than 10% for an eighth straight day, a sign of a flattening curve, even as the death toll for the previous 24 hours rose to a record 365.

Cases in at least 12 of 21 counties were doubling every seven days or more, and just one, Cumberland, in the south, was doubling every four days. A few weeks earlier, cases in several counties were doubling every three days. Governor Phil Murphy attributed the slowing spread to social distancing and urged residents to stay home as part of the orders he issued March 21.

The state “can’t begin to think of reopening” until the federal government supplies more testing resources, Murphy said Tuesday at a press briefing. His comments echoed a plea from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for testing help. The states are “again in a bidding war,” this time for testing equipment, Cuomo said.

New Jersey has 66 testing sites but needs to increase swabbing, Murphy said. It’s opening at least three new sites, including at American Dream, the East Rutherford megamall whose grand opening was delayed by the virus shutdown.

“On one hand, the metrics are clearly getting better,” Murphy said. “On the other hand, no state has the resources they need to test at the scale that they need to test.”

Ventilator Need

The state is continuing to test only symptomatic patients, and has a positive rate of about 45%. Murphy reported 8,185 residents hospitalized due to Covid-19, up more than 400 from the number he reported on April 13. Of those in hospitals, 1,626 are on ventilators.

New Jersey now expects to reach the peak by April 25, with almost 16,000 hospitalized and more than 3,500 on ventilators, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said. It had previously expected a high point by April 12, and a worst-case scenario of 37,000 hospitalized. The peak will now come later but lower, Murphy said.

Though New Jersey has capacity for 750 patients in two field hospitals run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, just a fraction have been admitted. A 250-bed Atlantic City field hospital is to open next week, rather than today as scheduled, because the federal government reassigned its staff to New York, according to state police Superintendent Patrick Callahan.

Persichilli said some patients were apprehensive about being transferred to the field hospitals, and chose to go home with care from health aides. “That’s even a better alternative,” Persichilli said.

The state had asked for 2,500 ventilators from the federal stockpile, and received 1,550, including 100 sent by California Governor Gavin Newsom. New Jersey has placed an order of its own for another 500.

Persichilli said the state needs 4,000 ventilators on hand. “There’s a number of hospitals that have converted anesthesia machines, particularly in emergency situations,” she said. She didn’t have an exact figure on how many of the devices, which can be reconfigured as ventilators with the addition of a valve, are in use.

The machines are a crucial back-up, but respiratory therapists and other specialists aren’t accustomed to using them, so the state is continuing to press for the more typical equipment, she said.

“Hospitals are used to the traditional respirator,” Persichilli said.

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