Gov. Phil Murphy says New Jersey will be more than doubling the number of public health professionals currently tracing COVID-19 cases.

Murphy said Tuesday during a news conference that New Jersey will hire at least 1,000 people, creating a Community Contact Tracing Corps and supplementing the roughly 800 to 900 mostly county health officials who are currently tracing contacts among coronavirus-positive residents.

The news came as Murphy announced the state’s COVID-19 data is trending in the right direction, though he stopped short of specifying dates by which the state might reopen its economy.

 

The statewide total number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey now stands at 140,743 cases, after Gov. Phil Murphy just announced 898 new cases. The governor also announced 198 additional deaths, bringing the statewide death toll to 9,508.

For more on today's briefing, click here.