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Jersey City Times Staff

COVID-19 Variants Help Drive NJ Infection Rate to Highest in Nation

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Despite steadily mounting case load, Gov. Murphy defends loosening restrictions on size of outdoor gatherings, raising capacity limits on indoor and outdoor sports events

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 Jersey currently has the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections in the nation, likely fueled at least in part by the presence of large numbers of viral variants that state health officials are having a tough time quantifying due to the dearth of specialized testing.

Despite this, and the fact the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is characterizing the current level of community transmission in every New Jersey county as high, Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday expanded the numbers for limited types of gatherings. He increased the number who can gather outdoors to 200 and raised the capacity percentages at such large venues as sports arenas to 20% for all indoor facilities that seat at least 2,500 and 30% for outdoor venues. Both take effect Friday.

Murphy said he feels comfortable that these will still allow for appropriate social distancing and noted that all other indoor limits — for dining and businesses — remain.

“Yes, cases are rising. They’re up. Hospitalizations are up two (200) to 300 over the past week to 10 days,” Murphy said. “We predicted this, expected it. We did not change the overall indoor capacities so it’s still the gather limits are 25. The indoor dining, gyms and indoor entertainment are still at 50% and I suspect they’ll stay there. We did raise it on large venues …They’re doing an exceptional job and going to 20% does not come anywhere close to having people need to be within six feet of each other.”

According to the latest data from the CDC, New Jersey’s rate of coronavirus cases over the past week was 346 per 100,000 people. The only other state with a rate higher than 300 was Michigan, with 327 cases per 100,000. The total number of COVID cases reported by the state rose by 3,600 on Monday. A NJ Spotlight News analysis of case data shows that the total number of cases has increased by more than 31,000 since last Monday to a total of more than 900,000, or roughly 10% of the state’s population.

READ: Tracking cases of COVID-19 county by county in New Jersey

WATCH: Five hundred vaccinated at new FEMA Site during soft launch, 6,000 expected this week 

Finding reasons for NJ’s increased caseload

Murphy blamed the steady rise in cases since mid-February on several factors: the state’s population density, fatigue among the public to stay mainly at home, the prevalence of vaccine variants — some of which are more contagious or can cause more severe illness — and weather than has not allowed for widespread outdoor gatherings as in southern states. With the exception of Florida, the CDC’s map of recent case rates generally shows lower rates in the south and west than in the northeast.

Dr. Edward Lifschitz, medical director of the state Department of Health’s communicable disease service, said it is difficult to know exactly how many new cases — close to 31,000 over the past week, according to the CDC — are due to variants, because only about 2% of COVID samples are examined to determine variant strains. Still, he estimated that between 10% and 40% are likely due to the U.K. and New York variants. The U.K. variant has been named a variant “of concern” by the CDC because it is both easier to transmit and appears to be more deadly.

The state reported 671 cases of seven variants found in New Jersey as of Monday, 83% of which were the U.K. variant. While the overall numbers remain low, these strains are spreading rapidly in some spots. The number of variants reported rose by nearly one-third since last Wednesday in some locations, according to an analysis of state data.

Variants spread throughout NJ

The variants in New Jersey first emerged weeks ago, with the highest numbers in Ocean and Monmouth counties, and seven strains have since been identified with at least one case of some form in each of the 21 counties, the state data shows. Hudson, with six of the seven strains, was experiencing a rapid rise last week, but the quickest growth seems to have shifted since then to central and south Jersey. While total numbers are still low, cases with the U.K variant doubled since last Wednesday in Atlantic and Camden and grew 225% in Gloucester. Monmouth County saw a U.K. variant cases rise by one-quarter during that time, while reports of the New York variant grew 400%, from one to five cases.

With 132 cases, Ocean County has had by far the largest number as of Monday. But Lifschitz said it’s impossible to know if that is a true hotspot due to the lack of testing.

