It has been more than a week since Gov. Phil Murphy officially ended the COVID-19 public health emergency in New Jersey. The number of COVID cases and hospitalizations continue to fall. But how close is the state to the end of the pandemic?

“Each day is better than the one that came before,” Murphy said at his briefing on Monday.

Health officials say that the Garden State is moving in the right direction.

“I would not want to declare victory and say, ‘Mission accomplished,’ at this point, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction,” said Dr. Ed Lifshitz.

The governor says that he doesn’t have a medical metric that will indicate when the battle has been won.

“I would measure it as a nonmedical matter, the amount of normalcy of our lives,” Murphy said.

This would include fewer COVID briefings, kids going back to school without masks and state workers returning to their desks.

“That we're able to take steps within our indoor lives where we, assuming you can prove you've been vaccinated, you're not wearing a mask,” Murphy said.

But officials say that there will still be a need for vigilance, and change from the way things were pre-pandemic.

“Assuming we beat it, and please God we do, it stays in our midst at some low level, kind of like the flu does. That's my assumption, so you're never completely out of the woods. But you are back to normal,” the governor said.

Health officials agree.

“I do believe, as the governor said, this is something that will be around for a long period of time,” Lifshitz said.

And even as the governor says he is confident the state will meet its vaccination goals by June 30, it won't mean putting away the syringes.

“That was our goal but that's not the end point, we will stay at this,” Murphy said.

Officials say that this is especially true if a booster shot is needed to keep vaccines effective through the fall or winter.

Over 4.5 million New Jersey residents are fully vaccinated. The governor's goal is 4.7 million by June 30.