The Place for Jersey City News

Posts

Jersey City Times Staff

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

/in , , /by

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

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

/in , , , /by

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

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

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

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

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

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

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

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

Already looking to get more students back 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NJEA praises research-based findings

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Header:  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

education apple
Jersey City Times Staff

Stay Open, Go Remote or in Between? Murphy Argues for In-Person Instruction

/in , , /by

For now, he’s left it to locals to make the call. And more are saying ‘stay home’

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

Schools may prove Gov. Phil Murphy’s trickiest balancing act of the pandemic.

While the governor has been a forceful voice for restrictions on businesses and other activities, Murphy has pressed hard for schools to reopen as much as possible.

But in a strategy that some have contested, Murphy has left it to local districts to decide, and that has drawn a very mixed response from the state’s education leaders.

On Wednesday, Murphy announced the latest numbers, and in data released by his administration, districts are clearly leaning toward more remote instruction — no matter what Murphy says.

The state Department of Education’s breakdown showed an additional 82 districts and other public school systems have moved to all-remote in the past month. The number of districts staying with all in-person dropped slightly to just one in 10, and the number of districts using a hybrid model comprising both remote and in-person instruction fell by more than 70.

Now, nearly a third of the more than 800 districts, charter schools and special-needs schools surveyed are all-remote — including many of the state’s largest districts — and more than half are hybrid, the department said.

Find your district or county here.

Here’s the latest breakdown statewide:

  • 89 districts and charter schools are teaching an all in-person model, down from 97 in early November;
  • 438 are using a hybrid model, including both in-person and remote learning, down from 513;
  • 246 are using all-remote instruction, up from 164;
  • 38 are using a combination of remote in some schools and in-person in others.

Murphy at his press briefing Wednesday continued to push for in-person instruction and flipped the argument to point out that more than half of the districts are still providing at least some. He announced an additional four outbreaks in schools for a total of 70 statewide, affecting 285 students, a relatively small total considering the coronavirus spread in the thousands statewide.

“The fact that there are positive cases impacting our school communities is not news,” he said. “We knew as we entered the school year that students, faculty, or staff would contract coronavirus. And that has happened — but mostly through out-of-school activities.

“Overall, we have confidence that the protocols that are in place to protect against in-school transmissions are working as designed and as intended.”

Nevertheless, Murphy acknowledged that schools are sure to be relying on at least some remote instruction, and he cited dropping numbers of districts still faced by a shortage of technology. He said about 33,000 students are without the necessary devices or connectivity, a big drop from even the start of the school year.

“This has been real progress,” he said. “And those districts that still have unfulfilled needs cite mostly supply-chain or delivery delays as the reasons for their students not having everything they need … We continue to work diligently to close the remaining gap.”

 

Header: Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

State Reports Big Drop in All-Remote Learning for NJ Public Schools

/in , , , /by

Department of Education data shows continuing trend toward at least some in-person instruction

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

As a second surge of COVID-19 cases hits the state, New Jersey’s public schools are nevertheless continuing to shift toward at least some in-person instruction, according to the latest breakdown from the state.

The state Department of Education is reporting a significant drop in the last month of districts and other public schools going all-remote, with nearly a third moving instead to a hybrid model that includes both remote and in-person schooling.

Now, more than 500 of the 800 surveyed districts, charter schools and special needs schools are following the hybrid model, the department said.

Find your district or county here.

Here’s the latest breakdown:

  • 97 districts and charter schools are teaching with an all in-person model, up from 87 in mid-October;
  • 513 are using a hybrid model, including both in-person and remote learning, up from 437;
  • 164 are using all-remote instruction, down from 245;
  • 37 are using a combination of remote in some schools and in-person in others.

“We’ve certainly seen the number of hybrid plans increase and the number of remote plans decrease,” said Mike Yaple, the department’s spokesman.

“This is admirable progress toward the return to safe in-person instruction,” he said. “School districts and educators have shown great flexibility and ingenuity in switching from one learning model to another, depending on local circumstances and need. That is at the heart of New Jersey’s approach to reopening, and we expect that dynamic to continue.”

Yaple did not directly address the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations outside of schools, but said that the state would continue to track the data in providing guidance to schools.

