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Jersey City Times Staff

NJ’s Home Rule Seems Set to Trump CDC Guidance on School Reopening

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‘It is still very much a district-by-district, case-by-case’ decision, says official with the state’s most powerful teachers union

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

For all the fanfare surrounding Friday’s guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to reopen schools nationwide, New Jersey’s famous home rule still appears the prevailing guidance when it comes to public education in this state.

That seemed the general reaction from education leaders and stakeholders here, as the 35-page report from the CDC about how and when schools can reopen starts to sink in — and by and large, not change much.

Scott Rocco is superintendent of the sweeping Hamilton Township district whose 11,700 students and 23 schools have been in some form of remote or hybrid instruction since the start of the school year.

Rocco said he appreciated the CDC’s detailed guidance as providing more backing for practices already in place. And as he seeks to bring more students back to in-person learning in the spring, that research is no small thing. But Rocco said that will still be a local decision, one aided by already significant guidance and data from the state.

“A lot of it is what we have been doing already,” Rocco said. “Nothing in here that says, ‘Wow, that’s different from what I was thinking.’ ”

Already looking to get more students back 

With the data on infections and transmission pointing in the right direction lately, he added, Hamilton’s senior staff was already looking at options for bringing back more students.

“We’ll try to open up a little more,” Rocco said. “What that will look like, we’re not sure yet.”

The power of local decision-making is nothing new in New Jersey, even long before the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has become a prevailing mantra for Gov. Phil Murphy as he seeks to guide more schools to move to in-person instruction but lets them decide for themselves.

That has led to the widely disparate forms of instruction taking place in the state as the pandemic continues; just under 100 districts are operating with all in-person instruction but twice as many have all-remote and the vast middle a mix of the two.

The CDC’s guidance was seen as a potential balm to unify schools across the country to move toward more in-person instruction and especially send a message to those resistant to the move.

The report said that schools could safely reopen under certain well-known protocols, including mask-wearing and social-distancing. But it also threw in conditions around a complex formula of community transmission, and withheld judgment on the thorny topic of teacher vaccinations. In fact, it held back on many mandates at all.

“I want to be clear with the release of this operational strategy, CDC is not mandating that schools reopen,” Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said on Friday. “These recommendations simply provide schools a long needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community.”

Front and center on the issue have been teachers unions, including in New Jersey, which have been hesitant — if not outwardly opposed — to moving to in-class instruction if it could put their members at risk.

NJEA praises research-based findings

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s most powerful teachers union, has so far not said much publicly about the new CDC guidelines beyond praise for the researched-based findings and recommendations.

Steve Baker, the NJEA’s communications director, said Tuesday that a letter to its 200,000 members would likely go out in the next week summarizing the guidelines but also saying they should be only part of ongoing conversations between educators and their districts.

“It was a breath of fresh air to listen to the CDC talk about these issues in a very science-based way,” Baker said of the Friday announcement. “It provides educators with a lot more confidence.

“But it doesn’t make the decisions any easier where some of the issues still remain,” he said. “I think it is still very much a district-by-district, case-by-case basis.”

Nevertheless, leaders of the American Federation of Teachers — the national union representing many of the country’s urban districts, including Newark — sent a strong signal Tuesday night that resistance may be softening. The AFT released a poll of its members that said a vast majority were ready to return to the classroom.

“Teachers want a path to safely return to their classrooms because they understand the importance of in-school learning for their kids,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT. “If we can implement commonsense safety protocols, we can not only open, we can do it safely and with the overwhelming support of teachers and support personnel.”

 

Header:  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

The Telling Numbers: How COVID-19 has Hit Black Residents in NJ

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Higher impact of the disease is associated with existing health factors as well as social factors

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Colleen O’Dea

More evidence of COVID-19’s disparate impact on New Jersey’s African Americans can be found in an analysis by state health officials and a study by Rutgers University professors.

The state Department of Health adjusted cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus for age and found the rate of infection among Black residents exceeded that of white residents, 4,181 per 100,000 compared with 3,332. African Americans were more than twice as likely as whites to be hospitalized from COVID-19 (810 per 100,000 versus 303) or to die from the disease (267 per 100,000 versus 120). Earlier this month, death data for 2020 showed COVID-19 was the number one killer of Blacks in New Jersey, with one of five African American deaths attributed to the disease and related conditions.

Health officials have noted the disparate impact the virus was having on Black and brown communities since early in the pandemic. The state’s COVID-19 information portal breaks out cases, hospitalizations and deaths by race. The state health commissioner typically relates some of this information during her briefings on the pandemic.

A recent study by a group of Rutgers University researchers published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities found that COVID-19 mortality racial disparities in the U.S. are associated with such social factors as income, education and internet access and highlights the need for public-health policies that address structural racism.

The researchers looked at the association between COVID-19 cases and deaths in 2,026 U.S. counties from January to October 2020 and social determinants of health that can raise the risk for infection and death. They also looked at factors known or thought to impact COVID-19 outcomes, including the counties’ population density and such health factors as obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high blood pressure.

Lack of internet is important indicator

The study found that a higher rate in a county’s percent of Black residents, uninsured adults, low birth-weight infants, adults without a high school diploma, incarceration rate and households without internet increased that county’s COVID-19 death rates during the period examined. Counties that were the most deprived socioeconomically had a 67% increase in the COVID-19 death rate. Michelle DallaPiazza, lead author of the study and an associate professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said the percent of households without internet — which provides updated knowledge of the pandemic and allows remote working and learning — and the percentage of adults without a high school diploma were the factors most associated with a county’s COVID-19 death rate.

