NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New Jersey officials were wary about lifting restrictions on indoor dining and movie theaters last week, but the state dealt with "very few reported cases of knucklehead behavior" over Labor Day weekend, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday.
The state allowed limited indoor dining to resume — and movie theaters and indoor performance venues to reopen — on Friday, Sept. 4. For the most part, New Jerseyans took advantage of those reopenings responsibly over the three-day weekend, Murphy said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
"With the return of limited indoor dining and limited-capacity movie showings among everything else, we had very few reported cases of knucklehead behavior," the governor said, using one of his favorite terms.
"And this gives us all some hope for the days ahead as we continue to battle this virus," he added. "For this, I thank all of you for your hard work, not only over the past weekend, but over these past six months."
Murphy reported 284 new COVID-19 cases and five new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the state's positive test total to 194,667 and its death toll to 14,213. All five of the people who passed away died more than two months ago, he noted. The state is also investigating 1,783 probable COVID-19 deaths.
As of Monday, 419 people in the state were hospitalized with confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases, 82 of whom were in intensive care units and 33 of whom were on ventilators, he said. The state's positivity rate on Sept. 4 was 1.83 percent.
"As we continue getting back to more of our old routines, we cannot drop the new routines we've started over these past six months," he said. "We have to keep wearing our masks, practicing social distancing, and washing our hands."
