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Vaccines Coming, but NJ Worries Trump may Upset Distribution Plan

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First batch expected within a month. Millions more will be needed, as will help from federal government

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 set to receive the first batch of 130,000 COVID-19 vaccines within the next four weeks — assuming it receives emergency approval as expected. But state officials want to ensure their plans for a massive statewide distribution won’t be derailed by President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election.

Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday he and state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli sent a letter to the head of the federal General Services Administration, urging her to declare president-elect Joe Biden the winner and initiate the formal transition process. It is imperative, Murphy said at a news briefing Monday, that Biden’s team, which will take office Jan. 20, have access to public health information “vital to our national response. The time for politics has passed. The time for coming together to save lives is now.”

The federal General Services Administration announced Monday night that it would designate Biden the apparent winner and formally begin the transition process.

Murphy said a smooth transition to the Biden administration is especially critical when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine, the first of which could be approved soon. New Jersey aims to immunize at least 4.7 million residents within six months, and anticipates receiving more than 1 million doses a month by the end of January.

Some COVID-19 vaccines require super-cold storage, which creates additional shipping challenges, and all require multiple doses, spaced either two or three weeks apart. Public health officials are currently focused on three main candidates — Pfizer applied for emergency-use authorization last week, and Moderna and AstraZeneca are expected to seek approval soon — and other vaccines are being developed.

Logistics and lost lives

“This will be an enormous logistical undertaking, and any break or disruption in the supply chain will be paid for in lives. Make no mistake,” Murphy said Monday. “And unless the transition is allowed to get going immediately, those breaks and disruptions — and lost lives — will be unforced errors by the current administration. And let there also be no mistake of that.”

Murphy said the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine could not come soon enough, given the rising numbers of new cases in recent weeks, which now reflect the rates recorded during the initial surge of the pandemic last spring. In all, nearly 310,000 cases have been diagnosed in New Jersey since March, resulting in at least 16,700 likely fatalities, according to state data. Close to 2,700 people are hospitalized with the disease, an increase of 30% over last week alone.

Persichilli said that despite the rising risk of COVID-19 infection, polls show that members of the public — including some health care providers — remain skeptical about the vaccine. That includes roughly four out of 10 New Jerseyans, according to a recent Rutgers University survey. The Department of Health is building a public awareness campaign to raise understanding about the scientific process involved in developing the vaccine and boost confidence in the product, she said.

“It is vital that our health care personnel get vaccinated, not only for their own protection, but also to set an example for the rest of us,” Persichilli said Monday. “Eventually, once the general public is vaccinated, we will be able to build herd immunity in our communities. That is our hope. In the meantime, we have to take this pandemic seriously,” she said, reminding people to wear masks, keep their distance, wash their hands and take other precautions.

Task force to review vaccine advisories

Regardless of the federal approval, Murphy has insisted New Jersey will not release the vaccine until state officials first “kick the tires” themselves. When asked Monday, Persichilli said this process would involve a state-level task force review of advisory group reports submitted to the federal Food and Drug Administration as part of the national vaccine-review process. The task force will then advise Murphy whether or not to proceed with distribution, she said.

Under the draft COVID-19 vaccine plan New Jersey submitted to federal officials earlier this fall, health care workers at risk for direct or indirect exposure to the virus would be considered a priority. Initially, the plan estimated this group to include 500,000 people, but Persichilli now suggests it includes some 650,000 individuals — both paid and unpaid — working in hospitals and other clinical facilities, community clinics, individual practices or as home care providers.

Assuming the Pfizer vaccine is approved, Persichilli said the state expects to receive enough doses to immunize 130,000 individuals in mid-to-late December. Another 130,000 doses will follow soon after. If approved as expected, Moderna is expected to begin similar staggered shipments not long afterward. Between the two companies, New Jersey anticipates having enough doses to protect 460,000 individuals in this high-risk group by mid-January.

Making moral decisions about distribution

Persichilli said the DOH’s vaccine advisory committee has created a prioritization framework, based on principles like equity, justice and transparency, as well as vulnerability, to help guide which members of this high-risk group are considered the first priority. The guidelines are now being reviewed by the governor’s office, Persichilli said, and the state plans to release them in advance of the first vaccine shipments.

By late January, when multiple vaccines are likely to have been approved, Persichilli said the state expects to receive some 1.1 million doses monthly. After those in the initial high-risk group are vaccinated, the state’s plan calls for immunizations to focus on other essential or frontline workers, nursing home residents and seniors living at home, estimated to be 1.5 million people in total.

Eventually, all New Jerseyans will be able to access immunization, which the state plans to make available through an extensive network of public and private health care facilities.

“We are ready to move forward the moment these vaccines get to us, with health care workers being at the front of the line to receive a vaccination, and Judy is already working with our hospital leaders to prepare for this,” Murphy said, underscoring the need for greater collaboration with the incoming Biden administration. “We need this entire process to be methodical and deliberative.”

 

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New COVID-19 Restrictions Limit Size of Thanksgiving Gatherings

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Concerned about folks getting together with extended families and not following mask and social-distancing guides, Murphy cuts size to 10 people

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

No hugging or handshakes with family. Skip the singing and loud music, which only causes people to raise their voices. And it looks like no crowding on the couch to watch football games with the cousins.

Those were some of the grim recommendations for the Thanksgiving holiday, as state officials unveiled new restrictions on public gatherings Monday in an effort to tamp down the growing rise of COVID-19 statewide.

It was a day of disheartening news in general from Gov. Phil Murphy and his top health officials, who warned of not just rising daily case counts but the possibility of record hospitalizations as well.

 “If people are not vigilant, it could be worse” than the 8,300 hospitalizations recorded at the April peak, said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. “I can’t encourage people enough to understand how their behavior — each one of us, our behavior — can help us manage that.”

Nearly 15,000 new cases have been diagnosed over the past four days, according to state reports, with some of the highest daily spikes recorded since the pandemic emerged here in March.

New limits on indoor gatherings

As a result, Murphy on Monday announced plans to limit indoor gatherings to 10 people, down from 25, starting this morning. Outdoor events will be capped at 150, down from 500. In both cases there are exemptions for religious services, political gatherings, weddings and funerals or memorial services.

WATCH: Under strain from rise in COVID-19 cases, some NJ hospitals divert ambulances

Murphy said his administration is closely monitoring case counts, hospitalization numbers, positivity rates and other factors to determine if additional public or business restrictions are needed.

