{"id":4233,"date":"2020-07-08T15:20:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T19:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=4233"},"modified":"2020-07-08T15:20:07","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T19:20:07","slug":"murphy-masks-required-when-walking-on-crowded-boardwalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2020\/07\/murphy-masks-required-when-walking-on-crowded-boardwalks\/","title":{"rendered":"Murphy: Masks Required When Walking on &#8216;Crowded Boardwalks&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7921\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_142-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7921\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7921\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_142-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Gov. Phil Murphy, announcing that he has signed an executive order requiring face masks to be worn outdoors in situations where social distancing is not possible, singled out boardwalks as one of the locations where they must be worn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is impossible to social distance at a crowded boardwalk,\u201d he said, indicating there would be only three exceptions to the outdoor mask requirement:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Individuals who are \u201cclearly eating or drinking\u201d at an outdoor establishment.<\/li>\n<li>Children under 2-years-old.<\/li>\n<li>People with medical conditions that prevent them for wearing an outdoor mask, or undertaking \u201cstrenuous\u201d exercise, including children playing sports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_7918\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_139-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7918\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7918\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_139-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7918\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_7919\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_140-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7919\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7919\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_140-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The wide-ranging mask order comes after Murphy called for a national mask-wearing policy over the weekend. His reasoning behind the expanded mask mandate includes coronavirus outbreaks in 19 other states as well as a slight uptick in the transmissability of the virus in New Jersey. The transmission rate in New Jersey rose to 1 this week, meaning one person with a positive case will transmit it to one other person, on average. The rate had been 0.6 in recent weeks, while at the height of the pandemic, the state\u2019s rate was about 5.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRequiring masks outdoors is a step, frankly, I had hoped we wouldn\u2019t have to take,\u201d Murphy said at his daily press briefing Wednesday. \u201cUnfortunately we have been seeing a backslide in compliance as the weather has gotten warmer \u2026 and our rate of transmission has crept up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murphy said wearing a mask outdoors is a step being taken for the \u201ccommon good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about life and death, it\u2019s about showing others that you care about their health, especially if you\u2019ve not been tested and you don\u2019t know if you\u2019re an asymptomatic carrier,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cIt\u2019s common sense to the common good. It\u2019s an homage to your family, your friends, your community. It\u2019s a step and a signal that you care about them.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7922\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_143-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7922\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7922\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_143-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_7920\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_141-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7920\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7920\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_141-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the boardwalk and rides in Seaside Heights, N.J. wear face masks July 8, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Murphy did take the opportunity at his briefing to announce that restaurants with fixed roofs, as long as they have two walls open, constituting 50 percent of wall space, will be considered an outdoor restaurant for legal purposes and may open.<\/p>\n<p>The governor pushed back at those who see mandates to wear masks as a political move rather than a dedicated health policy. Coronavirus \u201cdoes not care which political party you\u2019re a membero of,\u201d he said. \u201cIt does care, however, if you wear a mask. Period, full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murphy declined to articulate how the order will be enforced and what the penalties will be for those who violate it. His attorney, Matt Platkin, said those details will be revealed once the executive order is signed and released later today.<\/p>\n<p>He did, however, say businesses must formulate plans for employees to wear masks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach office will have to have a policy for when their workers are in frequent contact,\u201d said Platkin. \u201cThe mandate for businesses, specifically, is a policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murphy, under questioning from reporters, said the outdoor mask order is focused on situations where social distancing is not practicable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re in your bubble with your family or sitting by yourself, that\u2019s not our focus,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cOne example, you\u2019re in a line somewhere and you\u2019re not able to be near your family, mask up.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2020\/07\/murphy-masks-required-when-walking-on-crowded-boardwalks\/\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Phil Murphy, announcing that he has signed an executive order requiring face masks to be worn outdoors in situations where social distancing is not possible, singled out boardwalks as one of the locations where they must be worn. \u201cIt is impossible to social distance at a crowded boardwalk,\u201d he said, indicating there would be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/seaside_heights_covid_19_mask_order_141-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}