Gov. Murphy Plans To Avoid NJ Shutdowns ​—​ For Now: Here's Why

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy plans to avoid a statewide coronavirus shutdown similar to the one he ordered last spring. But, speaking during a "Fox News Sunday" interview and a Monday news conference, he said it isn't off the table.

"I sure don’t want to go that route (a shutdown)," Murphy said, "but a federal stimulus would give us a lot more ammunition to do a lot more things right now."

Murphy specifically addressed rumors during Monday's coronavirus briefing about an impending statewide lockdown.

"Just because we say that all options are on the table — and by the way, you would want us to say that, given that we're dealing with a pandemic and enormous loss of life," he said. "That does not mean that we are about to exercise any of those options.

"We have made it clear over the past weeks that we are not in the same situation we found ourselves in during the spring, when we had to take dramatic and drastic actions to immediately regain some control and save lives."

Murphy has imposed several coronavirus restrictions in the past month, as New Jersey endures its second coronavirus wave. On Monday, the governor announced he is limiting outdoor gatherings from 150 to 25 people and banning youth and high school sports until next year.

Read more: Gov. Murphy To Limit Outdoor Gathering To 25; Halts Indoor Sports

Earlier this month, Murphy reduced indoor gatherings to a 10-person maximum and prohibited establishments from allowing indoor dining and drinking from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Murphy believes much of the state's recent surge comes from private, indoor transmission. He again emphasized keeping holiday gatherings small.

"The good news is there’s light at the end of the tunnel — vaccines in particular," Murphy said. "But for the next two or three months, we’re in the fight of our lives."

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While New Jersey's coronavirus deaths have decreased since the spring, New Jersey has reported at least 3,800 new cases for each of the past five days. Hospitalizations have risen past 2,000, more than 10 times where they were three months ago.

Murphy also reported 13 confirmed deaths Sunday, bringing the state to 15,149 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.

Although Murphy feels confident in the vaccines in progress, he says that won't be the end.

"There’s a lot of complexity ahead of us in distribution, federal support," he told Fox News. "This is going to be a very historic path that we’re on. I give credit for the progress we’ve made, but we have a distance yet to travel."

The 25-person outdoor limit will take effect Monday Dec. 7. The restriction was made as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic grips New Jersey, and colder weather forcing people inside has made the risk of infections more likely. Indoor private gatherings in New Jersey are currently limited to just 10 people maximum.

Starting Saturday at 6 a.m., all indoor high school sports and youth sports will be suspended until at least Jan. 2. This means no high school or youth basketball, indoor ice hockey, wrestling, swimming or any other indoor sports.

College sports and professional sports can continue this winter.

"We do not take this step lightly. I am a huge sports fan and all of our kids play sports. I hope and intend to see the winter sports season in January," said the governor. "But we are seeing outbreaks related to indoor sports and this a prudent, short-term step to slow the spread."

"There have been 100 cases tied to youth hockey," added Dr. Edward Lifshitz, from the state Department of Health.

Republican elected officials in New Jersey decried Murphy's outdoor crowd limits as what they say is another example of the governor single-handedly ruling by executive order, without consultation from the state Legislature.

"The legislature has resolved itself to being a governmental accessory in New Jersey,” said Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-Morris) on Monday. “Our governor is ruling by executive order, vetoing legislation that would help people, making unilateral decisions without providing the data or science he references, and our Senate and Assembly has chosen to be useless."

"Having checks and balances in government is incredibly important. That is the reason to fight for American democracy," he continued. “One person should not have ultimate power, even if you agree with the policies that person enacts. That is something progressive liberals and conservatives can agree to lock arms and defend. Unfortunately, the establishment Democrats that run New Jersey are missing the point.”

Murphy has previously said that his administration is very concerned about the risk of COVID spread among indoor sports, and that New Jersey's youth ice hockey world was particularly not compliant with the state's army of 2,000 contact tracers.

"Indoor sports, generally is an area of concern, but I want to state very specifically, hockey is in our cross hairs," he warned. "I am not sure why, but we are hearing of a lot of noncompliance, including by parents. So for anyone who is playing hockey, I got nothing against hockey, but watch yourselves. We have that high on the list, and unless we see better compliance and lower levels of infection, we will take action."

This article originally appeared on the Chatham Patch