Coronavirus New Jersey: Gov. Phil Murphy Raises Concerns About Lack Of Testing Sites To Vice President Mike Pence
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- New coronavirus cases saw a big jump overnight in New Jersey. State officials are calling on FEMA for help with more testing sites.
With more than 68,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and 2,800 deaths, New Jersey remains in the midst of a health care crisis. It's one that they are still trying to assess and look past, but both tasks have one thing in common.
"We need more support for testing, let me say that unequivocally," Gov. Phil Murphy said.
So far, there are at least 66 public test sites in the state and more are coming online.
On Tuesday, CBS3 toured a new drive-thru site at the Blackwood campus of Camden County Community College that will open on Wednesday for first responders.
We also saw the first walk-up testing sites in Trenton.
"We know that a lot of members of the Trenton community don't have access to a car," Trenton Health Team Executive Director Gregory Paulson said.
The walk-up sites still only test people by appointment only, but they help address the need to reach impoverished communities, which are least equipped to handle COVID-19.
Gov. Murphy says he raised the issue of testing during a private conversation with Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday morning.
"We can't begin to think about reopening unless the resources we get, in particular the cooperation and resources we get from the federal government, are a lot more robust," Murphy said.
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Murphy says while a regional council of mid-Atlantic states is beginning to strategize reopening businesses in the coming weeks or months, he does not believe they should proceed on their own without coordination with President Donald Trump.
"There is no substituting for that big gorilla in the room -- the federal government of the United States of America. And so I can say with great confidence, we need the administration, we need the federal government and the full force of it," Murphy said.
As state officials eye reopening life after the initial spread of COVID-19, they say the immediate crisis remains addressing critical care capacity in hospitals, getting more personal protective equipment to people on the frontlines and protecting residents in nursing homes.