New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced Monday the state’s schools will remain closed for the rest of this academic year as the fight against the COVID-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus continues.
The governor made the announcement on social media a few minutes prior to his Monday afternoon news briefing on the virus. Students were already expected to continue learning remotely from their homes until May 15.
: ALL SCHOOLS WILL REMAIN CLOSED for in-person instruction for the remainder of the school year – to protect the health of our children, our educators, and their families.
Guided by safety and science, this is the best course of action. pic.twitter.com/PI5xFxPlVZ
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
Like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Murphy prefers to deliver good news as well as painful facts, such as death toll information, by himself in daily briefings. He also sends out multiple daily tweets with detailed information as well.
Ventilator use in New Jersey on Sunday was down to 1,189 patients, the “lowest it’s been in over a month,” he said. New hospitalizations stood at 362, and new discharges (excluding deaths) stood at 335 as of 10 pm Sunday. There were 1,610 patients in the intensive care units across the state, and a total of 5,287 COVID-19 patients hospitalized overall – a drop of 1,000 in the past five days.
However, there were also 1,621 new COVID-19 cases in the state, bringing the statewide total to 128,269. There were 45 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 7,910.
Even with the positive trends we’re seeing, we continue to lose too many residents to .
With heavy hearts, we must report an additional 45 deaths from among our New Jersey family. We’ve now lost 7,910 lives to this virus. pic.twitter.com/fr4uaVS8Ce
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
“Social distancing, right now, is the only proven COVID19 prevention,” Murphy tweeted. “There are no recognized treatments, and there is no cure. There is only social distancing.”