Hoboken Gets Curfew, Restricts Restaurants/Bars Amid Coronavirus

HOBOKEN, NJ — Within a day of closing gyms and day cares in Hoboken, NJ, Mayor Ravi Bhalla announced Saturday the city would impose a 10 p.m. curfew on residents starting Monday, and told restaurants to offer only delivery and takeout as of 11 a.m. Sunday. Bars that don't serve food must close. The measures are meant to increase social distancing amid the spread of coronavirus.

[UPDATE: The city reported its second and third coronavirus cases Sunday, two men under 50. Click here for that story.]

Residents may be out during the curfew only if required by their employer, or in the event of an emergency.

Hoboken is a mile-square city of 53,000 people, many of whom commute to New York City. It's also a place with a popular bar/restaurant scene — and has held more than 130 liquor licenses in one square mile.

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The intent of the measures is to reduce social distancing, a process elucidated on Friday on Facebook Live by a regional health officer who oversees eight New Jersey towns.

Hoboken's mayor sent out this alert on Saturday night:
<blockquote>The City of Hoboken is doing everything possible to advance social distancing, including preventing large gatherings anywhere in the city. The health and safety of residents is my number one priority.

In furtherance of this policy, and to continue enacting measures to protect the health and safety of residents by limiting clusters of people, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has directed certain restrictions upon all restaurants and bars in Hoboken. Specifically, all bars and restaurant establishments, with and without a liquor license, are no longer permitted to serve food within the restaurant or bar.

If a bar does not currently offer food, they will no longer be permitted to operate and are no longer permitted to serve alcohol, effective March 15th at 11 am.

According to OEM, any bar or restaurant establishment that currently offers food service will be permitted to conduct food takeout and food delivery service only. Additionally, OEM is implementing a citywide daily curfew will in effect from 10 pm through 5 am, effective Monday, March 16 until further notice. During this curfew, all residents will be required to remain in their homes except for emergencies, or if you are required to work by your employer.

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.

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.

As I've mentioned before, these are extremely challenging times, and we are seeing a substantial uptick of positive COVID-19 cases throughout New Jersey and throughout the world. The time is now to enact proactive policies that will help save lives in the long run. We’ve asked families with children to be a part of social distancing by closing our schools. We must all now do our part.

I completely recognize that these measures will result in substantial changes and inconveniences to our daily lives. However, these measures are being taken to save lives and protect our residents. I strongly urge residents to continue to take every measure possible in order to practice social distancing, washing your hands, and sanitizing all surfaces.</blockquote>

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

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