Source: New Jersey Patch
Now that the second wave of the coronavirus is here, the Murphy administration says bars and restaurants will soon need to close all indoor service by 10 PM.
Effective this Thursday Nov. 11, restaurants, casinos bars will be prohibited from serving food and alcohol between 10PM and 5AM. Restrictions will also be placed on seating.
The news was not warmly embraced by those in the restaurant business.
“What makes it any more dangerous to eat indoors at 10 p.m. than at 7 p.m.?” asked Bergen, R-Morris. “I would pay to see the data.”
“I put a bill up months ago that would require Governor Murphy to involve the legislature in his decision making,” Bergen added. “The majority party refused to hear it and now here we are again with the governor unilaterally picking and choosing which industries to target.”
Murphy made the announcement after New Jersey had more than 5,000 new cases over the weekend, and hit the daily 3,000 case marker for the first time since April. Murphy said New Jersey will have to consider strong steps now that the state had its fifth consecutive day of reporting 2,000 or more cases — the first time that’s happened since April and May.
Deaths have also ticked up slightly. After falling to single digits — with one fatality reported Oct. 12 — New Jersey reported 13 more deaths Friday.
“We’re working on making sure that we have the right balance between strategic, scalpel-like actions and some broader actions we almost certainly will take sooner or later,” he said.
Murphy signaled that he may not take broad actions regarding schools, despite the Clifton School District announced that 12 students and four employees tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and many others have had to quarantine. “We deal with these districts one district at a time,” Murphy said. “They consult with us every step of the way when they make decisions like that.”
“This virus has not gone away as we predicted it would,” he said. “We’re still in the fight, and we’ve got to fight back against COVID fatigue. We’ve got to do everything in our power to fight back against that.”
Interstate indoor organized sports will also be prohibited indefinitely.
Murphy also issued a warning about Thanksgiving, urging people not to hold family gatherings that could cause the virus to spread.