“We’re looking to increase the total amount of variant testing we’re doing at this point,” he said. “We are working to get that higher. We also want it to be more random, because the question came up as to whether Ocean really is having more variants or that it’s just being reported and at this point, I don’t have an exact answer because the testing isn’t random enough to get a good sense of that. We are hoping within the next couple of weeks we’re going to have a more widespread network that will give us better answers as far as these things go.”

Both the high case rate and the presence of variants underscore the need to get people immunized quickly. While some of the variants can spread more quickly than the original COVID-19 virus and research so far is limited, experts believe the existing vaccines are largely effective in preventing severe sickness and death in those exposed to mutations identified to date.

Murphy said the small scope of variant testing and its lack of randomness make it hard for the state to target Ocean or any other county with additional vaccine doses to try to prevent the continuing spread of variant cases.

State officials again did not provide data on the number of doses they are allocating to each county weekly. NJ Spotlight News has asked several times for this data during briefings and filed open public records requests with both the state Department of Health and governor’s office. The governor’s office deemed the request overly broad in denying it and referred us to the department of health. The DOH has not responded to our request.

Murphy said there is “no mystery associated with” vaccine allocations, but rather than quantifying the number of doses given to each county, state health commissioner Judith Persichilli said only that the “allocation by county varies every week, depending on how many doses we’re getting, and the allocation formula.” She repeated that the formula takes into account such criteria as equity, population, race and ethnicity, disease burden, deaths, social vulnerability of the population and how effective each county is at distributing its allocations.

Unexplained differences in vaccine rates

But there continue to be unexplained differences in the percentage of residents vaccinated by county. Cape May County, whose population is about 15% Black, Hispanic and Asian, has had an infection rate of nearly 9% and 209 deaths per 100,000 residents, leads all counties, with almost a quarter of its population fully vaccinated. Hudson County lags all counties in vaccinations, with little more than 10% of the population fully vaccinated, despite having a population that is 79% minority, an infection rate of close to 12% and 313 deaths per 100,000.

Murphy said the situation is going to continue to improve as the state continues to get more vaccine doses.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be opening a community vaccination center on the campus of the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark on Wednesday. This site is meant to serve vulnerable and medically underserved communities, including Newark, Paterson, Elizabeth and Hudson County, with up to 42,000 doses per week, although it will be open to anyone. These doses are in addition to the state’s allotment, with this week totals more than 490,000 doses, about 20% more than last week.

“This is a game changer,” Murphy said, adding he plans to visit the new FEMA site on Wednesday. “It’s not the only game changer, I mean, supplies are clearly going to go up.”

Overall, Murphy touted the state’s increasing vaccination numbers and rates, saying that the state has administered more than 4 million doses since mid-December and close to 1.5 million New Jerseyans have been fully vaccinated, meaning about two of every 10 adults has received full viral protection.

READ: After early stumbles state hotline delivers more vaccination appointments for seniors

WATCH: New study reveals how COVID-19 affects pregnancy

— Lilo H. Stainton contributed to this story.

 

Header: Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Virus Variants Rising in Hudson County, Murphy Promises Vaccine Help

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Pressure growing to get more vaccinated in county last in the state for immunizations

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 pledged Wednesday to improve the equity of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in New Jersey’s urban communities in response to criticism that Hudson County — whose diverse, closely packed communities were particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus — has not been receiving its fair share of the state’s shots.

Murphy’s comments came the day after U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) shared his “deep concern” that Hudson County residents do not have equitable access to the vaccines in a letter that cited several NJ Spotlight News reports, including a story posted last week on how Hudson had the lowest vaccination rate in New Jersey. With just 9% of its residents fully immunized, Hudson remains the only county with a single-digit vaccination rate, according to state data.

Home to coronavirus variants

Adding to the concern is the recent growth of coronavirus variants, which appear to be spreading quickly in some communities, including parts of Hudson and Essex counties, although testing is limited. Hudson County is home to six of the seven mutant strains identified so far in New Jersey. And while the numbers are still small, in Hudson cases involving the New York variant, jumped 60% since Monday alone, according to state data. Essex County is home to three variants.

