A Senate bill, S-3093, that would provide a localized approach to managing the spread of COVID-19, passed the Senate last week and now awaits an Assembly vote. The bill establishes a county-based mitigation plan to allow businesses and services to operate based on area COVID-19 case data. 

Certain counties or municipalities have experienced a spike in cases while other areas have seen the virus under control. The bill requires a plan that would use data to analyze COVID-19 trends in each county and municipality, then individually categorize each area by color establishing appropriate thresholds.

The bill directs the Governor to implement a color categorized mitigation plan to allow businesses to operate during the pandemic. Red would indicate an active outbreak, yellow would indicate a moderate risk of outbreak, and green would indicate a low outbreak of COVID-19 cases.

The Governor would then assign one of the categories to each of the State’s 21 counties and 565 municipalities. Restricted business activity would be based upon the designated color category.

NFIB supports this legislation because the current broad measures of closure that treat the state as one entity have restricted and shut businesses in low-risk areas that could safely operate but have not been allowed to under state wide executive orders.