A veteran Republican legislator is warning New Jersey of what *should* be the obvious: Governor Phil Murphy may use media-driven pandemic porn over the covid “Delta variant” to reimpose restrictions on daily life.
“The Murphy administration continues to engage in a massive display of fear-mongering over the Delta variant,” said state Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) on Monday. “Nobody should be shocked if the Murphy administration uses it as an excuse to lockdown New Jersey again and reimpose all of the COVID restrictions and mask mandates we fought to have lifted.”
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“Although the Delta variant of COVID-19 may be more contagious than prior strains of the virus, it appears to be weaker and less dangerous than prior variants,” added Doherty. “It is well known in the scientific community that as viruses mutate, they become more contagious but less lethal.”
Bad math continues to be the administration’s favorite weapon.
For example, the Murphy Administration counts high cycle threshold PCR test results notwithstanding the fact that many in this category are either asymptomatic, no longer contagious or both. Once again, it’s having the effect of making things seem worse than they really are on the surface.
“The Murphy administration still refuses to answer basic questions about how COVID-19 PCR tests are performed in New Jersey,” continued Doherty. “His administration has refused to inform the public regarding the number of amplification cycles that are performed during testing. Why the total lack of transparency? Even though there has been a reported bump in the total number of cases due to the Delta variant, there has not been a corresponding surge of people who are severely sick or hospitalized. That fact alone should be enough to forestall a new round of executive orders. But I fear the worst from a governor who has shamelessly acknowledged that he doesn’t consider the Constitution prior to making decisions.”
Murphy, for his part, has repeatedly refused to rule out a return to restrictions in the future.
The legislature voted to extend many of Murphy’s key powers through the end of 2021 back in the spring, and other Murphy powers would have some nominal legislative oversight in the future.
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