Lt. Gov. Shiela Oliver said state health officials and the governor’s office are in regular contact with business owners, but that the state is not ready to make any recommendations about staying home or keeping employees home.
At least not yet.
“We have not imposed any limitations on businesses that operate in the state,” she said. “At this stage, we are simply advising business owners of what is happening in Jersey, where we are IDing cases and describing to them the same precautions that we are advising the public at large.
“And then, because they (often) are public facilities, I think many of our businesses are focusing in on sanitizing public restrooms and other kinds of things. In our airports, you will see them constantly wiping down the kiosks that passengers use.”
Oliver, speaking at the state’s daily briefing on the coronavirus, said all things are subject to change depending on the nature of the issue. At the briefing, health commissioner Judith Persichilli announced the presumptive cases in the state grew by 5 to 11.
Oliver said continual grow could impact the state’s recommendations to business.
“They’re open now, but who’s to say in days coming, as we find ourselves in a different place in New Jersey, (things won’t change and) we will revisit that conversations with businesses in New Jersey.”
Oliver said one thing will remain constant regardless: The effort to confront price gouging. She said the office of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and local officials are actively searching for violators.
“The attorney general is dispatching inspectors into retail establishments across the state,” she said. “They are prepared to use the tools that they have at the attorney general’s office to deal with people who are price gouging. And we know that it is happening. But the attorney general is down on the ground — as our local departments of consumer affairs.”
Website: www.nj.gov/health
Phone (in-state): 800 222-1222
Phone (out-of-state): 800-962-1253
E-mail: ncov@doh.nj.gov
