新泽西州长周一表示，随着新病例率下降，该州已经开始拉平冠状病毒曲线，但他鼓励居民继续实行严格的社会隔离。
州长菲尔·墨菲说有3663例新病例和86例死亡，使新泽西的病例总数达到41090例，死亡人数达到1003人。但他表示，该国受影响第二严重的州正开始向健康指标和评估研究所(IHME)模型绘制的最佳情景靠近。相比之下，就在上周，新泽西的阳性病例每天增加24%，这是3月30日的数据。截至周一，这一数字已减半至12%。
墨菲重复了IHME模型显示的最佳和最坏情况的信息，周一在推特上表示，下周严格遵守社交距离惯例将决定哪种结果更有可能。
“如果我们保持目前的做法，我们就可以利用我们正在准备的医院床位度过高峰期。墨菲周一写道:“如果我们放松我们的社会距离，我们将压倒整个系统，以至于我们所有的应急计划，以及一些，都需要付诸实施。”他展示了一张标明社会距离的图表，上面写着“生死抉择”
“我们在过去一周看到的是新病例增长率的下降。我们融入数据的整体曲线开始变平，”州长补充道。
新泽西州的最坏情况显示，该州4月28日的住院人数达到36000人的峰值，而最好的情况是4月10日的住院人数达到9000人。
州长和州官员在周末采取了几项行动来帮助减缓病毒的传播，包括授权地方和县政府限制短期租金，从周日晚上开始生效。墨菲解释说，南泽西海岸的社区报告说，居民暂时转移到那里，给缺乏医疗保健基础设施来应对病人激增的城镇带来了危险的压力。
墨菲还签署了一项行政命令，允许退休公务员重返工作岗位，以任何方式协助医疗保健机构。
在邻近的纽约，州长安德鲁·科莫周一表示，该国受打击最严重的州已经显示出自己的曲线正在变平的迹象，但他和墨菲一起敦促居民不要放弃导致他们在那里的社交疏远习惯。“这将意味着曲线的整体变平，”科莫宣布，指的是周末每日病例增长的放缓和每日死亡人数的短暂下降。
IHME的数据显示，纽约的病例可能已经达到顶峰，而新泽西大约晚了一周，将在本月中旬见顶。
“曲线正在变平。但是现在不是扣球或者停止加油的时候。我们至少还有一周半的时间，直到我们到达顶峰。这还没有结束——不可能，”墨菲周一下午在推特上说。
联邦政府在周末向新泽西州运送了另外500台呼吸机，以帮助该州的危重病人。此外，墨菲说，唐纳德·特朗普总统批准了他的请求，为USNS号上的新泽西居民提供床位舒适停靠在纽约港的医院船。
4月2日，新泽西州长菲尔·墨菲参观了位于塞科库斯的米德兰德展览中心正在准备的一家急救野战医院。3月6日，他鼓励各州居民继续实行严格的社会隔离，尽管新泽西的新病例率显示出下降的迹象。
NEW JERSEY BEGINNING TO FLATTEN THE CURVE OF CORONAVIRUS CASES, GOVERNOR SAYS
New Jersey's governor said Monday that the state has begun flattening the coronavirus curve as its rate of new cases go down, but he encouraged residents to continue practicing strict social distancing.
Governor Phil Murphy said there were 3,663 new cases and 86 deaths, bringing New Jersey's case total to 41,090 and its death toll to 1,003. But he said the country's second-hardest-hit state is beginning to move closer to best-case scenarios mapped out by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) models. By comparison, just last week New Jersey was seeing a 24 percent daily increase in positive cases, which was the figure on March 30. That number, as of Monday, has been cut in half to 12 percent.
Murphy, echoing information from the IHME models showing best- and worst-case scenarios, tweeted Monday that strict adherence to social distancing practices over the next week will determine which outcome is more likely.
"If we keep up with our current practices, we can get through the peak with the hospital beds that we're preparing. If we relax our social distancing, we will overwhelm the system to the point that ALL of our contingency plans, and then some, will need to go into effect," Murphy wrote Monday, displaying a graph labeling social distancing a "life and death decision."
"What we have seen in the past week is a decline in the growth rate of new cases. The overall curve that we fit into the data is beginning to flatten," the governor added.
The worst-case scenario for New Jersey shows the state peaking at 36,000 hospitalizations on April 28, while best-case scenario would cap hospitalizations at 9,000 on April 10.
The governor and state officials took several actions over the weekend to help slow the virus' spread, including giving local and county governments the power to restrict short-term rentals, effective Sunday night. Murphy explained that South Jersey shore communities had reported that residents were temporarily relocating there, placing a dangerous stress on towns that lack the health care infrastructure to deal with surges in patients.
Murphy also signed an executive order allowing retired public employees to return to work in order to assist health care facilities in any way.
In neighboring New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the country's hardest-hit state has shown signs its own curve is flattening, but he joined Murphy in urging residents not to let up on the social distancing habits that got them there. "It would suggest an overall flattening of the curve," Cuomo announced, pointing to a slowing rate of daily case increases and a brief decline in daily deaths over the weekend.
The IHME data indicate that New York may have already hit its apex of cases, while New Jersey is about one week behind and will peak in the middle of the month.
"The curve is flattening. But this is no time to spike any footballs or to take our foot off the gas. We still have a week and a half to go, at least, until we hit the peak. This isn't over – not by a long shot," Murphy tweeted Monday afternoon.
The federal government shipped an additional 500 ventilators to New Jersey over the weekend to assist the state's critically ill patients. Additionally, Murphy said, President Donald Trump granted his request to secure beds for New Jersey residents aboard the USNS Comfort hospital ship, which is docked in New York Harbor.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy tours an emergency field hospital being prepared at the Meadowlands Expo Center on April 2 in Secaucus. On March 6, he encouraged state residents to continue practicing strict social distancing even as New Jersey's rate of new cases shows signs of a decline.
