Well before Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his daily afternoon briefings to tick off grim statistics and new restrictions to fight the coronavirus, a diverse team of experts and officials has gathered the latest intelligence and gamed out the worst-case scenarios for New Jersey.

They calculate how many hospital beds are open and how many will be needed in a surge of patients. They determine where protective equipment is needed the most. And they prepare for civil unrest.

Earlier this month they considered whether schools should close and state workers should stay home. This week they hashed out the details of releasing jail inmates to make sure they have the appropriate services to avoid unintended consequences. At the same time, state officials are working with the federal government to build new hospitals and with private industry to collect and distribute donations — all to try to head off a catastrophe.

It is a symphony of emergency management conducted at the Regional Operations & Intelligence Center, the nerve center of New Jersey’s coronavirus planning and response. The Rock, as it is known, was designed for disasters, but the coronavirus is a challenge unlike any New Jersey has faced.

“The challenge with a pandemic like this is the unknown,” said Col. Patrick Callahan, the superintendent of the State Police and director of the state’s emergency management. “When (Superstorm) Sandy comes and goes, 24 hours later you look and you know those trees need to be removed, you know those power lines need to go back up, you know that road needs to be rebuilt. Where are we with this one? Is it still offshore, this storm?”

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The worst appears yet to come. Murphy said he expects the number of positive cases of COVID-19, the disease associated with the new coronavirus, to reach the “many thousands.” As of Thursday, there were 6,876 positive tests and 81 related deaths.

Callahan has identified three objectives to deal with the coronavirus: stopping its spread, keeping a supply of personal protective equipment for emergency responders and making sure there are enough hospital beds in the likelihood of a surge of positive cases.

It is a broad effort that largely takes place in a dark and expansive “support room” at the operations center, located in Ewing about a mile east of the Delaware River. All levels of government are involved, from the state Attorney General’s office and Department of Health to county sheriffs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is helping to build new hospitals. Murphy's chief of staff is also working out of the operations center.

The private sector is involved, too. Prudential, Apple, Home Depot and many others have donated supplies, and Callahan said his team is getting specifications to a clothing manufacturer in Newark so its 40-person team of sewers can start producing masks, gowns and booties for health care workers.

“It really is a one-stop shop for anything regarding emergency management, emergency operations,” said Jared Maples, the state director of homeland security.

Murphy said during his daily briefing Wednesday that "it’s a big deal" to have all those different levels of government coordinating in one location.

“The extraordinary collaboration and work being done at the ROIC is vital to Governor Murphy and New Jersey’s response to COVID-19," said Alexandra Altman, a spokeswoman for the governor.

The center operates around the clock. On a “blue sky day,” when things are calm, the center may field a counter-terrorism tip and work with the FBI and New York City police department to vet it or prepare for an upcoming snowstorm, Maples said.

But the operations center has been bustling since New Jersey had its first positive COVID-19 case earlier this month. Until recently, Murphy held his daily briefings at the center. Every Monday afternoon, Murphy and Cabinet officials join a video call with the White House from a conference room there to discuss plans and state needs.

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On Monday morning, Callahan had to delay a tour of the center to participate in a conference call with jail wardens and various state agency leaders to discuss the logistics of releasing up to 1,000 jail inmates under an order by the state Supreme Court.

"If they're homeless and our homeless shelters are already at capacity, are we doing them a disservice by releasing them with no wraparound services, with no counseling?" Callahan said. "If somebody gets out of Essex County jail and overdoses on heroin a day later, that's kind of on us."

The center’s support room has about 100 desks that have been in regular use lately. Workers arrive early to gather the latest information from around the state on “situational awareness,” such as hospital capacity and the how much health care equipment is available, Callahan said. They then funnel that information to the center’s command conference room so Callahan, Maples and other top officials can make recommendations to the governor.

“When this room’s full of people, it’s a crazy day in New Jersey,” Callahan said. “It’s phenomenal to watch the shoulder-to-shoulder operation, but it means an emergency needs to be managed, and this one’s unprecedented.”

Callahan is confident that this emergency will be well-managed but, echoing the language Murphy often uses, said “not unscathed.”

There is a national shortage of protective equipment and ventilators. If the economy continues its decline and businesses are shut down for an extended period, there is the chance of civil unrest. There is a plan for that, too, with a special operations group that deployed to Baltimore when it had riots.

“We are the ones that are asked to bring calm and order and resolve to chaos and fear and panic,” said Callahan, who is commanding the emergency response at a time of personal turmoil, too.

His wife, Linda, is battling cancer. He gets a couple of hours of sleep each night and is fueled by “probably 19 cups of coffee” during the day, he said. But the alliterative principals he was taught at the outset of his career still guide him as the director of emergency management: Priorities, purpose, perseverance and passion.

“When you’re a young trooper and you’re out at an overturned tractor trailer and you have four fatalities, you have to go there cool, calm and collected. Everybody who sees you pull up thinks, Thank God, he or she is going to bring order to this mess,” he said. “That’s no different 20 years later when you’re trying to manage something like this.”

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