“The findings are consistent with historical health inequities in marginalized populations, particularly Black Americans,” DallaPiazza said. “This adds to the extensive literature on racial health disparities that demonstrate that social and structural factors greatly influence health outcomes, and this is particularly true when it comes to COVID-19.”

Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and interim dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said it is well-known that certain factors influence the way diseases like COVID-19 impact African Americans and others and policymakers need to make greater efforts to change these.

“They’re adversely affected by poverty,” Johnson said. “They’re adversely affected by the environment they live in, adversely affected by poor nutrition. All these things need to be changed. Every time we have a severe chronic illness this is the outcome we get because the health disparities are real.”

 

Header: Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Comcast Backs off Plan to Impose New Fees on Heavy-Duty Internet Users

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Cable-company criticized for asking customers to pay more during public-health emergency, when high-speed internet is critical to students, some employees

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Tom Johnson

Comcast is postponing until July its plan to impose new fees on customers who are heavy users of its internet services after widespread criticism for proposing to increase bills during a public-health emergency.

The postponement came after pressure from lawmakers and consumer advocates. They argued such a step was inappropriate at a time when many students and others are relying heavily on the internet because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cap on data use was effective Jan. 1 for Comcast customers in the Northeast region, including New Jersey,

In New Jersey, lawmakers have introduced legislation (S-3410) that would prevent internet service providers from increasing rates during a public-health emergency. In Pennsylvania, the state’s attorney general’s office secured a commitment last week from Comcast, a Philadelphia-based cable company, to delay imposing the new fees on data usage to current customers there and throughout the Northeast.

The plan calls for a monthly data-usage cap of 1.2 terabytes. If customers exceed the data limit, they could be charged anywhere from $10 to $100 on top of their existing bills, depending on their data usage. Comcast began monitoring customers’ data usage at the beginning of the year, but had held off imposing the fees until March.

‘Unconscionable’ to levy an extra fee

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unconscionable for a cable company to levy an extra fee for using their internet,’’ said Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the sponsor of the bill in the New Jersey Legislature. “Right now people are relying on their home internet more than ever — for work, for their children to attend school, to shop for groceries and to schedule COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.’’

The legislation, introduced a week ago, has not yet moved in either house of the Legislature.

In a news release, Comcast said it is delaying imposition of the new fees for six months to provide its customers in the Northeast time to familiarize themselves with the data-usage plan and their service options.

The company said the new limit on data usage only affects a “very small percentage of its customers.’’ Comcast is also giving its low-income customers some help by doubling the speed for those who subscribe to its Internet Essentials service and not imposing data limits on that plan for the rest of the year. In addition, the company is waiving early termination fees for customers who do not want to be subject to caps on data usage.

In New Jersey, the state Board of Public Utilities has received some complaints from customers about the new fee but is unable to take action because it does not regulate internet service, according to Peter Peretzman, a spokesman for the agency. There are no plans to investigate the problem, he added.

 

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Jersey City Times Staff

Pleas for Murphy Administration to Show greater Urgency over Pandemic’s Toll on Learning

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Before joint legislative session, education chief hears of need for special effort to get public education back on track

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration have walked a political tightrope concerning how much guidance to provide New Jersey’s schools to operate.

On one hand, Murphy and his staff have required districts to submit a multitude of plans and details for whatever learning model they are following, be it remote, hybrid, in-person or all of the above.

On the other, even those guidelines have left much of the ultimate decision-making to local districts and communities, with Murphy openly referring to the power of home rule.

Now that highwire act is starting up anew for the state’s education commissioner, just three months on the job, as COVID-19 numbers improve across the state and more schools are moving back to in-person instruction.

Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan got an earful Tuesday from some of the state’s biggest education leaders and stakeholders when she spoke before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Public Schools.

More a general forum than a hearing on specific legislation, the hour-long meeting was called ostensibly to talk about the damage wrought by the pandemic on schools and students, and what to do this spring and going into the next school year.

It’s not a small topic, and a follow-up meeting is scheduled for March 9.

‘Moon shot’ is needed

But this first meeting got very specific, too, with both tutorials on effective practices from local districts and charter schools. There were also pointed pleas for the state to take a more active role and bring some urgency to an understanding of the scope of the problem.

“Please, let this be a ‘moon shot’ for us,” said Mount Olive Superintendent Robert Zywicki, proposing a 24-month strategic plan that included funding for afterschool programs, expanded counseling and a menu of other help.

“Let’s talk about it, like other states are doing,” he said. “That conversation is absent right now in the state of New Jersey.”

Allen-McMillan, a former Essex County teacher and administrator who was appointed commissioner in October, said the state was looking to take a more proactive role in the coming days and weeks.

As did subsequent speakers, she focused especially on the pandemic’s toll on student learning, particularly in already disadvantaged communities, saying that a wholesale strategy will be needed.

Allen-McMillan listed a host of federal and other funding chutes — amounting to more than $1.5 billion — that schools should be able to tap. And she listed programs like added extended-year programs, professional development for teachers, and “high dosage, one-on-one tutoring.”

“We are finalizing these plans as I speak, and anticipate releasing additional information shortly,” Allen-McMillan said.

Focus on student testing

Allen-McMillan was questioned closely about the Murphy administration’s plans to move forward on spring student testing under the state’s Student Learning Assessments.

A chorus of statewide groups led by the New Jersey Education Association and others has called for the state to seek a federal waiver from the testing for the second year, citing the disruption the testing would likely cause and its limited value during a pandemic.

But the commissioner again cited the federal requirements for annual testing and the Biden administration’s apparent intent to stick to them, not even accepting waiver requests so far.

