TOMS RIVER, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy spent his weekend out and about at the Jersey Shore and dining in outdoor seating restaurants during the first “Freedom Week” in the Garden State. Murphy said he was pleased for the most part, but saw a lot of things he wasn’t happy with and said there needs to be some tightening up to be done.
“I’m going to repeat something that we’ve said hundreds of times at this point. Folks have been extraordinary. And after you’ve been cooped up for three months or more and it’s 90 degrees and it’s hot as heck and beaches are open and outdoor dining and bars, outdoor bars are open, can you blame people for coming out and you know, letting their hair down a little bit? I certainly can’t blame folks for doing that. But we are going to have to tighten up,” Murphy said. “There’s just no other way around. There’s too many viral videos for my tastes over the past 24 or 48 hours. That’s something that we’ve had private discussions on this morning and I think we’re going to have to come back to you. But folks should know that we can’t look the other way. It’s one thing if it’s a little bit non-compliant, but this stuff is out of bounds.”
Murphy later said that if it continues, he may have to put the breaks on reopening the state.