By Associated Press - Friday, April 10, 2020

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Certain prisoners deemed low risk could be moved to temporary home confinement or freed on parole because of the spread of COVID-19 under an executive order Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday.

State correctional institutions are seeing the disease spread within their walls, the governor said, leading him to sign the order.

The Department of Corrections has had 129 staff members test positive for the virus, along with 20 inmates, according to Commissioner Marcus Hicks. One Corrections official and an inmate have died so far, he said.

People convicted of what Murphy called serious crimes like murder or rape would not be eligible for home confinement or parole.

New Jersey’s death toll from COVID-19 climbed by 233 people to about 2,000 on Friday, Murphy said.

While the numbers of positive cases and fatalities continue to climb, Murphy said, “good early signs” were beginning to emerge.

The rate at which the number of positive cases doubles in hard-hit Bergen County had lengthened to about seven days, up from about three days.

The number of positive cases in the state reached about 55,000, up 3,600 over the previous 24 hours, Murphy said.

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LEAVE GATHERING TO FACETIME

Residents should stay apart during Easter and Passover, Murphy said.

“Leave the gathering to FaceTime or Zoom,” he said.

Rigorous social distancing is the key to combating the virus, Murphy and health officials said.

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HOSPITAL FIGURES

About 7,500 people were hospitalized because of the virus, the governor said. That’s up from roughly 7,000 the previous 24 hours. More than 1,600 people were in critical condition, with another 1,600 on ventilators. Each category was up from 1,500 on Thursday.

Nearly 700 people have been discharged from the hospital, up from about 500 the previous day.

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ABOUT THE VIRUS

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

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