“I don’t think we’re going to be taking any more steps to open up,” he said. “No state crushed this (epidemiological) curve like New Jersey. We’ve just got to do it again,” Murphy added, repeating a phrase he used constantly during the pandemic’s initial surge last spring.

Public must do its part

According to state health commissioner Persichilli, predictive modeling suggests that public compliance with mask wearing, social distancing and other precautions must return to where it was seven months ago, when roughly half the population followed those COVID-19 guidelines, to avoid the level of hospitalizations recorded at the pandemic’s initial peak in mid-April. “Pandemic fatigue” has led to a decline in compliance, officials note.

The state’s pleas for public compliance are particularly focused on Thanksgiving, which public health officials have warned could dangerously exacerbate the current trend if people celebrate together in large groups, as is common.

On Monday, Persichilli highlighted the complications involved with simple traditions — like gathering around a table, passing dishes of food, or even sharing serving utensils — that could now pose a threat. She recommended people consider celebrating outside, or open the windows while running the heat and air conditioner to maximize circulation inside, and urged hosts to dispense hand sanitizer and stock extra disinfecting wipes.

“As the governor has stated, this will not be a normal Thanksgiving. With the alarming surge in our cases, we all need to be vigilant and take all of the public health precautions that helped us to limit the spread of the virus last spring,” Persichilli said. “Our lives — and the lives of our loved ones — depend on it.”

Taking extra care with elderly

Perhaps the starkest warnings involved recommendations related to New Jersey’s long-term care (LTC) facilities, which house tens of thousands of frail and elderly residents; according to state data, 241 of these sites have active COVID-19 outbreaks. The state Department of Health planned to issue new guidelines for those health care providers Monday, with steps they can take to support safe family visits during the holiday season.

Persichilli said the state “strongly recommends against” removing loved ones from nursing homes or other places of long-term care so they can join family celebrations at home, given the risks and logistical complications. If they leave a long-term care facility, residents would need to quarantine on return there and, if capacity there is strained, individuals may be placed on a waiting list before they can get back in, she said.

“We are still concerned about the number of outbreaks we are seeing in long-term care, so we need to be especially vigilant to protect this population,” Persichilli said. “Residents of long-term care facilities are particularly susceptible.  Bringing your loved ones home could put them at risk.”

More than 281,000 COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in New Jersey since March, including some 16,600 likely fatalities, according to state data. Nearly one out of every 10 residents tested late last week were found to be positive and 12 of the state’s 21 counties reported a triple-digit rise in new cases on Monday alone.

While the growth in daily case numbers also reflects expanding testing capacity, state officials note that other data points reveal concerning trends. Hospitalizations have crept up past 2,000 COVID-19 cases statewide in recent days — a level not seen since early June — and a growing number need more critical care.

State officials have long blamed private gatherings for much of the increase and hesitated to reverse steps they had taken to reopen the economy and public spaces. That began to change earlier this month, when Murphy called for new restrictions on bars and indoor dining and suspended out-of-state youth sports; some communities, like Newark and Jersey City, have taken additional actions to reduce social interaction.

Schools make COVID-19 calls for themselves

Murphy has opted to let local school districts decide whether to allow in-person education, use remote or online lesson or go with a mix of both, underscoring that relatively few cases have been tied directly to school facilities. But youth sports and the rituals associated with these events — like pre-game locker-room meetings, or post-game pizza parties — remain a concerning source of coronavirus transmission, he said Monday.

One sport in particular appears to be causing particular headaches for public health officials. “I want to say, very specifically, hockey is in our crosshairs,” Murphy said Monday.

The administration is hearing about players and their parents who are not complying with the mask and social-distancing mandates, Murphy said, adding there is also anecdotal evidence that hockey families are refusing to provide information to contact tracers tasked with trying to reduce the spread of the disease.

“We’re sick and tired of hearing this, folks, and we reserve the right to take more drastic action,” Murphy warned. “And if we don’t get better cooperation and better compliance, we will.”

 

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‘Patchwork’ Public Health System Complicates COVID-19 Contact Tracing, Community Notification

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It’s a challenge to coordinate the gathering and dissemination of vital information

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

The coronavirus is once again circulating rapidly in communities across New Jersey. State officials have reported thousands of new cases daily and shared data that shows how some situations — like youth sports and private parties — appear to have an outsize role in the spread.

But it is not clear if New Jerseyans are getting the information they need to keep themselves — and others — safe.

Much of the data is posted on the state’s COVID-19 website and Gov. Phil Murphy now intends to hold three media briefings weekly, instead of the twice-weekly events he convened during the summer and fall. The state also works with county and local health departments to alert the public when potential coronavirus clusters are identified. And schools have a protocol for contacting parents when outbreaks are discovered in a district.

But the public notification system is complex and coordination can be a challenge, according to those involved. The work generally depends on a network of government and public health officials who have been on the front lines of the state’s coronavirus battle since March, and the growing surge of new cases adds to the weight of their responsibilities.

“The state is a microcosm of the nation. We have this patchwork public health system. We don’t have a coordinated public health system,” said epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera, a professor of public health at Montclair State University.

Most of the time, it works well enough, Silvera said. “The problem is, when you have a global pandemic that really requires a coordinated response, the systems we have really do get put under pressure quickly,” she added.

For weeks, New Jersey officials have pointed to the rapid rise in new cases and hospitalizations as evidence that the state has entered a “second wave” of the pandemic, first diagnosed here in March. Since then, more than 270,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, including at least 16,500 fatalities confirmed or likely to have been caused by the disease.

Cases began to spike up again in October

After the initial onslaught of the virus, which peaked in April here, the rate of community spread — and new cases, hospitalizations and deaths — declined significantly over the summer. But the pattern changed in October, when transmission began to spike up again as people moved indoors (where spread is more likely) and appeared to ease up on pandemic precautions. At times last week, the number of new cases in New Jersey was nearly 10 times the daily diagnoses reported in late August.

According to information provided to the state Department of Health’s Communicable Disease Service by local health departments — which are responsible for calling individuals who test positive to inform them about the risks and tracing their potential contacts to contain the spread — much of the transmission appears to involve youth sports and associated events as well as gatherings in private homes.

DOH Commissioner Judy Persichilli shared charts Thursday that showed, of the 164 outbreaks that occurred between late March and Nov. 1 and could be definitively traced: 17% were connected to sports teams; 14% involved public safety, food and agriculture businesses, including restaurants; 13% were linked to private gatherings; 12% involved day care facilities, and 10% came from other work-related situations. It is not clear exactly how many cases are linked to these clusters.

