Murphy Ends Covid Briefings Two Years After First N.J. Case

(Bloomberg) -- Governor Phil Murphy held his final in-person Covid-19 briefing on Friday, two years after New Jersey's first confirmed case.

The governor, a Democrat who won a second term in November, said his administration has held 257 briefings updating residents on the state's progress fighting the pandemic. It's the right time to end the briefings, he said, as the state moves away “from crisis management to a more normal way of life.”

“We are ready to move forward and not to live our lives in fear,” he said.

Murphy, who began every briefing honoring a few of the lives lost to Covid, held a final moment of silence for the more than 30,000 New Jerseyans who have died from the virus. He was brought to tears by a slide showing faces of those who died.

Murphy said that effective March 7, he is lifting a statewide public health emergency, as well as a mask mandate for schools and day-care centers. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.