Murphy blames downward trend in covid-19 positives on bad lab data, "noise"

Murphy Blames Downward Trend in COVID-19 Positives on Bad Lab Data, “Noise”

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1 min read
July 21, 2020

TRENTON, NJ –  Governor Phil Murphy on Monday said COVID-19 testing data errors led to a weekend spike in COVID-19 positives that actually never occurred.

“We’ve got some noise in our data, I think you and I believe today, right? An additional 177 positives, the cumulative number of positives, 176,963,” Murphy said. “One of our private labs is having some data reporting issues which I think skew that number a little bit. Statewide positivity 2.8%, that’s down from Sunday which was 3.5%, up a little bit. That number also may be skewed by the labs, but it probably shouldn’t be unless that lab was, for whatever reason, processing an overwhelming higher percentage of positives or it was fishing in some negatives, that should not be impacted.”

“We cannot ignore the fact that many states are right now living what we live throughout March and April, so we cannot let up because we know this virus can rebound,” Murphy said.

“The department is experiencing a problem receiving Quest laboratory results electronically, and their results are not included in today’s numbers,” said Judith Persichilli, who needs no introduction. “That may be causing our case numbers to be lower than expected. We are working to resolve this problem which may require uploading this data manually and it will be represented in future reports. The daily percent positivity as of July 16th is 2.80 for New Jersey. That’s 2.63 in the North, 2.24 Centrally, and 4.11 in the South.”

Phil Stilton

Phil Stilton is the Editor and Publisher of Shore News Network, an independent digital newsroom providing original reporting on New Jersey, national news, government, public policy, public safety, courts, and community affairs.

As founder of the publication, Stilton leads editorial strategy, investigative reporting, and daily newsroom operations while overseeing coverage that reaches millions of readers annually.

With extensive experience covering municipal government, county government, state legislatures, elections, law enforcement, emergency management, and public records, Stilton specializes in translating complex government actions into clear, factual reporting. His work frequently relies on primary source documents, including court filings, legislation, public meeting records, election finance disclosures, government databases, police reports, and Freedom of Information and Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests. He has reported extensively on local government accountability, taxpayer spending, campaign finance, public corruption investigations, infrastructure, public safety, and the policies affecting New Jersey residents.

Under Stilton's editorial leadership, Shore News Network has grown into one of New Jersey's largest independent digital news organizations, publishing thousands of original news articles each year while providing breaking news coverage, investigative reporting, and analysis across state and local government. The publication's reporting is routinely sourced from official government agencies, public officials, court records, and firsthand documentation, with a commitment to transparency, attribution, corrections when warranted, and clearly distinguishing factual reporting from opinion.

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