With indoor and outdoor entertainment venues now open in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy is addressing his state’s coronavirus response heading into the normally busy Independence Day weekend at the Jersey Shore.
The first-term Democrat and state officials are set to talk at a 1 p.m. Thursday news conference.
On Thursday, Atlantic City’s casinos and the state’s amusement and water parks were given the all clear to open with safety measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 in place.
Playgrounds, museums, aquariums, libraries, boardwalk arcades, indoor shooting ranges, bowling alleys and indoor batting cages were also allowed to reopen in time for July 4th.
People must wear face coverings and keep distance from others at the entertainment locations.
New Jersey was hit particularly hard by COVID-19 earlier in the outbreak and to date has had more than 172,000 positive cases.
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Entering Thursday, there have been at least 13,224 confirmed to have died from coronavirus-related complications. There have been at least 1,854 suspected deaths from the virus, the governor reported.
Despite the death toll and case total, Murphy has pointed to weeks of lowered hospitalizations, ICU cases and positivity rates for allowing him to release restrictions on some parts of the state’s economy.
This story is developing and will be updated.
