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Coronavirus In New Jersey: COVID-19 Cases Soar To Over 2,800 In State As Gov. Murphy Vows Action To Enforce Stay-At-Home Order

TRENTON, N.J. (CBS/AP) -- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the total to 2,844. The death toll also rose to 27.

Murphy says that all elective surgery will be stopped in the state after this Friday.

"Our new reality calls for aggressive action to reduce the burden on our health care system and protect our frontline medical responders," said Murphy. "Given the dramatic shortfall in personal protective equipment we face, it's imperative that we work with our partners in health care to strategically preserve supplies and equipment for emergency purposes only."

On Sunday, Murphy expressed anger at reports of people in New Jersey ignoring his stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic and warned "we're going to take action." Saying he wanted "no gatherings of any kind," Murphy acknowledged the difficulty of enforcing such an order in every part of the state but said he wanted people to "stay home, period."

Murphy has ordered residents to stay home, banned all gatherings and told nonessential retail businesses to close in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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Health officials issued an urgent call for blood donation and said steps were being taken to increase hospital capacity.

A drive-thru coronavirus testing center in New Jersey once again reached capacity shortly after opening but was to reopen the next morning — and would be joined by another drive-thru center in another county, officials said.

Meanwhile, Camden County reported its first COVID-19 death.

A look at coronavirus-related developments in New Jersey on Sunday:

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ENFORCEMENT

Murphy issued a sharp warning about people congregating in defiance of the stay-at-home order.

"We are really damned unhappy" about such stories, the governor said. "And we're going to take action."

Murphy said the number of people allowed to gather together had gone "to zero."

"We basically have banned any social gatherings in the state," he said. While acknowledging the difficulty of enforcement, he said, "We want no gatherings of any kind. We want people to stay home, period."

"There's too many people not paying attention to this," the governor said, assuming anecdotal reports of people ignoring the order were correct. "We've about had it."

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Officials said prosecutors would be on call dealing with violations of the executive order.

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DRIVE-THRU TESTING CENTERS

A drive-thru coronavirus testing center in New Jersey once again reached capacity Sunday morning shortly after opening, but the site will reopen Monday — and a second drive-thru center is also expected to open that day in another county.

Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said on his Facebook page that the site at Bergen Community College would reopen at 8 a.m. Monday. He said the county has the most cases in the state and has recorded five deaths, so "it is important that we test as many symptomatic residents as possible."

The mass testing center was at capacity minutes after opening Saturday for its second day of operations. NorthJersey.com reported that hundreds of cars were waiting in lines, but less than 15 minutes after opening police began turning people away.

Tedesco urged people coming to the site, who must be New Jersey residents, to be patient. They will be screened for symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath and coughing.

On Monday, officials say a second drive-thru coronavirus testing site will open at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel in Monmouth County.

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BLOOD DONATIONS/HOSPITALS

New Jersey health officials are issuing an urgent call for blood donations.

Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli told reporters during a briefing Sunday that there was a constant need for blood but the current need was becoming "increasingly urgent."

Persichilli also said officials are "aggressively planning" to open closed hospitals, stand-up field hospitals and closed wings of existing hospitals in order to deal with coronavirus patients.

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INMATES TEST POSITIVE

Two Hudson County jail inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting a modified lockdown of the facility, officials said Sunday.

Both inmates have been quarantined on site, and no detainees or staff tested positive. County spokesman James Kennelly told NorthJersey.com that no immigration detainees being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the jail or staff have tested positive.

For the next 14 days, steps will include daily temperature taking of staff, inmates and detainees, the county said. Officials also said contact tracing would be done along with sanitizing of the entire complex.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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