New Jersey Discourages Evening Travel in Response to Coronavirus : Governor

An exterior view of Harlem Hospital Center, aka NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, in New York City on March 14, 2020. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that residents should not leave their homes from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. in an attempt to deal with the coronavirus.

“Everyone needs to stay in and be safe,” Murphy said in a conference call with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.

“All non-essential and non-emergency travel in Jersey is strongly discouraged beginning tonight at 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. each day. This will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. We want everybody to be home, not out,” Murphy said, reported PIX11.

He added, “And we can’t say this enough, that everyone needs to stay in and be safe and just because you don’t feel sick, and this is a particular shout-out to our young people, it doesn’t mean you aren’t carrying the virus. And the last thing that anyone should be thinking about is going out and spreading the disease,” according to NorthJersey.com.

Over the weekend, Murphy said he saw bars and restaurants packed with people despite warnings from state officials.

“I saw too many videos last night of packed bars, people passing bottles drinking from the same bottle, literally globbed on top of each other,” Murphy said on Saturday, according to the local news website. “In short of shutting the entire state down, clipping establishments by a number of hours each night in particular we believe will have a meaningful, positive outcome in terms of social distancing.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday recommended that gatherings of 50 or more people should not be held for the next eight weeks.

Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York governors also announced that on Monday, movie theaters, casinos, and gyms will close at 8 p.m. and bars and restaurants will shut down at 8 p.m. and offer only takeout and delivery services.