Gov. Tom Wolf will meet with the governors of New York, New Jersey and other northeastern states this weekend to discuss possibly coordinating new restrictions to help curb COVID-19 spread as as a second wave of the coronavirus grips the region.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the “emergency summit” on Friday. Gov. Phil Murphy’s office confirmed the meeting to NJ Advance Media, saying the discussion will be held virtually.
“Governor Murphy looks forward to continuing our work with our regional partners to address the public health crisis,” spokesman Mahen Gunaratna said.
The summit will also include the governors of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
An email to the Wolf administration seeking comment Friday night was not immediately returned.
Cuomo said the group will discuss possibly coordinating more regulations on bars, restaurants, bars, and gyms, as well as limits on gatherings and interstate travel.
“The reality is the virus is mobile and we’re in the holiday season and people will travel more," the New York governor said. "These are all elements that conspire to increase the spread. We believe we’re going to have to be taking additional steps, and to the degree we can share information and align action with other regional states, we’ll do that.”
It’s unclear what the steps may be, but Cuomo said he does not expect any major changes announced over the weekend.
Many states have issued their own guidelines in recent days. In New Jersey, Murphy has ordered restaurants to end indoor dining each night by 10 p.m. and has given local governments the choice to institute 8 p.m. business closings if they want.
New York has limited the number of people at gatherings inside private residences at 10. Asked Thursday if New Jersey will do the same, Murphy said: “All options are on the table.”
Murphy has stopped short of calling for a statewide stay-at-home or lockdown order like he did during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring. But he has repeatedly said he’s not ruling anything out.
Because many residents crisscross the region for work and necessities, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania coordinated some regulations early in the pandemic. But the states have mostly acted on their own as cases dropped during the summer.
New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut announced a joint travel advisory in June calling for travelers from states considered hot spots to self-quarantine for 14 days. But Cuomo announced earlier this month that New York was puling out of the pact and would instead test visitors for the virus.
New Jersey and Connecticut have continued the travel advisory, though neighboring states are exempt.
Pennsylvania reported another one-day high with more than 5,500 new cases Friday. The Keystone State has registered about 11,000 new cases in the past two days. About 2,300 coronavirus patients are in hospitals, up from 1,200 less than two weeks ago.
This week, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine has said the state isn’t looking at dramatic steps such as a statewide shutdown of schools or new restrictions akin to those in the spring. She noted Pennsylvania restaurants are already limited to 50% of indoor capacity and the last call for alcoholic drinks is 11 p.m.
Murphy and other state officials have sounded alarms about a second COVID-19 wave in New Jersey in recent weeks, with news cases, hospitalizations, transmission rate, and positivity rate ticking up.
On Friday, New Jersey reported 3,399 more cases and 28 additional deaths, marking the fifth time in seven days officials announced more than 3,000 positive tests. And while new deaths have not increased at the rate they did in the spring, Friday marked the most deaths announced in one day since July 24.
The state’s hospitals reported 1,909 patients with either confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases as of Thursday night — the most since June 3.
New York, meanwhile, has reported more than 45,700 new coronavirus cases in the past 14 days. The state is reporting an average of 4,163 new cases per day over the past seven days.
“You cannot take this rate of increase and survive pending the arrival of a vaccine,” Cuomo said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Ron Southwick of PennLive contributed to this report.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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