King Phil Barks: No N.J. Reopening Timeline “Whether You Like That Or Not”

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey is now an outlier in yet another unenviable category: refusing to establish any timeline, tentative or otherwise, for reopening the state from its COVID-19 lockdown status.

“I’m sorry we can’t give you more definitive guidance yet,” a visibly agitated Governor Phil Murphy declared during his Tuesday daily coronavirus presser. “We still have people getting sick, going to the hospitals, and sadly more than 300 we’re reporting (today) have died. So with all due respect, this is the fight of our lives.”

“We gotta do it right,” Murphy added. “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.”

Presure to begin reopening the Garden State’s “non-essential” businesses is building notwithstanding Murphy’s fearmongering with only weeks left to go before Memorial Day Weekend, the ceremonial start of the summer season and a financially crucial time period for the state’s tourism industry. Even New York – the one state harder hit than New Jersey – is in the middle of restarting commercial operations consistent with a timeline adopted by Albany.

Some Republicans have increasingly vocalized their opposition to Murphy’s unilateral and indefinite shutdown over the past several days. 

The Wildwoods Boardwalk

“There is no reason to delay the opening of retail business to do curbside pickup,” said Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-25) following Murphy’s latest remarks. “They should be allowed to do that today. We are in a state of paralysis through analysis.” Bergen is the sponsor of pending legislation to curb Murphy’s emergency powers.

“With our curve flattened and hospitalizations trending downward we really need to consider our small business community, particularly the ones that see a substantial uptick in revenue from holidays like Mother’s Day,” Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R-13) declared in a joint statement Tuesday afternoon.

Statewide hospitalizations are down from a peak of 8,293 on April 14th to 5,328 as of Monday.

Meanwhile, New Jersey’s newly-filed 2020 unemployment applications now exceed 1 million.

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