NJ Gov. Phil Murphy passes the buck on decision to stick sick people in nursing homes

Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, went on interview on Sunday and stated basically that "it's tragic" but that the state government is not to blame for people getting sick and dying from COVID-19.

"Democrat New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy stands by his decision to order sick people into nursing homes: 'that was the right course to take'"

Murphy said on "Face The Nation" during the interview, "I'm confident in the numbers, yes," referring to the fact that he believes that the death tally in New Jersey is accurate, unlike the alleged situation in neighboring New York State.

Murphy went on, "Sadly, I mean, it's tragic. We were clobbered, and we mourn the loss of each and every one of those lifes, but I am [confident in the numbers]."

When asked directly if he regretted "that decision to put sick people into nursing homes", Murphy commented, after a pause:

"If the operators followed, and, and we believe that most, thank God, did, the pattern of the instructions that I just laid out [previously in the interview], that's the, that's the, that was the right course to take."

"This is their home. So to say to folks, we're not gonna separate patients but separate staff. Remember, a lot of these folks got infected unwittingly because staff members were walking in and out of these facilities, asymptomatic but COVID-positive."

"So it was not enough just to separate the residents, but to separate the staff. Did some operators not take our advice? It's possible, and if they did, if they did not, they deserve to pay a price for that."

As of this writing, we have not been able to directly verify the governor's statements that they were insisting on separating staff as well as patients in nursing homes due to the pandemic.

One person simply replied to the tweet:

"Dump his a** in prison."