With New Jersey’s COVID-19 numbers significantly improving as vaccinations continue, Gov. Phil Murphy and top state lawmakers announced Friday they are working on a plan to finally end the public-health emergency the governor declared in the state 14 months ago to help battle the coronavirus.
Murphy signed an executive order Friday extending the emergency another 30 days. But he said he will let it expire next month if the state Legislature passes legislation before then to make sure the state has the “tools and flexibility” it needs to keep combatting the pandemic and rolling out vaccinations.
It’s unclear exactly what ending the emergency order would mean, though Murphy’s office said its expiration would not wipe away all of the state’s COVID-19 safety restrictions. Instead, the legislation leaders are drafting would likely address protocols.
Murphy said he’s currently working with his fellow Democrats who lead the Legislature — state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin — on the legislation, but they did not provide more details Friday.
“After an extremely difficult year, we are seeing the results of our mitigation efforts and our successful vaccination program,” Murphy said in a statement. “In order to continue on the path to normalcy, we need all available resources to continue our progress in vaccinating New Jerseyans and finally beating back this pandemic.”
“By working together, we are confident that we can move to the next phase of our recovery effort,” the governor added.
Murphy declared both a state of emergency and a public-health emergency on March 9, 2020 as COVID-19 began to spread in New Jersey, one of the pandemic’s early epicenters and now home to the most COVID-19 deaths per capita in the U.S.
The state of emergency, which gives state authorities certain executive powers and allows the state to receive federal aid, is indefinite. But the public-health emergency expires every 30 days.
The emergency order has given Murphy broad, unilateral powers to issue dozens of executive orders, including mask mandates and business restrictions. New Jersey has instituted some of the most severe restrictions to fight the pandemic and been among the slowest in relaxing its protocol.
Murphy’s latest extension carriesthe order into its 15th month. It was set to expire again in the coming days.
Republicans have repeatedly criticized Murphy for keeping the order in place too long instead of working with the Legislature on how to ease restrictions as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have dropped. Some have accused him of being power-hungry.
”There was no reason to drag this out like this,” state Sen. Steven Oroho, R-Sussex, said in a statement after Friday’s announcement. “It’s time to bring this one-man rule to an end. The Legislature should have been involved early on, but we were excluded, and the residents of New Jersey paid a heavy price for it.”
Murphy has said he enacted drastic measures to help protect the state’s residents and prevent more death in an unprecedented health crisis.
This all comes as both the governor runs for re-election and as all 120 seats in the Democratic-controlled Legislature are on the ballot this year.
Sweeney said Friday’s announcement “marks real progress as we work to emerge from the worst public health crisis of our lifetime.”
“It’s the beginning of the end of a crisis that has tragically claimed the lives of an unimaginable number of New Jerseyans and impacted the lives and livelihoods of nearly everyone,” the Senate president said. “The worst is behind us, and now is the time to move forward to restore the quality of life for the people of New Jersey.”
“The new normal won’t be normal for some time,” Sweeney added. “We have to make the best use of our resources, our abilities and our determination to address the needs of our citizens.”
Coughlin said leaders will work to “produce legislation that enables us to safely and responsibly reopen our state as we seek to spur the economy and create jobs.”
“We will come back stronger than ever,” the Assembly speaker said.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
Murphy made the announcement just hours after he said New Jersey will keep its mandate for all people to wear a mask indoors in public — at least for now — even after federal health officials released updated guidance that says masks are no longer needed for fully vaccinated Americans in most circumstances.
“We’re not there yet,” he said of dropping the statewide indoor mask mandate, though he said that could change in the coming weeks if vaccinations continue to increase and the state’s outbreak keeps receding.
Murphy did say fully vaccinated people in the state can stop wearing masks outdoors in public, but unvaccinated people should still wear them when in “close proximity” to others.
This all comes just days before New Jersey is set to take a number of big steps to ease coronavirus restrictions Wednesday, including ending outdoor gathering limits and removing fixed, percentage-based indoor capacity limits for restaurants, gyms, retail stores, churches, and more. But under Murphy’s order, those establishments must still keep patrons and parties 6 feet away from each other, and people will still be required to wear masks indoors.
More than 3.57 million people who live, work, or study in the state have now been fully vaccinated at New Jersey sites, while another 164,121 residents have been vaccinated in other states.
The state has set a goal of having 70% of New Jersey’s adults vaccinated by the end of June. A little more than half of the state’s 6.9 million adults have now been fully vaccinated.
New Jersey’s seven-day average for new confirmed positive COVID-19 tests has fallen to 790 — down 37% from a week ago and 73% from a month ago. That’s the lowest number since Oct. 12.
There were 954 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the state as of Thursday night, the lowest number since Oct. 24. Hospitalizations fell below 1,000 on Wednesday. Overall, coronavirus hospitalizations are down 75% since the state’s second-wave peak of 3,873 patients on Dec. 22.
Still, the state is seeking to ramp up vaccinations now that demand has decreased and many large municipalities — many with large minority populations — have vaccination rates under 40%.
New Jersey, a state of 9.2 million people, has reported 25,932 residents have died from complications related to COVID-19 — including 23,284 confirmed deaths and 2,648 fatalities considered probable.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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N.J.’s long public health emergency for COVID should end next month, Murphy, top Dems say - NJ.com
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