After spending nearly half of his entire first term dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy glimpsed a brighter day as infections, hospitalizations and deaths declined dramatically and one by one he lifted restrictions on public events and, most welcome of all, announced public schools would reopen for in-person learning in September.

It turned out to be all a tease, though, as the delta variant of the virus tore through the nation, driving infections and hospitalizations to alarming levels and forcing Murphy to take a step he fervently wished to avoid — ordering that all teachers, staff and students be required to wear protective masks when classes begin in a few weeks.

Opposition was rapid and vocal as critics and parents heckled him at public appearances and set up a picket march near his home.

At the same time, pressure is building on him — albeit slowly — to take the next and most controversial step by implementing a vaccine passport system under which people would be required to display a document with proof of inoculation to gain admission to restaurants, concert venues, sporting events and public gatherings of any sort.

A few months ago, Murphy was the acknowledged leader in restoring an aura of normalcy, lifting mask requirements and removing capacity limits he’d imposed months earlier on public accommodations and businesses.

Murphy’s reservoir of trust

By presenting his actions in the context of medical science and public health expertise and avoiding being dragged into ideological or partisan arguments, Murphy has succeeded in maintaining majority support.

He’s built up a reservoir of trust by relying on the advice and counsel of experienced individuals and there is little incentive for him to alter his approach now.

He’s been helped, too, by his constant references to the crucial involvement of the public in the effort to combat the virus, a “we’re all in this together” strategy.

It’s brought him this far and he would be wise to maintain the course, even in the face of the challenge brought on by the resurgence.

Now, as daily infections have exceeded thousands for several days, he’s a man caught between the jaws of a vise, belabored on one side for usurping parental responsibilities for mask wearing and on the other for stopping short of considering every option to protect the citizenry by barring the unvaccinated from participating in normal activities.

While ordering all school personnel and students to mask up was a difficult step for him to take, he is loath to lead a government which requires its citizens to present on demand an official document that permits them to travel freely and participate in business and social life.

Critics react 

Critics quickly labeled such a move as having “show me your papers” overtones, pointing to its long association with repressive totalitarian regimes that used mandatory papers to maintain control of their populace. While it is understandably a frightening prospect for a society in which freedom is an ironclad constitutional guarantee, the reaction is illustrative of the passions aroused by government decisions to combat the pandemic.

While New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has imposed a passport system in his city, Murphy has thus far resisted doing so, even though the daily movement of tens of thousands of people back and forth between the state and the city is and has been unfettered for as long as both have existed.

To this point, Murphy — while warning that additional restrictions may be necessary — has used every platform available to him to urge unprotected people to accept vaccinations, the most effective and proven method to stop the pandemic spread.

The worrisome spikes in infections, hospitalizations and deaths are attributable to the unvaccinated spreading a highly contagious disease and interrupting what had been seen as the state emerging from the dark days of the most serious public health crisis in a century.

Here too, though, Murphy is in a dilemma; he has resisted mandating mass vaccinations, relying instead on education and persuasion bordering on pleading to reach the unprotected. Large segments of the private sector, however, have informed their employees they must provide proof of vaccination or, in the alternative, submit to frequent testing.

The pandemic has preoccupied the Murphy administration for nearly two years, beginning with the creation of a Coronavirus Task Force to prepare for a public health emergency on Feb. 3, 2020, to the first confirmed case in the state on March 4 of last year. There hasn’t been as much time and effort dedicated to one issue in state history.

Emergency authority

As the state and the nation reeled under the onslaught of a highly contagious and heretofore unknown pathogen, Murphy invoked his emergency authority to close schools, prohibit public gatherings, lock down businesses and restrict virtually every phase of daily life.

It was an extraordinary exercise of power, unprecedented in its scope and, most controversially, it was accomplished unilaterally.

His media briefings during the darkest days of the pandemic when hospitalizations numbered in the thousands per day and deaths in the hundreds were grim reminders of living day to day with uncertainty and fear.

No cure existed and the only prevention involved home confinement, wearing face masks and isolating from crowds. The sight of field hospitals and tent cities for the infected to deal with the patient overflow in health care facilities was jarring, creating a depth of public anxiety not previously experienced.

The development in record time of an effective vaccine and building from the ground up a distribution system dramatically slowed the spread of the virus, allowing life to return to very near a normal level. But, not before more than 912,000 people were infected and nearly 27,000 died in New Jersey.

Murphy has enjoyed majority public support for his handling of it, even though he was criticized over the cautious pace and extent of school and business reopenings.

Ciattarelli looks for line of attack      

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli has struggled to find lines of attack against the governor’s handling of the pandemic that gain traction and attract popular support.

He’s discovered that despite some grumbling and grousing, when faced with choosing between life’s inconveniences and personal safety, a majority will opt for the latter.

The political and electoral landscape could change dramatically, though, should the trend lines continue upward, returning to the days when hospitals were overwhelmed and forced to refer ill patients to other facilities for lack of adequate treatment space.

If vaccination rates remain static, Murphy’s hand may be forced, and passports will edge closer to reality.

In that instance, it is without doubt the pandemic will overwhelm all other issues in the gubernatorial campaign.

As he looks ahead to the Nov. 2 election, it’s doubtful he could have foreseen in his 2017 campaign that he’d be in his current position of choosing between curbing personal freedoms and hoping the pandemic will ease in the natural course of events.

It is, of course, not over; more illnesses, deaths and difficult decisions lie ahead. New Jersey voters will decide whether Murphy should continue to lead it.

While it’s only August, odds still favor a decision for Murphy’s validation. And yet…..