During a Covid-19 briefing Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy addressed the party organized by YouTubers that authorities broke up Monday evening, calling it an “egregious display of knucklehead behavior” and “irresponsible from top to bottom in every respect.”
Murphy said that it took a “substantial” amount of law enforcement resources from neighboring towns to break up the party and urged attendees to get tested.
“We are continuing to see case numbers climb among young people. Many of these cases and clusters are a result of parties and social gatherings,” state health commissioner Judy Persichilli added.
Since mid-August, the percent positivity rate among 14-18 year-olds has grown from 3% to 7%, while for 19-24 year olds it’s risen from 2.7% to 7.1%, she said.
Murphy said that “the system is working inside the walls” of schools, while the state’s greater concern is what is happening outside of them. He went on to clarify that the state does not have any clear evidence of in-school transmission of the virus, and that proper protocol has been followed thus far if a case does arise.
What the latest numbers are: Murphy reported 447 new positive Covid-19 cases, bringing the state’s total to 197,792.
As of Sept. 12, New Jersey’s daily positivity rate is 2.06%, said Murphy, while the statewide rate of transmission remains at 1.06.
There were nine new fatalities reported, bringing state’s total to 14,263 virus-related deaths.
One thing to note: These numbers released by the New Jersey Department of Health may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.