TRENTON (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday that the "overall trajectory remains largely positive" when it comes to beating back the coronavirus in New Jersey, but the governor called an uptick in new hospitalizations "troubling."
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Murphy said there were 1,261 new COVID-19 cases reported since Wednesday, bringing the state's total to 157,815.
The governor said that positive test results were up but added "our capacity to get people testing is now almost exploding," meaning more positives are expected.
Another 66 New Jerseyans died from COVID-19 complications since Wednesday, bringing the state's death toll to 11,401.
The governor said the number of people currently being treated at hospitals for the virus "ticked up a hair" to 2,797.
There were 740 patients in critical or intensive care and 564 on ventilators, Murphy said; both of those numbers are on the decline.
"Now to something that is a little bit troubling," Murphy said. "There were 365 new hospitalizations yesterday."
Murphy said 365 is the largest number of daily new hospitalizations the state has seen in a week. The bulk of the new hospitalizations, 185, were in the northern part of the state.
"We are going to watch these numbers closely over the coming days to see if there may be a deeper meaning to them," the governor said.
"This is something we've got to keep an eye on," Murphy added. "For everybody that says, 'Open the thing up tomorrow. Turn all the lights on. Let's get back to normal': You've got 365 folks going to the hospital yesterday. We've got to make sure we are watching this like a hawk."
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