coronavirus new jersey

Coronavirus News: 'Blood on our hands' if New Jersey stay at home order lifted, Murphy says

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Is coronavirus crisis plateauing in New Jersey?

Gov. Phil Murphy announced 231 new deaths in New Jersey from COVID-19 Saturday, bringing the state total to 4,070.

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- Gov. Phil Murphy said "there will be blood on our hands" if New Jersey were to lift its stay at home order right now.

The governor, speaking during his daily coronavirus news conference Saturday, fired back at a social media post by Atlantic County Surrogate James Curcio calling for New Jersey to reopen.

"That is irresponsible. We untie the system right now, there will be blood on our hands," Murphy said. "I want to make sure folks understand this. This is literally life-and-death. What we need now is responsible leadership. We don't need irresponsible leadership."

The governor noted that 19 people have died of COVID-19 in Atlantic County.

"Anybody out there who thinks 'let's just open the place up' will lead to lower infections, lower hospitalizations and lower fatalities is being completely, utterly irresponsible," Murphy said.

The governor said once the infrastructure for rapid testing and contact tracing is in place, only then will he lift the stay at home order. Until then, he urged people to continue heeding the social distancing guidance.

"Trust me on this. Trust us on this. We are doing this to try to keep infections as low as we can, keep hospitalizations as low as we can, and please god, keep fatalities as low as we can," Murphy said.