How New Jersey Handles Covid-19

By Dylan Grisafe 

The big question in my state and many others across the country during this time is what your state is doing to flatten the curve. This curve is made up of the number of cases reported to the state each day. According to NJ’s government run website, there are 135 thousand confirmed cases in our state. Yes, I know that number sounds like a lot, but there are also factors that go into that number that aren’t being reported. One reason that this number is not a true representation of the amount of cases is because that 135 thousand does not go down when people exit the 2-week quarantine window. It also does not go down when people who tested positive for the virus in the past come up negative in the future. The reason I am bringing this up is because the state has failed to look at the fact that there are not actually 135 thousand people who actively have coronavirus in this state. Now, this number caused massive chaos throughout the quarantine period and more recently as well when Governor Phil Murphy extended the lockdown another 30 days. Even though the curve has flattened a tremendous amount since the start of all this, there are still no signs of the state re opening any time soon. While social-distancing measures have been somewhat effective, officials say more critical-care beds, testing and federal aid are essential to getting a handle on the crisis. The public has been following all of the guidelines that have been put out, but for some reason there is still no plans in place for what to do next. This is probably one of the scariest things that we have seen recently because even with all the amped up precautions and new laws put into place, the governor has failed to put in a plan to get the state up and running. A couple weeks ago before the lockdown was extended, Governor Murphy said that he was going to roll out a plan to reopen New Jersey. The people are still waiting on that plan and all that has been done is put more and more people on edge. He has given false hope to the people and the state and still has yet to give a timeline to give people an outlook of the next couple weeks. Instead everyone stays inside clueless every day, not knowing what’s going to happen next. This is not just New Jersey. Some states across the country have re-opened already or have plans in place to open in the next several weeks. Some other states are also still on full lockdown. The governor has been firm that he won’t reopen the state until the time is right, and the six-point plan is the clearest he’s been on how the state gets there. But as more states across the country start to loosen their coronavirus restrictions, New Jersey’s economy continues to struggle. Murphy might start to feel some pressure to begin reopening the state. Since the governor has been taking very small steps throughout this process, one county In the state decided to send Governor Murphy their own plan to re-open. Cape May County officials have sent the governor a plan to incrementally reopen beaches, boardwalks, bars and other staples of its tourism industry over the next two months. Non-essential businesses from hotels to whale watches would reopen before the peak vacation season by using mitigation measures like increased sanitation, decreased capacity and ubiquitous masking to limit the spread of the coronavirus. This has definitely stirred up some questions, but Governor Murphy has not commented and just reiterated the fact that counties and towns around the state are not allowed to put in place any rules that contradict his stay at home order. As more and more people file for unemployment and lose their jobs the question of when New Jersey will open is a mystery. The unemployment rate is at an all time high with more and more non-essential businesses closing and people getting laid off. People are running out of money and stimulus checks are not enough, as well as unemployment money. This problem is just going to keep getting worse if there is not more action taken. Yes, the state of New Jersey has done a great job flattening the curve but there is also a lot more action that needs to take place from the people higher up. Yes the corona virus is serious and cannot be taken lightly but people are losing money, jobs and a lot more because of the little action that our government has done to re-open the state and the economy.