I suspect that another statewide shutdown in NJ is imminent. Our governor, Phil Murphy, has issued several warnings over the last few weeks to state residents in the the wake of COVID-19 cases rising, which he attributes to the proliferation of parties that people (mainly kids) are having. He said, “Everyone who walks around refusing to wear a mask, or who hosts an indoor house party, or who overstuffs a boat is directly contributing to these increases.”
Murphy’s gonna do what he’s gonna do but he’s going to be inconsistent in doing it. Back in June, when the protests over George Floyd’s death, systemic racism, police brutality, and the like began, Murphy said, “I can’t imagine what it would look like if we said to people, ‘Actually, you have to stay in. You have to ignore systemic racism — I’m sorry, just ignore it. Stay in.’” He encouraged large gatherings as long as they were gathering to protest. He even attended some himself. Apparently public health and safety isn’t important when it’s a cause that he believes in.
But when kids get together for BBQs and graduation parties then it’s a crisis and the warnings start to fly. He’s using the rise in positive COVID-19 cases as the ground for these warnings but this rise in numbers doesn’t tell the full story. First, there’s more testing now so we’d expect numbers to rise. Second, every positive result isn’t an indication that those people are actually sick; many are asymptomatic. Third, the testing is severely flawed and there have been countless false-positives. Fourth, he can no longer go about with the mantra that we need to protect the most vulnerable among us since COVID-19 ravaged nursing homes and longterm care facilities statewide (accounting for 40% of the deaths back in May).
My point is simply this: Governor Murphy isn’t using equal weights and measures and he hasn’t been since the beginning. Shut us down again or don’t. Whatever may come our Governor is a hypocrite.
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth 