New Jersey Administrative Code
Title - EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Title 55 - CHRIS CHRISTIE
Section - Executive Order No. 156 (2020)

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 2024

Governor Philip D. Murphy

Executive Order No. 156 (2020)

An Order Announcing Increased Indoor and Outdoor Gathering Capacity Limits

Issued: June 22, 2020.

Effective: June 22, 2020.

WHEREAS, in light of the dangers posed by Coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19"), I issued Executive Order No. 103 on March 9, 2020, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, which declared both a Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency; and

WHEREAS, through Executive Order Nos. 119, 138, and 151, issued on April 7, 2020, May 6, 2020, and June 4, 2020, respectively, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, I declared that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency continued to exist and declared that all Executive Orders and Administrative Orders adopted in whole or in part in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency remained in full force and effect; and

WHEREAS, in accordance with N.J.S.A. App. A:9-34 and -51, I reserve the right to utilize and employ all available resources of State government to protect against the emergency created by COVID-19; and

WHEREAS, as COVID-19 continued to spread across New Jersey and an increasing number of individuals required medical care or hospitalization, I issued a series of Executive Orders pursuant to my authority under the New Jersey Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act and the Emergency Health Powers Act, to protect the public health, safety, and welfare against the emergency created by COVID-19, including Executive Order Nos. 104-133, Nos. 135-138, and Nos. 140-155 (2020), the facts and circumstances of which are all adopted by reference herein; and

WHEREAS, among these actions, and in recognition that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") has advised that social mitigation strategies for combatting COVID-19 require every effort to reduce the rate of community spread of the disease and that COVID-19 spreads most frequently through person-to-person contact when individuals are within six feet or less of one another, I issued Executive Order No. 107 (2020) to order steps to mitigate community spread of COVID-19, including to cancel all gatherings in the State; and

WHEREAS, given the decrease in the rate of reported new cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey, including a reduction in the total number of individuals being admitted to hospitals for COVID-19, and in the rate of reproduction for COVID-19 infections in New Jersey, the State can take steps and has taken steps to lift certain restrictions that were designed to limit person-to-person contact; and

WHEREAS, even as the rate of reported new cases of COVID-19 decreases, the ongoing risks presented by COVID-19 mean that many of the State's current measures must remain in place, both to reduce additional new infections and to save lives; and

WHEREAS, after consultation with officials from the Department of Health ("DOH"), I announced a multistage New Jersey's Road Back Plan for the methodical and strategic reopening of businesses and activities based on scientific data and metrics concerning the level of disease transmission risk and essential classification; and

WHEREAS, the State is in the second phase of the reopening process and has begun to relax restrictions on activities where appropriately safeguarded, especially outdoor activities; and

WHEREAS, the CDC has issued guidance for mass gatherings or large community events, such as conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings, and other potentially super-spreading events, recognizing that gatherings can significantly contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and introduce the virus to new communities through increased transmission to a large number of people in a short period of time, and states throughout the region previously canceled all such events; and

WHEREAS, the CDC recognizes that the stringency of any limit on gatherings should be tailored to the significance of COVID-19 transmission in the state and region, meaning that as the spread of COVID-19 decreases in a state, the state can significantly adjust its limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings; and

WHEREAS, the fact that the spread of COVID-19 has been limited by the State's emergency measures does not in any way suggest that restrictions on gatherings can be lifted altogether, because absent social distancing measures, public health experts anticipate that the spread of COVID-19 would again significantly increase; and

WHEREAS, the restrictions on indoor gatherings that remain in place may be more stringent than the restrictions that are in place for indoor retail settings, because in such retail settings individuals neither congregate in large groups nor remain in close proximity for extended periods, which are factors that have been linked to the increased risk of COVID-19 transmission; and

WHEREAS, because public health experts have identified that outdoor environments present reduced risks of transmission as compared to indoor environments, it is appropriate to adjust the restrictions relative to gatherings that happen outdoors even more considerably, meaning that certain gatherings that could not take place indoors may still happen in open-air outdoor spaces, but participants should maintain reasonable restrictions to help limit the spread and prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19 and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of New Jersey residents; and

WHEREAS, even where a gathering is permitted, the protective measures that individuals should take, including use of masks and social distancing, remain important, most especially for larger gatherings, because as the CDC has recognized, an increase in the number of participants will offer more opportunities for person-to-person contact, and will also present a higher risk of a super-spread event, especially when it takes place indoors; and

WHEREAS, consistent with the above principles, I signed Executive Order No. 152 (2020), limiting the number of persons at indoor gatherings to 25% of the capacity of the room in which it takes place, and stating that such limit, regardless of the capacity of the room, shall never be larger than 50 persons or smaller than 10 persons; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 152 (2020) also limited the number of persons at outdoor gatherings to 100 persons, but stated that this limit does not apply to an outdoor gathering that is a religious service or political activity, such as a protest; and

WHEREAS, in the two weeks since Executive Order No. 152 (2020) was signed, the number of new cases has continued to decrease, and there has been a continued decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ventilator usage; and WHEREAS, in light of this continued progress, it is both appropriate to further relax the limits on both indoor and outdoor gatherings and to continue to do so in a gradual way, so that the State can continue to assess the progress of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and to monitor the rate of reproduction and the percentage of COVID-19 tests that yield positive results, relative to the new limits, and thereby avoid the spread of COVID-19 being identified in other parts of the country; and

WHEREAS, because outdoor gatherings present a lower risk of transmission than indoor gatherings, it is reasonable to allow the limit of persons at outdoor gatherings to increase at a faster rate than the limit of persons at indoor gatherings; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution and statutes of the State of New Jersey, particularly the provisions of N.J.S.A. 26:13-1et seq., N.J.S.A. App. A: 9-33 et seq., N.J.S.A. 38A:3-6.1, and N.J.S.A. 38A:2-4 and all amendments and supplements thereto, confer upon the Governor of the State of New Jersey certain emergency powers, which I have invoked;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, PHILIP D. MURPHY, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and by the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT: