Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday he’s extending the public-health emergency he declared in New Jersey over the coronavirus pandemic by 30 days.
Murphy declared both a state of emergency and a public-health emergency on March 9 as the pandemic was beginning to spread in New Jersey. He extended that order about a month later on April 7.
The executive order he signed Wednesday will keep it in place through at least early June.
The state of emergency remains in place indefinitely, but the governor said the public-health emergency expires after 30 days.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that this action does not mean that we are seeing anything in the data which would pause our path forward and it should not be interpreted by anyone to mean we are going to be tightening any of the restrictions currently in place,” Murphy said at his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton.
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“This ensures we will continue on our current war footing for the coming month,” he aded. “The conditions underpinning this declaration have not changed — we are still in a public health emergency.”
Murphy also stressed that the state needs to continue to practice social distancing, including staying at home as much as possible, while keeping six feet away from people and wear a face mask when you go out.
“Remember, in the absence of a vaccine, or even proven therapeutics for COVID-19, our only cure is social distancing,” he said. “And we know that the efforts of millions of you are working.”
A state of emergency gives state authorities certain executive powers and safeguards to respond to a crisis. It also allows the state to receive federal aid.
A public-health emergency allows the governor to take action under the Emergency Health Powers Act. The order Murphy signed Tuesday extending it also “extends all actions taken by” any department of New Jersey’s executive branch in response to the virus, the governor’s office said.
New Jersey is in its seventh week of unprecedented restrictions after Murphy ordered residents to stay home, banned gatherings, and mandating nonessential businesses close to fight the virus. The governor made his first major step to lifting the orders this past weekend, as he allowed state and county parks and golf courses to reopen, with restrictions.
Some lawmakers, business leaders, and residents, are pushing Murphy to further loosen his orders as Memorial Day draws near — including allowing some stores to reopen with either curbside service or other social-distancing guidelines.
That’s as the state grapples with hundreds of thousands of people filing for unemployment and businesses suffer untold revenue losses.
But Murphy said Tuesday more progress needs to be made before he can further remove restrictions because cases and deaths continue to rise and social distancing remains the best tool to battle the virus. He also said he does not have a more definitive timeline.
“We gotta do it right,” the governor said. “We’ve got to do it responsibly, we’ve got to do it safely, and we are committed to that ... frankly, whether you like that or not.”
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
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Murphy extends N.J. coronavirus public-health emergency for 30 days. State of emergency remains in effect. - NJ.com
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