Officials balancing tensions between coronavirus mitigation and frustration over lockdowns
NEW JERSEY - Officials across the northeast are trying to manage the coronavirus outbreak itself and growing tensions over closed economies.
In New Jersey, protesters gathered in Trenton to demand the state’s economy reopen, a day after Governor Phil Murphy announced that he was extending the public health emergency another 30 days for safety.
“You’re going to see an iterative series of steps here, it’s not going to be one moment in time where we turn the lights back on,” Murphy said.
The tension between coronavirus infection numbers, which are still not as low as officials would like and resident’s frustration over the lockdowns.
Governor Andrew Cuomo was asked Thursday if New York PAUSE will expire, as originally scheduled on May 15, and said that it will depend on data statewide and will vary by region.
“You will see the economy start to reopen, on a regional analysis not a floodgate,” Cuomo said. “So we can watch what’s happening and calibrate, because we don’t want to see those numbers go the other way.”
In New Jersey, more outdoor reopenings are already taking shape as the summer approaches. Murphy says that any decisions to reopen public spaces are being made by town officials because residents are following proper social distancing protocols.