NJ reports zero coronavirus deaths yesterday for first time since July 2020, Murphy says

New Jersey reported no in-hospital coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths yesterday for the first time since July 30, 2020, said Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) in a tweet today.

“There’s only one way to make sure we have more days like yesterday: Get vaccinated,” he said.

Murphy said in a press conference on Wednesday that the reason New Jersey’s COVID-19 numbers have gotten so low is that the state continues to increase its number of vaccinations. Additionally, he said that the COVID-19 cases that are still being reported are almost exclusively coming from unvaccinated individuals.

As of today, the state reports a total of 10,090,545 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, with 4,864,715 individuals being fully vaccinated, according to the New Jersey COVID-19 Dashboard.

In an effort to increase these vaccination numbers, Murphy said on Monday that the COVID-19 Community Corps will continue to knock on doors in various communities throughout New Jersey to encourage vaccination and provide information to residents.

The Corps will focus on communities with less than 70 percent of their populations vaccinated for COVID-19, according to an article from Patch. New Brunswick is included in the list of communities, given that only 46 percent of adult residents have received their first dose.

This effort by the state is part of the greater initiative Operation Jersey Summer, and the Community Corps has knocked on more than 134,000 doors across New Jersey as of Monday.

“We’re not stopping just because we got to our (vaccine) goal … and because we are now where we are in our vaccination program, we continue to see our daily case rates drop to record lows,” Murphy said.

New Jersey reported 309 positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 83 positive antigen tests that are awaiting confirmation today, according to the dashboard. The current statewide rate of transmission is 0.94 percent.