Oroho: Governor Can Open More Businesses by Giving OK to Industry Plans that Incorporate Social Distancing

While happy to see today’s announcement that additional sectors have been given the green light to restart business operations, Senator Steve Oroho (R-24) said the Murphy Administration can be moving even quicker to reopen the economy by reviewing detailed business reopening plans submitted to the governor’s office by business coalitions and individual industry groups that incorporate accepted social distancing practices.

“Business and industry have put responsible plans together that will enable them to resume operations while respecting safety protocols,” said Oroho. “We shouldn’t need governmental committees and subcommittees to come up with additional plans that will likely reach similar conclusions. We are at such a critical time where many businesses are seriously in jeopardy of not even being able to reopen, and more delay will certainly be the death knell to so many.”

“We see news reports today that show state revenue is in a precipitous decline because we essentially shut down our economy,” said Senator Oroho. “Until we ‘flattened the curve’ of the virus, it was generally understood that we needed to restrict such activity. But now that we’ve reached that point and are actually bending the curve, I’m increasingly concerned that we’re not giving equal weight to our economic health.”

“When formulating these business reopening plans, industry was very cognizant that to be successful they need to gain the trust of their customers and employees so they were very careful to craft plans that meet health and safety guidelines,” continued Oroho. “The government should act now by putting its trust in them, and by doing so, we’d also be putting trust in our own economic revitalization.”