“There’s no denying that we’re not where we want to be on equity” in vaccine distribution, Murphy said at his regular media briefing Wednesday, stressing that limited supply from federal sources remains a significant barrier. “We’re proud of the record we’ve got as far as getting shots in arms,” he added, “but as far as equity, this is a work in progress. But we will get there, period, full stop.”

Asked about the outreach from Menendez, Murphy said, “We take that letter very seriously,” adding that it echoed the message he was hearing from other urban leaders from both Hudson and Essex counties. “We’re not telling you we might — we will get to all corners, especially the hard-to-reach elements of our urban communities over the next period of time,” he said.

Unanswered questions about allocations

Murphy has insisted that his team works closely with leaders from all counties on vaccine allocation, but the state has declined multiple requests for a county-by-county breakdown of the shots distributed. The process is also complicated by the uncertain supply; state officials said they only learn one week in advance how many doses they will receive from federal sources and the number can shift by tens of thousands each week.

While equity has always been a factor in the state’s distribution process, New Jersey officials forged recent partnerships with churches and other community groups to do a better job getting COVID-19 vaccine to minority communities that have suffered an outsize burden during the pandemic. On Wednesday Murphy said they plan to expand these options as more vaccines become available and are also working to outfit a trio of vans that can serve as mobile immunization clinics that can be dispatched directly to at-risk communities.

While Black and Hispanic individuals are more likely than white New Jerseyans to be infected, hospitalized and die from the virus, they are being vaccinated at a slower pace. According to state tracking, less than 5% of the more than 3.6 million shots given since December have gone to Black people, just over 7% to Hispanics and more than 58% to whites.

Logistical difficulties

That data indicates the challenges involved with vaccinating people in Hudson County, which has the third-highest percentage of Black and Hispanic residents — after Essex and Passaic counties — a high concentration of poverty and more homes without cars than any other county. With many of the state’s immunization sites operating as drive-throughs, automobiles are considered an important factor in accessing shots. And the dense population makes the disease more likely to spread.

Given the demographics and the high COVID-19 incidence, Hudson County officials — egged on by growing public pressure, including several opinion pieces in the Jersey Journal — are now calling on Trenton to do more. Hudson County Commissioners have also prepared a resolution urging Murphy to “significantly increase” the vaccine supply and identify the “causes of the lagging vaccination rates” in the county, according to a draft obtained by NJ Spotlight News.

Since the first reported case in March 2020, nearly 878,000 COVID-19 diagnoses have been recorded in New Jersey, including more than 24,200 fatalities. Hudson has identified more than 77,000 cases — or nearly 11 per 1,000 residents, the second-highest rate after Passaic’s 124/1,000 — and more than 2,000 deaths.

State Department of Health commissioner Judy Persichilli described in detail the state’s vaccine allocation process Wednesday, noting “we look first at equity” — employing a formula designed to create parity in the distribution process — “and then we look at disease burden,” using death and hospitalization rates. The review also applies the “social vulnerability index,” a data tool that includes poverty rates, the racial mix of the community, access to automobiles and other factors, she said.

“Then we look at throughput — how many doses can each point of dispensing move through in a day. We don’t want to get them more then they can handle because the doses end up on a shelf,” Persichilli continued. “Lastly, we look at inventory,” assessing how many doses each clinic already has in stock for the coming weeks, she said. “And we do that for all 600 sites” that are part of New Jersey’s COVID-19 immunization program, Persichilli explained.

 

Header:  Photo by Daniel Schludi 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

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

Vaccination
Jersey City Times Staff

State Health Officials Call COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’

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Once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives its approval, which is expected Thursday, hospitals could begin vaccinating staff within 24 to 72 hours, Health Department officials said

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 health officials said they are confident that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, based on the information they have reviewed, and hope hospitals could start immunizing the most at-risk individuals within a few days of it receiving federal approval.

