When will New Jersey reopen? That is a question that more and more Jerseyans are publicly asking. Governor Murphy does not seem to care about the economic damage he has inflected on the people of this state with his stay-at-home order. He justifies himself by pointing at the death and infection numbers that he daily bombards the public with. Murphy says that reopening too soon would be very dangerous.

From Patch, “Murphy said he has to balance economic and health factors when he rolls out his plan. The number of coronavirus cases rose to 99,989 on Thursday, and 5,368 people have died.

On Thursday, Murphy took time to explain what will be needed to make the plan work.

• Robust testing: Murphy said robust testing is “vital” for a responsible opening, and he offered hope that the rapid saliva tests developed by Rutgers University – which could deliver results in one or two days – could be a major “breakthrough.” Right now, however, New Jersey needs to at least double the state’s testing capacity before doing any reopening.
• Contact tracing: Murphy said New Jersey is working with New York and Connecticut to have an effective plan for tracing cases, and former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg has offered to provide funding.
• Isolation and quarantine: Once testing and contact tracing are developed, the state will develop a plan to isolate and quarantine those who are sick as a way to “contain future cases and prevent them from becoming boomerang outbreaks,” particularly in the fall.”

Sounds something like a plan, but can he implement them quickly before our local economy tanks altogether? I think not!

What is needed from Murphy is leadership and all he given us is his personal interpretation of ‘Chicken Little’ saying the ‘sky is falling.’ As they said in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons “Be afraid, very afraid!” And with a governor who is way too cautious and not being too concerned with the facts, combined with a public that won’t stop acting like scared little children makes me very nervous and I think that things might get even worse before getting better. And I am not talking just about the economic consequences, there is more at stake than that. Our constitution rights are being violated and the justification is Covid-19. Well that is not a good enough excuse for me at all!

Governor Murphy start being a true leader and stop acting like ‘Chicken Little’ or this state is going to fail to function, financially or otherwise.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike