As the coronavirus pandemic continues to plague New Jersey, the state is now giving towns and counties the power to prohibit new short-term or seasonal rentals at hotels, motels, and private residences until further notice — especially down the Shore.

Gov. Phil Murphy and Col. Patrick Callahan, superintendent of the State Police, announced the administrative order Saturday.

Murphy last month ordered residents to stay home, banned social gatherings, and mandated that non-essential businesses in the Garden State close until further notice in an effort to increase social distancing and curb the spread of the virus.

He also urged people with second homes along the Shore to stay at their primary residences and signed an order allowing municipalities and counties to prohibit short-term rentals through online marketplaces like AirBnb.

Hotels, however, have been allowed to remain open.

The new order isn’t mandatory. Rather, it allows municipalities and counties to choose whether to impose additional restrictions on the ability of hotels, motels, or guest houses at private residences to accept new so-called transient rentals, starting 8 p.m. Sunday.

It comes as New Jersey continues to deal with more cases than any other U.S. state than New York.

“We have heard too many stories, especially from our Shore communities, of people trying to relocate, for the time being, into their towns from impacted areas,” Murphy said at the Trenton War Memorial during his daily coronavirus press briefing. “This is not how social distancing works.”

“No one should be leaving their primary residences, and especially for the Shore communities that do not have the infrastructure in place to accommodate an offseason influx of residents," the governor added.

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Callahan was blunt.

“We don’t want people traveling down there," said the State Police leader, who signed the order.

There are a few exceptions. The order says towns and counties cannot restrict people the state is housing as part of a shelter initiative because of the outbreak; people at a temporary residence supported with government assistance; and health-care workers taking temporary residence.

Also, no one can be evicted from one of the locations if it’s a residential property, as part of another order Murphy signed.

Meanwhile, state officials said they are considering using hotel rooms and college dormitories — most notably in New Brunswick and Newark — to house medical workers who are treating a growing surge of COVID-19 patients.

Officials said the state would reimburse the hotels for the stays.

New Jersey now has at least 34,124 cases of COVID-19, including at least 846 deaths, officials announced Saturday. The state of 9 million people has now suffered more deaths from the virus than it did in the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 704 New Jerseyans died.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said hospitals in the northern half of New Jersey are already seeing a surge in patients with the virus, with some having to divert patients to other facilities.

The state is also set to open three field hospitals across the state to handle an overflow of patients.

Murphy has said he expects the fallout from the virus to last “deep into May.”

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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