I give Gov. Phil Murphy an A- on the coronavirus

Gov. Phil Murphy, you get an A- from me when it comes to the coronavirus.

I’m going to start with the one thing you’ve been destroyed about by the anti-maskers, the COVID deniers, the looney far right: Nursing home deaths. Obviously, if you could do it again, you wouldn’t force nursing home and long term care facilities to keep confirmed COVID cases inside the buildings. Obviously, in hindsight, a mistake. It was also early in the game, no one knew how the virus was spread. Still, though, a massive error.

Out of every 100 New Jersey nursing home residents, 1.33 died from COVID, according to he AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio.

But dig it: In Texas, that number is 2.15. Oklahoma, 2.99. Ohio, 2.83. Heck, the national average is 2.0 deaths per 100 nursing home residents. So yes, while Murphy clearly made a deadly mistake, he certainly A) wasn’t alone and B) clearly handled it better than most other states.

Another issue I had with Murphy was the painfully slow vaccine rollout. Yes, of course, he had to get the vaccine to front-line hospital workers and nursing home residents first. But it quickly became a bottleneck. So what did he do? He listened to reasoned arguments and opened up the queue to people over 65 … and smokers (and, by CDC guidance, ex-smokers). As a result, bottleneck solved, and vaccine distribution has been soaring in New Jersey, so much so that by the end of the month, nearly 80% of the population that wants a shot will probably have gotten at least their first.

As far as lockdowns and closures go, two things: One, he was right to do so, and two, it would’ve been better if he could’ve figured out a way - with the help of the federal government - to help keep small business afloat. Of course, it was tough sledding on that score, as the federal government was led by some guy who was the biggest COVID denier in the nation.

One place he failed was in taking a stronger hand in getting schools open in the autumn when cases were down. Private schools all over the state managed to open safely and, for the most part, stay open. No reason public schools couldn’t have done the same.

All in all, I think Murphy played the cards he was dealt just fine. Of course, we’re not out of the woods yet, and I think Murphy has two more giant hurdles to clear: One, to get things fully open as quickly as possible. I think he can safely do that by April 1. Secondly, he has to make sure 100% of children are back in the classroom come September.

But for now, in sum? An A-.