Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision to phase in the reopening of New Jersey state government offices prompted ire from State Sen. Kristin Corrado.
Corrado (R-40) expressed frustration Oct. 19 that the governor failed to meet his own timeline for reopening all state government offices. In particular, the GOP senator called it “absolutely outrageous” that the state likely would not provide in-person unemployment assistance until 2022.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised that Governor Murphy failed to live up to his promise to reopen all of the State government services that have been closed since the start of the pandemic,” Corrado said in a press statement.
“When everything in the private sector is open, the continuing closure of important State offices, including unemployment centers, sends a message that the Murphy administration doesn’t care that lots of people need help. There’s a clear disconnect between the governor’s priorities and what New Jerseyans actually need.”
Phased Reopening
Murphy announced on Aug. 23 that state workers along with teachers will be required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. He said at that time that all state employees—including those at state agencies, authorities, New Jersey State Police officers and public colleges and universities—are required to be fully vaccinated or undergo regular testing at a minimum of once to twice each week by the third Monday of October. In conjunction with the vaccine mandate, state employees were expected to return to their offices that day.
But Murphy revealed at a press briefing Oct. 18 the state opted for a more gradual roll out of returning employees to their offices. While workers returned to the office Oct. 18 in different departments, others will be phased in over the next month.
“Like all other big steps taken (during the pandemic), this is not a straight line,” said Murphy earlier this week. “We decided … to focus on (the bigger agencies) first, particularly on the ones that have a high customer-facing reality.”
Change of Plans
Employees are fully back at the governor’s office, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Labor, and the Motor Vehicle Commission. Murphy said that other departments will be phased in in weeks ahead.
“We think this is the most responsible way to do it,” Murphy said at a press briefing Oct. 20. “I would like a magic wand and we all get back in position in our offices. You see (this approach) being done in the private sector.”
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Corrado had urged Murphy in an Oct. 13 press statement to reopen all state government offices, saying, “I hope the rumors aren’t true that some offices may have their reopenings pushed back beyond the date the governor set for his administration to get back to work.”
Angry Constituents
In her Oct. 19 statement, Corrado said she’d heard from angry constituents who went to the state’s one-stop career centers in Hackensack and Paterson on Oct. 18 for help with pending unemployment claims only to be told that the offices were closed.
“We had constituents whose unemployment claims were stuck in limbo for months who thought they finally may get some face-to-face help yesterday with the expected reopening of the one-stop career centers,” said Corrado. “Instead of getting help, they were told by security guards that the offices weren’t open and turned away.
“They were handed sheets of paper with phone numbers to call for unemployment assistance. The phone numbers, of course, didn’t work when they tried calling. It’s a real slap in the face.”
Full Return in 2022?
New Jersey’s labor commissioner announced in an Oct. 15 email to lawmakers that there would be no in-person unemployment insurance services at Department of Labor locations for now, according to Corrado.
She said he added that he hoped they would be able to provide in-person unemployment assistance “at some point in 2022.”
“It absolutely outrageous that Governor Murphy is going to make desperate people wait another year for help with unemployment claims,” added Corrado. “It shouldn’t take two years for the Murphy administration to get these offices open and working for New Jerseyans who are begging for help. It’s complete and total incompetence.”
Vaccine Distribution
The number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in New Jersey totaled 12,125,761 in-state, plus an additional 462,045 administered out-of-state for a grand total of 12,587,806 as of Oct. 20. Of those who have received the vaccine, 5,791,058 received their second dose or the one jab Johnson & Johnson dose in state and another 198,898 out of state, bringing those fully vaccinated to 5,989,956.
State officials reported 284,590 boosters and third shots of Pfizer and 61,408 third shots of Moderna.
In North Jersey, Bergen County has delivered 1,355,095 doses (642,842 fully vaccinated), Essex 1,046,506 doses (500,348), Hudson 941,414 doses (452,421), Morris 734,724 doses (346,940), Passaic 651,143 doses (312,130), Sussex 171,887 doses (83,608), and Warren 112,411 doses (54,308).
