New Jersey now has at least 51,027 cases of the coronavirus, with 1,700 deaths, as state officials Thursday reported another 3,748 positive tests and 198 deaths in the last 24 hours.

“We know that this number is the worst of all to report to you,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in reference to the death toll as he held his daily coronavirus press briefing at the Trenton War Memorial. “These aren’t numbers, by the way, these are people.”

New Jersey, a state of 9 million residents, continues to have more COVID-19 cases than any U.S. state but New York.

The state has still not released numbers for how many New Jerseyans have recovered from the illness. But they provided information for the first time saying 471 people across New Jersey have been discharged in the last 24 hours after being hospitalized for COVID-19.

In all, there are 7,363 people hospitalized with the virus as of Thursday, including 1,523 in critical care and 1,551 on ventilators.

Officials said the peak number of hospitalizations could come in two to three days — with about 14,400 people with the virus hospitalized and 2,880 in critical care.

Separately, officials say the peak number of cases in the state is predicted to come between April 19 and May 11, and it could be between 86,000 and 509,000 cases.

Murphy continued to urge residents to stay home and practice social distancing.

“It’s a fight for literally the heart and soul and future of our state," the governor said. "We need you to stay home, period.”

Murphy added that New Jersey is starting to see signs the rate of infection is slowing, but he stressed that cases and deaths are still going up.

“We’re not in the end zone,” he said.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said there have been 58 COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths at the state’s three veteran homes. Two of the homes — in Paramus and Edson — have received support from combat medics from the National Guard to manage the cases.

New Jersey has received reports on 100,478 total coronavirus tests. About 44% have come back positive.

The state says the numbers represent 95% of the results from testing done at major laboratories.

It’s difficult to know exactly how many residents are currently infected with the illness because testing is backed up and the state is testing only people showing symptoms, even though asymptomatic people can carry the virus.

About 85% of people will see mild symptoms, but 15% face more severe cases — especially older residents and those with underlying conditions, officials say.

Of the state’s 1,700 deaths, health officials provided the racial breakdown as:

White 61%

Black 22%

Asian 6%

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander less than 1%

Still under investigation 11%

The partial county-by-county breakdown of cases includes:

Bergen County: 8,343 with 345 deaths

Essex County: 6,069 with 312 deaths

Hudson County: 5,879 with 132 deaths

Union County: 5,203 with 145 deaths

Passaic County: 4,690 with 82 deaths

Middlesex County: 4,628 with 152 deaths

Monmouth County: 3,248 with 98 deaths

Ocean County: 3,093 with 119 deaths

Morris County: 2,645 with 117 deaths

Somerset County: 1,335 with 59 deaths

Mercer County: 1,161 with 36 deaths

Camden County: 990 with 23 deaths

Burlington County: 883 with 21 deaths

Gloucester County: 413 with 8 deaths

Sussex County: 392 with 21 deaths

Warren County: 319 with 1 deaths

Hunterdon County: 286 with 4 deaths

Atlantic County: 191 with 4 deaths

Cumberland County: 111 with 3 deaths

Cape May County: 109 with 3 deaths

Salem County: 43 with 3 deaths

Another 1,362 cases and four deaths remain under investigation to determine the location where the person resides.

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To help reduce the virus’ spread and protect hospital capacity, Murphy has put the state into near-lockdown, ordering residents to stay at home, banning social gatherings, closing schools, and mandating non-essential retail businesses close until further notice. He has also limited the number of people can be in businesses allowed to remain open and required employees and shoppers to wear face coverings.

On Tuesday, Murphy also indefinitely closed all of New Jersey’s state and county parks.

He also ordered that all retail shops and supermarkets that are permitted to be open during pandemic must limit the number of customers inside at one time by half, and said customers and workers need to wear masks or face coverings.

As of Thursday, the virus has infected more than 1.5 million people across the globe, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. Of those, nearly 90,000 have died and nearly 340,000 have recovered.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

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