‘Life and death’: Face masks are now required in N.J. in crowded outdoor areas; Delaware added to Philly’s quarantine list

Face masks will be required outdoors in New Jersey in all settings where social distancing isn’t possible, Gov. Phil Murphy ordered Wednesday, calling it a matter of “life and death” and following a trend picking up momentum across the country, where the number of coronavirus cases surpassed three million this week.

“Requiring masks outdoors is a step, frankly, that I had hoped we would not have to take,” Murphy said. “But unfortunately we have been seeing a backslide in compliance as the weather has gotten warmer.”

As a result, the state’s rate of transmission has crept past 1.0 for the first time in months, Murphy said, meaning each case of the virus is leading to at least another new case. The new mandate means masks would be required on crowded beach boardwalks.

Masks are already a must indoors in New Jersey, and they are required in all public places in Pennsylvania, but the states have done little to no enforcement of the mandates. New Jersey became the sixth state to make masks mandatory in the last two weeks. Twelve others required mask-wearing earlier.

“Wearing a face covering, I remind you, is not about politics. It’s about quite simply being sick or being healthy,” said Murphy, who also praised the millions of residents he says have complied with mask guidance.

Murphy contends there should be a federal requirement for masks, and tweeted that he would sign his order Wednesday “in the absence of a national mask strategy.”

On the boardwalk in Ventnor, there was little enthusiasm for the new directive — and few masks.

“I just probably won’t,” Josh Bjorkman of Mays Landing, an unemployed casino entertainment worker, said of wearing a mask on the boardwalk. “I just would avoid it when it’s crowded.”

States across the country continue to grapple with rising, and in some places, surging case numbers as summer bears down. More than 132,000 Americans have died, according to Johns Hopkins University — representing nearly a quarter of the world’s deaths and double the amount of deaths the country with the next-highest toll, Brazil, has seen.

As states and individual school districts and universities work on plans for how to return to learning in the fall, the Ivy League announced that no varsity sports will be played at its schools during the fall semester, the first Division I league to make that decision.

» READ MORE: Sources: Ivy League won’t have any fall semester sports

But census takers will still go door-to-door for the 2020 Census — in protective equipment. In about a month, the Census Bureau plans to equip employees with masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer to knock on the doors of Philadelphia-area households that have not responded to this year’s questionnaire, officials announced Wednesday.

The once-a-decade count of every person living in the country determines how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed. The bureau said it will not test census takers for the virus but won’t let anyone who gets sick work for at least two weeks.

The doorstep interviews take five to seven minutes, the bureau said. About 65% of Pennsylvanians have already responded.

» READ MORE: The 2020 Census has arrived. Here’s what you need to know.

Philadelphia reported 168 new coronavirus cases Wednesday. The city has been adding about 110 new cases per day for about the last two weeks, Public Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told reporters Tuesday.

On Wednesday, city officials advised Philadelphia residents to avoid traveling to Delaware and recommended that anyone who does go there should self-quarantine after returning. The city added Delaware to its quarantine list of states a day after New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut did.

If a 14-day self-quarantine “is not practical,” Philadelphia is recommending that returning travelers “wear masks at all times at the workplace or near other non-household members” and monitor closely for coronavirus symptoms.

A plan to temporarily close five blocks of East Passyunk Avenue and open expanded outdoor dining on the street this weekend was put on hold. The East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District said it was “constantly evaluating reopening guidance” and hoped to have a new date soon.

Old City District was also exploring the idea of temporary street closures, but has put any plans on pause after a bar owner pulled a gun on a man complaining about a lack of social distancing outside a restaurant on Second Street. The Northern Liberties Business Improvement District plans to shut down a section of Second Street from Germantown Avenue to Spring Garden on Saturday afternoon and evening for outdoor dining.

Pennsylvania reported 849 new coronavirus cases and 25 new deaths on Wednesday. New Jersey reported 335 new cases and 53 deaths.

» READ MORE: Tracking the spread of the coronavirus

Murphy also announced that restaurants with fixed roofs that can open two walls to the air can reopen for indoor dining. Restaurants without roofs can also open.

New Jersey was scheduled to allow indoor dining to resume last week, but Murphy hit the pause button just days before restaurants planned to reopen, citing coronavirus surges in states that had already reopened indoor dining but frustrating owners who had ordered supplies and hired workers.

“We’re trying everything we can to get more oxygen to the community, literally and figuratively,” Murphy said. “This virus is dramatically more lethal indoors than outdoors. And we just can’t ignore that fact.”

Reversing a previous policy, New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission offices will now be open on Mondays in an attempt to ease the long lines and crowding that many experienced when they opened this week for the first time since March. Murphy also said no MVC employees will be furloughed.

New Jersey residents expressed outrage Tuesday as they faced hours-long lines to deal with registrations, license renewals, and other matters.

Staff writers Michaelle Bond, Amy S. Rosenberg, and Robert Moran contributed to this article.