coronavirus new jersey

Coronavirus News: It's Be Still Monday in Newark as some itch to reopen

Monday, April 20, 2020

It's Be Still Monday in Newark as some itch to reopen

Anthony Johnson reports on steps Newark is taking to keep residents safe.

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- This is the second week of Be Still Mondays in Newark where all businesses, even the essentials are encouraged to close their doors.

Newark is also city shutting down streets to help in the efforts to contain the spread.

This as across the country we are seeing groups protesting pushing for the exact opposite.

We saw protest over the weekend in Colorado, California, Florida, Texas and Washington.

These groups are pushing back on the stay at home orders- demanding their governors reopen their states for business.

There was even a protest in New Jersey over the weekend.

One Atlantic County official posted on Facebook that they need to sound the alarm, adding New Jersey should be reopened immediately with sensible restrictions.

Governor Phil Murphy responded to those protesters on Saturday.

"Anybody who thinks we are doing this just to take away people's liberties and rights is not looking at the data we are looking at. We are doing what we're doing to save lives and keep as few people as infected and hospitalized as possible," he said. "The minute we think we can begin to tweak this, open things up based on data and facts and science we are going to be out there doing just that."

Those protesters seeing some support from President Trump over the weekend tweeting to "liberate" Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia.

New Jersey's stay at home order is set to continue until at least May 15th.