Allen-McMillan also said some reliable assessment is vital, especially now. “It is impossible to accelerate learning if you cannot measure it, either with statewide assessment data or with local information on student performance,” she said.

The commissioner did open up the possibility that the testing could take at least some different forms. She pointed to more ongoing or so-called formative assessments that are taking place with the state’s optional “Start Strong” tests that a handful of districts used in the fall.

“We are exploring how to norm formative assessment this year and ways to expand formative assessment options next school year,” she said.

Mixed messages from Trenton

The commissioner took a few questions from members of the committee, which comprises both Senate and Assembly members.

Sen. Ralph Caputo (D-Essex) asked about any state guidance on keeping back or promoting students, something that he said was a big issue for families after such a tumultuous year. The commissioner indicated it would be forthcoming.

Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said the Murphy administration had provided mixed messages to districts over the last several months. “We know schools can open safely, but that has not been the message,” he said.

The commissioner has said it has been difficult with the public-health conditions ever changing, and at least so far, federal guidance to schools having stayed relatively steady. But that could soon change with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expected to release new guidance for education this week.

 

Header:  Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Vaccine Q&A: How can I Get an Appointment? Why are Smokers Prioritized?

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A state adviser answers these and other questions on the COVID-19 vaccine and New Jersey’s vaccination program

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

Two months into New Jersey’s COVID-19 vaccination program, more than 1 million shots have been administered and some 242,000 people have received the two doses needed to provide maximum protection. The program first targeted health care workers and long-term care residents and staff, and has since grown significantly, so that demand for vaccines now far outpaces the supply provided to the state by federal officials.

The enormous public interest in the program has largely overwhelmed the state’s multi-faceted, decentralized vaccination registration system and caused growing frustration among those trying to schedule an appointment to be immunized. State officials created a telephone hotline, which has been swamped with calls since it opened several weeks ago.

New Jersey residents have lots of questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, including how they can get it. Some are also curious about the vaccines themselves, following former President Trump’s efforts to politicize their development; and they question the speed at which vaccines were tested and authorized for emergency use. Others wonder why the state made the choices it did to prioritize access for certain groups, like cigarette smokers.

NJ Spotlight News hosted a virtual roundtable in late January at which several policy experts discussed the state program and what remains to be done, particularly to ensure vulnerable communities have access to immunizations. The conversation included Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, who once served as the state epidemiologist and has returned to advise the health department during the pandemic.

To continue that conversation and help others navigate the state’s process, Bresnitz answered additional questions submitted by audience members before and during the online event. Below are his responses to a dozen of the most pressing queries raised:

Question: When it comes to the priority groups, why is a 20-year-old smoker equal to a 90-year-old nonsmoker?

Answer: I understand why this may sound like an unfair comparison, but there is a rationale for including smokers in the priority group. A Jan. 25 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association — Internal Medicine (JAMA), found that people who smoke or who have smoked in the past are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 than people who have not or never smoked. Smoking may compromise a person’s ability to mount the appropriate immune response against infections.

Additionally, smokers are more likely to have other diseases such as hypertension, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, which are all linked to poor health outcomes. The JAMA article found that persons who smoked more than 30-pack years (multiply the number of packs smoked per day times the years of smoking) have 2.25 times higher odds of being hospitalized and were 1.89 times more likely to die than those who never smoked.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has included smokers on their list of high-risk medical conditions for COVID-19, without distinguishing age as a further factor.

We have heard a lot of judgment about including smokers, but we need to focus on the science and what the research shows are high-risk groups who should be prioritized to be vaccinated.

Q: Why do some counties have more vaccines than others?

A: During this time of scarce vaccine allotments, factors taken under advisement when considering vaccine distribution are the population size of the county, the disease burden of the county population, vaccine coverage of the county population, and other factors that increase vulnerability of the county population.

Q: What is the most efficient way to get an appointment? Many of us are spending one to two hours a day checking websites and making futile calls, where you get stuck on hold or cut off.

A: Currently, over 4 million people are eligible for the vaccine in New Jersey with limited doses available each week. With demand currently exceeding supply, we know that it will take more time than we want for all those who are currently eligible, and those who will become eligible, to get vaccinated.

New Jersey has many locations for eligible persons to get vaccinated. However, many of the sites have their own websites to make appointments. While this may not be ideal, it is the system in place.

Eventually the vaccine will be available to everyone who wants it in New Jersey, which is using a phased approach to ensure a fair and equitable distribution. As more and more doses become available, more appointments will become available.

As the governor recently announced, CVS and Rite Aid will be opening retail locations in the coming weeks, bringing additional vaccine into the state.

If you are eligible to receive a vaccine based on current state policy, you can make an appointment directly with one of the many designated vaccination sites across the state. The list of these sites is available on the COVID-19 information hub at covid19.nj.gov/vaccine.

You can pre-register for the vaccine on the NJ Vaccine Scheduling System. Register here. You will be notified when you are eligible to make an appointment. If you need assistance pre-registering and making an appointment, contact the vaccine call center at 855-568-0545.

Q: When can we expect a vaccine suitable for children?

A: Several companies have begun enrolling children as young as 12 in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Results will hopefully be available by the summer. Some manufacturers are planning studies including children under 12 to begin over the next few months.

Q: What are the plans to vaccinate homebound people or those who do not have transportation to the mega-sites or other clinics, like homeless individuals?

A: Homebound: The homebound population is a challenge with the current vaccine supply and the complex storage and handling requirements of both vaccines. All partners are working toward a solution. We remain hopeful with information about the new vaccines that may be available on the near horizon as possible solutions.

Homeless: New Jersey agencies are working with shelter operators to plan vaccination of residents of shelters. This includes education, pre-registration in the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System, and vaccination via pop-up and mobile clinics.

As announced at the governor’s recent briefing, New Jersey is also working with commercial pharmacies such as Rite Aid and CVS to begin to provide vaccination to eligible people. These pharmacies are in many neighborhoods, and in many cases within walking distance of vulnerable populations.

Additionally, New Jersey is working with faith communities to host vaccine clinics in churches and community centers. As vaccine supply increases, more vaccination options will become available.

Q: Will doctors be permitted to vaccinate patients in their office, particularly special needs patients — like autistic children — who have developed a particular rapport with their provider?

A: Currently, one COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for persons 16 years old and older and another for adults 18 and over. The two vaccines currently available have storage and handling requirements that most private providers are unable to accommodate, such as ultra-cold storage and administering multiple doses within a shortened time frame. The goal is to vaccinate as many people as efficiently as possible, which is why COVID-19 vaccines are not yet available in sites such as primary care physician offices.

As additional vaccines become available with more manageable storage and handling requirements and expanded indications, private practice physicians will be able to become COVID-19 vaccine providers and administer vaccine in their offices to adult and pediatric populations.

Q: What is the state doing to make sure the vaccine is equitably distributed, so those most adversely affected by COVID-19 have real access to immunizations?

A: The first strategic aim of New Jersey’s vaccination plan is to provide equitable access to all who live, work, and/or are educated in New Jersey. The state is committed to equitable vaccine access for previously underserved communities who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The Department of Health has an evolving Vulnerable Populations Plan that involves partnership with places of worship, senior centers, community centers and local health agencies. We are also training community health workers to provide education and access to vaccination through pop-up, mobile, and possibly door-to door vaccination in cities hard-hit by COIVD-19. The plan uses the same strategy we used to ramp up COVID-19 testing in our urban centers.

New Jersey is purchasing mobile vans that will be dispatched to neighborhoods for testing and in the future, possibly vaccination. As you know, the two vaccines that currently are approved and being administered have certain storage requirements that present challenges outside of a very controlled setting. We are hopeful for additional COVID-19 vaccines that may be easier to administer in a mobile or pop-up clinic setting.

Q: How is the state addressing vaccine hesitancy, particularly among communities predominated by people of color.

A: New Jersey is using a phased approach to vaccination to ensure that limited vaccines are distributed in a fair and equitable manner. The department has conducted numerous listening sessions/focus groups with diverse communities to learn how to best address immunization barriers and vaccination concerns, such as vaccine hesitancy. Direct outreach to these communities has been underway over the last few months to work with community leaders about how to best offer vaccination.

To reduce access barriers, New Jersey is working with community leaders to set up mobile units and local pharmacies to ensure vaccinations are available in underserved communities.

As part of our statewide public awareness program, the DOH along with our vendor, Princeton Partners, has produced a series of videos and digital ads featuring physicians and nurses of color on social media and YouTube. There are also three virtual town halls scheduled this month. On February 11th, we will be hosting a town hall geared toward African American and Caribbean communities; on the 15th we will address the Latinx community, and a Spanish-only virtual town hall is also planned.

Q: What are the long-term effects of the vaccine? Will we need to get it every year, or every other year?

A: Both this virus and the vaccine are new. We don’t know how long protection lasts for those who get infected or those who are vaccinated. What we do know is that COVID-19 has caused very serious illness and death for a lot of people. If you get COVID-19, you also risk giving it to loved ones who may get very sick. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is one of the tools that we have to prevent illness. The vaccines currently authorized for use have gone through rigorous studies to ensure they are efficacious with a favorable safety profile.

Q: If you’ve had COVID-19, do you still need to be vaccinated? How long after you test positive should you wait to get a shot?

A: Great question. The answer is yes, we are recommending that anyone 16 and older and is eligible consider getting vaccinated if they have previously had COVID-19. Current evidence suggests getting the virus again (reinfection) is uncommon in the 90 days after the first infection. A person may delay getting vaccinated for 90 days after being diagnosed with COVID-19 to get the vaccine.

Q: What percentage of the public must be vaccinated before it is safe to reopen businesses? What percentage is needed for full community protection?

A: Experts do not yet know what percentage of people would need to get vaccinated to achieve community protection (also referred to as herd immunity) to COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts are studying this and will provide more information as it is available.

Some experts have estimated that at least 70% or more of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve community protection.

Q: When will the general population be eligible for a shot and when do you expect they can actually get vaccinated?

A: At this time, we are awaiting more doses of the vaccines to be manufactured and distributed and additional vaccines to receive FDA Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

New Jersey has vaccination infrastructure in place across the state (mega-sites, hospitals, community health centers, local health departments, commercial pharmacies and more) and is working with the federal pharmacy program to vaccinate residents and staff in long term care facilities. As soon as more vaccine becomes available, the state will open additional vaccination sites.

 

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Jersey City Times Staff

New Figures Show How Deadly COVID-19 is for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians in NJ

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The virus is the top cause of death for communities of color, state data says. For whites, it’s third

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Colleen O’Dea

New state health data provides more proof of the devastating and disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on New Jersey’s minority communities: The disease was the No. 1 cause of death for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians last year.

Preliminary New Jersey State Health Assessment Data for deaths in 2020 made available on Monday shows COVID-19 surpassed heart disease for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. It was the third-largest cause of death among non-Hispanic whites, with heart disease remaining the dominant one, followed by cancer, for that racial group. State officials continue to update death data, which is derived from the causes listed on death certificates of New Jersey residents regardless of where they died, for a year or longer so some of the numbers could change.

