New Jersey to call in the National Guard to handle coronavirus outbreak after cases doubled overnight
- New Jersey has called in the National Guard to help deal with its growing cases of COVID-19.
- The National Guard will help locate buildings that can easily be turned into medical facilities.
- The state hopes the converted medical facilities can accommodate 9,000 additional beds.
- The state's COVID-19 cases almost doubled overnight. Another death has been reported: a 90-year-old man who was being treated in a hospital in Bergen County.
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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is mobilizing the National Guard after the state's coronavirus cases almost doubled overnight to 178 cases.
Murphy also announced that a third person, a man in his 90s died in a hospital in Bergen County, from the virus that causes COVID-19.
According to WABC-TV, the National Guard would work with building unions and private developers to find buildings that could be converted into medical facilities. They hope to have 9,000 more beds to treat patients.
Murphy also encouraged people be in their homes by 8 p.m. local time, CNN reported.
"This is not a curfew, but it is strongly recommended and travel is strongly discouraged. If you don't need to be on the roads, you should not be on the roads," he told CNN.
Additional measures include a mandate that all non-essential businesses close by 8 p.m. local time. The state's Motor Vehicle Commission offices have closed, and all licenses, IDs, registrations, and inspections that would have expired by May 31 will extend until July.
Other cities and states across the country are imposing similar social distancing measures to try and limit the spread.
New Jersey issued a state of emergency on March 9.