As of noon on Monday, March 16, 2020, you won’t be able to get a seat in any restaurant in Morristown, or a drink in any bar.
For food it will be takeout or delivery only, and no alcohol may be served in any establishment, per an executive order announced Sunday night by Mayor Tim Dougherty, in response to the coronavirus, which has infected at least one person who works for Morristown nursery school.
“The intent of this measure is to prioritize the health and safety of our residents by limiting large gatherings and reinforcing social distancing.
“The Town encourages our residents to continue to take every measure possible to reduce the spread of this virus including hand washing and surface sanitization in addition to social distancing,” the mayor said in a statement.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a similar order for his city, effective Tuesday morning. New York also will close schools, nightclubs, movie theaters, small theaters and concert venues.
And the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday advised that event organizers cancel or postpone any gatherings larger than 50 people for the next eight weeks.
The CDC recommendation extends to conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings and other types of assemblies.
Nationwide, there are at least 3,482 coronavirus cases, reported in every state except West Virginia, and at least 65 deaths, according to CNN. New Jersey has at least 50 cases, with two COVID-19 deaths so far.
Concern about the virus are so pervasive that Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders debated Sunday night standing six feet apart, without an audience. They exchanged an elbow bump instead of a handshake.
Morristown’s order will remain in effect “until further notice.”
Dougherty “will continue conversation with the business community over the next 72 hours to evaluate effectiveness of this order and discuss the best means for our business community to work with the Town to support our collective efforts to slow to spread of COVID-19.”
MORE COVERAGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS
Give the grocery stores a break and support the local restaurants that make our town so great.
How about your town workers in and outside the South Street building they matter too??
We have gone absolutely mad
This is great, but that poorly managed not-a-parade probably created a nice New Rochelle or Teaneck-sized cluster. More evidence now that there are many asymptomatic carriers, so putting people together like the town did on Saturday probably did some serious harm.
So is this enough to delay the M Station project and get some proper public debate once this crisis is over? 50 or fewer rule should basically mean no public council/board meetings, which should mean that we wait to debate…
Thank you Mayor!
If following federal CDC guidelines, I’m assuming meetings of the town council, commissions and boards will be cancelled as well?!
Bravo. Only way to stop selfish citizens from congregating in bars and risking everyone’s health during a pandemic.