People walking along a boardwalk in Belmar, N.J., on Memorial Day weekend. | AP Photo
New Jersey made it through the Memorial Day weekend largely without incident after Gov. Phil Murphy relaxed some social distancing guidelines designed to stave off future coronavirus outbreaks, state officials said Tuesday.
“The anecdotal evidence was decent,” Murphy said during his daily briefing in Trenton. “Did we learn a lot of lessons from this weekend? I’m afraid only to a degree because the weather wasn’t great.”
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Cooler than normal temperatures and rain kept many New Jerseyans and out-of-state visitors from returning to the Jersey Shore on Saturday. While there were reports of incidents in Monmouth Beach and Long Beach Township, and the use of face masks wasn’t quite up to the governor’s liking, “what we saw were very good signs.”
With hospital data showing persistent declines in the number of Covid-19 cases, Murphy began to take several steps to unwind elements of a March 21 stay-at-home order that put the kibosh on many outdoor recreational activities and much of the state’s retail economy.
On Friday, he increased the maximum size of outdoor gatherings to 25, giving visitors and residents some bandwidth to resume shore-related activities that are hallmarks of New Jersey summers. The same order allowed professional sport teams like the New York Giants, Jets and New Jersey Devils to resume practice and training at New Jersey facilities as soon as their leagues permit.
There were around a dozen citations issued between Friday afternoon and Monday, State Police Superintendent Pat Callahan said during Tuesday morning’s briefing. Those included house parties where attendees failed to remain six feet part and a motel owner in Wildwood who opened up for business in violation of a local ordinance.
While it went unmentioned during official remarks at Murphy’s briefing, there was also a reopening protest in Point Pleasant attended by Sens. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris) and Mike Testa (R-Cumberland) as well as Assemblyman Jamel Holley (D-Union).
“While not batting 1.000, perhaps, overall, pretty impressive,” Murphy said.
As of Monday night, New Jersey hospitals were treating 2,723 residents for confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19, down by roughly two-thirds compared to when the state was navigating its surge in mid-April. Fewer than 790 patients required intensive or critical care and 578 were on ventilators.
New Jersey reported 703 new positive cases on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 155,764 confirmed coronavirus patients. And as testing capacity climbs — the state was already exceeding its benchmark of 20,000 tests per day, Murphy said — the daily spot positivity rate continues to fall. That rate had dipped down to 5 percent as of May 21.
Even so, the state also reported another 54 deaths linked to Covid-19 on Tuesday. The total number of deaths that have been affirmatively linked to the disease stood 11,191 as of Tuesday morning.
“We continue to see many positive signs that we can continue to move forward,” Murphy said. “We’re hopeful that nothing will change in the near future given how many residents and visitors were out across our state throughout this past weekend.”
