Murphy: If you can’t social distance outside, you must wear mask
TRENTON » Face masks will now be required outdoors in New Jersey when social distancing is not possible in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday.
Murphy said during a news conference in Trenton that “admittedly” it would be hard to enforce, but pointed to the rate of transmission of the virus creeping higher. The rate, which represents how many people one infected person spreads the virus to, has climbed from about 0.7 to 1.1 on Wednesday, the governor reported.
“If you’re in your bubble with your family or sitting by yourself or doing something on your own, that’s not our focus.,” he said. He added that the focus is where you can’t socially distance around strangers, such as in a slow-moving line.
“We feel pretty strongly this is the right step to take, one that I hoped we wouldn’t have to take.”
Details about when and where the mask would be required were expected to come out in an executive order later on Wednesday.
Masks are already required indoors in New Jersey and are currently encouraged to be worn outside.
The new order comes as New Jersey’s COVID-19 trends had been headed largely in the right direction, while many other states, particularly in the south and west, are seeing spikes.
The increasing rate of transmission was in part expected, the governor said, because the state is amid reopening its economy from months of being shutdown. But he also pointed to cases that have been traced to states where rates are climbing.
New Jersey has about 174,000 positive cases, with about 13,500 confirmed fatalities. There are an additional 1,947 deaths likely stemming from COVID-19, Murphy reported Wednesday.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness or death.