New Jersey residents were told on Monday that they should not leave their homes from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. as Gov. Phil Murphy recommended a statewide curfew on Monday, according to USA Today.
Casinos, restaurants, bars, movie theaters and gyms must shut down at 8 p.m. and will remain closed until further notice in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, announced the governors of the three states on Monday. Restaurants will still be able to offer takeout services. Gatherings of over 50 people are banned in the three states.
"Everyone needs to stay in and be safe," said Murphy, according to USA Today. The governor will likely announce the closure of all New Jersey schools later on Monday. The schools will switch to online classes.
Over 100 people have tested positive for coronavirus in New Jersey. At least two people have died in the state.
"In short of shutting the entire state down, clipping establishments by a number of hours each night in particular we believe will have a meaningful, positive outcome in terms of social distancing," said Murphy.The statewide move comes after cities throughout New Jersey implemented more measures to fight the outbreak.
The US city of Hoboken, across the Hudson River from New York City, on Saturday announced a night curfew starting March 16 and ordered bars and restaurants to conduct only delivery services amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.In a statement, Mayor Ravi Bhalla said all residents of Hoboken, New Jersey, will be required to remain in their homes between 10 pm and 5 am, "except for emergencies, or if you are required to work by your employer."The mayor said that bars and restaurants in the city will not be allowed to serve food from Sunday, 11 am local time. However, they will be allowed to conduct delivery services."I received a call from our police chief Kenneth Ferrante notifying me of a bar fight in downtown Hoboken, with at least one person falling in and out of consciousness, and our police having to wait for over 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, because our EMS is inundated with service calls," Bhalla said."This is unfortunately a contributing factor why we cannot continue bar operations which can trigger calls for service that are delayed in part because of this public health crisis."Hoboken reported its first case of coronavirus on Friday.More than 2,900 cases of coronavirus and at least 57 deaths have been reported in the United States, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.