Murphy Says This Weekend Will Be A 'Huge Test' Of Social Distancing In New Jersey
TRENTON (CBSNewYork) - Gov. Phil Murphy says this weekend will be a "huge test" for New Jersey residents as parks and golf courses reopen.
They open at sunrise Saturday and are sure to be busy. Police will be watching to make sure people keep their distance.
With cabin fever spiking higher every week, many in New Jersey can not wait for parks to reopen.
"Especially with the nicer weather, it'll be nice to have somewhere with space," said Megan Maloney, of Hoboken.
"I think it's just too difficult to resist. We are human beings. We need fresh air," said Matt Goodwin of Hoboken.
"Social distancing is going to be the watchword. We will be closely monitoring actions across the entire weekend. I know the overwhelming majority of you will head out, do the right things, and keep our parks therefore open going forward. But if we see what we saw, and this was extremely troubling, over the first weekend in April, where we had good weather and we closed the parks after that, we saw a lot of the so-called knucklehead behavior with people ignoring social distancing. And if we see that again, we will not hesitate - and I don't say this with any joy - to re-close the parks," Murphy said.
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Murphy has signed an executive order that will reopen state parks and allows counties and cities to open local parks and golf courses. It's the first sign of a return to normalcy for a state still reeling from coronavirus.
Murphy urged people to wear face masks and to remain six feet apart. He called the weekend "an experiment" to see how well people can do, which may pave the way for further reopenings.
"When the parks open tomorrow, please act responsibly, and follow the rules and precautions. I want us all to be able to enjoy our parks together, even if we have to remain six feet apart and even if we have to speak through face coverings. What I don't want to do, please God, I don't want to have to close those parks again," Murphy said. "Let's make this work together."
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"I will say this, a good weekend and good compliance is going to matter. It's going to matter in the specifics of parks staying open, golf staying open," he added.
Murphy says law enforcement up and down the state will be watching the parks on what will likely be a busy weekend with nice weather.
Ridgewood Mayor Ramon Hache says police will be enforcing social distancing.
"Our police department continues to patrol, looking for any instances where social distance rules are being violated. If they see any gatherings, crowds gathering, they will disperse. And they will continue to do that," Hache said.
CBS2's Nick Caloway checked with several counties to see what their plans were.
In Bergen County, nearly all county parks will reopen, with an environmental center and a zoo being the only ones to stay closed. Golf courses there will also begin gradually reopening Saturday.
Golf course owners like Joel Moore at the Ridge at Back Brook have been busy alerting their members of the new guidelines. Golfers must have staggered tee times of 16 minutes between groups and each group can only include a maximum of two players.
"We will have one of our golf professionals periodically driving the golf course, acting like a ranger to make sure that they're abiding by the rules," Moore told CBS2's Christina Fan.
Watch Christina Fan's report --
In Hudson County, a coalition of mayors say they will not open municipal parks just yet.
Other towns, like Teaneck, will have officers issuing stern warnings for those disobeying rules. To make sure people don't play any team sports, the mayor is only opening up walking trails.
"We don't want people walking by each other and breaking the social distancing. So we've turned it you know, just clockwise, you go around the track. Everybody has to go the same way and six feet apart," Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin said.
Aside from that, nearly all local, county and state parks will be open to the public starting Saturday.
Officials are also urging people to wear face coverings or masks at parks. And if you do go to a park, you're urged to go to one near your home.
For people eager to get outside, they'll take what they can get.
"Especially with the nicer weather. It'll be nice to have somewhere with space, where you can go and be and still keep social distancing," said Hoboken resident Megan Maloney.
While most parks will be reopening, places like playgrounds and basketball courts will remain closed.
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There are 5,972 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state. That includes 1,724 people in the ICU or critical care, and 1,286 on ventilators, and 532 new hospitalizations, and 571 people discharged.
"I want to open this place up as fast as anybody. But we have to keep in mind there are still a lot of people in hospitals and going into hospitals. The numbers are better, but they are not zero, and we need to get them there as fast as possible," Murphy said. "I understand that people and businesses are anxious for a more specific timetable for when we can restart and begin to move forward. By the way, so am I. It's this simple: In addition to the precious lives, data determines dates. That means when we see our benchmarks on key factors like testing or hospitalizations, we can begin considering a specific timetable."
Murphy said an additional 193,000 unemployment applications have been processed in the past two weeks for a total of 622,000 New Jersey residents receiving benefits.
About $1.4 billion in unemployment claims have been paid out in the state since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
There remain approximately 200,000 unresolved claims, the governor said, mostly self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers, Murphy said.
An additional 2,651 people tested positive, for a statewide total of 121,190.
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Murphy said he was signing an executive order which will allow marriages to take place via videoconferencing technology.