Phil Murphy | Pool photo by Chris Pedota/Gannett
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has spent three months warning residents to avoid large gatherings at all cost.
No more.
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The gravity of the country’s most recent reckoning with 400 years of systemic racism has made it impossible for tens of thousands of New Jerseyans to adhere to his stay-at-home orders, Murphy said Monday.
“I can’t imagine what it would look like if we said to people, ‘Actually, you have to stay in. You have to ignore systemic racism — I’m sorry, just ignore it. Stay in,’” the governor said during his daily coronavirus briefing, a day after attending large protests in Hillside and Westfield. “I can’t imagine what that looks like as it relates to public safety.”
The reaction in New Jersey and across the country to video footage of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police has forced Murphy to reassess his priorities, simultaneously granting his full-throated endorsement of large-scale protests while taking incremental steps to allow churches and barbershops to reopen.
Murphy’s appearances at anti-racism demonstrations over the weekend effectively created a double standard in New Jersey’s enforcement of his May 22 executive order, which bars “super-spreading events and large community gatherings” with more than 25 participants, multiple GOP leaders said Monday.
Dozens of businesses have been cited for failing to adhere to Murphy’s directive and the leaders of at least two anti-lockdown demonstrations in April were charged with violating the stay-at-home order.
The governor’s about-face on large gatherings comes after months of successfully rallying New Jersey residents behind a stay-at-home order that made public congregations verboten and effectively shut down the state’s retail economy.
The public health case for the order was obvious, by Murphy’s telling.
With the lone exception of New York, no state has been hit harder by Covid-19 than New Jersey. More than 12,200 residents have died of the disease since March 4, when health officials uncovered the state’s first case.
A disproportionate number of those deaths have been people of color and, while Murphy’s March 21 shutdown order carried the toll of record unemployment and fiscal disaster, anything less would have killed tens of thousands more and created an even grislier economic reality, he has said.
It’s an impossible tightrope Murphy is walking and New Jersey’s Republicans are doing everything in their power to knock him off.
Assemblymember Jay Webber (R-Morris) sent a letter to Col. Patrick Callahan, the State Police superintendent, on Monday calling for him to cite Murphy when he appeared at Monday’s press conference in Trenton. Sen. Joe Pennachio (R-Morris), co-chair of President Donald Trump’s reelection effort in New Jersey, called the governor’s appearances at the two weekend rallies a “let them eat cake” moment in light of his ignoring the business community’s “pleas to safely open their doors.”
Sen. Anthony Bucco and Assemblymember Aura Dunn (both R-Morris) also issued statements characterizing Murphy’s public appearances as “inappropriate,” while also noting that they hoped to see positive change come out of protests.
Murphy on Monday emphasized that the risks of peaceful protests are mitigated by the fact they are outdoors and participants have largely honored his instruction to wear masks or other face coverings in public. He also repeated his admonition for demonstrators to get tested for Covid-19, adding that he and first lady Tammy Murphy would be screened for the virus later this week.
While there were clashes at events in Atlantic City, Asbury Park and Trenton early last week, almost all of the demonstrations across the state have been peaceful, Murphy and Callahan said Monday.
As for application of the governor’s May 22 executive order barring outdoor gatherings with more than 25 people, Callahan said “it is a local law enforcement decision.“
Public health experts have warned that the protests could invariably lead to a spike in new coronavirus cases, a reality Murphy also acknowledged last week.
“We cannot let what happened across New Jersey this weekend be undone by an outbreak,” Murphy said.
New Jersey is still in the beginning stages of its recovery and Murphy on Monday presented more evidence that his stay-at-home order has helped to mitigate spread. The state recorded just 356 new cases over the weekend and the number of patients hospitalized for Covid-19 — 1,740 as of 10 p.m. Sunday — has been cut in half over the last month.
The percentage of people testing positive each day has also stayed below 5 percent, even after restrictions on some outdoor activities were lifted and the number of testing sites spiked.
“What all these numbers tell us is that the spread of Covid-19 continues to slow and that is again why I encourage everyone who took part in a march or a peaceful protest this weekend to get tested,” Murphy said.
It will likely be another week, possibly longer, before state officials know whether the public demonstrations will lead to more flare-ups.
There were more than 130 protests across the state over the weekend and there will almost certainly be scores more in the coming days, particularly after Monday’s release of police video that shows events leading up to the May 23 shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white state trooper on the Garden State Parkway.
Murphy said he could take no role in the investigation or any subsequent legal proceeding involving the shooting of Maurice Gorden, a 28-year-old Poughkeepsie, N.Y., resident, adding that he has “full confidence” in state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s office to handle the investigation in accordance with state law.
The case will be presented to a grand jury, Murphy said, as is standard procedure under New Jersey law.
“I offer condolences to the families of every person who has died during a law enforcement encounter,” Murphy said on Monday. “Police have a responsibility to protect the people they serve and that demands a high level of accountability when things go wrong.”
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