Gov. Phil Murphy had said the vaccine program would not begin without a state-level review of clinical trial data in addition to the national Food and Drug Administration approval. The FDA is scheduled to meet Thursday to determine if Pfizer’s vaccine should receive an emergency use authorization, which would enable coronavirus immunizations to begin nationwide.

On Monday, Murphy and Dr. Edward Lifshitz, director of the state Health Department’s communicable disease system, suggested this state review — which the governor has frequently likened to “kicking the tires” on the vaccine — is essentially complete. That means that once FDA approval is secured, hospitals could begin vaccinating staff within 24 to 72 hours, department officials said.

“Basically, (with) everything that we’ve seen so far, I have no reason to doubt that these vaccines would be safe and effective,” Lifshitz said.

The only problem, Lifshitz continued, is that not all of Pfizer’s trial data has been released. “Yes, I’d like to see that data when it is available, but I very much trust those career scientists (tasked with the federal review) that they’re looking at the same things I’d be looking at and if they say it’s safe to go ahead — and we should be hearing that this week — I fully expect that I would agree,” he added.

Safety concerns

State officials aim to inoculate 70% of eligible New Jerseyans, roughly 4.7 million people, by this time next year, if the vaccine is approved and shipped as expected.  But some people — including a percentage of health care workers — are concerned its rapid development has compromised safety, something most public health experts deny.

Major hospitals around New Jersey are prepared to receive the first batch of 76,000 Pfizer vaccines within a week, Murphy said Monday. The vaccines will be used to provide the first of two shots to a mix of health care workers at risk for the virus and long-term care residents. Another 76,000 doses needed to complete the two-course vaccine are expected to be shipped within three weeks, health officials said.

While state officials said the timeline for these shipments continues to evolve, Murphy said he anticipates New Jersey will have received between 300,000 and 500,000 doses by the end of December. That includes immunization kits from both Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccine product is slated for FDA review next week.

Murphy has repeatedly framed the arrival of the vaccine as a “light at the end of the tunnel” for COVID-19, but stressed the need to continue to wear masks, social distance and take other precautions until it is widely available, likely sometime this spring. Since March, coronavirus has infected nearly 371,600 New Jerseyans — including a record 6,000 new cases reported Sunday alone — and been tied to at least 17,300 deaths.

‘A lot of political noise’

With the federal vaccine approval, Murphy also noted that there was “a lot of political noise” surrounding the process in August and September but that has now ended. “That’s literally gone to ground zero for the past couple months and the professionals have been in charge of this, which is really gratifying,” he said Monday, adding he had “no qualms” about taking the shot himself, but didn’t want to jump ahead of those considered a priority.

Murphy didn’t name names, but President Trump himself has repeatedly tried to cast doubts on his government’s vaccine review process. Earlier in his remarks Monday, Murphy noted New Jersey had enjoyed “extraordinary cooperation and partnership” with the Trump administration and welcomed a smooth transition to working with the team being established by President-elect Joe Biden, with which state officials are also communicating.

“I know we will continue to have a good working relationship with (the Trump administration) over the next six weeks — and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank them for all they have done to help our state,” Murphy said, before reiterating his plea for additional federal funding to support local communities, small businesses and individuals who have lost jobs.

 

Header:  Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

COVID-19 Vaccine Coming as NJ Plans for Who Gets it First

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First doses on the way, but only enough for 76,000. Millions more will need the vaccine for it to be effective

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 New Jersey slated to receive its first 76,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine any day now, public health officials are finalizing their plans for immunizing priority groups, and hospitals are preparing to store and administer the serum.

This first shipment is expected to be followed by another 76,000 doses, since each person needs two doses of the vaccine, state health officials said Monday morning. That first shipment is slated to arrive in advance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s final decision on the Pfizer product, scheduled for Thursday, which could allow coronavirus immunizations to begin nationwide. The FDA intends to review a vaccine by Moderna the following week.

“We are ready for this moment,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday, noting the state is expecting rolling shipments and could have 300,000 to 500,000 doses on hand by the end of 2020. “The light on the other side of this pandemic is now becoming visible. This is a game-changer.”