“As with dining, retail and other matters that require in-person interaction, any move toward in-person instruction in schools will be driven by the data,” he said.

 

Header:  Photo by Maximilian Scheffler on Unsplash

 

Daniel Levin

Looming Budget Deficit and Reopening Dominate BOE Meeting

/in , , , /by

A looming budget deficit and the postponement of a reopening of schools took center stage during Thursday night’s monthly meeting of the Jersey City School Board.

Superintendent Franklin Walker presented his Superintendent’s Report, which dealt mainly with Covid-19’s impact on the district’s current $670 million budget. Walker forecast a $5-$10 million budget surplus due primarily to pandemic-related savings on overtime, on extra compensation and on goods. He said the district remains underfunded compared to New Jersey law, which calls for a $900 million budget for the 2021–22 school year. Instead he said next year the budget will be approximately $750 million and that he expects the district to have a $300 million deficit.

Walker attributed the anticipated $300 million shortfall to several factors including a $30 million cut in state aid. Revenues from the city’s payroll tax will offset some of the deficit. Walker alluded to unspecified cost-saving measures the district could take so as to not have to cut staff. Further information on the budget will be presented at the November school board meeting.

Addressing Walker’s presentation, Trustee Mussab Ali said, “Right now I don’t think it makes sense for us to make a promise like saying there will be no layoffs.” Trustee Marilyn Roman commented that she did not “know how they could possibly run the school district with any fewer people than we currently have in the classrooms” and that the city should be looking to Trenton for help with this area in particular.

Walker also discussed the district’s Covid-19 reopening plan. Given a recent statewide uptick in Covid-19 hospital admissions, given that four Jersey City teachers recently tested positive for the virus, and given difficulty securing enough teachers willing to teach in person for the immediate future, he recommended that all classes remain remote until at least the end of the second marketing period on February 2, 2020. The structure of those classes would not change before then.

There were 16 speakers for the public speaking session.

One parent of a student at PS 3, who opined that the pandemic will take months and months to abate, suggested Jersey City schools adopt a hybrid model. He said private schools have reopened with positive feedback from students and staff. Parent Catalina Perez agreed and brought up the difficulties that remote learning pose for single parents. Perez recommended a hybrid model to help working single parents whose friends and relatives may be able to babysit but don’t have WiFI. Calling upon the board to open the schools as soon as possible, she said the trustees had already had months to prepare. Crystal Thomas also spoke on behalf of parents who need to return to work.

Other parents lobbied for the alternative.

“Nancy,” a parent with students in first and fourth grades, asked the board to continue remote learning as long as necessary. Parent Brigid D’Souza echoed Nancy’s sentiments.  D’Souza also discussed budget matters. She described years of structural deficits, “systematically” underfunded schools and city real estate tax abatement policy that, she said, siphons money away from the schools.

Kristin Hopkins-Clegg, who has two children at PS 5 one with an IEP (individualized education plan), wanted to share positive experiences and provided examples.

Board president Lorenzo Richardson acknowledged the plight of single parents during the pandemic help and assured the public that he will address the matter with Mayor Fulop soon. He said that when the schools open, all students will not be able to return at once.

School Business Administrator Regina Robinson reported that the district received about $8.1 million from the federal CARES Act.

Melissa dos Santos and Elizabeth Iannitelli, who are Social Studies Supervisors in the Curriculum Department, made a presentation on the Armistad Mandate, a 2002 state law “to promote a wider implementation of educational awareness programs regarding the African slave trade, slavery in America, and the many contributions Africans have made to American society,” according to the Armistad Commission’s website. Dos Santos and Iannitelli said the city’s schools are indeed aligned with the mandate.

All of the agenda items to be voted on during the meeting including Walker’s recommendation that district classes remain remote were approved.

The next virtual Jersey City School Board meeting will be held Thursday, November 19, at 6 p.m.

For past coverage of Jersey City School Board meetings, please click here.

 

 

 

 

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Editorial: It’s Time to Bite the Bullet on School Reopening

/in , , , , /by

On Monday night School Superintendent Franklin Walker predicted that Jersey City schools would continue remote learning until February. Walker had previously targeted November for reopening. While some educators and parents are no doubt relieved by the news, we believe that Walker’s recommendation is a cop out.

