Mitski at White Eagle Hall
photo by Amanda Hatfield

Jersey City instituting curfew for bars & nightclubs to limit coronavirus spread

Mass gathering bans are being enacted across the country as the coronavirus spreads, and even in places where they haven’t been introduced yet, they may be soon; in a Thursday interview with CNN, Mayor Bill de Blasio said “more restrictions” are expected to be announced in NYC to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Across the river in NJ, 23 cases have been confirmed, although none so far in Jersey City, where mayor Steven Fulop announced a slightly different tactic on curtailing the virus. As PIX 11 reports, the city is enacting a curfew on bars and nightclubs, starting this weekend.

“Those are uncontrolled environments,” Fulop said. “The nightclubs and bars attract a lot of people and we classify that as uncontrolled.”

“Restaurants we want to allow to stay open, we’re kind of trying to find the balance,” he continued.

The exact curfew time is still to be determined, but the mayor said “we’re probably going to be looking at 9 or 10 o’clock.”

In a tweet, Fulop also said venues hosting groups of 25 of more people would need to “maintain attendance/contact info in the case of confirmed cases + the need to track potential contacts.”

“As of now, we have no confirmed cases in Jersey City but we want to be as proactive as possible due to the fact cases are increasing around us,” he tweeted.