TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - About 27,000 people sought unemployment benefits last week, a 10% increase compared with the week before, New Jersey’s Labor Department said Thursday.
It was the second week in a row the jobless claims rose.
Labor officials have said the spiking claims stem from the coronavirus outbreak, though last week’s increase was due to the increase in people applying for a federal benefit to help workers not eligible for regular unemployment.
Since the outbreak first struck in March, 1.6 million workers sought jobless benefits, according to the department.
New Jersey’s unemployment rate for August, the latest month available, was 10.9%.
A look at other developments:
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RACETRACK CLOSES FOR CLEANING
Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford said in a statement that it’s temporarily closing because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The track estimates it might re-open to fans at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“Over the past several days the medical team has identified a few individuals that tested positive for COVID-19 that they acquired either in the workplace or at home. Contact tracing is ongoing,” the racetrack said in a statement posted online.
The track will undergo sanitization as well, the statement said.
Live harness racing will take place Friday, but without spectators.
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BY THE NUMBERS
New Jersey health officials reported more than 650 new cases overnight, bringing the total to about 206,000. There were five fatalities reported overnight, putting the total at 14,326.
The state’s rate of transmission was at 1.16, up slightly from 1.15 on Wednesday.
Murphy has said the elevated figures recently, particularly in Ocean County, show that the state is “not out of the woods” yet.
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NEW APP
Murphy and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday both states are launching new exposure notification apps, similar to products available in neighboring Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The free New Jersey app, called COVID Alert NJ, can be downloaded from the Apple App store and Google Play.
The app is meant to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the virus. It will not store location information, personal information or the identity of anyone who is in close enough range to possibly be exposed - defined as within 6 feet for at least 10 minutes.
Use is limited to people 18 and over.
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