UPDATED: 6:15 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy used the occasion of his daily coronavirus pandemic media briefing on Tuesday to introduce the members, and outline the goals, of his Restart and Recovery Commission.
While the state is seeing progress in some key metrics, he said, the state won't be able to begin economic recovery until he sees a sustained decrease in new positive COVID-19 test results and testing capacity is significantly increased.
The state health department has reported 2,887 new positive cases. The statewide total now stands at 113,856.
The governor lamented the addition of 402 more deaths from the illness, for a total of 6,442. He said the 402 is not a one-day total, but rather it included deaths from last weekend that had not yet been counted.
THREAD: I’ve assembled the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission to help guide our recovery.This team is unrivaled in terms of its diversity of experiences, perspectives, and expertise. We will restart our economy with purely Jersey solutions.Here’s who they are: pic.twitter.com/1HVbEKcfTa
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
April 28, 2020 Murphy introduced each of the 16 new members of the Restart and Recovery Commission, including former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, former Campbell Soup Company President Denise Morrison, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. The racially diverse mix of leaders in business, economics, labor, law and health care will convene remotely to iron out a process for getting New Jersey residents back to work.
Five members of Murphy's cabinet will also sit on the committee: Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli, Chief of Staff George Helmy, Chief Counsel Matt Platkin and Chief Policy Advisor Kathleen Frangione.
Murphy said apart from the economic mission at its core, the group will advise on public health, workforce development and transportation issues.
Our Restart and Recovery Commission will immediately begin remote discussions.They will address core economic issues but also issues which directly impact economic health – notably public health, workforce issues, and transportation. pic.twitter.com/anDpDwKi2z
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
April 28, 2020 Among the goals of the commission are finding ways to maximize federal support, to make potential long-term investment strategy, and to ensure that recovery efforts will work for everyone across racial, social and economic lines.
Murphy emphasized, however, that the state’s reopening is not going to happen immediately.
“It is true, if you look at that heat map and you look at the hospitalizations, we have some good trends right now. But equally true is, we have not arrived in any end zone,” he said.
It will likely be weeks before any business openings are announced.
The governor also signed an executive order on Tuesday allowing municipal governments to extend the grace period for property taxes.
Under New Jersey law, municipalities can give only as long as 10 days, and the order will push that out a full month, so payments due on Friday can be pushed out to June 1.
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KYW Newsradio's Mike DeNardo and Eric Walter contributed to this report.
