Economy in Virtual Shutdown

Major disaster declaration

March 30, 2020 | livescience.com

On March 26, Governor Phil Murphy announced that President Donald J. Trump issued a major disaster declaration for the state of New Jersey, providing much-needed federal assistance for relief and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With our major disaster declaration approved, New Jersey will now have access to greater essential federal support to help our residents through this emergency,” Governor Murphy said in a statement. “This declaration will allow us to lift remaining bureaucratic barriers to assistance and enhance our statewide response to COVID-19.”

Governor Murphy requested the declaration from President Trump on March 23 and within 3 days received confirmation that the request had been granted.

The declaration follows the Governor’s March 21, Executive Order closing all non-essential retail businesses in the state until further notice. Essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies, banks and a few others may remain open.

The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) reports that some local jurisdictions are making it difficult for grocery stores to serve the needs of their customers by enforcing local ordinances imposing curfews, limiting the number of customers that can be in a store at one time and other restrictions that make it difficult to maintain the flow of grocery products to customers in need. These local ordinances conflict with the Governor’s Executive Order 104 that contains language specifically prohibiting counties and local governments from enacting regulations that conflict.

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