New Jersey Governor Refuses To Rule Out Another COVID Lockdown
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has not ruled out the idea of locking down his state again amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Despite more than seven months of data showing shutdowns of business activity and religious gatherings can be harmful to public health, the Democratic governor is reserving the option to place severe restrictions on Garden State residents again.
Speaking with Yahoo Finance for an article published Friday, Murphy said “all options are on the table.”
“If we have to shut the whole place down we will,” Murphy said.
He added, “We were one of the first, if not the first state to do that in March. I just hope we can avoid it again this time.”
Murphy cited an increase in positive coronavirus cases as the reason he is considering a second lockdown.
“This is real. People are dying,” he said
“People are going to the hospital and we need everybody to band together and push back on that pandemic fatigue and push the numbers back down.”
Murphy tweeted about the status of positive cases in the state on Friday:
He wrote, “#COVID19 UPDATE: We’re reporting 2,089 new positive cases, pushing our cumulative total to 236,523. We haven’t seen daily case numbers in the 2000s since early May.
#COVID19 UPDATE: We’re reporting 2,089 new positive cases, pushing our cumulative total to 236,523.
We haven’t seen daily case numbers in the 2000s since early May.
Everyone needs to take this seriously. Wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands. pic.twitter.com/ab6sbBvHjo
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) October 30, 2020
“Everyone needs to take this seriously. Wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands.”
In another tweet, Murphy said the virus “has been waiting for us to get lax,” and noted seven deaths were reported in the state over the last 15 days.
Sadly, we must also report seven new confirmed #COVID19 deaths for a total of 14,546 lives lost.
All seven of these deaths occurred within the past 15 days.
This virus has been waiting for us to get lax. Stay vigilant, safe, and smart.
Learn more: https://t.co/JW1q8awGh7
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) October 30, 2020
Murphy was notably criticized for his lockdown order in March, and conceded during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April that he never considered the Bill of Rights when he ordered his state’s citizens to lock down and refrain from attending religious services.
Carlson told Murphy, “The Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans’ right — enshrines their right — to practice their religion as they see fit and to congregate together to assemble peacefully.”
Carlson asked Murphy, “By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order?”
Murphy’s answer caused an immediate backlash.
The Democrat stated, “That’s above my pay grade, Tucker.
“So I wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this. We went to all, first of all, we looked at the data and the science and it says people have to stay away from each other.”
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