Gov. Phil Murphy warned that New Jersey would need to put “broader restrictions” in place to combat a second wave of COVID-19 surges across the state.
Data from the New Jersey Department of Health on Friday show that the state logged more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the third day in a row, and the fourth day this past week.
Before that, daily COVID-19 counts had not reached above 2,000 since May, when New Jersey was still coasting down from the first wave of the outbreak.
On Friday, New Jersey logged 2,199 new cases and 1,336 total hospitalizations—the latter a level not seen since early June. Hospitalizations have stayed above 1,000 for nearly two weeks in a row, with most of them concentrated in North Jersey.
Essex, Bergen and Passaic counties all logged more than 200 new cases as of Friday, while Hudson, Middlesex, Union, Camden, Monmouth and Burlington counties all reported more than 100 new cases.
Gov. Phil Murphy announces Dianna Houenou as chair of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission and that Jeff Brown will serve as executive director of the Commission at the Trenton War Memorial on Nov. 6, 2020. – EDWIN J. TORRES/GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
“We’re working on making sure we got a right balance between scalpel-like actions and some broader restrictions, that we will almost certainly take sooner than later,” the governor said at an unrelated press event Friday in Trenton.
The “scalpel-like” restrictions that Murphy spoke of entail actions taken by local officials, such as curfews that Hoboken, Newark and Paterson enacted to limit when restaurants, bars and other non-essential retailers can stay open. Hoboken said it would issue fines for large gatherings.
New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the state was deploying so-called “hotspot teams” to communities where the virus has surged. Those efforts entail ramped up testing capacity and contact tracing efforts, as well as any other social services local residents might need to bolster the response by local health officials.
This so-called “Lakewood model,” – named after the Jewish-majority town of the same name where the first outbreaks emerged at the end of September – is also being deployed at hotspot areas in Atlantic City and Elizabeth, as well as at Monmouth, Rowan and Rutgers universities, according to Persichilli.
But as surges hit more of the state, New Jersey will need to “augment” the work of the hotspot teams “with some broader steps,” the governor said on Thursday. “It’s not either/or.”
At a statewide level, casinos, indoor dining, gyms, indoor gatherings and salons are limited to 25% capacity. Indoor gatherings are limited to 25% of a room’s capacity or 25 people, whichever is lower, while outdoor gatherings are limited to 500 people.
Those activities were prohibited during the height of the first wave.
Under current regulations, face coverings have to be worn indoors, as well as outdoors in crowded areas.
As the state hit a second wave of outbreaks in October, Murphy was repeatedly pressed on whether he would roll back the reopenings of gyms and indoor dining, or implement a stay-at-home order. But with indoor gatherings driving many of the spikes, Murphy had remained on the fence about reinstituting restrictions. Few if any masks are worn at such gatherings, and attendees are not adhering to 6-foot physical distancing, the governor said.
Outbreaks, Persichilli said on Thursday, are more “likely related to routine gatherings such as your homes.” Health officials across the nation “expect the situation to get worse as the weather gets colder and more people gather inside,” Persichilli added.
