The arrest occurred on Sunday around 8:30 p.m., when police officers arrived at a house in Jackson that was rented through Airbnb, according to a statement from Captain Steven Laskiewicz posted on the Facebook page of the Police Department of Jackson.
Still, the party continued to grow, and the crowd grew to about 700 people with more than 100 vehicles parked in the area, according to the statement.
It took the police until 1 am to clear up the residence completely. The owner and the two party organizers received a summons, according to the statement.
“Come on folks! Come on,” Governor Phil Murphy said, reacting to this news during his coronavirus press conference on Monday. “That unnecessarily puts men and women in uniform and their families at risk.”
Murphy’s executive order limits indoor meetings to 100 people and outdoor meetings to 500.
Contact follow-up measures are not yet being taken because “it is too soon for cases,” according to Brian Lippai, spokesman for the Ocean County Health Department. But if positive Covid-19 cases are reported to the health department, Lippai said he would start requesting contacts at that time.
“Close contacts would be identified and quarantined to mitigate any additional transmission,” he said in an email to CNN.
Airbnb has removed the two party organizers from its platform, according to Ben Breit, a company spokesman. The rental property listing has also been disabled as Airbnb investigates further.
“We strongly condemn the reported behavior, which represents both a clear violation of Airbnb’s community policies and a particularly serious abuse during this public health crisis,” Breit said in a statement.
He added that Airbnb bans “party houses” globally and has temporarily removed the “Rules of Parties and Events Allowed” rule from the House Rules from any listing in New Jersey that previously authorized the parties.
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