The mayors of four Essex County cities have issued a joint citywide lockdown to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“Many of us are listening, but there are some of us who haven’t gotten the picture and allow the virus to continue to spread,” says Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Baraka joined his counterparts from Irvington, Orange and East Orange to let the cities’ residents know that they must adhere to social distancing rules in order to protect thousands of residents from the virus.

“The virus doesn’t know the difference between Irvington, Newark, East Orange and Orange,” says Irvington Mayor Anthony Vas. “It’s affecting all our people, all our relatives, friends and family.”

“Operation Lockdown” will force the urban communities to follow Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order banning social gatherings and enforcing the social distancing guidelines.

“This is something we can’t vary against. This is something we can’t skip around,” says Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren.

Under the lockdown orders, all businesses that are able to stay open must limit the number of customers allowed inside at a time. Senior buildings must sanitize multiple times a day.

Police will be out to enforce the rules. They are issuing warnings and will hand out summonses if needed to repeat offenders. Police will also be patrolling the borders between the cities to make sure that traveling is for emergencies only.

The lockdown will last for about a week and then the mayors will reevaluate.