Murphy: Think big, go small for Thanksgiving

Gov. Phil Murphy speaks at press conference, Nov. 23, 2020. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin
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By Claire Drewniak

Gov. Phil Murphy offered a blitz of precautions and recommendations Monday in his last scheduled COVID briefing before Thanksgiving.

“We are now in the midst of a second wave, and we don’t know how long this new wave of cases will hang in. Because of this we can’t let our guard down,” said Murphy, who signed an executive order over the weekend extending New Jersey’s public health emergency status for another 30 days.

The governor urged residents to consider the bigger picture by going small, saying on Twitter there are “those who are so yearning for normalcy that they’re willing to risk their family’s health for a big Thanksgiving.”

At this time of rising transmissions, the focus should be on how to safely celebrate the holiday, he said.

The Garden State on Saturday hit a high for new daily cases– 4,697– with 34 additional deaths reported over the weekend. The statewide total of COVID-19 deaths has reached at least 14,960.

Nationwide, new cases have broken records repeatedly this month.

Gov. Murphy reacted to the rising numbers by instituting new indoor and outdoor gathering limits. Allowable indoor gatherings have been reduced from 25 to 10 people, and outdoor gatherings from 500 to 150.

The new outdoor gathering limits begin tonight, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, and the indoor restrictions start at 6 am Tuesday, Nov. 24.

The change does not affect the 25 percent capacity limit for indoor dining at restaurants and bars. But Murphy is pleading for people to take these recommendations seriously at home.

“We never got out of the woods, and we’re in the thick of it now,” Murphy said on CNN. “The big frustration is… we’ve got a lot of transmission behind private doors.

“There’s a lot of fatigue, so I [have to] beg people, this is not a normal year, this is not a normal Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, New Year’s. Folks have got to stay small, stay within the bubble of their own loved ones, and if we do that, that’ll be a downpayment on a back-to-normal holiday season next year.”

The governor has not ruled out further restrictions.

“We’ve been taking steps, we’re not waiting. We’ve shut the restaurants inside at 10 p.m, no bar seating, no interstate sports, gatherings indoors we’ve now cut down to 10 people from 25, outdoors from 500 to 150, next week we’ll continue to take steps. If we see transmission, we’ll get at it.”

Several dozen people gathered Sunday in Morristown to voice opposition to further lockdowns, contending the economic damage outweighs the health risks.

Morris County has had 12,403 positive cases of COVID so far, and a total of 707 deaths. Through Monday, Morristown has had 880 positive cases, and Morris Township, 493.

New Jersey reported another 3,592 cases on Monday, for a total of 309,588 since March 1.  The rate of transmission was 1.32. Anything above 1.0 indicates the disease is spreading.

State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli emphasized the need for college students heading home for Thanksgiving to get tested before leaving their campuses, and to quarantine themselves for 14 days at home, ideally separate from vulnerable family members.

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