NEW JERSEY — Dr. Anthony Fauci told Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday that New Jersey has made enough progress to safely and "competently" reopen its economy and schools, and he addressed why. Murphy also spoke about what steps the Garden State may take next (you can watch it here, below).
Fauci has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and he has worked with — and often clashed with — the Trump administration's coronavirus task force.
Fauci said New Jersey's baseline of cases and community spread — despite getting "hit really very badly" in March and April — is so low that the state's situation is "positioning you well to do a number of things."
New Jersey's daily case number has hovered in the 400-500 range, but Fauci noted that the number is small compared with the rest of the country that, in total, is seeing 35,000 to 40,000 new cases a day (see New Jersey's daily case numbers since March below).
"Even as we face the challenge of the fall and winter, you're positioned to do two things: to continue to gradually, carefully and prudently open your economy in a careful way, (and) at the same time, to avoid the challenging difficulty of what happens when a lot of things go indoors versus outdoors," Fauci said.
Fauci said his office has color designations for areas of the country — with red and orange indicating that states are in rough shape, and dark green meaning they're good shape. He said New Jersey is dark green because its rate of positive cases, based on testing, is lower than 3 percent.
Murphy has been releasing "hard dates" and more specifics on New Jersey's plans to reopen its economy, schools, day care, camps and public transit during the coronavirus crisis. And he was expected to provide more details over the course of the year. Read more: Gov. Murphy: 'Hard Dates' In NJ Coronavirus Reopening Blueprint
Unlike much of the country, Fauci said, New Jersey should also be well prepared to handle a possible second wave of the virus when people move indoors as the weather gets colder. He noted that New Jersey's infection rate has sunk to around 1.1 and should be able to handle possible case increases and hospitalizations.
Fauci said the nation, as a whole, will likely not be able to "get back to normal" until vaccines are available to 100 percent of the country, which he doesn't see happening until the end of 2021 — if then. He said he'd be happy if the United States was 75 to 80 percent vaccinated by the end of 2021.
"When we end it, then you can get back to your normal life, but we’ve got to end it first," Fauci said.
People shouldn't expect that a vaccine, however, is going to solve all of New Jersey's and the nation's coronavirus troubles right away because the initial dosages — which could be available by the end of 2020 — will likely be around 70 to 75 percent effective, he said.
He also noted that many people will refuse to get vaccinated, which will also slow the whole process of cracking the curve of the virus down.
The chat came as Murphy said he'd like to consider expanding indoor dining — from 25 to 50 percent capacity — as long as there is "a sustained period of time without spikes or incidents."
"Even at 50 percent, it's hardly nirvana," Murphy said during a news conference Wednesday.
Murphy said he realizes that New Jersey restaurant owners are at a crossroads now that the weather is getting colder, and outdoor dining may not work so well.
For restaurant owners, he said, they have to make a decision: Should they buy more space heaters if they're still forced to continue having seating outside, or should they order more plexiglass so they can expand their indoor capacity?
Murphy noted that reopening indoor dining earlier in September "is a step that we took with great trepidation" because it led to outbreaks in other states.
Since reopening indoor dining and gyms earlier this month, however, New Jersey has had no problems, Murphy said.
"It's something we're looking at, and we hope sooner than later," Murphy said about expanding indoor dining.
Murphy also took the federal government to task for not doing more to help restaurants and small business owners get through the crisis.
He questioned why Congress has felt compelled to rush through approving a Supreme Court nomination while taking no action on legislation that could provide financial aid to businesses.
"It would go to the industries — especially small business, especially hospitality — that desperately need help," he said.