Murphy Announces Protective Gear Shipment, Signs Order for Daily Tallies

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Politico Pro

Gov. Phil Murphy said New Jersey received an overnight shipment Saturday of personal protective gear for those combating the coronavirus after he pressed President Donald Trump for more supplies the day before.

“We got some of our requests, but I will not stop burning up the phones to the White House until we get all we need,” Murphy said at a briefing in Trenton Saturday afternoon.

The shipment included more than 121,000 N95 masks, 1,000 medical beds, 287,000 surgical masks and 62,000 face shields. Murphy said he thanked Trump for his help during their “very productive” conversation Friday.

Later in the day, Murphy signed an executive order directing health care facilities to report daily tallies on their patient capacity and medical supplies. He said that acute health care hospitals, long-term care facilities and temporary medical facilities will all need to report to the Department of Health and the Office of Emergency Management on a daily basis, with details including bed capacity, the number of available ventilators and the amount of personal protective equipment.

“This will allow us to more efficiently and effectively manage the flow of [personal protective equipment] and have the most up to date information possible about [personal protective equipment],” Murphy said.

The new materials also showed up a day after New Jersey’s congressional delegation renewed its demand for more equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile. Lawmakers claimed that as of Friday, the state had received less than 5 percent of what is needed.

State officials also said Saturday that 2,000 people heeded Murphy’s call for those with a medical background to step forward as volunteers in fighting the coronavirus.

Friday night, Murphy said the state got approval from the Department of Defense to deploy the New Jersey National Guard “as necessary to help us through this crisis.” Murphy announced he would be deploying the state national guard on March 17.

Murphy Announces Protective Gear Shipment, Signs Order for Daily Tallies