Governors of NY, NJ and Connecticut Close Schools and Institute Curfews

New York – Schools across the tristate area will be closed and gatherings limited to no more than 50 people, the governors of the three states announced Monday morning.

Speaking in a joint conference call with reporters, New Jersey’s Phil Murphy, New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut’s Ned Lamont said they are implementing a regional approach to combatting the novel coronavirus – or COVID-19 – throughout the area.

These uniform standards will limit crowd capacity for social and recreational gatherings to 50 people, effective 8 o’clock tonight. This follows updated guidance that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued yesterday recommending the cancellation or postponement of in-person events consisting of 50 people or more.

The three governors also announced restaurants and bars will close for on premise service and move to take-out and delivery services only. These establishments will be provided a waiver for carry-out alcohol.
The governors also closed movie theaters, gyms and casinos, also effective from 8 o’clock tonight.

New York City already shut down the schools system on Sunday, but the move did not affect private schools such as yeshivas. The vast majority of yeshivas closed anyhow, although some remained open.
In New Jersey, Murphy announced a sweeping shutdown of all schools, including yeshivas and mesivtas.