“Often, the Department does not get additional reports on cases from the local health department after the initial report of an outbreak. The outbreaks drive the public health action taken, not necessarily the number of cases associated with it,” DOH communications officer Dawn Thomas said.

When examining a subset of that data — the 51 outbreaks reported in October alone — Persichilli said the DOH found that 33% involved sports teams; 11% were connected to government offices; and public safety jobs, day care and other workplace scenarios contributed another 10% each. The data would be more complete if New Jerseyans were more willing to participate when called by contact tracers, she noted, something that remains a challenge in nearly two-thirds of the cases investigated.

 “This information is vital to protecting the health of others and containing the spread of the virus,” Persichilli said Thursday.

Viral transmission is difficult to track

DOH officials have repeatedly stressed that, even with public participation, it is often difficult to track down the source or location of viral transmission. “We know if someone tests positive. But even to that person, it may not be clear when or how they were exposed,” Thomas said.

New Jersey’s public health system predates the coronavirus, with contact tracing and public notification processes designed to keep citizens safe from outbreaks like hepatitis, measles and the flu. The Communicable Disease Service depends on reports from health care providers and public health officials. When outbreaks involve multiple locations, the state makes a public announcement. When the threat is more isolated, it is up to the county or local health department to inform the public.

Thomas said the public notification process also varies by disease and is determined by the experts involved; measles, being highly contagious and easy to transmit, requires robust public outreach, as does a situation involving a food handler with hepatitis A, who may have infected others, for example. There is no state regulation dictating how this process works, she said, but the DOH often consults with local officials regarding public outreach, she said.

“It’s a little bit of a black box if you’re not inside of it,” Montclair State’s Silvera said of the multifaceted system.

But when it comes to the coronavirus, the scope of the pandemic has created challenges for the multiple state, county and local public health entities involved in protecting communities from viral spread, according to those involved; these agencies must also balance privacy issues and other concerns. New Jersey has essentially doubled its existing contact tracing capacity since March but as case loads rise, the workload expands, which could result in delays alerting community members of a potential danger.

‘What’s new is the level of contact tracing’

“This isn’t new in the field of public health to do contact tracing. What’s new is the level of contact tracing that’s required,” Silvera explained. “The capacity has to match the number of cases.”

The DOH has contracted with a staffing firm to recruit new contact tracers and tapped Rutgers University’s School of Public Health to train them in an effort to ensure each county has at least 30 tracers for each 100,000 residents. Four counties have reached this threshold — Cumberland, Passaic, Salem and Warren — but several, including Bergen and Morris, remain at nearly half this rate, according to state figures.

But with community spread so rampant, and daily infections and hospitalization numbers rising so quickly, contact tracing itself offers limited protection, experts acknowledged. In recent days, Murphy and Persichilli have underscored the critical importance of basic infection-control measures, like wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distance.

“We’re unfortunately pretty well beyond containment and we’re going to be moving back to mitigation and trying to reduce the impact” of COVID-19, Silvera said.

 

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Despite COVID-19 Rise, NJ Sticks with Plan to Allow Schools to Decide Instruction Plans Locally

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Not all educators agree with the state’s approach

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

With COVID-19 rates rising nationwide, school officials in a number of large cities — including Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. — are opting for online education to try to preempt the surge of coronavirus cases that experts predict for the weeks to come.

But in New Jersey, where nearly 10,500 new cases have been diagnosed this week, state leaders said Thursday that they will stick to the current plan that allows district and local health officials to decide what is best for the community’s schools. Currently, roughly one in five districts is providing remote lessons only, they said, and relatively few outbreaks have been tied directly to schools.

“The general community reality is obviously taken into account” when determining school plans, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday. “But there is a clear disconnect between the reality of what is going on in our school buildings and the communities that surround them. There’s just no question about that.”

Not all educators are on the same page with the governor’s plan, however. Leaders of some of the state’s most prominent school groups are expected to meet Friday with Murphy staff to talk about the worsening numbers in communities and how they impact schools. And to at least one of them, it is difficult to separate what is happening in schools from their cities and towns, something he called a “false dichotomy.”

“There is a lot of frustration among our superintendents,” said Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and himself a former superintendent. “There is a real sense that the disconnect of schools and their communities is not a real one, and not every case is being reported … How do you not connect schools to the communities they are in?”

‘These numbers are lower than anticipated’

Murphy said that local public health officials have traced 192 cases of COVID-19 to 51 school-related outbreaks since classes resumed in September. “These numbers are lower than I believe anyone could have anticipated,” he added, noting that there are more than 3,000 school buildings statewide.

The virus is spreading increasingly quickly in New Jersey, however, state data show. More than 3,500 additional diagnoses were reported Thursday and nearly 267,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported since March, including almost 16,500 likely fatalities. Close to 39,000 people have been hospitalized as a result of the virus.

Earlier this week, Murphy announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants — requiring indoor dining to end by 10 p.m. — and on Thursday, he said counties and municipalities could impose earlier closing times on nonessential businesses, if needed. He also took steps to ban interstate youth sports, which public health officials said have been connected — sometimes indirectly — to a growing number of outbreaks. The governor reiterated his pleas to wear a mask, maintain social distance and take other measures to reduce community spread of the virus.

“This is a wake-up call. We need your help,” state health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Thursday, pointing to the escalating daily case count. “If we are lax, if we continue on this trajectory, our state will return to the situation we were in last spring.”

When the coronavirus initially peaked in New Jersey, in April, daily case counts occasionally topped 4,000 new diagnoses, and hospitals were nearly overwhelmed. All schools were operating under remote learning and all but essential businesses were allowed to open.

Murphy: ‘All options remain on the table’

Now case counts are rising quickly, and hospitals are beginning to fill up again, with some being forced to divert emergency patients temporarily as a result of staff or space shortages. Businesses are operating under severe restrictions. All but 162 school districts are hosting students and teachers in the classroom at least a few days a week, according to new state figures, which appear to have changed little since last week. (Some 97 districts are now operating entirely in person, Murphy said, with the rest using a hybrid model or a mix of in-person and online education, depending on the school.)

While schools may not be the nexus of spread, youth sports do appear to be exacerbating the virus’ transmission, according to figures Persichilli shared Thursday. At least 14 outbreaks, leading to 70 cases, were connected to youth hockey events in seven counties, she said, and one-third of the cases that could be tracked back to an incident during October were linked to sports teams.

Given these dynamics, Murphy said shifting to online learning preemptively was not necessary at this time. But he said Thursday, “all options remain on the table.”

