TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on Monday that the state’s rate of transmission is nearing 1, which means under the law, he would be granted authority to return New Jersey to pandemic level executive powers.
On Monday, the RT was .95, just .05 away from a trigger that would reinvoke the governor’s executive powers to once again enforce mask mandates and business shut down.
“We have added a total of 1,438 new positive PCR and 518 presumed positive antigen test results. The rate of transmission is currently .95. The positivity rate for all PCR tests from last Thursday alone was 1.7%, and by the way, the positivity tests – for all tests, rather, from Sunday July 4th through Thursday was also 1.7%. Since last Thursday, we have now confirmed an additional with the heaviest of hearts 20 deaths with four of those being reported and confirmed today,” Murphy said.
A bill signed into law to end Murphy’s executive pandemic powers effectively ended the governor’s dictatorial grip on New Jersey, but if the rate of transmission climbs above one, he will have the unilateral authority to begin bringing back his pandemic restrictions.
At the time of the bill’s signing, the RT was just .53. It has since nearly doubled.