Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) called for an investigation into the United States’ response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Host Jake Tapper asked, “You closed schools on March 18, you issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 21, both after Ohio closed schools and California issued a stay-at-home order. Former CDC Director Tom Frieden told The New York Times death toll in New York City could have been cut in half if closers had been put in place a week or two earlier. Do you think the same is true for New Jersey? Should New Jersey have acted sooner than it did?”
Murphy said, “Listen, Jake, we acted about as soon as any American state along with Ohio, California, Washington, New York we among the first, and as I sit here today, we’re probably the tightest. But boy, we will do a post-mortem. Please, God, I hope we do a national post mortem that’s not partisan. That just asks the tough questions that were asked by the 911 commission. I might add chaired by one of my mentors, Governor Tom Kean, here in New Jersey. We are going to need to do the same thing in our state. The would have, should have, could have deserved an important focus. Right now the house is on fire, we have to put the fire out and then begin to get back on our feet and then look back and say, what could we have done differently.”
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