Plans to close all New Jersey schools will be announced Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy said, part of the state's expanding effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.

"Districts and parents should continue making all necessary preparations. I can say with definitiveness that we will be prepared to lay out the statewide shutdown of schools at our press briefing" on Monday, Murphy said.

Murphy said that "with 99% certainty" he would order the closings Monday. But how long students would stay home remains an open question.

By the time Murphy made that announcement on Sunday, nearly all school districts had closed, according to the Department of Education. And school closings are not even considered enough. Murphy said he will also detail plans Monday to increase social distancing, perhaps through a statewide curfew, which he hinted at in a radio interview Sunday morning.

And he said Sunday that closing Atlantic City's casinos is "under intense consideration."

"Not enough is being done," Murphy said in a telephone briefing Sunday. "There is too much business as usual, and we need not just most of us but all of us to follow suit. This is something none of us can be cavalier about."

The number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey shot up to 98 on Sunday, state officials announced. Bergen County had seven new cases, for a total of 29, according to the site, and Monmouth and Middlesex counties each have 12. So far, 13 of New Jersey's 21 counties have identified cases. The new figures include two deaths that have already been reported, in Bergen and Monmouth counties.

In addition to closing schools, Murphy said he is authorizing state employees to work from home beginning Wednesday. There are more than 65,000 state workers.

State officials have been working "literally 24 hours a day," Murphy said, to prepare for New Jersey's 1.4 million students to transition to virtual learning at home. It is a massive and unprecedented undertaking that will burden parents and guardians, many of whom are trying to balance the added role thrust upon them with earning a living in a public health emergency.

It's unknown how long the school closures would last, but Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet said, "We are assessing the situation." Murphy said he would "have an answer" on that Monday.

There are more than 600 school districts in the state. By Sunday, 609 had decided to close, according to the Department of Education. But Murphy had wanted to move deliberately to ensure that each district had feasible emergency plans in place to make sure there aren't "unintended consequences."

The move follows almost a week of review by the Murphy team to make that decision, much of it focused on preparing for the hundreds of thousands of students who do not have remote access or internet-capable devices. Schools also provide meals for many students, and officials were working, they said, to find alternatives for them as well as those who would not have proper care or supervision if classes closed.

"We have 210,000 kids in this state who rely on schools for food. I’ve got to make sure every one of those kids gets a meal when this goes effective," Murphy said Sunday.

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Last week, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said that all 75 public school districts in the county would be closed starting Monday and would transition to online learning. Jersey City in Hudson County had also announced that its schools will close the same day for a week to review risks and decide if the district will remain closed another week.

And the Newark Archdiocese said it was closing all of its Catholic schools for a week and will reassess the situation after that. Orthodox Jewish schools in the region have already been shut down.

Murphy has urged that all public events involving a gathering larger than 250 people should be canceled to help contain the spread of coronavirus. And the head of the New Jersey State Police said authorities hold the legal power to order such events to shut down if necessary.

Dustin Racioppi is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to his work covering New Jersey’s governor and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: racioppi@northjersey.com Twitter: @dracioppi