Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop ruled out any local COVID-19 mandates for now in a Twitter thread this afternoon, writing “we will follow Gov. Murphy’s lead.”
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“What have we learned over the last year? For me 1) a patchwork of rules by municipality to municipality isn’t necessarily productive – it is counterproductive and confusing in many cases 2) we are in close contact with the hospitals in the area and monitoring their specific data,” the mayor tweeted after being asked if he would implement a proof of vaccination mandate similar to what Newark Mayor Ras Baraka just announced.
“3) some of the areas in the country w/strictest patchwork of rules have equally high case count as others 4) we are expanding testing locations/vaccine opportunities with expanded education so the belief ppl will make healthy choices 5) we will follow @GovMurphy’s lead.”
Fulop continued that the city’s health and human services department is in constant communication with the state and are prepared to “aggressively follow” any orders they issue.
He also noted that the city is providing local businesses with PPE and they have the ability to set their own rules.
Fulop and Baraka both tested positive for COVID-19 this week and both are asymptomatic, which they attributed to being vaccinated and receiving a booster shot.
Late last fall when cities like Newark, Hoboken, and Paterson were bringing back bar curfews in the midst of a COVID-19 spike, Fulop also opted to follow state guidelines.
At the time he tweeted ” … I don’t see how a quick curfew bc of a spike will help as it isn’t as if you can only get Covid at night.”
Murphy has said repeatedly that he can’t see any future COVID-19 precautions to include lockdowns and when asked about mask and vaccine mandates he has only said “all options are on the table” to fight the spread of the virus, though hasn’t shown a strong preference for either option at this time.