Suspending in-person instruction

Bozza of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, who has been outspoken before about the ambiguity in the Murphy administration’s school guidance, said he thinks a statewide move to suspend in-person instruction should be considered. “Schools are losing more staff still,” he said. “The anxiety is growing, and if the governor sent that message [to close schools through December], I think it would be welcomed, quite frankly.”

But the governor’s strategy made sense to Chuck Sampson, superintendent of the Freehold Regional High School district, which includes roughly 10,600 students. While there have been close to 60 cases diagnosed among pupils, teachers and staff since September, Sampson said none of these have been traced back to in-school infections.

“I agree with him 100%,” Sampson said of Murphy’s approach. “I truly think my schools are the safest place to be,” he said, citing the strict protocols in place for masking and social-distancing and the modern air-circulation systems in the district’s facilities.

“It would be heartbreaking to me to have to close our schools on a larger (statewide) order because I think it would be at the expense of the children who are school-dependent,” including students with limited English skills or learning challenges, Sampson said.

— John Mooney contributed to this story.

 

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COVID-19 ‘Second Wave’ Hits NJ, Cases Likely to Surge Over Next Three Months

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Governor, health commissioner call on first-line defenders to be ready, urge residents not to ease off on proven precautions like masks, social distancing

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

The “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t just hit New Jersey, its impact on the state and its health care systems is predicted to intensify for at least another three months before it starts to recede, state officials warned.

New Jersey health commissioner Judy Persichilli said Monday that “very preliminary” modeling suggests increasing case counts and hospitalization numbers will keep growing “into the first quarter of next year” before the effects of the virus begin to recede once again.

The number of new cases reported daily has now topped 1,000 for two weeks, Persichilli said, and while hospitals are not yet overwhelmed, their patient load is rising quickly. In addition, a greater percentage of individuals need critical care or ventilators, when compared with recent weeks, she noted.

“We’ve been here before — those difficult days in March and April. Back then all of you did the hard work to bring down our case numbers. You took personal responsibility,” Persichilli said at a media briefing with Gov. Phil Murphy and other state officials.

Follow public health guidelines

The health commissioner urged New Jerseyans to continue to follow the public health guidelines, wearing masks and socially distancing, washing hands, using sanitizer and staying home when sick. “You have done this all before and I know you can do it again,” she said Monday.

The news follows Murphy’s dire warning late last week that the “second wave of the coronavirus is no longer something off in the future. It is coming, and it is coming now.” Another 1,379 new cases were announced Monday, following a weekend that brought more than 3,000 diagnoses. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is up and those patients appear to have more serious infections.

Since March, nearly 241,000 COVID-19 cases have been identified in New Jersey, including at least 16,350 likely fatalities.

Murphy also reiterated the need for personal infection-control measures Monday.

Flatten the curve — again

“It’s not like we’re going to have to do this forever and always,” he said, reiterating the expectation that a potential vaccine is being developed, “but it’s up to us to bend the curve just like we did last time.”

Epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera, a professor of public health at Montclair State University, also noted the velocity of the rise in new COVID-19 diagnoses is a cause for concern. “These numbers are certainly increasing in the wrong direction,” she said.

Silvera said the hope is that the existing restrictions can control the growth so that new coronavirus cases do not overwhelm the state’s capacity to test people and track and contain the spread through contact tracing. And while clinical treatments have improved, she said it is also important to prevent the state’s health care system from becoming overburdened.

If that happens, Silvera said, “we get to a point where we can’t use a scalpel anymore” to adjust public restrictions. “You have to use a sledgehammer, and nobody wants that,” she added.

Murphy has insisted for several weeks that private-home events are fueling the recent growth in cases, not in-person education, indoor dining or other businesses now operating at limited capacity. “It’s the gatherings that are not capacity-limited that are beyond our control, or at least beyond our realistic control, that we worry about,” Murphy reiterated Monday, noting holiday parties and getting together to watch football are prime examples of gatherings residents must avoid.

Scaling back Thanksgiving

“Now that we’re in November, I know everyone is starting to think of Thanksgiving. We’ll have much more to say on this over the coming weeks but, again, this is an uncommon year and this won’t be the year for traveling to large family gatherings,” Murphy said Monday. “This is the year to gather around a smaller table so we can hope to be able to gather around a bigger one next year.”

When it comes to health care resources, last week Murphy detailed how the state has stockpiled critical supplies like personal protection equipment, or PPE, the masks and gowns that help reduce the spread of disease. The state has distributed 82 million pieces of this gear to local health departments and health care providers since March, Murphy said, and millions of additional items are being stockpiled for the future.

In addition, Murphy said the state would soon have 2,100 contact tracers working with local health departments to reach out to individuals who test positive and track down and warn those whom they may have exposed. Between public and private labs, some 33,000 COVID-19 tests are being conducted daily, he said, a figure that could double if the new rapid nasal-swab tests promised by the federal government are initiated in coming months.

The rising coronavirus case numbers are one concern, but government officials and health care leaders are also wary of what this will mean for hospitals and health care providers. COVID-19 admissions have been rising at increasing rates in recent weeks — after reaching a low point in mid-September — and have now topped 1,000 statewide for seven days, according to state data.

Enough hospital beds?

Persichilli did not share numerical details from the state’s predictions Monday, but modeling by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation indicates that demand for hospital beds could in fact outpace the state’s current supply of nearly 8,000 spots. Retrofitted acute-care facilities that were set up but not used during the first wave can be readied if needed, state officials have said.

At University Hospital in Newark, which was caring for some 300 COVID-19 patients at the peak last spring, coronavirus cases started as a “trickle” a few weeks ago, but are now growing exponentially, according to president and CEO Dr. Shereef Elnahal, a former state health commissioner. Ten cases three weeks ago became 20 last week and now the facility is caring for nearly 30 people with the virus, he said.

“At our worst” University was admitting 10 to 20 patients daily, Elnahal told NJ Spotlight News last week, “a continuous churn of very sick patients with the virus. We’re not seeing that yet, but it’s cause for alarm.”

On Monday, Persichilli noted another cause for concern: a growing percentage of hospitalized patients needed more intense services, including artificial ventilation, a treatment that can have serious side effects. On Monday, 100 of the 212 critical-care patients were on ventilators, state figures show.

 

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Small Parties, Family Gatherings Driving Up COVID-19 Case Count

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With daily diagnoses at levels not seen since early summer, administration says it has to count on honor system to ensure compliance in small groups

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

Gov. Phil Murphy and state public health officials are concerned about a rapid rise in new COVID-19 cases in New Jersey — where daily diagnoses are now at levels not seen since late May — but said the problem is to some degree beyond their control.

