Phil Murphy read the Facebook post from the “Atlantic County surrogate” as he answered questions near the end of today’s briefing.

It got him pretty hot – and this is a guy who is always composed in public.

The surrogate in Atlantic County is Republican James Curcio and the post the governor hastily read called for the reopening of New Jersey “immediately without restrictions.”

This was not a new thought for the surrogate.

A quick look showed that just two days ago, Curcio tweeted about opening “all fifty states” now.

“That is irresponsible,” Murphy said.

He continued, rhetorically asking “why the heck” would government close (state and county) parks if not for health reasons?

“We didn’t run on an anti-park platform,” he said, adding that state officials would have “blood on their hands” if they just opened the state.

Still, push back to the state shutdown seems to be growing day-by-day, primarily from the right.

A protest over it outside the Statehouse on Friday ended with the alleged leader of the group, Kim Pagan of Toms River, being charged by the State Police. Col. Patrick Callahan, who heads the State Police,
explained today that Pagan was not arrested for organizing a protest, but for violating “social distancing” mandates.

One gets the explanation, but still, it’s a bit chilling for police to arrest someone leading a protest, assuming it was peaceful, for any reason. Probably better to let the protest run its course.

The governor again insisted today that every action he has taken during the ongoing pandemic is with public health in mind.

He says he wants to keep people safe, keep them out of hospitals and “keep them alive.” And repeating himself from mere minutes before, Murphy said those who simply want business as usual in the midst of a pandemic are acting “utterly irresponsible.”

The facts – as sad as they are – tend to support the governor. Today’s figures put the number of COVID-19 cases in the state at 81,420 and the number of deaths at 4,070 – a daily increase of 231.

The shutdown is also having a terrible impact on the state’s economy.

Unemployment is rising and state revenue – not surprisingly – is dropping. Clearly, there is no political benefit from shutting down the state. So why would any sane individual order a shutdown if not
for a sincere belief public health demands it?

The first part of today’s briefing also was a bit different. Giving himself a medical degree – we’re being facetious – Murphy tried to dispel any belief COVID-19 was no different than your run-of-the-mill
virus.

He said the 4,000 or so state residents killed by COVID-19 exceed the number killed in New Jersey over three normal “flu seasons.” He also pointed out that COVID-19 is more contagious than the flu and that
neither a vaccine nor guaranteed treatment exist.

Interestingly, the notorious Facebook post arrived when the governor was being pointedly questioned about one of his many recent executive orders. This one requires hospitals and other health care facilities
to provide the state with daily reports of their capacity and supplies.

The question was, why isn’t that data available to the public?

Murphy was uncharacteristically dismissive of the question; he didn’t really answer it.

He could have been distracted by the Facebook post he was reading, because his condemnation of it followed immediately. His tirade complete, the governor put on his face mask, ending the briefing.