Four New Jersey counties are now on a daily hotspot report from the US Department of Homeland Security, according to documents reportedly obtained by ABC News. In total, the list currently identifies 98 hotspots across 30 states.
The newly-added New Jersey counties are Burlington County, Camden County, Mercer County, and Atlantic County. Ocean County and Gloucester County were already on the list and remain there.
While New Jersey has come a long way from the number of new cases seen during the height of the pandemic in the tri-state area, Governor Phil Murphy said that he is concerned by a recent surge of new cases in the state which threatens to bring a second wave of the virus to New Jersey. New Jersey’s numbers are regressing slightly, with the number of new cases seen each day now being the same as a month ago.
Murphy has placed some blame on the recent surge of cases on house parties that have taken place across the state, including one in Jackson that had around 700 attendees. Dozens of new cases are linked to similar parties across the state, contributing to an uptick in the state’s rate of transmission to 2.42%.
On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was asked whether he would force visitors from New Jersey to quarantine upon arrival to his state, but the governor said he didn’t know how something like that could work in practice. “I don’t know how you could quarantine New Jersey,” Cuomo said. “We’re not blockading roads. They don’t use airports to get to New York.”
In Lakewood itself, new cases of Covid-19 have remained stable at an average of about 3-4 per day, even with thousands of new tests that have recently been administered as day camps require all staff and campers to be tested.
With spikes in positive cases being limited to certain counties in New Jersey, some have urged Governor Murphy to apply restrictions on different regions of the state based on the data being received from them, rather than blanket restrictions on all regions.
Governor CuomoMurphy can blame that house Party all he wants but the facts don’t bear it out. Don’t we all have to follow science? Well science says that people who are at that party, would probably not even be showing symptoms yet. Or do I only have to follow science for certain things and not other things?
And why is ocean county on the dirty list? No one knows of any additional issues. Or is it just as the governor decides?
I could tell you I’ve decided it’s time for a new governor!
You have to follow their science so it fits their narrative…..simple
This has gone from a medical event to a political event, all to make Trump look bad.
Why are you accusing Governor Murphy of labeling Ocean County a hotspot? The designation was made by the US Department of Homeland Security, over which our Governor has no jurisdiction.