Governor Phil Murphy has a message for frustrated New Jerseyans who have been unable to file for unemployment because the phone lines are too busy or because the Department of Labor website crash: don't worry.
Murphy says the labor department systems have been overwhelmed due to a record number of people trying to file claims.
"Have patience, stay at it, and you won't lose one penny," Murphy told Q104.3 New York's Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein on Friday morning. "If the phones aren't working, there's an all-encompassing website which will hopefully guide folks as to what their alternatives are, and it's COVID19.nj.gov."
The site boasts a information on filing for unemployment, a jobs portal, a tracker of confirmed novel coronavirus cases located in the state, a symptom checker with information on how to get a test for the virus and a roundup of important information from the state.
"A lot of people are hurting right now," he added. "We've got sick people. We've got folks out of work, small businesses that have been crushed. This is war. There's no questions about it. We'll get through it, by the way ... But it won't be unscathed and it won't be tomorrow, as much as we'd like it to be."
As of Friday afternoon, NJ had reported 29,895 coronavirus cases and 646 deaths due to COVID-19.
Listen to the full interview via the audio player above or here on iHeartRadio.
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