Split Decision: So what are the next steps post-COVID?

Gov. Phil Murphy is fond of saying, “data determines dates.” Well, I’ve grown fond of saying “the pandemic portion of the program is over.”

You know why? Because the pandemic portion of the program is over. Thank goodness.

What I mean is simple enough: When Murphy made the (very) correct call to shut most everything down a year ago, the whole point was to make sure the hospitals weren’t completely overrun with COVID patients. At the time, we had little idea what we were dealing with, but we saw what was happening in Europe, where COVID death rates, at least in some parts of the continent, were hovering around 10%.

By shutting things down, we helped stopped the spread, which kept people out of hospitals, which kept people alive. We flattened the curve. Now, a year later? We’ve had some peaks and valleys, but with over 3.5 million of New Jersey adults already receiving at least one dose of the vaccine and with countless others having antibodies due to having the coronavirus - we have long reached a point where we are simply not in danger of overwhelming the hospitals.

The coronavirus threat isn’t over; fact is, it will probably never be over. It will go from pandemic to endemic, like the flu. It’s almost certainly something we’ll be dealing with forever, but instead of people having to go to the hospital or die, hopefully we’ll get to the point where it’s nothing more than a sniffle. Right now, we’re headed in the right direction, and despite probably losing a few weeks due to the misguided halting of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (see my column today) we’re continuing to head in the right direction.

But if data determines dates, then it’s time for Murphy to remove nearly all restrictions. You want to keep masks in indoors spaces for now, that’s fine. But everything else, like anything outdoor? It’s time to rip the Band-Aid off. The pandemic portion of the program is over. We should be allowed to make our own decisions at this point.