New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivered a message of cautious optimism on Monday while relaying the latest COVID-19 data gathered by the state.
Foremost was the news that the rate of new infections in the state had halved in the last week.
"As I have said many times before, we fully expect these numbers to rise to the level they are rising to, and we expect them to go higher," Murphy said. "However, what we are seeing in real-time and over the past week is a decline in the growth rate of new cases from 24 percent day-over-day on March 30th to roughly 12 percent today."
The governor noted that anomalous "spikes and troughs" will likely still occur in the weeks ahead, but the overall curve is moving in the right direction.
"While we are not anywhere close to being out of the woods as of yet, we are clearly on the path to get there," he said.
The apex or peak demand from coronavirus in New Jersey is still at least a week out, according to state data.
As a result, Murphy tempered his optimism with a plea to stay the course.
"We can take some pride in the work that we've done so far," he said. "The curve is flattening, but this is no time to spike any footballs or to take our foot off the gas."
In addition, the governor announced a new executive order to help retired public employees return to work "in whichever capacity they can" to help without impacting their pension status.
"Right now, we need all the experienced help we can get, whether it be retired law enforcement officers returning to duty, or nurses who can return to university hospitals or folks who can help staff the Labor Department's unemployment insurance phone lines," Murphy said. "We need to remove any roadblocks that can keep them from service."
The state has reached a total of 41,090 cases and 1,003 deaths.
"Our charge to you remains the same: Keep social distancing. Keep washing your hands. Keep staying indoors. Keep being smart. Stay at home," he said.
