Murphy says NJ has met goal of 20K COVID-19 tests per day, promises even more

TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday that the state has met his goal of providing 20,000 coronavirus tests per day by end of May. At his media briefing, the governor pushed more people to be tested.

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In mid-March, we were running a few hundred tests a day.By the end of March, we ramped up to 6,000 tests a day.In April, we doubled to 12,000 tests a day.We said we'd be at 20,000 tests per day by the end of May.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) May 27, 2020

"We are ahead of 46 other states per capita and we are still climbing. We know that our goals are well within reach and that's a very good place for us to be given where we were just two months ago," he said.

The more data officials work with, the better decisions can be made on proceeding with reopening the state, he added.

Among the 30,000 tests recorded on Saturday, only 7% returned a positive result, although South Jersey's was about twice of that. 

There are 164 testing sites in New Jersey, and Murphy promised to keep that number growing to improve access to all residents. He said anyone in New Jersey who has not yet been tested should now be tested. It is not necessary for people to have symptoms to get tested.

Anyone who WANTS to be tested can GET tested.We especially want you to get tested if you have #COVID19 symptoms or have had recent contact with someone else who tested positive.GET TESTED: https://t.co/JZg9mGpUuV. pic.twitter.com/Tl5JiyBUzi

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) May 27, 2020

Efforts are now underway to increase testing on farms where migrants work and in urban areas that are hubs for homeless people. There are also plans to have 20 to 30 contact tracers in place per 100,000 residents by mid-June.

While New Jersey is making great strides in the fight against COVID-19, the governor said there are still too many people in hospitals with the illness.

The total number of COVID-19 cases has reached at least 156,628, and the total number of deaths stands at 11,339.

In South Jersey, cases number 18,145, and 1,028 people have died.

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KYW Newsradio's David Madden and Eric Walter contributed to this report.