There’s nothing like togetherness.

And with that in mind, Phil Murphy, Andy Cuomo and the governors of four other northeast states (Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island) were “together” today to plot ways to reopen American society in their parts of the world.

Sort of together, that is. The six governors were connected via phone while Cuomo took center stage in Albany.

It makes perfect sense to coordinate what’s going on.

As Murphy noted, if New Jersey opens, say, restaurants before New York or Pennsylvania, it could prompt overflow crowds – and maybe risk rekindling the virus – on one side of the border.

The plan is for each state to designate representatives – one of whom would be a health official – and meet electronically beginning tomorrow to talk about how best to reopen in all six states.

Details will have to wait. Cuomo told a questioner that he’s not ready yet to discuss any piecemeal plan to reopen.

Murphy offered a point that drew no disagreement.

He said there can not be an economic recovery until there is a health care recovery.

And in his daily briefing a short time later, the governor presented a bit of good news. The daily increase in the number of COVID-19 patients has been dropping. Additionally, Murphy reported 94 deaths in
the last 24 hours; there were days last week when there were more than 200.

Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania, agreed, saying that to have a healthy economy you need healthy people.

An obstacle in all this could be Donald Trump. Also today, the president was quoted as saying he would decide when the country reopens. That could set up a crazy political dispute with the six Democratic governors.

In response, Wolf said individual governors “closed” their states, so it makes sense for them to be the ones who turn the lights back on.

That’s logical, but logic and partisan politics are not always comparable, even though it’s Republicans who normally talk the loudest about “state’s rights.”

Murphy at his briefing also was asked about Trump’s comments. The governor has refrained from criticizing the president during this entire ordeal and he held to form today, saying only that he hopes the states and federal government can work in “harmony.”

Maybe they can hook up by phone.