It is particularly striking that the disease caused by the novel coronavirus jumped into the top spot given that the first COVID-19 death was not confirmed until almost a quarter of the way through 2020 — on March 10, 2020.

But doctors and health officials said the data is not surprising.

Most vulnerable suffer most

“What we know about pandemics and epidemics is that often the most vulnerable in our society experience the worst health outcomes in relation to the disease,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers University School of Public Health.

“COVID-19 has laid bare the vulnerabilities we knew Black, brown and Asian communities already have in our health care system,” agreed Dr. Kennedy Ganti, president-elect of the Medical Society of New Jersey who practices in Willingboro. “There are access to care challenges, social determinants of health challenges.”

Health officials have noted the disparate impact the virus was having on Black and brown communities, in particular, since early in the pandemic. The state’s COVID-19 information portal breaks out cases, hospitalizations and deaths by race. The state health commissioner typically relates some of this information during her briefings on the pandemic. But the fact that the disease was responsible for more deaths than other typical causes for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians puts that into sharper perspective.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the (Murphy) Administration has been focused on bringing resources to underserved communities because we recognize that the same long-standing inequities that have contributed to health disparities affecting racial and ethnic groups have also put them at increased risk for COVID-19,” said Dawn Thomas, a state Department of Health spokeswoman.

The state data shows that COVID-19 claimed 2,466 Black lives last year, with that number rising to 2,720 when related conditions, including unspecified coronavirus, flu and pneumonia, are added in. Heart diseases were responsible for 2,439 deaths. COVID-19 and related causes made up 20% of all deaths. COVID-19 and related causes killed more than 1,000 Asians and were responsible for more than a quarter of all deaths. For Hispanics, COVID-19 and related causes accounted for the largest percentage of all groups, with slightly more than a third of all those who passed dying from those illnesses. COVID-19 took 3,427, while COVID and related diseases were responsible for 3,654 deaths. More than twice the number who died from heart diseases, 1,454, succumbed to COVID-19.

By contrast, about 15% of deaths among whites last year were due to COVID-19 and related illnesses. Heart diseases were responsible for 22% of deaths, while 17% of deaths were from cancer.

“Look at the impressions we have of the number of individuals who were Hispanic and African American, who are more likely to be infected and then they’re more likely to have more severe disease and on top of everything else they are more likely to have bad outcomes from a whole variety of illnesses,” said Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and interim dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. One of the things that is important about the social determinants of health is all of these factors that are likely to adversely affect minority populations lead to increased death rates.”

Why more people of color die

Halkitis said there are a host of reasons why the illness is killing more people of color. Blacks and Latinx people tend to be of lower socioeconomic status due to structural inequities in society and they more often hold lower-paying frontline essential-worker jobs that put them at greater risk of getting COVID-19. They often live in more crowded conditions, which also puts them at greater risk. Blacks and Hispanics tend to have less access than whites to high-quality health care and they hold a greater mistrust of medical professionals based on culture and history, which means they may be less likely to follow public health messaging.

“All of those things taken together place them at risk for both acquiring and dying from COVID-19,” he said.

Additionally, the crackdown on undocumented immigrants during the Trump administration may also have made some Hispanics less likely to seek medical care once they became sick, Halkitis added.

“It’s a sad choice you have to make: Take care of your health or be arrested by ICE,” he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “That’s what people were confronted with in the last few years. They chose to take the risk with their health because they didn’t want to be deported away from their families.”

Dr. Shereef Elnahal, president and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, said the stark contrasts this data shows should be a wakeup call for policymakers to take greater actions to minimize the disparities.

“This data once again shows that COVID-19 has not only disproportionately impacted people of color, it has also exposed Black and Brown peoples’ asymmetric burden of chronic disease, higher representation in the essential workforce and lived experiences that predispose to greater spread of infectious diseases,” he said. “This should be a call to action for the equitable distribution of resources to communities of color related to the pandemic, but also for the more sustainable, long-delayed work in achieving health and economic equity in majority-minority communities thereafter.”

Solving systemic problems

Solving these problems, many of which are systemic, is a challenge. But in the short term, it means officials need to take greater steps to ensure that people of color are able willing and able to get the COVID-19 vaccines. The state dashboard currently shows great disparities in the racial and ethnic makeup of those being vaccinated: Of those for whom race or ethnicity was known, as of Monday morning, almost 60% were white, 7% Asian, 6% Hispanic and 4% Black.

Halkitis said part of the reason for the disparity is that health care workers were the first-priority category and they are mostly white. But other reasons why the percentage of minorities being vaccinated is so low is that many are leery of vaccines and those who want to be vaccinated are having difficulty figuring out how to do so. The system the state set up is predominantly internet-based and most of the sites giving vaccines are not linked to the state system.

“We need to make sure that vaccines are available in inner city communities and we need to make sure that people from these communities who are trusted by these communities endorse vaccination,” Johnson said. “We also need to make sure that people in these communities have health care.”

 

Header:  Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

 

Vaccination
Jersey City Times Staff

Lack of Coordination Hampers State Vaccination Effort

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Less than 5% of immunization centers in New Jersey are tapping the reservation system state officials created

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

New Jersey officials have conceded there is a disconnect between the state-run online vaccine registration system and the 200-plus COVID-19 vaccination sites run by local and county governments, health care providers and pharmacies.

The gap turns out to be significant, according to a state list updated Tuesday.

