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Coronavirus Updates: New Jersey Expands Face Mask Order To Outdoor Settings
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Sydney Pereira
and
Karen Yi
Published Jul 8, 2020
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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Shutterstock
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Sydney Pereira
and
Karen Yi
Published Jul 8, 2020
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This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Wednesday, July 8th, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.
New York City is in Phase 3 of reopening now, which includes nail salons, tattoo parlors, and massage facilities as well as recreation like tennis and basketball courts; dog runs are also reopening. A look at preparing for the spread of coronavirus is here, and if you have lingering questions about the virus, here is our regularly updated coronavirus FAQ. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
Here's the latest:
- CDC To Issue Revised Guidelines On School Reopenings Following Trump Tweet
- De Blasio Unveils Partial In-Person Learning Model For 2020-2021 School Year
- Malls Can Reopen In Phase 4, Cuomo Says
- Trump Threatens To Cut Funding If Schools Don't Reopen During Pandemic
- ICU Beds Filling Up In Houston And Miami
- NYC Daycares Cleared To Open Next Week
4:00 p.m. Following New York's lead, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will now require people to wear a face covering when they are outdoors and social distancing isn’t possible.
At his daily press briefing on Wednesday, Murphy said that with the warmer weather, too many people are failing to wear masks while congregating in large groups outside. Since early April, New Jersey residents have been required to wear face coverings in public indoor spaces, including stores, eateries and public transportation.
The expanded mask order comes as the state’s rate of transmission for COVID-19 creeps to 1.10. That means every new case of COVID-19 leads to at least one other person contracting the illness. At the peak of the outbreak in March, that transmission rate was over 5. The transmission rate remained under 1 for 10 weeks but has continued to rise in the last few days.
“Not wearing a mask isn't a sign of strength, it's not a symbol of politics,” Murphy said. “Not wearing a mask is an act of selfishness, plain and simple. It's a sign that you think you're invincible and to hell with everyone else.”
Face masks will not be required for people who are by themselves or with family members or for children under two years old. The same goes for people who are sitting down and dining outdoors. But those waiting in line to order food or drinks or on a crowded boardwalk must now wear masks.
New Jersey was the first state to mandate indoor masking.
It’s not clear what the penalties are for those who fail to wear a face covering outdoors. Murphy says additional details will be released when he signs his executive order later in the day.
The mandate has already drawn pushback from state Republicans. “As usual, the Governor’s latest decree is arbitrary and unsupported by data,” said state Senator Joe Pennacchio. “The effectiveness of masks, especially those that fail to meet the most effective N95 standards, is debatable.”
State Senator Mike Doherty tweeted: “Enforcing a new mask mandate while cases have dropped is exploiting a public health crisis for power. Gov. Murphy's unilateral & oppressive actions are destroying the economy & will now negatively impact everyday New Jerseyans outside in the summer sun.”
Murphy promptly responded on Twitter: “STOP PLAYING POLITICS WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES.”
CDC To Issue Revised Guidelines On School Reopenings Following Trump Tweet
3:00 p.m. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it will issue new guidelines around reopening schools hours after President Donald Trump said he disagreed with the agency's recommendations.
“I disagree with@CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
Trump also threatened to withhold federal funding from states and local governments if they do not fully reopen schools and hold in-person classes.
Speaking to reporters during a White House coronavirus task force press briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said, “Well the president said today, we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough."
He added: "That’s the reason why next week, the CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward.”
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, said the agency's original guidance was never intended as a rationale to keep schools closed.
"Nothing would cause me greater sadness than to see any school district or school use our guidance as a reason not to reopen," he said.
Redfield, meanwhile, has also warned about a second wave of the virus that could coincide with the flu season, which typically starts in late fall when schools begin.
Asked whether social distancing measures would be relaxed as part of the CDC's new guidance to schools, Vice President Pence offered a vague response.
The CDC first issued some general guidance for schools in May as part of a set of checklists for an array of sectors.
More school details were later provided on the CDC's website. They included a broad array of strategies such as disinfection and regular cleaning, ventilation, modifying classroom layouts, staggering schedules, and requiring masks. The CDC's guidance are merely recommendations rather than mandatory policies, something which Redfield underscored on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, advice and information from the nation's public health agency has traditionally held great weight with state and local government authorities.
New York City on Wednesday released its school reopening plan, calling for a mix of online and in-person learning that incorporated many of the precautions the CDC laid out.
Malls Can Reopen In Phase 4, Cuomo Says
1:10 p.m.: Malls in New York state can reopen as a part of Phase 4 as soon as Friday if the facilities have air filtration systems that can "take COVID out of the air," Governor Andrew Cuomo announced during a press briefing in Manhattan on Wednesday.