Despite the reopening of schools, restaurants and other businesses in recent months, and an outbreak linked to the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, state officials said Monday that much of the coronavirus spread they now see is fueled by small, private house parties and family gatherings.

“While these numbers are a far cry from where we were at our spring peaks, they are also significantly higher than where we were for much of the summer and until just a few weeks ago,” Murphy said at his regular media briefing Monday. “The capacities that we believe are contributing to the bulk of the (new) cases are those gatherings that are beyond our ability to regulate and properly enforce,” he said.

Little things still count big with COVID-19

Murphy and state Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli reiterated the critical importance of basic infection control — washing hands, keeping distance, wearing masks — and urged the public to continue to be vigilant about protecting themselves against the virus, especially as cold weather forces people to spend more time inside, where it can spread more easily.

“It is understandable that residents want life to go back to normal,” Persichilli said, urging the public instead to “double down” on these protections. “The trajectory of the next few months will be determined by all of us now and in the coming weeks (and) our behavior will be critical in shaping how our holidays will be celebrated. Now is not the time to let your guard down. The virus has not stopped circulating,” she said.

New Jersey officials announced another nearly 1,200 COVID-19 diagnoses on Monday, following the addition of almost 1,300 cases on Sunday — the first time since late May that the state has recorded two days in a row with more than 1,000 new cases. Persichilli said daily new cases had remained below 300 or so all summer, but began to tick up rapidly in mid-September — similar to trends nationwide. In all, more than 221,200 state residents have been infected with the virus since March, including at least 14,425 who have died.

What is driving the new cases?

The state has invested heavily in expanding its contact-tracing corps and now has some 1,900 public health officials — nearly double the initial workforce — deployed around the state to track down individuals who test positive for COVID-19, identify who else they may have infected and reach out to those people, warning them to take precautions. New Jersey reports more data from the contact tracers’ work than many other states but has in the past declined to make public information on the places or locations associated with an outbreak.

However on Monday Persichilli shared some of these details, announcing that an analysis of 118 outbreaks tracked between March and October linked 16% of the identified cases to private gatherings — the largest percentage of location-associated cases, other than diagnoses connected to health care facilities, group living settings like nursing homes, and schools. She said 13% of cases were tied to daycare facilities and another 13% occurred among farmworkers.

“While we have seen hotspots in Ocean County (which includes Lakewood) and at our universities, overall we are seeing more widespread cases throughout the state due to community spread and not any single event or reopening step,” Persichilli said. DOH officials declined to say where they obtained the location-related case data.

What’s the state’s response?

Murphy suggested that there was little more the state could do to regulate the private gatherings that appear to be the source of the recent spread. The lockdown New Jersey put in place in March has been gradually eased, starting in late May, and most businesses can now operate at some limited capacity.

The state has also put basic restrictions on private homes, while encouraging residents to opt for outdoor events and wear masks when within 6 feet of one another other. Indoor gatherings, including those at private residences, are now limited to 25 people; funerals, weddings and memorials can include up to 150 people, or 25% of the building’s capacity, whichever is less. But enforcement options are limited, so compliance depends largely on the honor system, officials concede.

Persichilli said her team is closely watching the data reports, including the weekly COVID-19 activity reports that help indicate how rapidly the virus is spreading in six separate regions. Last week the entire map was tinted bright yellow, indicating moderate spread statewide for the first time. “We look at that every week and will continue to look at it,” she said Monday. “If it moves into the red (indicating high spread), what I think we will do is increase testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine.”

The DOH dispatched at least 20 additional contact tracers to help officials in Ocean County track and contain the spread in Lakewood and other communities and sent thousands of additional COVID-19 test kits to the area. On Monday, Persichilli said 212 more contact tracers would be dispatched to hard-hit regions in the next two weeks, although additional details were not immediately available.

What about rolling back the reopening?

Murphy faced multiple questions Monday from reporters wondering if he intended to shut down schools, indoor dining or other activities, in response to the rising COVID-19 diagnoses. He called the new case numbers “sobering” with “hot spots … all up and down the state” and said he regularly speaks with industry groups about how to limit exposure but insisted rolling back the economic restart was not necessary.

“We don’t have any evidence per se that indoor dining is contributing to this,” Murphy said, instead urging people to “stay strong” in their ongoing efforts to control the spread of infection. “This is in our midst. And it certainly errs on the side of indoor, private activity,” he said.

 

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New Proposed New Jersey Budget Features Baby Savings Bonds

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Governor Phil Murphy today released his revised budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 (FY 2021) including savings bonds for select newborns, cuts across state government, increased taxes, emergency borrowing, and additional plans to invest federal funding received to date to help close a nearly $6 billion budget hole as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Besides setting off an unprecedented public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic also unleashed an economic crisis that can only be rivaled by two other times in our state’s entire 244-year history: the Great Depression and the Civil War,” said Governor Murphy. “Over the past few months, we have learned hard lessons but also important lessons: that the old answers won’t fix the new problems, and that the old status quo didn’t work for too many New Jerseyans. We must now have the unavoidable conversation about what it means to not only see our state through this emergency but what we will look like when we emerge from it.”

“This budget proposal is not simply about getting New Jersey back to where it used to be but moving forward to where we need to be by building a new economy that grows our middle class and works for every single family while asking the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share in taxes,” said Governor Murphy.

The revised budget was proposed six months to the day after the Governor originally laid out his FY 2021 budget proposal.  Since then, COVID-19 has ravaged New Jersey from both a public health and an economic standpoint, prompting the state to move important April tax filing deadlines to July and extend the fiscal year from the traditional June 30 ending to September 30. As a result, the revised budget unveiled today addresses spending for only the nine-month period from October 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

For the traditional 12-month fiscal year, decreased revenue collections left the state facing a $5.7 billion shortfall over what was projected during the Governor’s Budget Message (GBM) in February. The Governor’s proposed budget relies on a series of solutions to help close this gap and protect many shared priorities. As a result, the Governor’s revised budget overwhelmingly preserves many core state programs:

  • It does not cut K-12 aid, post-secondary tuition assistance, or operating aid for senior public colleges and universities;
  • It restores funding for the Homestead Benefit and Senior Freeze property tax relief programs and does not decrease core municipal aid; and
  • It does not impose new burdens on Medicaid recipients or curb the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC).

The Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted low income communities and communities of color. The Governor’s budget recognizes those impacts and protects core programs to aid those communities in their recovery. The revised budget proposal also includes targeted growth to address long-standing disparities and ensure that the recovery includes all New Jerseyans.