Less than 5% of the coronavirus immunization programs now operating in New Jersey are using the state’s registration system, with the vast majority running their own sign-up process through existing corporate or government websites or newly created portals specific to their location. Only one of the six state-overseen vaccine mega-sites — in Gloucester County — is linked to the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System, or NJVSS.

This uncoordinated registration system is frustrating the public as New Jersey residents eager to get vaccinated discover they cannot easily make an appointment through the state portal. Instead, the state scheduling system — which officials said has now pre-registered more than 2 million people — is designed to alert individuals when they are eligible and prompt them to make an appointment at a local vaccine clinic, which usually involves additional calls, emails or a separate sign-up process to secure a spot.

Gov. Phil Murphy has placed much of the blame for the slow rollout of inoculations on the limited supply of vaccines the state has received from the federal government, which allocates doses and oversees shipping. Without enough vaccines, some sites have been forced to cancel appointments or delay opening.

“We continue to ask for patience as we await more vaccine doses coming into our state,” Murphy said Monday, insisting everyone who wants a shot will eventually get one. “We have built the infrastructure from the ground up. All we need are these doses and we will be able to fire on all cylinders.”

Stock on hand

As of Tuesday evening, more than 540,000 New Jerseyans had received at least one of the two shots recommended by drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna, the two companies with vaccines with federal emergency use approval. Some 85,000 have also received their final dose, according to the state’s tally.

Since the process began in mid-December, vaccine sites have received close to 1.2 million doses, including nearly 350,000 designated as second shots, or boosters, according to the state Department of Health. More than 200,000 are allocated for nursing homes and other senior facilities.

State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli set a goal of eventually vaccinating 70% of the state’s adult population, or 4.7 million people. The process is currently open to health care workers, residents and staff at long-term care centers, emergency responders, individuals over age 65 and those of any age who have certain chronic health risks, like diabetes or cigarette addiction.

There are now 205 vaccine sites established, according to a DOH list updated Tuesday, although not all are operating at full capacity; nine rely on the NJVSS system.

All are connected to the state’s pre-existing vaccine inventory database, the New Jersey Immunization Information System, or NJIIS, which allows DOH to track their “throughput” and make allocation decisions for the week to come. Doses are shipped directly from federal stockpiles to the immunization sites.

While the state’s updated 190-page vaccine plan, submitted to federal officials in December, notes the importance of carefully tracking all doses — something that fell short during the H1N1 vaccine campaign in 2009 — it provides little detail on the public sign-up process and only mentions the NJVSS system once. Dispensing sites are responsible for everything from set-up to vaccine storage to patient registration, the plan notes, and offers various options for scheduling appointments.

DOH staff said late Tuesday all this had been made clear to the operators of vaccine clinics from the start and a number of the sites are run by health care systems that opted to use existing sign-up systems; it was not clear if the state considered mandating participation in the NJVSS system.

“We are also exploring streamlining registration and scheduling at all of our sites that do not currently participate in NJVSS,” Persichilli said Monday. “Our attempt is to make appointment scheduling easier and one-stop shopping.”

Her staff declined Tuesday to elaborate on her remarks.

Heavy use of new hotline

The state launched a COVID-19 vaccine phone hotline — (855) 568-0545 — with 250 live operators early Monday, which Persichili said received nearly 60,000 calls by noon that day. Until then, little immunization information was available to those without an internet connection or computer skills.

While operators can help callers with scheduling, it appears they are only able to access appointments at the nine vaccine sites now part of NJVSS.

“Due to scarcity, callers are not guaranteed an appointment when they call,” Persichilli said Monday, urging the 196 sites operating under separate enrollment systems to link to the state’s public registration portal so that operators can access more openings.

“As supply increases and more appointments become available in NJVSS, the call center will be able to assist callers in making appointments through” the state system, Persichilli added. “In the near future, the call center will assist consumers to look up registrations, schedule appointments and edit appointments in the system.”

However, the NJVSS system does not currently have the capacity to schedule appointments for second doses, Persichilli noted Monday. She said she got at least 30 emails over the weekend from people who had received initial shots at the Gloucester County mega-site, a clinic in Middlesex County, and other locations, but were unable to secure a date for the booster shot. The second doses are designed to be provided three or four weeks after the first, depending on the manufacturer.

Persichilli said the DOH has encouraged vaccine sites to schedule the booster shot when the patient is checking out after receiving the first dose, but her staff declined to say how this was communicated or why it was not mandated.

State officials also did not comment on why the registration system was not designed to handle return visits from the start, but stressed it was currently being updated to accommodate this element. The state’s vaccine plan appears to offer multiple suggestions on how clinics can schedule booster shots — including utilizing NJVSS.

“We will follow up on every single one of them,” Persichilli said of the residents who had not been provided return visit appointments.

Persichilli said the state has also reiterated to vaccine sites the need to schedule the second dose in advance.

“The second doses are set aside, so people will get their second dose,” she said. “We have to make sure that they have their appointments to get their second dose.”

 

Header:  Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

The Latest Plans by Your School District for Remote, In-Person or Hybrid Learning

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Up-to-date Instructional plans approved by the state Department of Education

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Colleen O’Dea

 

Header:  Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

COVID-19 Vaccines: How NJ Tries to Juggle Supply and Demand

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There are many COVID-19 vaccination sites in New Jersey, but not enough vaccine supplies

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

In New Jersey, COVID-19 vaccines are now available at more than 160 locations — including hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers and government-run clinics — and four of the state’s planned six mega-sites are now immunizing eligible individuals.

