TRENTON — Parents and caregivers will be allowed to opt out of in-person education and choose all remote learning for their children in the fall, Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his 97th coronavirus briefing Monday.
“Later this week ... the Department of Education will be releasing guidance allowing for parents to choose all remote learning for their children,” Murphy said, adding that he will put off answering questions until the guidance is released. “This is about as complex a step we will take or American state will take, and we want to do it right.”
Murphy said there are a lot of “moving parts” when it comes to reopening schools in the fall, and he would like to “recapture some semblance of in-person education that no state does like New Jersey.”
In addition, Murphy said he would sign an executive order Monday allowing for contact drills, practices and competitions to resume for what he called “high-risk” sports, including football, cheerleading, boxing and mixed martial arts, as he announced last month.
Murphy said all events must be held outdoors, and that all sports will have to abide by a number of health and safety protocols.
Murphy later clarified his order saying that any sports under the oversight of either the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association or the NCAA must still abide by those associations’ rules and regulations.
The NJSIAA, which governs most high school sports in New Jersey, released guidelines this month that include four phases to guide the activities of teams in the summer.
Some schools have started Phase 1, which lasts two weeks and consists primarily of 90-minute, noncontact workouts.
Phase 2 begins no sooner than July 27, and consists of two-hour workouts and weight room activity. Schools must complete Phase 1 before they can begin Phase 2.
Meanwhile, New Jersey saw another 177 positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number to 176,963, according to the state Department of Health.
Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the state is having an issue receiving Quest Laboratories results electronically, which may skew the numbers.
“That may be causing our case numbers to be lower,” Persichilli said.
The state also reported a 2.8% positivity rate and the rate of transmission at 0.90.
Murphy reported nine new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total number of New Jersey lives claimed by the virus at 13,741, with another 1,974 listed as “probably deaths.
“Unfathomable numbers,” he said.
With temperatures Monday morning starting 75 to 80 degrees, Monday will set up to be the peak of the heat in South Jersey. Meteorologist Joe Martucci has tips to stay cool and shows how sultry it will feel outside. Joe then explains when the heat will break.
Murphy acknowledged the heat advisory Monday urging residents to take it as an opportunity to stay indoors and socially distance.
He also sent condolences to U.S. District Judge Esther Salas and her family after a shooting at the judge’s home in North Brunswick killed her son and injured her husband.
When asked whether restaurants may could return to indoor dining, Murphy said it would depend on the numbers, but he noted that indoors is where the virus seems to spread most easily.
“It’s going to be the basic seven-day averages that you’re going to feel good about, and that includes the stuff we really care about: rate of transmission, spot positivity, new hospitalizations,” he said, adding also the confidence in self-quarantining measures.
“So far, we think, so far so good.”
TRENTON — A new bill would set aside $30 million in block grants for restaurants financially impacted by the state administration reversing its plan to allow indoor dining July 2.