The governor had previously taken malls out of phase 4 over concerns that air conditioning might further circulate the virus.
Filters and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are rated on a specific guideline, based on the density of the filter, known as the MERV rating system.
The governor is now recommending facilities install filtration systems with at least a MERV-13 rating to reopen—or the highest compatible with the malls' systems, but no less than MERV-11. According to the EPA, MERV ratings can go up to 16.
"MERV-13 filters out the COVID virus. Some systems can't take MERV-13, so it's either 13, 12, or 11," Cuomo said.
Ventilation protocols like increasing outdoor air, reducing air recirculation, and frequent filter checks will also be required, according to the governor.
NYC remains in Phase 3, but without indoor dining. All other regions in New York State have entered Phase 4 after Long Island began the fourth phase Wednesday. Phase 4, the state's final stage of its reopening plan, permits restricted reopenings in higher education, low-risk indoor and outdoor arts and entertainment, media production, and professional sports with no fans.
Cuomo said there were 97 intubations in New York State on Tuesday—the first time it had been under 100 since March 16th. The peak was 4,449.
"About 80 percent of the people who are intubated don't survive, so the fact that this number is down is very positive," Cuomo said.
Eleven people died of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
During the briefing, Cuomo addressed Trump's threat to cut federal funding for schools (see below) if they don't reopen during the pandemic, noting that Trump has already refused funding or assistance for the Hudson River Tunnel, the Second Avenue Subway, approve congestion pricing, or LaGuardia's air train.
"Threaten me, threaten me. It's not the first time. We went through this whole threat," Cuomo said. "Everything [Trump] has done has been negative to New York and gratuitous and illegal and unconstitutional."
A total of $3 billion in federal funds contributes to the $70 billion state education budget. Such cuts would harm high-need students who need meal programs, said Cuomo advisor and current president of SUNY Empire, Jim Malatras.
Trump Threatens To Cut Funding If Schools Don't Reopen During Pandemic
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off federal aid to schools unless they fully reopen this fall.
In a pair of tweets, Trump criticized Democrats as wanting to keep schools closed for political reasons. He also said he opposed school reopening guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as being too costly.
"While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!" he wrote.
The tweets are part of Trump's growing pressure on states and local authorities to get children back to school in the fall, a critical part of fully reopening the economy and a key to the election in November.
“We want to reopen the schools,” Trump said, during a press event on Tuesday. “We don’t want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep schools closed. No way.”
As the New York Times noted, the threat of cutting funding is real. Under the $2 trillion stimulus package, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has authority over how to distribute the much needed funding to schools as they begin what it expected an expensive process of preparing schools to be ready for social distancing, cleaning and other precautionary health measures.
In addition, the federal government allocates billions to states for a range of programs, including those that serve low-income and special education students.
An NYPD officer in a mask hands out masks to people outside an Upper West Side Park.
MediaPunch/Shutterstock
ICU Beds Filling Up In Houston And Miami
Two of the country's biggest cities, Houston and Miami, are running out of intensive care unit beds as a surge of coronavirus patients overwhelm their hospital systems, a crisis reminiscent of what happened in New York City in March.
Both Texas and Florida have been reporting record increases in virus infections over the last several weeks.
Texas has reported more than 219,000 coronavirus infections. Since Memorial Day, the state has seen a 515-percent increase in hospitalizations for the disease, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“This should be an alarm bell for everybody watching this show right now who has been a disbeliever about whether or not COVID-19 is really a threat,” Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday during an interview on KENS in San Antonio.
Hospitals in at least five regions across the state have reported less than 10 ICU beds as being available, according to a report issued Monday from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
In Florida, a state agency on Tuesday published data showing that hospital ICUs were full at 54 hospitals across 25 of Florida’s 67 counties, according to Reuters. Thirty hospitals reported that their ICUs as more than 90 percent full.
Eight hospitals in Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, reported their intensive care units were filled to capacity.
As of Tuesday, Florida has recorded more than 213,000 coronavirus cases. But on Wednesday morning, the data dashboard on hospital capacity appeared to be down.
Citing the spike in infections, Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Monday signed an executive order to roll back the county's reopening, including putting a halt to indoor dining.
NYC Daycares Cleared To Open Next Week
The New York City Board of Health on Tuesday voted in favor of a plan that would allow as many as 3,000 childcare centers across the five boroughs to reopen on Monday, July 13th.
The reopening of daycares, most of which have been closed since April, would give working parents much-needed help as the city's economy gradually reopens.
Among the rules passed by New York state health officials are group sizes of no more than 15 children and masks for all adults. Children will not be required to wear masks.
The plan does not mandate childcare centers to reopen but leaves the decision up to each provider.
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Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Sydney Pereira
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Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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