Murphy assembles Governor's Restart and Recovery Commission
TRENTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- The number of cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey rose to 113,856 as the death count grew to 6,442.
In his Tuesday afternoon press briefing, Governor Phil Murphy said there had been 2,887 additional positive cases and 402 new deaths to reach those totals.
Murphy said the New Jersey Department of Health is now using numbers that come in at 10 p.m. the night before to align with data being used by hospitals.
RELATED: Governor Phil Murphy unveils 6-part plan to reopen New Jersey
Some duplicate test results were removed from yesterday's numbers.
Murphy said there were 6,476 hospitalization, with 1,1809 in critical or intensive care.
The number of individuals on ventilators was 1,262.
There were 488 new hospitalizations and 419 new discharges from hospitals.
Executive Order
Gov. Murphy said he was signing an executive order permitting municipal governments to extend the grace period for property tax payments due Friday, May 1, until June 1.
Under existing law, municipalities are only allowed to allow grace periods of up to 10 days, Murphy said he is extending this for an entire month.
Restart and Recovery Commission
The governor has assembled the Restart and Recovery Commission to help guide the state's recovery.
"This team is unrivaled in terms of its diversity of experiences, perspectives, and expertise. We will restart our economy with purely Jersey solutions," Murphy said.
The Commission includes:
- Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman (Co-Chair) - Professor of Molecular Biology & Public Policy and President Emeritus of Princeton
- Kenneth Frazier (Co-Chair) - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merck
- Dr. Ben Bernanke - Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Brookings Institution and former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the
- Federal Reserve
- Dr. Richard Besser - President and CEO of the RWJF and former Acting Director for the CDC
- Evie Colbert - Founding Board Member and President of the Board of Montclair Film and Vice President of Spartina Productions
- Tony Coscia - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), Partner and Executive Committee member of Windels Marx LLP law firm and Chairman of SUEZ North America
- Jessica Gonzalez - Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InCharged, VendX, and Lux-UVC
- Dr. Jonathan Holloway - Incoming President of Rutgers and former Provost of Northwestern University
- Lisa P. Jackson - Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives at Apple and former Administrator of the EPA
- Jeh Johnson - Former U.S. Secretary of DHS and Partner at the law firm Paul Weiss LLP
- Charles Lowrey - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential
- Denise Morrison - Founder of Denise Morrison & Associates, LLC and a Senior Advisor for PSP Partners. Former President and Chief Executive Officer of The Campbell Soup Company
- Dr. William Rodgers - Professor of Public Policy and Chief Economist at the Heldrich Center at Rutgers, Former Chief Economist at the US Labor Department
- Neera Tanden - President and CEO of The Center for American Progress and the CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund
- Reverend Dr. Regena Thomas - Director of the Human Rights and Community Relations Department of American Federation of Teachers and former New Jersey Secretary of State
- Richard Trumka - President of the AFLCIO
- Five members of Murphy's administration will sit as ex officio members:
Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver
Depart of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli
Chief of Staff George Helmy
Chief Counsel Matt Platkin
Chief Policy Advisor Kathleen Frangione
Murphy said the commission will focus on public health, but also on logistical aspects of reopening the economy like workforce issues and transportation.
For the protesters in Trenton on Tuesday afternoon, the process is not moving fast enough. Outside the state house, they called for an immediate opening of New Jersey's businesses and schools, chanting: "Open New Jersey now!"
Murphy said while they have the right to protest, he wished they would do it virtually.
"We're trying to save as many lives as we can," he said.
