However, Gov. Phil Murphy warns people, especially young residents, not to get complacent.
The overall number of new COVID-19 cases has been declining, but the governor is cautious of an uptick in the spread of the virus.
“We are seeing the rate of transmission beginning to creep back up in too many counties,” he said.
Murphy said the state cannot allow a one-day increase to turn into a trend, because people crowd into bars or fail to wear masks. State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli also pointed out a rise in the percentage of young people in New Jersey who are contracting the virus.
“Florida, Texas and South Carolina have seen that more individuals under the age of 30 are testing positive,” she said. “Many of these individuals have not had any symptoms, so they are unaware that they are contributing to the spread of this virus.”
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She said people between the ages of 18 and 29 represented 12% of New Jersey's COVID-19 cases in April. Now in June, that demographic accounts for 22%.
“We are especially concerned after gatherings we saw over the weekend at the Jersey Shore and at another bar in northern New Jersey,” said Persichilli. “Individuals were packed together at these locations, which raises the risk of spreading COVID-19 to one another.”
Camden County cancels July Fourth fireworks
At Tuesday’s coronavirus briefing in Camden County, officials said new COVID-19 cases are increasing by less than half of 1% per day.
Regardless, large crowds are still limited. On Monday, the governor expanded outdoor gatherings from 100 to 250 people, effective immediately.
“Each year, that draws tens of thousands of people, so in the interest of public health, that will not be happening this year,” he added.
Also on Tuesday, Cappelli said the city will soon move the Christopher Columbus statue at Cooper River Park. It’s owned by an Italian-American group, which has agreed to move it to a private site.
“We are working on that right now,” Cappelli said. “In fact, I think our engineer is at the statue today figuring out how to best accomplish this. We will move forward and get that done in the near future.”
He did not say when exactly the statue would be removed.
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