As governing. Phil Murphy imposed stricter bans on bars and restaurants to slow growth in coronavirus cases, state health officials said Monday, warning of a recent outbreak patrons tied to a popular Jersey shore bar.
At least eight bartenders and servers of Leggets on 1st Avenue in Mansaquan have been infected with the virus, which will provide a public health alert for patrons, Health Commissioner Judy Persicili said at a coronavirus press conference in Trenton. (Persicili initially reported nine employees allocating the epidemic, but a health department spokesman later clarified that eight Ledge employees had been infected.)
This notice, read aloud at the press conference, instructs New Jersey residents that anyone who has Oct Oct. Visited the bar from 17 and Oct. 22 will be open in COVID-19. Persicili noted that the state visited the establishment on October 23 and the restaurant management cooperated with health officials.
“This is just one example,” he said. “We don’t really issue (warnings) every day because they have to be investigated, but it’s happening.”
The Legislature has announced that it is closed for indoor dining on October 22, but continued to offer takeouts and packaged goods, according to the bar’s website. Indoor dining resumed on Thursday. The bar manager was not available for comment Monday afternoon when contacted by NJ Advance Media.
Persicili read the notice after administration with questions from reporters as to why he chose to impose new restrictions that would force bars and rest restaurants to close indoor dining at 10pm and ban sitting at indoor bars. Takeout and outdoor dining can continue after 10 p.m.
Bar and rest restaurant rentals will be able to seat groups of people closer than six feet, as long as they are separated by plex xiglass barriers and are exposed to cold weather so they can arrange outdoor igloos for individual groups.
In the briefing, Murphy noted that his decision to tighten sanctions was not the result of any incident like the Legislatures. He declined to release specific data following the decision.
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More than 2,000 new cases were reported daily for the sixth straight day on Monday. Officials on Saturday reported a further 3,207 cases, the highest number in the state since April 27 despite being in an early outbreak situation. The last time there were more than 20,000,000 cases in New Jersey, the state was in the midst of an unprecedented lockdown with schools and non-essential businesses to slow the outbreak.
The seven-day average for new daily positive tests is now 2,276, up 40% from a week earlier.
Murphy said it was possible that additional restrictions moving toward a single state-nation vaccine could return some of the signs of normalcy by spring.
“We have to get rid of the epidemic fatigue,” he said. A vaccine is on the horizon. Let’s focus on the next six months, folks. “
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following the initial publication of this story, a Health Department spokesman provided NJ Advance Media with a slightly different number of Lodget employees who contracted Kovid-19 than reported at Monday’s press conference. The article was updated to reflect the improved number of infected workers.
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