But six weeks after the first New Jersey resident got her initial dose, the statewide operation continues to run at far less than full speed. Concerns include public confusion, a complex sign-up system, an initial workforce shortage in some places, and perhaps the biggest hurdle of all, not enough vaccines to meet the demand.

“We’ve got plenty of people (to administer vaccines), it’s not an issue” at the Gloucester County mega-site, state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), a former county freeholder, told NJ Spotlight News last week. “We just need the vaccine,” he said. “We’ve really got to step it up now.”

New Jersey officials agree that more doses are needed statewide and have blamed the federal government for an unpredictable supply. Early on, state leaders said some expected shipments were cut by more than one-third and they continue to receive about 5% fewer doses than requested.

Waiting for a Biden surge in supplies

The Trump administration promised last week to release additional COVID-19 vaccines from a stockpile it had allegedly maintained, but news reports on Friday indicated this “reserve” had already been distributed. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to beef up the vaccine rollout once he takes office this week.

“The vaccine supply is extremely limited and will be for some time,” New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Friday. “We understand that people are anxious to get the vaccine,” she said, adding, “we urge everyone to be patient.”

More than 1.5 million individuals have enrolled through the state-run registration process to be vaccinated; some county, local and hospital clinics are also operating their own online sign-up processes, which are not linked to the state system. Eligible residents are encouraged to sign up either through a nearby system or use the state version, which will alert them by email when they can make an appointment at a convenient facility.

“The state is working hard to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible with the available doses we have,” Persichilli said. She has encouraged people to sign up through whatever system is most convenient, noting, “we just want people to be vaccinated.”

Currently, operators at county and local vaccination sites request vaccine supplies from the state, which places orders with the federal government. Once federal officials notify the state of its weekly allotment, state health department staff review the local requests, the site’s current inventory, its vaccination capacity and geographic location, and distributes vaccines accordingly “to ensure a broad allocation throughout the state,” DOH communications director Donna Leusner said Friday. Vaccines are then shipped from manufacturers directly to hospitals and other vaccine sites.

Murphy: ‘Supply/demand imbalance’

“It’s a concern we know exists,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday of the need for more supplies at county and local levels. “We continue to be on this supply/demand imbalance.”

By the end of last week nearly 310,600 New Jerseyans had received at least one of the two required doses of a vaccine, Murphy said, a figure that had grown by nearly 23,000 in 24 hours. The process currently is open to health care workers, long-term care residents, firefighters and law enforcement, individuals over age 65 and people with specific pre-existing conditions, including cigarette smoking.

Persichilli said Friday the state is now receiving around 106,000 doses a week, half from Pfizer and half from Moderna, the pharmaceutical companies that have had vaccines approved. But New Jersey needs to get 460,000 doses a week to meet current demand and efficiently reach its target of immunizing 4.7 million residents, or 70% of those eligible, she said.

The DOH has repeatedly declined to say how many vaccines the state has received to date, but insists it is not stockpiling doses. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker, as of Friday morning 658,800 doses had been shipped to New Jersey and 317,000 administered. That means 3,600 New Jerseyans per 100,000 have had a shot so far, compared to roughly 3,200 in Delaware, 3,500 in Pennsylvania and 3,900 in New York, the CDC reported.

“For whatever reason, the supply chain has not really opened up,” said Passaic County administrator Anthony DeNova, resulting in outsize local demand. Passaic County has been vaccinating around 215 people daily through its health department, he said, for a total of more than 13,700 by Friday. But DeNova said the county had to cancel nearly two days’ worth of appointments recently when it received less than half of what was requested from the state.

Speaking of frustrations

“It has been somewhat frustrating,” DeNova said, noting people don’t want to hear the county blame the state and the state blame the federal government, even if that is the truth. He said county officials have had people show up in person to demand vaccination and vent their anger online. “We are not alone,” he added, noting other counties are facing similar shortages, “because the vaccines just weren’t available from the state.”

Passaic County plans to open a new, much larger operation Wednesday at a former Modell’s sporting goods store in Woodland Park, which DeNova said has roughly five times the daily capacity as the county health department. But that can only happen if county officials receive the 2,000 vaccines they ordered through the state, he added.

“Our goal is to have six days a week” at sites across the county, DeNova said, “but we have to make sure we have enough vaccines to cover it all.”

Sweeney said the Gloucester County site, one of the first mega-sites to be established in the state, could handle immunizing as many as 4,000 people a day. As of Friday, it had provided more than 10,200 shots. But several times staff had been sent home and vaccination appointments canceled because “we didn’t have vaccines to put in anybody’s arms,” he said.  “Every person we can get a needle into is one less person we have to worry about.”

From a county perspective, limited vaccine supply is one of several challenges. The New Jersey Association of Counties shared letters it had sent to Murphy in December asking for additional communication from state officials concerning the vaccine rollout, assistance coordinating scheduling and reporting systems, help purchasing items like dry ice and more funding to pay for the operations.

The DOH suggested the state has worked hard to keep county and local officials in the loop throughout the pandemic, including by holding daily conference calls at the start in March. County representatives said they now talk several times a week, but state officials don’t always give them enough advance notice to be able to accommodate policy changes.

Caught off guard

For example, when the state announced last Wednesday it would open up the vaccination system to more than 2 million additional residents — including those over 65 and smokers of any age — some county leaders said they were caught off guard. They did not have enough time to update their online signup system or recruit additional vaccinators, while demand suddenly skyrocketed.

The expansion in eligibility also frustrated some residents who took issue with Murphy’s decision to add smokers to the priority group before certain essential workers, like teachers. On Friday, Murphy pushed back on what he called this “false narrative,” stressing that the state has sought to vaccinate those most at risk first, and coronavirus attacks the respiratory system, putting those who smoke in real danger.

