Source: NJ.com
Addiction support groups including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are exempt from New Jersey’s recently enacted 10-person limit for indoor gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak under a clarification included in a separate executive order signed Monday night by Gov. Phil Murphy.
Meetings for those groups will instead be limited 25% the room’s capacity with a maximum of 150 people. The new 10-person indoor limit took effect on Nov. 17, a reduction from the previous 25-person limit.
New Jersey has seen an 8% increase in overdose deaths this year as concerns about access to services and isolation mount.
In the first eight months of 2020, 2,093 people are suspected to have died of drug overdoses, outpacing 2018 and 2019. The statistics in May were especially alarming: 309 deaths — an average of 10 a day — were recorded, the highest monthly total the New Jersey State Police has ever seen and 61 more than in May 2019.
The clarification was included in Murphy’s order lowering the limit on outdoor gatherings from 150 to 25 people starting on Monday, and the suspension of indoor youth, high school and adult recreational sports effective Saturday.
Murphy announced 3,199 additional COVID-19 positive tests on Monday and 15 newly confirmed deaths. The state’s seven-day rolling average for new cases is 4,014 — down 1% from a week ago, but still more than double the 1,751 cases reported on the first day of November.