Notably, the budget includes a new proposal advanced at the federal level by Senator Cory Booker and prominent economists to launch a statewide “baby bonds” initiative. This program would provide a $1,000 savings bond for the approximately 72,000 infants born in 2021 into families whose income is less than 500 percent of the federal poverty level, or $131,000 for a family of four. When these residents turn 18, they can withdraw these funds to help them pursue higher education, buy a home, start a business, or pursue other wealth-generating activities. This will assist three of four children born in New Jersey.

In addition, the budget calls for an investment of $60 million into the Clean Water and Drinking Water programs to ensure safe and modern water infrastructure statewide and it increases the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to 40 percent while proposing to expand EITC eligibility to assist tens of thousands more young adults.

The budget also includes a nearly $4.9 billion contribution to bolster the state pension system, which equals 80 percent of the Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) and represents the largest percentage of the ADC contributed in 25 years.  Additionally, it includes a robust $2.2 billion surplus, which represents 5.59 percent of appropriations over the 12-month period.  The Governor is committed to maintaining this surplus to address the very real possibility of another shutdown due to a resurgence of the novel coronavirus.

The Administration was able to protect these priorities, in part, by tightening state spending while making sure budget cuts were targeted and not draconian in nature in order to avoid the same pitfalls that stymied recovery during the Great Recession. Governor Murphy’s revised budget proposal includes $1.25 billion in spending reductions across all executive state departments including: Medicaid solutions proposed by DHS totaling $336 million; DOC’s inmate population management initiative and other reductions totaling $59 million; and $66 million in solutions proposed by DCF, which will help fund the increased investment in the Children’s System of Care.

In order to curtail painful budget cuts and limit the size of emergency borrowing, the Governor is also proposing a variety of progressive tax policy changes that are estimated to yield just over a billion dollars for the nine-month FY 2021 period including:

  • Imposing the millionaire’s tax on all income above $1 million;
  • Permanently incorporating the 2.5 percent corporation surcharge;
  • Restoring the sales tax on limousines;
  • Removing the tax cap on boats; and
  • Applying a 5 percent surcharge to high-income individuals with federally Qualified Business Income (QBI) who have benefited from a regressive new deduction for pass-through entities created under the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The Governor remains committed to tax fairness and ensuring that most fortunate among us—millionaires and large corporations—pay their fair share.

The proposed budget also includes $4 billion in borrowing to help address the massive economic fallout created by COVID-19 and better position the state to weather future public health and economic uncertainties. The proposed loan amount must first be approved by the legislative Select Commission on Emergency COVID-19 Borrowing.

Additionally, the Governor’s revised budget proposal details the major recovery efforts the Murphy Administration has launched using a combination of federal and state funds.

Additional details on spending plans for the full $2.39 billion in aid from the Coronavirus Relief Fund as well as the other components of the governor’s revised FY 2021 budget proposal may be found online here.For a one-page summary of the governor’s budget proposal, please click here.

For other coverage of the state’s economic recovery from Covid-19, click here.

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As Key Coronavirus Stat Rises, NJ Limits Indoor Gatherings

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Gov. Phil Murphy points finger at massive house parties as reason for growing coronavirus infection rate

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

Concern about the rising spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey has led state officials to reinstate earlier limits on indoor gatherings, reducing the cap to 25 people from the 100-person maximum established in June.

Other restrictions are under consideration as well, they warned, if trends don’t improve.

Gov. Phil Murphy said that while some data continues to head in the right direction — hospitalizations and ventilator use are still on the decline, for example — New Jersey is experiencing what he has called a troubling rise in its RT, or rate of transmission. On Monday Murphy said the rate, which indicates how many people are likely to be infected by a single person, now stands at 1.48, roughly twice the level it was in early June.

As a result, Murphy signed an executive order limiting indoor gatherings to a maximum of 25 people, or 25% of capacity, whichever is less; events were previously capped at 100 people or 25% of capacity. The governor said weddings, funerals, religious services and political activities are exempt from the latest change, allowing them to include up to 100 participants.

“I’m exercising this option not out of joy, but out of necessity,” Murphy said. “To be clear, this caps indoor house parties at 25 people, period,” he said.

Knocking ‘knuckleheads’

Murphy has railed against reports of massive house parties — including events in Jackson and on Long Beach Island now linked to nearly 100 COVID-19 cases — which he said endanger police tasked with breaking them up and exacerbate community spread of the novel coronavirus. He blamed the new indoor-gathering limits on the actions of a few “knuckleheads” in private homes, but also reiterated the need for businesses to play within the current rules, which allow for dining outdoors or inside if two of the four walls can open entirely. Full indoor dining, once slated to reopen in early July, remains on pause.

“The only way we can get to where we want to be with indoor activities is if everyone plays by the rules and no one tries to make end-runs around them,” the governor said. “This is not a game. This is about public health and safety.”

More than 182,600 New Jerseyans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March, including roughly 14,000 — and likely close to 16,000 — individuals who have died from the disease. “Everyone needs to get it together, folks, and fast. This is not past us yet,” Murphy said.

“I know we all want life to return to normal, but COVID-19 is still circulating and now is not the time to be complacent,” said state Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli. She reminded the public to limit the time spent with those outside their household, maintain at least two arms-length of space, chose outdoor activities, always wear a mask when possible and wash their hands repeatedly. Mask use is required outside when individuals cannot maintain at least 6 feet of distance.

Growing pressure to reopen

Murphy has faced growing pressure from business groups, Republican officials and even members of his Democratic Party to reopen additional aspects of the economy, including restaurants, many of which have suffered significant economic losses under the months-long closure prompted by the pandemic. There is also pressure from some officials, like President Donald Trump, to reopen schools in roughly five weeks, something Murphy has generally supported. But the move is prompting a rising tide of questions about safety and logistics.

On Monday Murphy said he would also issue an order clarifying the state’s guidelines about the use of face coverings in school. Essentially, they will be required at all times — except during meals or water breaks — unless the student has disabilities or health issues that prevent mask wearing. “We know that face coverings work, and we will now ensure everyone in school buildings will wear one,” Murphy said.

In order to continue reopening the state’s economic sector, a process originally outlined in April, Murphy said Monday that he’d like to see a faster turnaround time on coronavirus test results, which now take close to a week, and better participation in the state’s online screening process for travelers from state’s with high levels of coronavirus.