“What we need to end this divisive and unproductive debate is an increase in our vaccine supply, and for that we need a federal administration that will unleash the process to meet demand,” Murphy said, welcoming the pledge by fellow Democrat Biden to increase supplies. “We should not hold back — we should be throwing everything we have at ending this pandemic,” Murphy said.

 

Header:  Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Q&A: The Next Round in NJ’s Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccine

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Gov. Phil Murphy announces that law enforcement and firefighters can now receive vaccines

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

New Jersey is moving to a second round of COVID-19 vaccinations, announcing Wednesday that the next group of eligible people will be inoculated soon. It will be some time before the vaccine is widely available. And the state is still moving to get vaccines to health care workers, residents at long-term care facilities and others in its first priority group.

Here are key questions and answers about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout as it stands now.

Who is being vaccinated now?

New Jersey chose to prioritize paid and unpaid health care workers, staff and residents in long-term care centers, and others in many congregate care settings, including state-run facilities for disabled individuals and federal senior housing sites. These are all considered part of the 1a group. According to the state’s calculations, there are roughly 650,000 health care workers in the state and 90,000 residents in nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care. Tens of thousands more live in other congregate settings. While officials believe it is an undercount, they reported nearly 138,000 people have been vaccinated so far.

On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that law enforcement and firefighters — both paid and volunteer — could also receive vaccines, starting today. Emergency medical responders are eligible as part of the 1a group. This work puts them at risk of infection, he said, and the state wants to immunize as many people as possible as quickly as it can to help slow the spread. Police and fire officials are considered members of the 1b group of frontline workers, which also includes other professions that come in contact with the public, like bus drivers and other transportation workers or food handlers.

“These are our frontline responders who through their jobs have a greater risk of coming into contact with infectious people and infectious materials. We are able to open up vaccination to them based on the available supply,” state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said, noting 1a individuals will still be eligible. “The movement between phases will be fluid — one phase will overlap with another — we will not wait for all individuals in one phase to be vaccinated before opening to additional groups of people.”

Who comes next, and when will the rest of us be eligible?

The state Department of Health is working with an advisory committee that meets regularly to determine what other frontline workers in the 1b group will be made eligible next; additional details could be available in the near future, officials said. There are an estimated 2.5 million people in the 1b group. That will be followed by the 1c group, which includes individuals over age 65 or those of any age who have certain underlying conditions; this adds another 1 million people.

Eventually, the state hopes to vaccinate 4.7 million people — roughly 70% of those eligible for the vaccines. While the timeline continues to evolve, Persichilli said it may take until April or May before the state has enough vaccines on hand to immunize everyone on their list. State officials said they would continue to inform the public as the plan moves forward.

The vaccines are being shipped by the federal government from vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna directly to various vaccination sites in each state. Like other states, New Jersey was not initially receiving the amount it had requested, but in recent weeks it has been granted almost all of the doses ordered, more than 100,000 a week. The DOH declined to say Wednesday how many vaccines are now in state, but officials said they are not stockpiling supplies.

How do I get on the state’s list to be vaccinated?

Despite suggestions it would roll out a sign-up process slowly, New Jersey opened its vaccine sign-up portal late Tuesday; demand quickly overwhelmed the technology, which experienced several glitches before more than 450,000 people had added their names. On Wednesday, Persichilli said the site should for now be reserved for health care workers, first responders, law enforcement and firefighters, and urged the public to wait a few more weeks before trying to sign up. Sign-up is also available through some county sites or via hospital systems.

Persichilli said the system will alert individuals when they are eligible and direct them to a site to make an appointment and select a location. All information will be kept confidential, she said. Whatever sign-up system people use, “I just want them to get vaccinated,” she said.

Where are these vaccines happening?

The state started vaccinating hospital-based health care workers on Dec. 15, at University Hospital in Newark, and distribution has since grown to more than 200 sites run by hospitals, doctors’ offices, drug stores and public health facilities. These facilities are designed for the 1a group of various health care workers.

On Friday, the state will open the first two of six planned vaccine “megasites,” designed to immunize at least 1,000 people a week, at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Morris County and Rowan University in Gloucester County. The state is seeking additional vaccinators and has asked for clinicians trained to provide intramuscular injections to consider volunteering. Sign-up is available through the New Jersey Medical Reserve Corps portal.

Eventually, Murphy said he’d like to see hundreds of additional vaccine clinics, in grocery stores, dentist offices or community facilities. Murphy envisions “a whole tapestry of where you can get this,” he said.

The vaccinations in long-term care and congregate care facilities are being organized and administered by teams from CVS and Walgreens, thanks to a partnership the federal government established with the two chain drug stores. The state is supporting their work, which began in late December — a week later than some states — and has started at a slow pace. Persichilli said more than 1,000 locations are now scheduled to host vaccine clinics through February.

What does the immunization process involve?

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two shots, several weeks apart, to offer full immunity. Most of the protection comes from the first shot and develops within two weeks, once the body has time to mount an immune response. Both vaccines are considered highly effective, protecting against COVID-19 infection in close to 95% of the cases, an extremely high rate.

When asked if the vaccine is safe, state DOH communicable disease service medical director Dr. Ed Lifshitz said, “Let me put it relatively simply. In New Jersey, we’ve had about half a million cases of COVID with almost 20,000 deaths. In the United States, we’ve given almost 10 times that number of doses (of the vaccine) — or over 4 million doses — with zero deaths from the vaccine. I certainly would take my odds with the vaccine over the virus any day of the week.”

 

Header:  Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash

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