Coronavirus Live Updates: Gov. Phil Murphy announces new relief funding for NJ counties

COVID-19 Live Updates, News and Information

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Friday, August 21, 2020

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NEW YORK (WABC) -- New Jersey is providing money to 12 of the state's 21 counties that didn't originally qualify for coronavirus relief funds through the CARES Act because their populations are below 500,000.

Governor Phil Murphy announced the funding - a total of $36.9 million - at a news conference Thursday in Hackettstown, Warren County.

The funding will be made available to counties in three separate tranches under one Memorandum of Agreement.

The 12 counties include: Atlantic; Burlington; Cape May; Cumberland; Gloucester; Hunterdon; Mercer; Morris; Salem; Somerset; Sussex; and Warren.

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What's Open, What's Closed in the Tri-State area

Here are more of today's headlines:

NYC family kicked off JetBlue flight

A Brooklyn mother is speaking out after JetBlue Airways forced her and her six children off a plane this week when her 2-year-old daughter refused to wear a mask.

The 39-year-old woman was heading home from a family vacation in Florida Wednesday. Everyone in her party was wearing the mandatory masks, except her young daughter.

Mets game postponed after someone in the organization tests positive for COVID, source tells ESPN

A source tells ESPN's Jeff Passan that one player and one staff member of the Mets have tested positive for COVID-19.

In addition to Thursday's series finale with the Miami Marlins, Friday's game, which would have been the opening game of the Subway Series against the Yankees, has also been postponed.

If teachers get exposed to virus, they could stay in classroom

New guidance from President Donald Trump's administration that declares teachers to be "critical infrastructure workers" could give the green light to exempting teachers from quarantine requirements after being exposed to COVID-19 and instead send them back into the classroom.

Keeping teachers without symptoms in the classroom, as a handful of school districts in Tennessee and Georgia have already said they may do, raises the risk that they will spread the respiratory illness to students and fellow employees. Multiple teachers can be required by public health agencies to quarantine for 14 days during an outbreak, which can stretch a district's ability to keep providing in-person instruction.

Changes to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will go on this year - but with many changes.

The company says the parade will be "re-imagined" similarly to the way the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks were over the summer.

Outdoor high school sports a go in NJ, but indoor sports delayed

The agency that oversees high school sports in New Jersey has decided that indoor fall sports will be delayed until early next year, but outdoor sports will start their seasons in about a month. The seasons feature condensed schedules and will keep most contests local. The plan also prohibits out-of-state competition except for "exceptional circumstances" and states post-season play will be limited and local, with no statewide championships.

Cuomo signs bill allowing expanded mail-in voting in New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Thursday allowing New York voters concerned about COVID-19 to request an absentee ballot for the November election.

NC State moves undergraduate classes online

North Carolina State University has moved its undergraduate courses online for the fall semester, the school announced. We have a list of what Tri-State colleges and universities have planned available here.

Purdue suspends 36 students for partying

Purdue University suspended 36 students for hosting and attending a party amid the coronavirus pandemic, the school announced. Earlier this week, University of Connecticut officials have evicted several students from on-campus housing after learning of a crowded dormitory room party with no mask-wearing or social distancing, which violated the school's coronavirus rules.

AMC reopens more than 100 theaters across US

The largest movie theater chain in the world began reopening more than 100 of its locations in the United States on Thursday for the first time in more than five months.

'Hundreds' of FDNY EMS workers could face layoffs, source tells ABC News

As New York City continues to recover from the full impact COVID-19 had on the city, the de Blasio administration is considering laying off "hundreds" of FDNY Emergency Medical Services workers, a source familiar with the possibility told ABC News. Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned 22,000 city workers could be laid off because of a projected $9 billion shortfall absent federal aid or adjusted borrowing limits.

Manhattan restaurant sues to get liquor license reinstated

A restaurant in Manhattan sued to get its liquor license reinstated after it was suspended due to the restaurant allegedly violating social distancing requirements in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cloister Café filed suit against the New York State Liquor Authority claiming the SLA based the suspension on a video posted to Instagram rather than first-hand accounts, thereby violating due process.