TRENTON, N.J. (CBS/AP) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Saturday they are seeing fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, as the death toll surpassed 4,000. An additional 231 deaths were reported, bringing the statewide total to 4,070.

An additional 3,026 cases of COVID-19 were also reported in the past 24 hours. The state now has a total of 81,420 cases.

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Although the numbers continue to increase, Murphy said Saturday they are seeing fewer hospitalizations and more discharges.

“Over the past three weeks, we’ve been able to move these lines closer together to the point where we are now reporting more people leaving the hospital than entering,” Murphy said.

“We are flattening the curve,” Murphy said, presenting charts showing the rate of growth of new cases over the previous 21 days as well as daily rates of new hospitalizations since the beginning of the month.

Look at this chart: the number of new hospitalizations against the number of daily discharges. Over the past three weeks, we’ve been able to move these lines closer together to the point where we are now reporting more people leaving the hospital than entering. pic.twitter.com/Mi4r9ABv71 — Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 18, 2020

“The slower the rate of new cases, the slower the rate of infections, the slower the rate of new hospitalizations, ICU beds required, ventilators required, and please God, fatalities that result,” Murphy said.



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On Friday, New Jersey’s health commissioner said she is “cautiously optimistic” that the COVID-19 outbreak is leveling off. Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli expects the rest of April and early May to be very busy for hospitals, but that models indicate a dip in the curve could come after that.

“We’re cautiously optimistic, hopefully optimistic that we’re leveling off,” Persichilli said.

The northern part of the state, which has been very hard hit, has likely seen its peak, but the central and southern parts of the state have yet to.

Despite the optimism, Murphy said, it’s no time to relent on social distancing.

The death toll, while still going up, is a lagging indicator, said Dr. Christina Tan, the state epidemiologist.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)