In June New Jersey joined New York and Connecticut to order out-of-state visitors — or local residents returning — from states with a certain level of COVID-19 transmission — to quarantine for 14 days; at least three-dozen states are now affected. The three states also created an online form to help identify and track travelers, but in New Jersey participation has depended on individual cooperation.

Persichilli said Monday that fewer than one in 10 of the travelers who should be filling out the online form detailing their quarantine plans are currently participating. Uptake is “not as high as we wanted it to be,” Persichilli added, “so we’re working on the public awareness aspects of that.”

In addition, doing away with other restrictions would require that the RT decline and remain under 1 for close to a week, Murphy said, and the positivity rate — or percentage of positive tests, now at 1.88 — to stick to its current low range.

“If the rate of transmission remains in this neighborhood (of 1.48) for a prolonged period of time, my guess is that leaves us to take more action” to roll back or further delay reopening, he said. “I can’t tell you today what that action would be,” he added, but he said it would likely initially involve more aggressive enforcement of the current restrictions.

 

Header: Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash

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Fine Print: Virtual Back-to-School Checklist

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State guidance defines what’s needed for families to stay all-virtual when school starts in September

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

Title: “Clarifying Expectations Regarding Fulltime Remote Learning Options for Families in 2020-2021”

Author: New Jersey Department of Education, sent to all public school districts and charter schools

Date: Friday, July 24, 2020

What is it: The new guidance for the all-remote option was added last week to the state’s existing guidance for what schools needed to do to physically reopen schools in September. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues – even at relative stable levels in New Jersey – schools are facing pressures from families who want to be allowed to stay at home with remote instruction if they so choose. This three-page supplement is the state’s rules for that option, including requirements for specific online learning plans, request procedures and communications.

What it means: The guidance was released several days after Gov. Phil Murphy announced that families would be allowed to stay all-remote if they so choose. He had initially said that schools would need to provide at least some in-school instruction for all students. This latest guidance was inevitable. But it also speaks to the near-certainty of still more guidance and changes coming in what has been a fluid situation, to say the least.

Flexibility key: Murphy said on Friday in releasing the guidance that districts will be afforded wide flexibility in how they want to address each need.

Quote: “We have heard from numerous parents and families who have asked for this, and we have heard them loud and clear. Our top priority is keeping students, their families and educators safe. And to do that, flexibility, local decision making and empowering parents and educators are all critical,” Murphy said.

On the ground: As many as a third of New Jersey families have said in polling and surveys that they may opt to stay home as schools reopen. About 18% of surveyed parents in the Freehold Regional district said so even before this new guidance came out. Superintendent Charles Sampson said now districts can plan for it. “I’m sure every district at this time is working with their families on how they will do this. That is a good chunk of families.”

Six key pillars:

  • “Unconditional eligibility” for full-time remote learning: Any family can opt for all-remote instruction, regardless of medical condition.
  • Procedures for submitting requests: Minimum requirements will be in place for submitting a request to a district, including the span of time being requested and plan for transition to full in-person.
  • Scope and expectations of remote schooling: The guidance says “any student participating in the board’s fulltime remote learning option must be afforded the same quality and scope of instruction and other educational services as any other student otherwise participating in district programs.” That includes the length and time of instruction, equal access to materials, and a multitude of other schooling components.
  • Procedures to transition to in-school: A minimum amount of time for remote instruction will need to be defined by the family and district before being able to transition back to in-school. The process also includes specific services that would transition back.
  • Data collection: Districts will be required to collect data on their remote instruction option, who is using it and how it is implemented. The required categories include the number of students participating in full-time remote learning by each of the following subgroups: economically disadvantaged; major racial and ethnic groups; students with disabilities; and English learners.
  • Communication: The districts will be required to develop full communications programs that will inform all families of their options, including in all home languages of the district. The communications must include the full scope and expectations of the instruction, procedures for making requests and transition planning.

What’s not answered: Basically leaving it up to districts, the new guidance does not detail next steps in how districts will develop remote programs for students who request it. The districts’ plans are due to the state and then the public within four weeks of the opening of school, basically early August.

Teachers, too: The latest guidance does not speak at all to teachers and other employees who may seek a remote option as well. The administration has said that would be left to local personnel decisions and collective bargaining.

Quote: “The health and safety of our educational communities is paramount, and with this guidance we are providing districts with even greater flexibility to ensure that they can meet this need,” Murphy said. “We are not mandating any one specific way to move forward.”

Digital divide: District-by-district counts remain elusive, but state officials continue to say that as many as 230,000 students statewide – a sixth of the state’s total enrollment – do not have the necessary tools to take advantage of remote instruction. Murphy last week announced an additional $50 million in federal relief, but that is half of the need by officials own count.

What’s next: The Legislature has continued to press for a host of issues related to schools reopening, with some leading lawmakers calling for the start of school to be pushed back so districts can better prepare. Short of that, the districts’ plans will be coming out over the next two weeks, previewing what the fall will look like.

 

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Governor Phil Murphy

New Jersey Has Spent Only a Fraction of $2.4B Federal COVID-19 Aid, Legislative Sources Say

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It’s difficult to follow the money, but evidence is that Murphy administration has used less than 3% of state’s allotment

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.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

While Gov. Phil Murphy complained Wednesday about the latest federal stimulus proposal from Senate Republicans and its lack of funding for states, New Jersey has spent less than 3% of the almost $2.4 billion it has received from the federal government to cover general needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Wednesday, the state had spent $229 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), the federal assistance giving states and local governments the most flexibility to use the money to offset impacts from the novel coronavirus, and allocated another $51 million for spending, according to legislative sources. That leaves almost 97.7% untouched about four months after the state learned how much it would receive.

The state treasurer’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the spending figures.

Last week, Murphy signed a bill that allows the state to borrow up $9.9 billion to cover what he and sponsors say are emergency costs associated with the coronavirus crisis. But speaking on the floor of the state Senate as that house debated the borrowing bill, Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-Morris) said, “$2.1 billion of federal CARES Act block grant money sits in treasury accounts today.”

Republicans and some Democrats, as well as numerous groups — including those representing immigrants, businesses and counties — have been calling on the governor to spend this money, and soon, because there are so many needs throughout the state.

“That money should have been out on the street as soon as we got it,” said Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Sussex), the Assembly Republicans’ budget officer. “I actually think he is hoarding that money.” Murphy disputed that during a briefing on the viral pandemic last Friday.

Murphy: State still needs guidance from the feds

“The extent to which money is spent is overwhelmingly due to … still needing guidance from the feds on how we can spend it,” he said. “All federal money comes with very strict regulations, and there’s approval processes … We don’t know if any additional federal money is coming.”

