New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will shut down TONIGHT at 8pm

New York will close its bars and restaurants at 8pm on Monday night for ‘as long as necessary’ along with casinos, gyms and movie theaters as part of an effort with neighboring states Connecticut and New Jersey to stop coronavirus spreading. 

New Jersey has also launched a statewide curfew between the hours of 8pm and 5am for all ‘non essential travel’ but it is unclear what counts as that or what will happen to anyone who does not follow the rules. 

Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to address those two issues later today.  

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the shutdown in a tweet on Monday morning after urging Trump to shut down the country to fight coronavirus and said the current ‘patchwork quilt’ system of some states being more vigilant than others is not working. 

The order applies to New York City too.   The shut-down had been planned for Tuesday morning at 9am.  

However Cuomo sped it up, announcing on Twitter: ‘NY, CT and NJ are taking joint regional action to reduce the spread of #COVID19 

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‘Effective 8PM TONIGHT: 

– Crowd capacity reduced to 50 -Restaurants/bars will be takeout/delivery ONLY 

– Gyms closed

– Movie theaters closed

– Casinos closed.’ 

He said they had decided to take action themselves because the federal government was not being decisive enough. 

‘The #Coronavirus doesn’t care about state borders, so this agreement with will help protect the entire Tri-State Area. 

‘These temporary closures will last as long as is necessary to protect the public health. Grocery stores will remain OPEN,’ he added. 

‘Our primary goal is to slow the spread of #Coronavirus so that the wave doesn’t crash our healthcare system. Social distancing is the best way to do that. 

‘I have called on the federal gov’t to implement nationwide protocols, but in their absence we are taking this on ourselves,’ he added.

Cuomo later said that people would be able to order alcohol from their local bars and that he would relax liquor laws to allow it. 

He has not ruled out canceling elective surgeries at hospitals in the next week in an effort to make room for people with the virus. 

There is not a curfew in place – people will still be allowed to leave their homes but they are being firmly advised against it. 

In Hoboken, New Jersey, a 10pm curfew is in place.  

All residents will be restricted to their homes, except for emergencies and if they’re required to work, from Monday night between the hours of 10pm and 5am. 

The state now has 7,000 tests.

Earlier, in an interview on Good Morning America on Monday, Gov. Cuomo said it made no sense for him to take harsh action in New York but have neighboring states like New Jersey and Connecticut not, because people would simply migrate there to keep living their lives and potentially spread the virus. 

‘This government has to get more engaged. There’s been no country that hasn’t handled this on a federalized level. 

‘This patchwork quilt of policies doesn’t work. It makes no sense for me to do something in New York and New Jersey to do something else. 

‘I close the bars? They go to jersey. You need the specific rules. 

‘Every state cannot come up with its own rules, you’ll just have people going from state to state. 

‘You’ll go to New Jersey, Connecticut, wherever you can be served. That’s the last thing we want. 

‘Set the national standards and let’s live with them,’ he said.   

He repeated his request for the army’s corp of engineers to come to New York and start fitting out available buildings as hospitals, saying the ‘wave’ of the virus will ‘break’ on New York’s hospital system tomorrow if it they do not. 

‘We have been behind this disease from day one. We saw it develop in China, we weren’t ready and we’ve been playing catch up ever since. 

‘You need to get ahead of this. It’s about the next war. 

‘The next war is going to be overwhelming our hospital systems.’ 

Cuomo has already pleaded with the federal government to mobilize the army corp of engineers to fit out buildings in New York to turn them into temporary hospitals. 

There are more than 700 cases in New York State, almost half of them are in New York City. 

Cuomo revealed that there are only 50,000 hospital beds in the entire state and only 3,000 of them are in intensive care units. 

‘The only hope we have at this late date is retrofit existing facilities. 

‘Get some of the people from the hospitals into those new medical facilities and back fill the beds with coronavirus. States can’t build – it’s the army corp of engineers. 

‘Let them come in today. Today. Time is short,’ he warned. 

As of Tuesday at 9am, bars and restaurants across New York City are being ordered to close their doors and only allow deliveries to people. 

It is unclear how long those rules will apply. 

The city’s subway system remains open but people who can avoid it are being urged to. 

Public schools are now closed until April and private schools have taken it upon themselves to also close. 

Gatherings of more than 50 people are now banned across the country. 

As of Monday morning, there were more than 3,000 cases of the virus in America and 69 people had died.