NJ House Parties Linked to Dozens of New COVID-19 Cases

By Jim Pytell, Assistant Editor On Jul 29, 2020

Gov. Phil Murphy today slammed those who he describes as “vying for induction into the knucklehead hall-of-fame,” citing an increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases that are being traced to indoor house parties across the state.

“I get it. We’ve all had our routines turned upside down for the past four months and we want to blow off some steam with friends,” Murphy said. “But we cannot continue to have crowded house parties. They are not safe, period.”

Murphy pointed to several incidents in particular, including a 700-person house party in Jackson, which took nearly 5 hours to break up, as well as a series of house parties attended by teenagers in Middletown, which the governor says has been linked to  more than 50 new positive COVID-19 cases. He added that those that tested positive range in age from 15 to 19 years old.

“We don’t even know yet how many COVID-19 cases will be the outcome of that out-of-control party [in Jackson],” Murphy said.

“We know that this virus is more easily transmitted indoors. That is why we have been so deliberate and methodical in our restart and recovery strategy to take extra precautions for anything happening indoors,” he added. “When one party in an air conditioned house leads to dozens of new cases, it should give us all pause.”

New Jersey’s rate of virus transmission has once again risen to over 1 and sits at 1.14, which means that every new positive case of COVID-19 is leading to more than one additional case.

Overall the state saw 489 new confirmed positive cases over the past 24 hours, which brings the statewide total to 180,766. The state has also suffered 13,923 deaths due to the virus.

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