Morris Freeholders Approve Plan for Phased Reopening
The all-Republican Morris County freeholders have had enough of the state shutdown.
The freeholders Wednesday night called for a safe and phased reopening of New Jersey.
A unanimously-passed resolution included good news about new cases in the county declining from a daily average of 204 a month ago to 52 today. Moreover, it said that the positive test rate has similarly
dropped from 43 to 15 percent.
In addition to the upbeat report, the resolution darkly warned that keeping the state closed could adversely impact public health by stopping elective surgeries and raising the risk economically-vulnerable people could seek relief through drugs and alcohol.
To that end, the resolution said that the county has seen a “surge” in opioid addictions.
The move came a few hours after Gov. Phil Murphy announced three steps toward reopening the state – the resumption of non-essential construction, the reopening of non-essential businesses for curbside
pick-ups and permission for “drive-through” celebrations or gatherings.
Still, Deborah Smith, the freeholder director, said Murphy “missed the mark” by excluding elective surgeries.
This was an online meeting, so public comment came over the air waves.
Those who commented seemed to agree with the board’s move, although there were concerns raised about Bill Gates’ possible role in state plans for “contact tracing” and the Centers for Disease Control.
The pandemic, of course, has brought forth many wacky conspiracy theories revolving around both Gates and the CDC.
One individual calling in asked who “owns” the CDC?
He seemed unconvinced when Smith replied that the CDC is a government agency. For the recrord, the CDC is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, meaning it’s part of the Trump
Administration.
The state should be conducting a seroprevalence study to get a picture of actual spread in population to determine if we are on a path to unintended herd immunity. Our death rate in NJ is about 3 times higher than Sweden with a system of choice w/ slight modifications on how they conduct themselves. This might not be the right approach, but I believe all options should be on the table to prevent the number of future deaths in NJ, this might be the right path. Are we missing a path to having conferred immunity of our healthiest in our population to lessen the blow when the next wave hits? https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/sweden/2020-05-12/swedens-coronavirus-strategy-will-soon-be-worlds?fbclid=IwAR2SzRE3gLKstE2ARNINv79dVud1Vb_ItkesDFcIytgSFR63V1wqC4fSPzc