New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that “all options are on the table,” including another lockdown, amid a spike in coronavirus cases in the state, according to reports.
“If we have to shut the whole place down we will,” Murphy told Yahoo Finance. “We were one of the first, if not the first state to do that in March. I just hope we can avoid it again this time.”
The governor had warned Thursday that a second wave of the virus has hit the state as cases and hospitalizations surged, according to NJ.com.
Murphy said the state hadn’t seen daily cases numbers over 2,000 since May and urged residents to wear masks and social distance.
“We’re reporting 2,089 new positive cases, pushing our cumulative total to 236,523,” he tweeted Friday. “Everyone needs to take this seriously.”
He specifically mentioned the possibility of having to shut down indoor dining but said he was hopeful schools that have reopened won’t have to close again, NJ.com reported.
Struggling restaurants in the state have opened up to 25% percent capacity, according to Yahoo, and another lockdown could be devastating for business.
“This is real. People are dying,” Murphy told Yahoo. “People are going to the hospital and we need everybody to band together and push back on that pandemic fatigue and push the numbers back down.”
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