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A representative for Leggetts could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Persichilli mentioned the outbreak to Leggetts SandBar after reporters asked for more information on Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision on Monday to close indoor restaurants, bars and clubs from 10 p.m. and to prevent restaurants from placing them. customers in bars from Thursday.
“This is just one example,” said Persichilli, of the Leggetts outbreak. “We really don’t publish this every day because they need to be investigated, but it does happen.”
At the start of a press briefing on the pandemic on Monday, Murphy referred to “evidence suggesting an increase in the spread to patrons sitting in bars and among bartenders,” but did not identify specific cases where bars and restaurants were linked with new cases until they were rushed. for more details.
The new restrictions come as New Jersey fell under the clutches of a second wave of coronavirus infections with new daily cases steadily exceeding 2,000 over the past week and hospitalizations in the state reaching 1,500 for the first times in five months. The state reported more than 5,000 new cases last weekend alone.
Monmouth County has reported more than 100 cases per day over the past week.
The new measures are also having an impact on a restaurant industry already financially strained by the pandemic. The head of the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association criticized the new restrictions, saying restaurants have been unfairly made a “scapegoat” for the increase in the number of cases.
“The last thing I want to do or any of us wants to do is shut down our economy and luckily we’re not at this point,” Murphy said Monday. “Looking at the data, we are taking surgical steps that we hope will help alleviate the current increasing rate of spread.”
Under the new restrictions, restaurants will still be able to serve customers outside after 10 p.m. and will be able to move tables within 6 feet of each other if physical barriers are put up, the governor said.
Murphy has said in recent weeks that the rise in cases statewide was mainly due to indoor gatherings in private homes and not some public activity that authorities could regulate or prevent.
But officials changed their mind on Monday, saying eating inside was the cause of new cases.
Ed Lifshitz, medical director of the communicable disease department of the state health department, said there was evidence that bartenders in particular are susceptible to the virus at work as they are often in close collaboration with customers who often do not wear masks.
“It’s very difficult to maintain the kind of separation and space that you want,” he said.
Andrew Goudsward: [email protected]; @agoudsward on Twitter.
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