Gov. Phil Murphy says he and the governors of six other states will work together to reopen their economies once the coronavirus outbreak begins to subside.

 

Murphy said Monday the public health crisis first has to be under control before the states begin relaxing stay-at-home and other orders.

The governor announced the regional cooperation effort on a conference call with fellow governors Ned Lamont, of Connecticut, John Carney, of Delaware, Andrew Cuomo, of New York, Tom Wolf, of Pennsylvania and Gina Raimondo, of Rhode Island.

The governors say they will talk to experts, as well as do a whole lot of research, on what the best way is to go forward.

 

Gov. Murphy says before anything can be done, health must come first.

"An economic recovery only occurs on the back of a complete health care recovery, and that order is essential, so getting this right both the timing, the infrastructure from as well as input as Gov. Cuomo has said from both health care experts as well as economic development experts in addition to our government colleagues seems to me and to us to be an incredibly smart way to go."

 

Gov. Cuomo will lead the group. He says when things start to reopen again, it will happen slowly.

It’s not clear yet when the region would begin to reopen.