According to the Jersey Journal, which covered Monday’s caucus meeting and later interviewed Walker, the superintendent explained, “We have had schools (in the state) that have gone to some hybrid structure, and they have had incidents where they had to close down. We certainly had a chance to learn from our neighbors and other areas that started school long before us, and the indication at this point and time is not to put ourselves in that situation.”

At first blush, Walker’s explanation seems to make sense. If school districts nearby have been unable to pull off a return to school, why would Jersey City be able to? Why not err on the side of caution?

Here are five counter arguments the Board of Education should consider:

1. There is evidence that virtual learning is having dire educational impacts. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has cited data showing a sharp drop in the number of the youngest students who are meeting literacy benchmarks. According to the Washington Post, D.C. Public Schools released data showing a decline of 22 percentage points in the number of kindergartners meeting literacy goals at the start of the school year compared to a year ago and a nine-percentage-point drop in students through second grade who are meeting these targets. There’s no reason to think that these numbers would be different in Jersey City.

2. Though many large cities in New Jersey are electing to stay with remote learning, other larger cities, including Chicago, Miami-Dade County, Houston, and San Diego are opting to resume classes in some form. New York City, a much larger and more complex school system, has managed to implement a partial reopening.

3. According to an article in The New York Times, experts believe that children are unlikely to stoke coronavirus outbreaks. Infection rates are particularly low at the elementary level. The Times quoted Dr. David Rubin, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think there’s a pretty good base of evidence now that schools can open safely in the presence of strong safety plans and even at higher levels of case incidence than we had suspected,” he said.

4. In an interview on CNN last night, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the U.S. may not return to “normality” until late 2021 or possible early 2022. If Superintendent Walker and the Board of Education are thinking that the situation in February will be substantially different from the situation we confront now, they may be sorely disappointed.

5. Jersey City has a seven day average infection rate of approximately 7.6 cases per 100,000. Chicago and New York, which are both reopening, are at 28.7 and 7.7, respectively.

Restarting classes, even with a hybrid system, is a weighty decision. The health of our children and our families should be paramount. And there is some evidence that communities of color will need more convincing as to the safety of reopening. However, the health calculus must also include the mental health and the education of school children, many of whom come from homes that cannot provide the support they need to learn online.

The superintendent, the Board of Education and the teacher’s union can’t put this decision off forever. One approach would be to start with elementary school students who pose the least risk and may be suffering the most academically. The CDC has published an exhaustive list of strategies to minimize spread. Jersey City should study these options and use its best judgment to choose how it will reopen schools prior to next February. However, simply kicking the can down the road and hoping that the decision will get easier any time soon is a mistake.

 

Jersey City Times Staff

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

/in , , /by

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.

 

Header: Photo by Julian Wan on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

‘This Pandemic Has Taken Everything from Us’ — Student Rep’s Plea to State Board

/in , , /by

Incoming senior at second state Board of Education meeting urges help for fellow students

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

The student representative to the State Board of Education typically gets a few words at the beginning of the monthly meetings, often focusing on a specific issue of interest.

But the start of the board’s virtual meeting yesterday offered a chance for Sabrina Capoli, the newest student member and an incoming senior at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, to touch on a topic on everyone’s mind: reopening schools in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And she didn’t mince words.

Capoli, also president of her high school’s senior class, spoke of the sacrifices her generation has made over the past six months and the challenges ahead. With the help of the state’s student council association, she conducted her own survey of more than 1,000 middle and high school students across New Jersey — not exactly scientific polling but including some good advice and insights for the adults. And she talked about the mental-health toll on students that everyone will need to pay attention to as schools reopen both in buildings and remotely.

The following is a lightly edited version of her full statement:

“Thank you, Madame President and good morning, everyone.

“The New Jersey Department of Education has been committed to promoting social and emotional learning in schools in the past, but I believe that I speak on behalf of every student in New Jersey when I stress that this commitment is more important now than ever before. This pandemic has taken everything from us. For many of us, this virus has stolen precious moments from our hands that we will never get back.