The U.S. Treasury department has issued guidance about how funds from the CRF, which was part of the major stimulus bill known as the CARES Act, can be spent. In brief, the money can be used to cover necessary expenditures due to the pandemic that were not already budgeted for and incurred between March 1 and Dec. 30, 2020. The guidance provides examples of permissible spending — such as for coronavirus testing and telemedicine, disinfection and quarantining, and grants to businesses and to county and local governments.

In remarks at his media briefing Wednesday, Murphy said the state received some “flexibility” in spending the $2.4 billion after fighting with the Trump administration for that. But he complained the latest proposal from U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) for a new stimulus bill would allow “zero flexibility” and that New Jersey and other states need more financial help.

“What New Jersey has gotten back is a drop in the bucket compared to our needs,” Murphy said. “Moreover, you would be hard-pressed to find a state that would say differently.”

The state has so far received a total of $5.3 billion from close to 50 separate federal relief programs, a majority of which is earmarked for specific purposes such as K-12 school reimbursements and emergency food assistance. Included in that total is the almost $2.4 billion CRF money from the CARES Act that the state has some leeway in spending.

CRF money was distributed to states and to county and local governments based on population. All government entities with a population of at least 500,000 were eligible for funding. In addition to the $2.39 billion the state received, nine counties — Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic and Union counties — shared another $1.05 billion.

Republican criticism

Some Republicans say they think Murphy is holding tight to that money in the hope a change of heart from the Trump administration will allow him to spend it to make up for lost revenues in the current and next budgets. Although Murphy and other governors have said this is where they most need the money, such spending is expressly prohibited by federal guidelines.

“Funds may not be used to fill shortfalls in government revenue to cover expenditures that would not otherwise qualify under the statute,” according to U.S. Department of the Treasury guidance.

“I think he is just hoping to be able to use that money for the budget,” Wirths said.

A report last month from S&P Global Ratings suggested another reason why the administration may not have spent much CARES Act funding: “This money does not provide state budget relief as it can only be spent for additional coronavirus related expenditures and must be completely spent by Dec. 31, 2020. However, as these funds can be held in the state general fund, they can be co-mingled with other investments and will have the effect of improving cash liquidity, at least until December.”

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has passed legislation, known as the HEROES Act, that would provide money to help states ($500 billion) and localities ($375 billion) to close budget gaps. But the Republican-controlled Senate has refused to take up the measure. McConnell discussed his plan for a new stimulus bill earlier this week and while he said it has money for individuals, businesses and schools, it does not have general aid for states.

With restrictions on spending CRF money well-known, lawmakers and various organizations continue to call on Murphy to spend the money.

“The money in that treasury account needs to be put out on the street to do exactly what it was designed to do: Help small businesses and the hospitality industry,” Bucco said of the $2.11 billion in unspent CARES Act funds.

Relief for restaurants proposed

Bucco is a co-sponsor, along with Sen. President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and others, of a bill (S-2704), introduced last Thursday, that would spend $30 million of CARES Act funding to provide relief to restaurants that had geared up to open indoor dining July 2 only to have Murphy change his mind a few days beforehand and keep indoor dining shut.

Bucco said he hears every day from business and restaurant owners who say they are in dire financial straits and may not be able to survive without help from the state.

Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) wrote to Murphy and the leaders of both houses of the Legislature in May asking them to use some of the federal stimulus funds to provide “hazard pay bonuses” for essential workers, including grocery store cashiers, chefs, health care workers and others.

“I hope that you will agree that these frontline workers are absolutely deserving of recognition that goes beyond the symbols of community gratitude already shown to them — thank you signs, drive-by parades, and donated meals,” Singleton wrote. “While these gestures are undoubtedly appreciated and significant, the state of New Jersey should properly compensate these heroes financially for their courageous efforts and provide them with a hazard pay bonus.”

Murphy has not been receptive to legislative requests for additional spending related to COVID-19. Since early May, he has vetoed six measures that sought to provide more than $245 million to such diverse interests as the unemployed, health care facilities, food banks, hospitality businesses and renters. In some cases, he said the relief was duplicative of other programs; in others, he said the state could not afford the expenditure.

The New Jersey Association of Counties has been pleading with the governor for months to use CARES Act funds to reimburse the dozen counties that received no direct help from the federal government for the millions they have spent responding to the pandemic. Counties with populations of more than 500,000 got direct federal assistance for testing, personal protective equipment, disinfecting county facilities, collecting and sharing public health data, providing shelter and many other purposes.

Counties clamor for assistance

“Although the United States Department of Treasury authorized states to provide much needed relief for local governing bodies that did not meet the above noted population threshold, the State of New Jersey has yet to release any CRF monies for COVID-19 related expenses,” wrote John Donnadio, the association’s executive director, in a July 10 letter to Murphy. “NJAC is once again urging Governor Murphy to release this critical funding in a timely manner to help alleviate the daunting fiscal burden imposed on local governing bodies and property taxpayers.”

A May 22 report from the state treasurer on the state’s finances contains a preliminary plan for spending CRF money. That includes $250 million to reimburse local and county governments for pandemic-related costs for which no other funding was available. It “may prioritize” giving money to the 12 counties that did not get any direct federal stimulus funding. But it is unclear when, or if, Murphy will make that money available: The introduction to the proposal notes that it is only a “framework” and could change.

It is hard to know exactly how the administration has spent any of the money it has gotten so far from the federal government to deal with the viral outbreak. The administration currently has no central source for income and spending data related to COVID-19, but Murphy announced on Friday plans to set up a website to “track” the progress of the new Governor’s Disaster Recovery Office, which will coordinate all recovery programs funded through federal sources.

An NJ Spotlight analysis of available public information — mostly press releases or contracts obtained through the state’s open records law — found that about $406 million has been spent to date on items ranging from a special voting app for the disabled ($89,000) to emergency food assistance to school children and families receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) support (at least $143 million as of early July). The total also includes money spent on personal protective equipment, lawyers and consultants and a database to assist with contact tracing. It is likely that the state has spent, or at least allocated, significantly more than that.

It is unclear whether some of this is being funded with CRF dollars or from other, earmarked grants.

As far as money coming specifically from the CRF is concerned, Murphy has so far announced two fairly large expenditures. Two months ago, he announced plans to spend $50 million for small business grants and loans. And last Thursday he said he will commit up to $50 million — along with another $10 million from funding targeted for school relief — to help schools improve internet connectivity and provide digital devices to all students who need them.

 

Header: Courtesy Governor Phil Murphy’s Facebook page

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