Late Friday, the state Department of Health confirmed that those first in line for the vaccine will not only include the 650,000 first responders and health care workers most at risk, but also another 75,000 nursing home residents. While the state’s draft vaccine plan initially focused on health care and emergency professionals — both paid and unpaid, in all settings — that has evolved.

Prioritizing long-term care facilities

Early last week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged states to also consider prioritizing residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities as part of this first phase to be vaccinated. Long-term care providers, including the Health Care Association of New Jersey (HCANJ), also highlighted this recommendation.

“This announcement is great news to long term care providers and the residents they serve, and we are grateful for the hard work that the (CDC advisory committee) put into establishing a system by which those who are in the greatest danger of infection get earliest access to a vaccine,” said Dr. Stuart H. Shapiro, interim president and CEO of the HCANJ, a trade group that represents hundreds of the state’s long-term care facilities, in a statement distributed before the state made its decision public.

Long-term care residents are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their congregate living setting and the likely presence of other clinical risk factors, like advanced age and underlying conditions. Roughly 43% of the coronavirus-related deaths in New Jersey since March are connected to long-term care, according to state figures.

DOH submitted its draft vaccine plan to the CDC in October and was scheduled to provide them an updated version by the end of last week. Murphy said at his press briefing Friday that the state has “refined” the draft plan but did not provide details.

When will vaccines be administered?

Also unclear is how quickly any vaccines will be administered once FDA emergency approval is granted, even to those in the priority group. Murphy suggested Friday that additional batches of the Pfizer product could be shipped to New Jersey within 24 hours of this decision but the health department is also set to conduct its own review of the data submitted by the federal vaccine committee. It is not clear how long that will take.

DOH communications director Donna Leusner said Friday evening that the goal was to begin immunizations “as soon as possible.”

The vaccine program appears to be evolving on the federal level as well, based on Murphy’s reports of his weekly meetings with the Trump administration. In late November, Murphy said New Jersey anticipated an initial shipment of 130,000 doses — or enough to protect 65,000 residents — with at least 1 million doses to arrive by year’s end.

DOH Commissioner Judy Persichilli has set what she calls an ambitious goal of immunizing 70% of the state’s eligible population — about 4.7 million people — within six months of the COVID-19 vaccine being widely available, likely in late April or May. (It has not been tested in children, pregnant individuals or those with compromised immune systems.) Until then, Persichilli underscored the need to continue wearing masks, maintaining distance and taking other infection-control precautions.

“To be clear, the mere presence of a vaccine in our state does not mean that we can flip a light switch and remove all restrictions or lift every advisory. COVID isn’t going to simply vanish just because there are vaccine doses in a freezer waiting for distribution,” Murphy said Friday. “This is going to be more like a dimmer, and the light will get brighter and brighter over time. To get to full brightness will take months and it will take millions of New Jerseyans getting vaccinated,” he said.

Even with ample supply, challenges will remain

Even when the state has sufficient vaccine supply, the challenges are significant: At least one of the vaccines must be stored in extreme deep freezers that are not readily available, and distribution must be coordinated among thousands of public and private vaccination sites under the draft DOH plan. Plus, skepticism about the vaccine is widespread, even among health care providers.

To improve the distribution and tracking process, Murphy said Friday he would sign an order so that anyone who gets a COVID-19 vaccine would automatically have their results and other data included in an existing state immunization database, unless they choose to opt out of the system. In the past, most people getting immunized against the flu or other diseases had to opt in to be included.

“Let me be perfectly clear that this order does not force anyone to receive the vaccine,” Murphy said Friday, although he said the state would likely “strongly recommend it” based on the DOH final review. “We’re doing this for a simple reason — to ensure that those who choose to receive a vaccine get the most effective course in the most streamlined manner possible, on the proper timetable and without logistical or bureaucratic hurdles in the way.”

 

Header:  Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash

 

Jersey City Times Staff

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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Jersey City Times Staff

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.”

 

Header: Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

‘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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Jersey City Times Staff

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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