‘Hard to recover’

“Teachers, staff and administrators, I call upon you to recognize that you may be able to make up for lost time in future years, but we, the students, will not. Proms, musicals, athletic seasons, graduations — gone. This will be hard to recover from in the coming school year. It is difficult to look at this year with an open mind, or heart for that matter.

“For this reason, students will need to ease back into their normal routine, while staff ensures that they are not overwhelmed with the amount of schoolwork. Along with that, many surveyed students requested academic breaks throughout the day to help reduce stress. This could go hand in hand with another type of break: mask breaks. Implementing a designated time where students can be outside without a mask may reduce the chance of those students removing it during the school day, while promoting responsible decision-making.

“Other aspects of responsible decision-making will include practicing good hygiene and social distancing. Posting song lyrics on bathroom walls that take 30 seconds to sing can help students wash their hands effectively, and purchasing decals placed six feet apart for the hallways may help encourage social distancing.

“When we return to school in the fall, this may be the first time some students will have interacted with their peers in almost six months. This separation most likely has stunted the growth students have made in important aspects of social-emotional learning, such as “social skills” and “pro-social behaviors.” In a survey I conducted that reached almost every county in New Jersey, around 79% of students reacted negatively to their online learning experience. Of that 79%, 91% of those students blamed their poor experience on lack of socialization.

“To ensure that students are getting their social “fill,” classroom or small group discussions could be prioritized in class, and even used as a learning tool, similar to a Socratic seminar or a class debate. This collaboration will also help students later in life when they enter the workforce.

‘Helping remote-only students stay connected’

“Sadly, some students, for varying reasons, may not be able to return to in-person education for the 2020-2021 school year. These students must not be forgotten. Live Zoom calls, or daily messages from staff, help foster an inclusive learning atmosphere which will help promote a sense of self-confidence and a feeling of significance for these to completely remote students.

“Other helpful resources can include guidance counselor sessions, therapy dog visits (which we have at my school and are awesome) and general awareness encouraged by staff, in terms of mental health and the available resources.

“In order to sustain the mental, social and emotional health of the young people of New Jersey, staff members — the people we rely on for guidance — will need to be proactive. A student’s mental health dictates every action they make, from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep.

“The six-foot divide between us will not divide the students of New Jersey. The bonds we make in school are too strong to let spatial distance separate our hearts. This coming school year will look very different from any other, but I am excited to see where it may take us, students, staff and New Jerseyans alike.

“Thank you.”

Jersey City Times Staff

New COVID-19 Front Line? Educators, Health Experts Say It Will Be Schools

/in , , /by

New Jersey lacks adequate guidance for reopening schools in the fall, say those charged with making it happen

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

While families, policy experts and public officials nationwide wrestle with the pros and cons of reopening schools during the pandemic, education and health leaders in New Jersey seem to agree that districts here lack the regulatory guidance and critical resources to safely restart in-person lessons next month.

The state Assembly Education Committee took testimony Monday from school nurses and public health officials who said districts need help developing testing protocols, ensuring contact tracing programs are in place, and securing sufficient personal protective equipment, or PPE, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By way of example, one expert said, medical supply distributors don’t recognize schools as health care facilities, making it hard for districts to create the stockpile they need to conduct regular testing or protect nurses who encounter sick students.

Related content: NJ’s Powerful Teachers Union Says Remote Learning This Fall

“We have to acknowledge, the front line of this pandemic is now moving to the schools,” said Dorian Vicente, a middle-school nurse in Morris County and president of the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. “There are still serious concerns to the feasibility of reopening safely and controlling the spread of COVID-19 in schools and school communities.”

At the same time, though, special-education and child-welfare experts warned that remote education — hastily arranged when schools were closed in March — is not effective for some children with disabilities, and those with more significant needs are likely to suffer the most.

Online learning also forces too much responsibility on parents, they said, and exacerbates educational gaps between poor and wealthy children.

“Remote is just not for all learners,” said Teresa Taylor, director of special education in Jackson.

District-by-district planning

New Jersey’s current plan calls for the state’s nearly 600 school districts to reopen on schedule in early September, with safety modifications in place based on pandemic response plans that must be approved in advance. Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), the committee chair, said 400 districts have submitted plans for review and many embrace hybrid models that call for groups of students to alternate between in-person and remote learning. Parents also have the option of opting for online education only for their own children.

