Gov. Murphy: 'Robust' Coronavirus Test, Tracing For Reopen Coming

NEW JERSEY – Gov. Phil Murphy said he plans to release a "robust" coronavirus test and tracing plan during a 1 p.m. news conference on Tuesday that will be necessary for New Jersey's reopening. Patch will cover it live. Read more: WATCH LIVE: Gov. Murphy's NJ Coronavirus Testing, Tracing Update

The update comes as the number of New Jersey cases rose to 139,945, and 9,310 people have died. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Murphy also said on Monday he plans to release "hard dates" for a reopening later in the week. He made the statement as he announced 1,453 new cases and 59 more deaths, continuing a downward trend in the outbreak.

Murphy said the "two key metrics to our reopening strategy" are the ramping up of New Jersey's testing capacity and establishing a "robust" statewide program of contact tracing.

Murphy said implementing this plan "will be very costly" but he's been in contact with the Trump administration and he hopes "our relationship we have fostered will deliver a significant sum for the state" that will pay for testing and contact tracing.

The program could be similar to one being set up by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who estimated that his state will hire up to 17,000 contact tracers, depending on case projections. The tracers will help identify the contacts of those who test positive and then facilitate their quarantine to lessen the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Read more: New York Hiring 17,000 For Contact Tracer 'Army'

Murphy said he feels more comfortable to move on testing, contact tracing and, possibly soon, a reopening because of the efforts New Jerseyans have made in social distancing.

"We are getting data that is making us more comfortable and confident that we will soon have some hard dates as to when can truly begin our road back to restart and recovery," he said.

Murphy said the progress shows in the numbers. The daily new case totals continue to sink, and they're less than half of what they were two weeks ago.

Also, New Jersey's hospitalization numbers have been on a sharp decline.

Watch Murphy here:

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