TRENTON (1010 WINS) – New Jersey's overall coronavirus death toll soared by nearly 2,000 on Thursday as officials began reporting "probable" deaths—those not confirmed by a test.
The state's death toll rose to 14,872 after officials reported 1,854 probable deaths along with 13,018 test-confirmed deaths.
"We know that there are those upon whom a COVID-19 test was never performed even though the underlying symptoms and causes of death point to the probability that they did in fact have COVID-19," Gov. Phil Murphy said.
Of the probable deaths, Murphy said "we do not anticipate that this number will grow significantly," but he said the state would report on the deaths every week going forward.
Murphy said the number of new confirmed deaths Thursday was 26.
The governor said there were 406 new COVID-19 cases reported in the state, bringing its total number of cases to 170,196.
The number of people hospitalized in the state was 1,182 Wednesday night, Murphy said, with 252 patients in critical care and 210 on ventilators.
Murphy also announced Thursday that he'd outline New Jersey's plan for reopening schools in the fall on Friday.
The governor tweeted that he'd join Education Commissioner Dr. Lamont Repollet at his briefing Friday "to discuss the guidance that the Department will be releasing regarding the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 school year."
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