New Jersey governor closing parks, forests

by Marty Johnson - 04/07/20 1:55 PM ET

New Jersey Gov. Chris Murphy (D) announced the closure of all county and state parks and forests, as the death toll from COVID-19 rises.

Murphy said the parks and forests were too often becoming gathering places where social distancing was not being observed.

BREAKING: To further social distancing, I’m signing an Executive Order closing ALL:
️State parks and forests
County parks

We’ve seen far too many instances in our parks where people are gathering and socializing in groups. We need to #FlattenTheCurve.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 7, 2020

With over 44,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, New Jersey has the second most in the country, behind only neighbor New York. More than 1,232 people in New Jersey have died from the disease, according to Murphy’s Tuesday press conference.

Murphy also extended New Jersey’s state of emergency by another 30 days.

New Jersey isn’t the first state to close its parks and forests. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) earlier on Tuesday closed all state parks and historic sites.

“The temporary closure of our state parks and historic sites will help us achieve this goal by preventing the gathering of large groups of people,” Abbott said in a statement.

And on Monday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) ordered all state-owned campgrounds to be closed.