Days after Hoboken officials announced the city’s first positive case of COVID-19, the mayor declared a mandatory nightly curfew in the latest attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
Mayor Bhalla detailed the curfew in a city blogpost late Saturday night, outlining the details of a nightly curfew that will run from 10 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. each night. The curfew is scheduled to begin Monday evening.
All Hoboken residents will be required to remain indoors during the curfew hours except for emergencies and required work, the mayor said.
“As I am writing this message on a Saturday evening, I received a call from our Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante notifying me of a bar fight in downtown Hoboken, with at least one person falling in and out of consciousness, and our police having to wait for over 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, because our EMS is inundated with service calls,” the mayor said in an online statement. “This is unfortunately a contributing factor why we cannot continue bar operations which can trigger calls for service that are delayed in part because of this public health crisis.”
In addition to nightly curfews, restaurants and bars within city limits will only be allowed to offer takeout and delivery options, the mayor said. Food and drink establishments will not be allowed to seat diners during the mandated curfew.
Bars that do not serve food will not be allowed to serve alcohol beginning Sunday at 11 a.m.
“It’s going to be tough. The high rents and the empty stores that are already here,” said Mike Citarella, owner of Pig & Parrot. “We’ll never survive on just pickup and delivery.”
The city of Hoboken announced a slew of measures to help contain the spread, effective Saturday, March 14 through at least March 20: suspending street cleaning, closing fields, recreation facilities and playgrounds; closing day cares and pop-up camps for children and limiting City Hall services non in-person contact only. Senior activities had already been canceled.
Additionally, the Hoboken Office of Emergency Management has activated the volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), which will be handing out flyers with information about COVID-19 at transit stations.
The mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, implemented a 10 p.m. curfew Thursday for any of the city’s establishments that carry a liquor license. The new measure is an effort to reduce large crowds and limit the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re trying to be more proactive than most,” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said in an interview with CNBC.
Jersey City has not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19, but Fulop said that people with the virus have probably passed through the city and that there may be unconfirmed infections.
New York City, which lies just across the Hudson River from Jersey City, has at least 62 cases as of Thursday afternoon.
The mayor’s executive order also requires establishments including places of worship, restaurants and event venues with a capacity greater than 25 people to have sign-in sheets that would make tracking potential exposure easier. All public meetings held by the city have been canceled as well.
Fulop acknowledged the likelihood of pushback from the city’s club and bar owners, but said the curfew is a “logical” step. He said a wide range of differing information from federal and state sources has made it difficult to determine a response to the virus.
“The one consistent thing is that it’s not good to have a large group in one place,” he said.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy tweeted earlier Thursday that he is recommending any gathering of more than 250 people be canceled, including parades, concerts and sporting events.
Fulop said he hopes there will be clearer guidelines and greater clarity from the state down the line, and that he is ready to adapt his policies when necessary.
“There’s no playbook on this,” Fulop said.