Gov. Murphy Warns Against Big NJ Gatherings Over Holidays

NEW JERSEY - Gov. Phil Murphy issued guidance on Monday regarding the upcoming holiday season, advising that New Jersey residents limit all gatherings to immediate households.

“The next two weeks are really critical: We can’t put it more plainly: this is not the year for Christmas or New Years Eve as usual,” Murphy said during a Monday news conference. “Please, even though I know we all want to, do not hold a large indoor family Christmas gathering or indoor New Years Eve party. We cannot take the risk of one or both of those celebrations leading to a spike in new cases or hospitalizations.”

This is NOT THE YEAR for Christmas-as-usual or New Year’s Eve-as-usual.

Please do not hold a large, indoor family Christmas gathering or indoor New Year’s Eve party.

We cannot take the risk of these celebrations leading to a spike in new cases and hospitalizations.
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) December 21, 2020

His remarks come amid another announcement that the governor will be signing an executive renewing New Jersey’s state of emergency.

At the Monday afternoon news conference, Murphy noted that the state is reporting another 3,186 new cases, marking a total 435,763 cases since March 4. The positivity rate is 10.78 percent with a rate of transmission of 0.99.

“[This is] the first time in a long while that our [rate of transmission] has fallen below 1, but we’re still recording some of our largest daily numbers, not just this day, but on every day since the pandemic began. 5200 just yesterday,” Murphy said.

“It's worth our doubling down to push [the rate of transmission] down even further to the point where our daily numbers see not just a one day but a sustained drop.”

Yesterday also saw 3,607 New Jerseyans hospitalized, with 727 of those in intensive care and 481 on a ventilator. Total death cases have reached 16,315, with 29 new deaths reported Sunday.

“The anecdotal evidence, at least, is that overwhelmingly folks did the right thing in celebrating Thanksgiving, but it is also true that in the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we were averaging roughly 4,000 new cases a day. So far in the first three weeks of December, we’re averaging nearly 4,800 daily cases - that’s a 20 percent increase,” Murphy said.

With the number of patients in hospitals up 25 percent and ICU counts up 30 percent since Thanksgiving, Murphy strongly advised that all New Jerseyeans celebrate the winter holidays and ring in the New Year only with those of the same household "bubble".

“We need to stay focused on keeping our family and friends healthy,” Murphy added.

“We can do this, and we can push ourselves through this pandemic fatigue and into 2021, when our vaccine program will be taking off. Hopefully by this time next year, we can once again plan for the big get-togethers. But if you insist on having that big gathering this year, you are taking a real risk that, when next New Years or Christmas comes around, there will be fewer loved ones gathered around your tree or under the ball.”