NJ state workers going home early due to smoke is total nonsense

Maybe I'm bad at math but something isn't adding up. All 9 million of us here in New Jersey are living under a shroud of Canadian wildfire smoke. It's not pretty. It's burning people's eyes and folks are feeling it in their throats. If you have asthma or other sensitivities it's advisable to stay indoors.

Yet many people in the private sector kept working. School kids, even in schools with no air conditioning, put in full days.

But somehow in Gov. Phil Murphy's alternate reality, this haze was reason enough to close up shop early and shut down the state government, sending most state workers home with an early dismissal.

The air was bad Wednesday morning. The air was bad Wednesday afternoon. Also that evening. Stopping the function of state government to give state workers an early out changed what exactly?

It's the same number of steps from their offices to their vehicles. It's the same conditions they were driving home in. It makes zero sense to me why state workers were given a half day while most everyone else, you know, us rabble, seemed to be dealing with it.

We even had a call from a woman who worked at a roofing company, outdoor work mind you and not the air-conditioned indoor work of most state employees, who told us their workers were gearing up for tomorrow with goggles and respirators just to get through the work day.

State workers got out earlier than some elementary school students. On the basis of haze? Does the indoor air know the difference between a home and an office?

Comments to Murphy’s tweet were mostly negative.

“Mmmmm, yeah, that seems extreme. It's fine inside.”

“Buildings have HVAC systems for a reason.”

“Yes thank you it took me an hour and a 1/2 to get home because of the influx of extra cars. Not to mention people are driving like it's a snowstorm. He should have spread salt and brined the roads.”

All I know is my mail was delivered today. If a federal worker can put in a full day in these conditions working outdoors then why can’t an indoor state worker sitting inside an air-conditioned office get through until 5? To me it just feels like more of Murphy's pandering.

NJ's crazy haze, choking smoke, and sinister sky

Plant Some Of These In Your Idaho Garden to Keep Mosquitoes Away

As we previously told you, mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures on earth. If you want to keep them away from you're yard, these plants can help!

LOOK: 20 of the biggest insects in the world

Stacker compiled a list of 20 of the biggest insects in the world using a variety of news, scientific, and other sources.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.