New Jersey to require face masks outdoors

NEW york • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he would sign an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings outdoors to prevent a resurgence of the novel coronavirus whenever social distancing is not possible.

More than 15,000 people have died from COVID-19 in New Jersey, ranking it second after neighbouring New york state in the total number of deaths, according to a reuters tally.

A democrat, Murphy told MSNBC that requiring the public to wear masks outdoors was critical to controlling the spread of the virus in the state, an early hot spot where rates of the virus have started to creep up again.

“There’s no question that face coverings are a gamechanger,” he said.

“We’ve gone through hell in New Jersey. We’ve lost over 13,000 people, we’ve brought our numbers way down. We can’t go through that hell again.”

The order, when formally announced Wednesday, will be one of the most stringent coronavirus restriction on public activity in the united States. Many states require use of masks in public indoor areas and recommend they be used outside.

Murphy is taking action as infections skyrocket in many other states, including California, Florida and Texas, and health officials warn of a coming spike in the death toll from the virus, which has killed more than 131,000 Americans.

The u.s. outbreak crossed a grim milestone of over 3 million confirmed cases on Tuesday, roughly equivalent to 1 per cent of the population, as more states reported record numbers of new infections.

Ohio is ordering people in seven counties to wear face coverings in public starting on Wednesday evening.

President donald Trump, who owns a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, has eschewed the idea of wearing a face mask and has exhorted Americans to return to their daily routines since the end of mandatory lockdowns imposed in March and April.

The republican president, seeking a second White house term in a Nov. 3 election, threatened on Wednesday to cut off federal funding to schools that fail to open in the autumn due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It was unclear what specific aid Trump had in mind.

Nineteen states have reported record increases in cases this month.

In Texas alone, the number of hospitalized patients more than doubled in just two weeks, and the number of available hospital intensive care unit beds for adults in Florida has fallen sharply.

The u.s. death toll rose by 962 on Tuesday, the biggest one-day rise since June 10, according to a reuters tally.