By Allison Perrine
NEW JERSEY – With COVID-19 cases on the decline statewide compared to January, Gov. Phil Murphy is increasing the indoor dining and gathering limits this week.
As part of an executive order signed Wednesday, the state will “carefully and responsibly” increase indoor capacities at a number of businesses and venues from 25 percent to 35 percent, effective Friday, Feb. 5 at 8 a.m. It also lifts the 10 p.m. curfew for indoor dining in restaurants, though local restrictions may remain in place.
“I feel confident in signing this order because of the recent trends in our hospitals and our rate of transmission,” Murphy said during his Wednesday morning press conference. “For instance, on Jan. 13, we reported 3,726 confirmed and suspected COVID cases in our hospitals. Today, three weeks later, we’re reporting a decrease of about 20 percent from that number.”
Despite the 10 p.m. curfew being lifted, Murphy said municipalities and counties may regulate business hours of operation of in-person service after 8 p.m. in cases of “unique” situations of noncompliance. Additionally, the prohibition on indoor bar area seating will remain in effect due to the “danger of close and prolonged proximity” among customers and servers.
“I’m proud that we’ve been able to protect our restaurants from the roller coaster of openings and closings that other states have had to implement. We have been consistent in our approach. Because we opened indoor dining responsibly, never once have we had to reduce capacity,” he said.
The 35 percent capacity applies to other indoor entertainment and recreation facilities as well, including casinos, gyms, barber shops and salons. It also applies to religious services, wedding ceremonies, political activities, memorial services and funerals as well as audiences at performing venues. Although there is a percentage increase, crowds are still limited to no more than 150 individuals.
“Even with this expansion, all public health protocols must be adhered to at all times including the requirement for wearing a mask indoors except when eating or drinking and for stringent sanitation and hygiene,” said Murphy.
Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) issued a statement shortly after Murphy’s announcement and said while he is “happy to see” that the governor has made some movement forward in increasing the capacity, “it is still completely outrageous to continue on with this endless slow drip of restrictions being lifted.”
“Every surrounding state is at 50 percent at least. We’ve been behind our neighbors in lifting these draconian regulations for months,” said O’Scanlon. “And the delay hasn’t shown any indication that we are doing any better with our rate of transmission; we are simply still economically killing our restaurant and hospitality industry.”
As of Wednesday, Feb. 3, there have been a total of 631,306 COVID-positive PCR tests and 74,498 positive antigen rapid tests in New Jersey. Of those totals, Murphy reported another 52 deaths overnight, bringing the statewide death toll to 19,506 with 2,187 additional deaths likely COVID-related but that have not been lab-confirmed.
Additionally, approximately 837,225 vaccine doses have been administered so far: 691,000 first doses and 146,000 second doses. Appointments remain hard to come by, Murphy said, but the state does not have the supply it needs to meet the demand. As that increases, more appointments will become available. More information is available at covid19. nj.gov/vaccine.
In the hospitals as of Tuesday night, there were 2,986 patients in the 71 total hospitals statewide. Of that, 2,820 were confirmed positive and 166 were awaiting results. There were 525 individuals in intensive care units and 374 on ventilators. There were also 162 individuals discharged from hospitals but 288 new patients. The positivity rate as of Jan. 30 reached 11.65 percent.
On another note, Murphy gave thanks to the thousands of workers who helped prepare for and clear the roads from the snowstorm that began Sunday and continued through part of the day Wednesday in some areas of the state.
“This vies for the most accumulation of any snow storm in the history of our state,” Murphy said. “But the fact that we have black roads out there, the fact that we had so few power outages – I know we had a lot of accidents and motorists aids calls…but it was a remarkable effort by a whole thousands of people.”
This article was originally published in the Feb. 4-10, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