Daily Data
As of Oct. 20, the cumulative number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Jersey was 1,029,748 with 1,150 total new PCR cases. There were 351 probable cases, bringing the cumulative total of antigen tests to 154,647. The total number of individual cases for the state is 1,184,395.
As for those that have passed, the state reported 15 confirmed deaths, bringing that total to 24,973. The state listed probable deaths at 2,810, bringing the overall total to 27,783. State officials noted 14 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours of reporting that have not yet been lab confirmed.
For North Jersey counties on Oct. 20, Bergen had a total of 92 new confirmed cases and 43 new probable cases, Essex 74 new cases and six new probable case, Hudson 58 new cases and 12 new probable cases, Morris 44 new confirmed cases and six new probable cases, Passaic 51 new cases and 10 new probable cases, Sussex 27 new cases and six new probable cases, and Warren 20 new cases and one new probable case.
Of the total confirmed deaths in North Jersey, Essex County has the most with 2,830, followed by Bergen at 2,675, Hudson with 2,161, Passaic at 1,801, Morris at 1,034, Sussex at 259, and Warren County at 227.
In regards to probable deaths reported Oct. 18, Essex has 311, Bergen has 307, Morris has 265, Hudson has 223, Passaic has 207, Sussex has 71 and Warren has 26.
Of the 5,630,794 fully vaccinated individuals studied as of Oct. 4, 36,616 New Jersey residents have tested positive for COVID who were fully vaccinated, resulting in 794 COVID-related hospitalizations and 215 COVID-related deaths. All those are less than 1% in each category.
In the week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3, breakthroughs accounted for 17.4% of all new cases (2,352 of 13,507), 2.0% of new hospilizations (17 of 834), and two of the 98 deaths.
State Testing
As for the rate of transmission reported Oct. 20, it declined to 0.89 from 0.91 the previous day. The daily rate of infections from those tested Oct. 16 was 5.0%; by region, the rate was 3.6% in the North, 6.1% in the Central region and 6.9% in the South.
The state reported 880 patients were hospitalized; by region, there were 268 in the North, 269 in the Central and 343 in the South. Of those hospitalized, 208 are in intensive care units and 123 on ventilators. A total of 125 patients were discharged in the last 24 hour reporting period.
Officials have continually cited transmission rate, hospitalizations, intensive care units, ventilators and positivity rate as health data they rely on to track how the coronavirus is being contained in New Jersey, guiding them in determining when restrictions have to be tightened or lifted.
School Outbreaks
In regards to cases related to in-school transmissions as of Oct. 19, the state has tracked 126 school outbreaks and 658 cases in 105 school districts linked to those outbreaks since the 2021/2022 school year starting Aug. 7, up 30 outbreaks and 137 cases from the week previous. According to state officials, the cases account for 564 students and 94 teachers across 19 counties.
Outbreaks are defined as three or more laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff with onsets within a 14 day period, linked within the school setting, do not share a household, and were not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting during standard case investigation or contact tracing.
For North Jersey as of Oct. 19, Passaic County has five confirmed outbreak with 72 cases, Sussex has 11 confirmed outbreak with 45 cases, Bergen County has nine confirmed outbreak with 45 cases, Morris County has six confirmed outbreaks with 27 cases, Essex County has five confirmed outbreak with 20 cases and Hudson County has four confirmed outbreaks with 16 cases. No outbreaks were reported in Warren County.
Long-term Care Facilities
Health officials noted 164 long-term care facilities are currently reporting at least one case of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 1,353 of the cases, broken down between 725 residents and 628 staff.
Cumulatively, 1,784 long-term care facilities reported a case infecting 33,947 residents and 23,191 staff, for a total of 57,138.
The state’s official death total will now be reported as those that are lab confirmed, sits at 8,601 on Oct. 20. The facilities are reporting to the state 7,989 residents deaths and 146 staff deaths.
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