Lampitt said the committee aimed to ensure that, whatever route they chose, districts plan appropriately.

The panel also advanced three related bills. One would create additional spending flexibility for COVID-related school expenses. Another would enable the state to purchase PPE and other safety materials on behalf of districts. And the third urges the federal government to provide more funding for schools to address the pandemic.

“There’s grave concern,” Lampitt said, describing school-related outbreaks in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee “We’ve got real examples where schools have opened and they thought they had dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s. But if there’s anything we can learn from them, (it’s that) there is more that we can do.”

“The bottom line is we need to make sure our schools are safe for our children to return,” Lampitt added. “And we have only a short window of time to get this right.”

Her colleague on the education committee, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex), has introduced a measure that would delay in-person school until the end of October. And a growing chorus of teachers unions and education officials are urging Gov. Phil Murphy to opt for remote-learning only for the rest of 2020.

More than 185,000 New Jerseyans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March, including more than 14,000 who have been confirmed to have died as a result.

‘Unusual’ school year

Murphy notes the state’s goals are to protect the health and safety of students, teachers and staff, and to pursue “the best educational outcomes possible,” while acknowledging that in-person learning “dwarfs” what children can learn online. He has also pledged to continue to listen to all sides as the planning process continues.

“Let’s all accept this is not going to be a normal year,” Murphy said in late July. “This is going to be unusual no matter how we slice it.”

Another critical feature of the state’s plan is flexibility, Murphy has said, which he said will enable districts to create more equitable options for students and staff. The state Department of Education has issued a 104-page reopening plan that outlines minimal standards and references expert guidance from other state and federal agencies, but leaves many decisions up to the individual districts. That was followed at the end of last week by an FAQ document with more than two dozen questions and a checklist for districts to follow as they proceed with reopening.

But stakeholders testifying Monday suggested these documents were not sufficient. Vicente, with the school nurses association, said that in addition to PPE supplies, districts need access to infection control expertise, localized data on coronavirus transmission, and assistance with contact tracing, which the state plan calls for them to do in conjunction with local health departments. And they need better guidance from state overseers, she and others stressed.

“Frankly, during this past spring, schools and local health departments were essentially forced to make decisions in a vacuum without any set guidance from our state [education] department. No one wishes to be in that position in September,” said Megan Avallon, president of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials, and director of the Westfield Regional Health Department. “Unfortunately the local public health infrastructure is underfunded and under-resourced,” she added, which exacerbates the challenges.

Eileen Gaven, a school nurse in Middletown, said her community offered an example of how schools compound the spread of the novel virus. A massive house party in the Monmouth County community led to 68 positive COVID-19 tests results, she said, and contacts with those teens and young adults  have caused her district to face a “continuous cycles” of staff and student quarantines in pre-season fall sports programs and in-person, summer classes for 175 students with disabilities.

“It doesn’t matter where the outbreak started in Middletown, our schools have felt the ripple effect,” Gaven said. “Imagine what will happen in three weeks when we go from 175 (students) in our district (facilities) to 10,000,” she asked.

Some needs unmet with remote learning

Advocates for students with disabilities said that while protecting public health is essential, online learning does not allow the districts to fully meet all needs for some students with disabilities. Social and behavioral issues are hard to address remotely, said Taylor from Jackson, and some students are developing new needs after being isolated for so long.

Others raised concerns about the impact of remote learning on working parents.

Barbara Gantwerk with the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association was among those who urged the state to consider giving in-person education priority to certain students with disabilities, when classrooms are safe. But she said schools need better direction from the state on how to provide services for these children, especially those that require help with feeding tubes, catheters or other medical devices, and they need sufficient staff to make in-person learning safe.

“To me, this is not an issue that should be done school-by-school. This is an issue we should have (statewide) health protocols,” she said.

The DOE did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the need for additional direction. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that agency is working on its own guidance document for schools in conjunction with the education department.

 

Header: Photo by Maximilian Scheffler on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

As Key Coronavirus Stat Rises, NJ Limits Indoor Gatherings

/in , , /by

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

Events

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria