As the reopening of the Garden State moves forward, Gov. Phil Murphy is encouraging all Garden State residents to get tested for COVID-19.

“Every resident in every community has a role to play in our restart and recovery, and every residents who gets tested sends a strong message to their neighbors that they are ready to be a part of a bright future for our state," Murphy said Wednesday.

“We have the capacity, we have the partnerships, we have 164 different locations where you can get tested. Let’s do just what we’ve been doing over the past several months, let’s do this together.”

Earlier this month, Murphy said by the end of May the goal was to be doing 20,000 COVID-19 tests a day. On Tuesday, 24,400 tests were done in the state.

Murphy said for New Jerseyans to venture out into stores and restaurants when once they’re allowed to reopen, they must feel confident there’s a plan in place to safeguard their health, and testing will play a vital role in that process.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said it will be important to know what percentage of residents have COVID-19.

“Testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine is the end to end process to contain this virus," she said Wednesday.

Murphy noted the percentage of people getting tested for COVID-19 who turned out to be positive for the virus, as of Wednesday, was 7%, which is down significantly from only a couple of weeks ago.

You can find out where to be tested by visiting covid19.nj.gov

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You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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