Coronavirus watch: New Jersey adds almost 10,000 cases in just three days

New Jersey has reported close to 10,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in just three days, according to health data compiled on the state’s website.

The state reported 3,326 new cases on April 7, 3,021 new cases on April 8, and 3,590 cases on April 9. As of Friday afternoon, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) reported there are more than 54,000 total cases of coronavirus in the state.

We have 3,627 new positive #COVID19 cases, bringing our total to 54,588.
• Atlantic: 211
• Bergen: 8,928
• Burlington: 954
• Camden: 1,072
• Cape May: 116
• Cumberland: 138
• Essex: 6,580
• Gloucester: 447
• Hudson: 6,411
• Hunterdon: 293 pic.twitter.com/Gk6hr6Mleh

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 10, 2020

The surge in COVID-19 cases solidifies New Jersey’s position as the second hardest-hit state in the U.S. behind New York.

The data is unsurprising, considering the geographic proximity the two states share and the short distance between New York City, the nation’s epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and New Jersey cities like Elizabeth and Hoboken.

New Jersey counties of Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex and Union rank in the top five areas that have been hit hardest by the pandemic. These areas form a semi-circle around the New York-New Jersey border. 

New York state reported more than 10,000 cases Friday, bringing their total number of cases to more than 160,000. However, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said in a press briefing Thursday that the number of hospitalizations due to the virus has begun to slow, an early sign that the state may see a reprieve in the coming days. 

The news also comes as Pennsylvania, also a neighboring state of New Jersey, has experienced its largest jump in coronavirus cases, logging almost 2,000 new cases as of Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the Keystone State to more than 20,000. 

On Thursday, the National Guard was deployed to a veterans home in Paramus, N.J., after 10 residents died from coronavirus-related complications. The facility is located in Bergen County.

Murphy announced Friday that Bergen Community College will be open as a designated site for drive-thru testing as governors across the country work to increase testing efforts to gather critical data.