State Senator Declan O’Scanlon at an event in Little Silver with Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso and Senator Vin Gopal in early 2018.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With COVID-19 fatalities and cases dropping, Governor Phil Murphy dismissed a call for “rebellion” against his continued near-lockdown of New Jersey’s economic activity Monday.
Meantime, 13th-district state Senator Declan O’Scanlon of Little Silver said his Saturday-night tweet calling on the public to “defy” Murphy’s “stay-home” and other restrictions said he was being “mostly tongue-in-cheek” with the exhortation.
Shortly before midnight Saturday, O’Scanlon posted on Twitter:
So..first time I’m going to suggest this….but it’s time. Everyone…defy the  @GovMurphy! Go outside your house!! It’s ok, you can trust me! Look South/Southeast…revel in that moon! We’re likely going to take this rebellion a few steps further next couple weeks. Get ready!
Asked about the tweet at his daily briefing on the pandemic Monday, Murphy, of Middletown, noted that Monmouth County, where he and O’Scanlon reside, has lost 445 residents to COVID-19, a turn of events that “would have been unfathomable three months ago.”
“I want to open the state up as much as the next guy, trust me,” Murphy said. “The house is still on fire. Has it gotten better? It’s clearly gotten better. But let’s be responsible, man. Let’s do this together.”
O’Scanlon also received some pushback from fellow Republican and Sheriff Shaun Golden, who said the call for rebellion “places law enforcement in a compromising position.”
Yes There needs to be responsible discussion, free speech, and peaceful protests but promoting defiance and rebellion could be misconstrued and inflammatory. This would only place LE in harms way.
O’Scanlon told Patch Monday that his tweet was “mostly tongue-in-cheek,” but later tweeted: “’I’m obviously not calling for mass insurrection…but if the Governor doesn’t responsibly move soon the economic devastation we inflict will be irreversible.”
Also on Monday, Monmouth County reported  91 new positive cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 7,029. Here’s the breakdown by town:
- Aberdeen: 212
- Allenhurst: 2
- Allentown: 7
- Asbury Park: 169
- Atlantic Highlands: 26
- Avon-by-the-Sea: 12
- Belmar: 27
- Bradley Beach: 41
- Brielle: 26
- Colts Neck: 70
- Deal: 24
- Eatontown: 234
- Englishtown: 37
- Fair Haven: 22, unchanged from Sunday
- Farmingdale: 13
- Freehold Borough: 349
- Freehold Township: 591
- Hazlet: 253
- Highlands: 25
- Holmdel: 218
- Howell: 575
- Interlaken: 1
- Keansburg: 151
- Keyport: 81
- Lake Como: 16
- Little Silver: 33, unchanged
- Loch Arbour: 1
- Long Branch: 407
- Manalapan: 436
- Manasquan: 30
- Marlboro: 417
- Matawan: 163
- Middletown: 586
- Millstone Township: 80
- Monmouth Beach: 19
- Neptune City: 50
- Neptune Township: 405
- Ocean: 256
- Oceanport: 56
- Red Bank: 166, unchanged
- Roosevelt: 6
- Rumson: 31
- Sea Bright: 9
- Sea Girt: 13
- Shrewsbury Borough: 49
- Shrewsbury Township: 9
- Spring Lake: 12
- Spring Lake Heights: 18
- Tinton Falls: 177
- Union Beach: 38
- Upper Freehold: 44
- Wall: 278
- West Long Branch: 58
Here are the latest statewide COVID-19 figures, according to the state Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard:
Deaths since March 10: 9,310, up 55 from Sunday’s report
Positive tests: 139,945, up 1,413
Patients in hospitals: 4,195, down 113
Patients in intensive/critical care: 1,255, down 83
Patients on ventilators: 970, down 24
Patients discharged in preceding 24 hours: 227, down 212
• In an update to its report on COVID-19 at specific longterm care facilities, the state Health Department said Monday that the Atrium at Navesink Harbor has had no deaths from the illness. From April 20 to early Monday morning, however, the agency had been reporting four deaths at the Riverside Avenue facility.
According to Julia Zauner, a spokeswoman for Atrium owner Springpoint Senior Living, the state recently changed the reporting criteria to spotlight patients in longterm care, as opposed to those in independent living arrangements, which the Atrium also offers.
While the Atrium has experienced 4 deaths among its independent living residents, it has had none in longterm care, Zauner told redbankgreen.
Additionally, state’s latest report showed the number of cases at the Atrium declining, from a recent high of 15 down to 9 Monday. Zauner said the figure is a snapshot-in-time, reported daily to the state, though that data appears to take some time to make it into the Health Department report, Zauner said.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, the Atrium actually had two residents who had the disease, Zauner said.
Red Bank’s only other longterm care facility, the Hackensack Meridian at Red Bank nursing facility (formerly Chapin Hill) on Chapin Avenue, had 61 cases and 10 deaths as of Monday’s report, both unchanged from Sunday.
