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Governor Tom Wolf will meet with governors of New York, New Jersey and other northeastern states this weekend to discuss the possibility of coordinating new restrictions to help curb the spread of COVID-19 as a second wave of the coronavirus takes hold of the region.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the “emergency summit” on Friday. Gov. Phil Murphy’s office confirmed the meeting to NJ Advance Media, saying the discussion would take place virtually.
“Governor Murphy looks forward to continuing our work with our regional partners to address the public health crisis,” said spokesperson Mahen Gunaratna.
The summit will also include the governors of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont.
An email to the Wolf administration asking for comment on Friday evening was not immediately returned.
Cuomo said the group will discuss the possibility of coordinating more regulations on bars, restaurants, bars and gyms, as well as limits on gatherings and interstate travel.
“The reality is that the virus is mobile and we are in the holiday season and people will be traveling more,” said the governor of New York. “These are all elements conspiring to increase the spread. We believe we are going to have to take additional action, and to the extent that we can share information and align our actions with other states in the region, we will. .
It’s unclear what the steps may be, but Cuomo said he doesn’t expect any major changes to be announced over the weekend.
Many states have published their own guidelines in recent days. In New Jersey, Murphy has ordered restaurants to end indoor dining every night before 10 p.m. and has given local governments the option of instituting business closings at 8 p.m. if they choose.
New York limited the number of people at gatherings inside private residences to 10. Asked Thursday if New Jersey would do the same, Murphy said, “All options are on the table.
Murphy has stopped calling for a statewide stay-at-home or lockdown order, as he did during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring. But he repeated on several occasions that he was not excluding anything.
Because many residents roam the area for work and necessities, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania coordinated some regulations at the start of the pandemic. But most states have acted alone, with cases dropping over the summer.
New Jersey, New York and Connecticut announced a joint travel advisory in June calling on travelers from states considered hot spots to self-quarantine for 14 days. But Cuomo announced earlier this month that New York was exiting the pact and would instead test visitors for the virus.
New Jersey and Connecticut have continued the travel advisory, although neighboring states are exempt.
Pennsylvania reported another one-day high with more than 5,500 new cases on Friday. Keystone state has registered about 11,000 new cases in the past two days. About 2,300 coronavirus patients are hospitalized, up from 1,200 less than two weeks ago.
This week, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr Rachel Levine said the state was not considering dramatic steps such as statewide school closures or new restrictions similar to those in the spring. She noted that restaurants in Pennsylvania are already limited to 50% of indoor capacity and that the last call for alcoholic beverages is 11 p.m.
Murphy and other state officials have sounded the alarm about a second wave of COVID-19 in New Jersey in recent weeks, with topical cases, hospitalizations, transmission rate and rate of positivity on the rise.
New Jersey reported 3,399 more cases and 28 more deaths on Friday, marking the fifth time in seven days officials announced more than 3,000 positive tests. And while new deaths haven’t increased at the spring’s pace, Friday marked the highest number of deaths reported in one day since July 24.
State hospitals reported 1,909 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases on Thursday evening – the most since June 3.
New York, meanwhile, has reported more than 45,700 new cases of coronavirus in the past 14 days. The state is reporting an average of 4,163 new cases per day over the past seven days.
“You can’t take that rate of increase and survive while waiting for a vaccine to arrive,” Cuomo said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Ron Southwick of PennLive contributed to this report.
Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected].
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