Although the number of coronaviruses in New Jersey continues to improve by five months in the state’s outbreak, God said. Phil Murphy said Monday that it remains too risky to allow entry into bars and restaurants, citing a study of a restaurant outbreak in China as evidence.
“Allowing diners to sit maskless for a while in a restaurant where the air-conditioning unit can quietly spread coronavirus is a risk we can not yet take,” Murphy said during his recent briefing on coronavirus in Trenton.
The mayor shared a video clip from the news website Vox which shows how COVID-19 spread in January in a restaurant in southern China. One infected diner at a middle table spread the virus to nine other diners at adjacent tables, including some sitting up to 14 feet away. The case was part of a study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“The common thread was that all these patrons were sitting in a straight line of an air conditioner,” Murphy said. “I think each of us can name any number of restaurants we go to, with a seating and air-conditioning situation, not unlike that in this restaurant halfway around the world.”
The governor added that airflow is “a constant concern”, which is why the state has reopened more outdoor activities than indoor activities.
Murphy made the remarks shortly before announcing the state’s transfer rate – a key figure used by officials to determine when more restrictions will be lifted – fell to 0.98, below the critical benchmark of 1, eight days after hitting of a four-month high of 1.49.
The governor has cited the increasing transmission rate as part of the reason he has allowed more indoor activity so far.
This also comes as Murphy says the goal is for schools in New Jersey – where students sit for hours in indoor spaces – to reopen September for at least some instruction.
Murphy was asked Monday if the evidence on air conditioning means indoor dining will not return until the pandemic is over or if there are new benchmarks that the state needs to reach to revitalize indoor dining and gyms.
The governor said he had a meeting Monday morning about “trying to work out how indoors can look like, why gyms could look like.”
“I do not accept that we can not get there in the absence of a vaccine or the end of the pandemic,” Murphy said.
He also denied that he was moving ‘the goals’ on what it would take to open dinner.
“I hope we are there. We are not there yet, “Murphy said.” We need to look at these figures consistently and entertainingly. “
Asked specifically about gyms, Murphy said: ‘It’s what we want to achieve. We want to get out of there without killing anyone. ”
As the New Jersey outbreak slows, Murphy has gradually reversed restrictions and closures of companies he installed in March to combat the pandemic. But the state remains in Phase 2 of redevelopment. This means that gyms, cinemas, and dinners will remain closed until further notice.
That is even though several companies and lawmakers have called on Murphy to lift restrictions more quickly as the state’s economy suffers. Businesses have lost untold revenue while some have closed permanently, and nearly 1.5 million workers in the state have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March.
Numerous state and local governments have allowed limited indoor dining during the pandemic, though neighbors in Pennsylvania restricted it last month, when numbers increased.
Murphy let restaurants in New Jersey offer open dinners in June, but he rolled back plans to allow indoors at 25% in early July as coronavirus numbers came up, especially in other states.
New Jersey continues to allow open dining with restrictions, though Murphy threatened to close Jersey Shore bars on Monday that do not take steps to require patrons to wear masks and wait for social distances while waiting for lines to enter establishments to go. He cited an NJ Advance Media report of four folop bars on Saturday night with long, folop lines.
CORONAVIRUS sources: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Website
New Jersey on Monday announced four more deaths to COVID-19 and 258 more positive tests ,.
Those numbers have dropped significantly since peaking in mid-April, when state officials announced hundreds of new deaths and thousands of new cases daily.
The Garden State has now reported 15,878 known and probable deaths related to the virus, with 185,031 known cases, in just over five months since the first positive test here was announced March 4th.
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Brent Johnson can be reached to [email protected].
