With New Jersey residents flocking to get tested before the end-of-the-year holidays, the state shattered the record for most new COVID-19 cases for a single day with over 12,000. On the state’s dashboard Dec. 22, 9,711 people had a positive PCR test. Additionally, 2,579 antigen tests came back positive for an overall total of 12,290 for the one day. The previous PCR high was 6,922 on Jan. 13. Additionally, the state released its weekly in-school transmissions data for grades K-12. The state has tracked 336 school outbreaks and 1,889 cases linked to those outbreaks since the 2021/2022 school year starting Aug. 7, up 42 outbreaks and 271 cases from the week previous. North-JerseyNews.com
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities in New Jersey must remain open to visitors during the holiday season under state and federal policies that were enacted before the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 spread around the world, according to the state Health Department. State and federal policy plainly says visits must be allowed, but with precautions taken there has been no sign that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the state Department of Health will rescind the open-door visitation policy and go back to the blanket lockdowns seen during the first year of the pandemic. Families said the isolation led to major depression and anxiety among residents, and concerns that medical and emotional needs had been neglected. NJ.com
With long waiting lines to get tested for COVID-19 across the state, the New Jersey Department of Health opened two large pop-up testing sites this week offering free tests. Partnering with Vault Health, the Health Department opened the sites in Wanaque and Trenton. The Record
Urged by federal and local officials to get a COVID-19 test before the holidays, many Americans are running into obstacles that are preventing them from knowing if they have the virus. Many are spending hours in line just to be turned away because the site ran out of tests, some without insurance are avoiding a test because of its hefty out-of-pocket price or fear that a positive result will mean missing work and others, often in areas where infection runs rampant, are downplaying the virus’s seriousness and avoiding testing altogether. The New York Times
Paterson’s public schools will switch to all remote instruction for the first two weeks of classes in January because of the rise in COVID-19 cases. The school district had 20% of its workforce out this week, with many of those absences COVID-19-related. Paterson’s teachers’ union, John McEntee Jr., said the high number of staff absences has caused chaos in city schools and welcomed the decision to go all remote at the start of January. The Record
The U.S. Supreme Court will hold a special hearing to assess the legality of two initiatives by the Biden administration’s efforts to address the coronavirus in the workplace. The court said it would move with exceptional speed on the two measures, a vaccine-or-testing mandate aimed at large employers and a vaccination requirement for certain healthcare workers, setting the cases for argument on Jan. 7, 2022. Both sets of cases had been on what critics call the court’s shadow docket, in which the court decides emergency applications, sometimes on matters of great consequence, without full briefing and argument. The Wall Street Journal
In the end, the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission tie breaking vote from retired Judge John Wallace came down to who was next in line. Wallace, appointed to the state’s commission tasked with drawing the 13 Congressional District maps for the Garden State, accepted the Democrats’ version at a meeting Dec. 22. In his statement, the former Supreme Court Justice complimented both sides presenting him with good maps but said his choice “in the end, I decided to vote for the Democratic map simply because the last redistricting map was drawn by the Republicans.” The new maps strengthen the 5th District for Rep. Josh Gottheimer and the 11th for Rep. Mikie Sherrill. But to balance that off, Rep. Tom Malinowski running in the 7th becomes even more vulnerable than forecasted. North-JerseyNews.com
Republican Fredon Mayor John Flora abandoned his campaign for Congress in the 5th district and will run in the 7th district following the release of the state’s new congressional map. “The new 7th district is much more suited to me geographically and philosophically,” Flora said in a statement. “But overall, my reason for running for Congress has not changed. Whether it is Rep. [Tom] Malinowski or Rep. Josh Gottheimer, doesn’t matter. They both represent the same problems posed by the progressive socialists that are running the Democratic Party.” New Jersey Globe
Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. announced he would seek re-election to continue representing New Jersey’s 9th District. “I am excited by the new map approved by the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission,” said Pascrell. “The challenges of our time are titanic and demand fearless leadership. I was in the House chamber on January 6, 2021. The broken glass cracked under my shoes as I went to ratify the Electoral College for President Biden. This is not exaggeration: the threat to our democracy today is greater than at any moment since 1860. You can either retreat or join the fight. I never retreat. I am staying to fight.” InsiderNJ
A Proud Boys member who was among the first to cross the police line at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty on Dec. 22 and agreed to cooperate with the government—potentially against other members of the far-right extremist group, the authorities said. The defendant, Matthew Greene of Syracuse, N.Y., plead guilty to charges stemming from the riot as he was allegedly “among the first wave” to rush up the Capitol steps after the police line was breached and after he came down the stairs, he moved police barricades. The New York Times
New Jersey is the decision maker on whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will study expanding the four lanes of the 93-year-old Outerbridge Crossing to handle increasing volumes of traffic. New York officials already have dubbed the bridge as too narrow and a traffic chokepoint, after lawmakers passed bills to do the study which were signed into law. While the law requiring the study will be effective when New Jersey passes the same legislation, Assemblyman Daniel Benson, chairman of the transportation committee, said “no one has reached out yet” but was open to the idea. NJ.com
Sen. Bob Menendez is rallying the Senate to pass relief for Superstorm Sandy survivors and asking them to help prevent the federal government from clawing back funds received to help those who tried to repair their homes. Menendez, a senior member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, noted the Department of Housing and Urban Development was attempting to retrieve Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) money given to Sandy survivors through Small Business Administration loans. “I hope my colleagues will work together with me to pass relief that the House of Representatives passed earlier this year in its appropriations bill, so these Sandy survivors can finally close this dark chapter of their lives,” Sen. Menendez said recently during a committee hearing. North-JerseyNews.com
A new study finds New Jersey as having the worst business tax climate in the nation. The report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation determined New Jersey ranked 48th on corporate income tax as well as individual income taxes, 43rd in sales taxes, 44th for property taxes and 32nd for unemployment insurance taxes. After New Jersey, the state with the second-worst business tax climate in the nation is New York, and California ranks as third worst. NJ1015.com
New Jersey lawmakers took action on parts of a gun reform package backed by Gov. Phil Murphy, but it’s unclear if any of those measures will be signed into law during the lame-duck session. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) did not say whether his chamber will take up the rest of the gun bills when the Legislature returns from its holiday recess the first week of January. “Anything is possible,” Sweeney said. “Right now, I really want to focus on illegal guns. They’re the ones that are actually killing people in the streets. And none of the bills that we’re talking about right now addresses that.” NJ Spotlight News
A Superior Court judge in Atlantic County declined to temporarily block new changes to tax agreements between Atlantic City and the city’s casinos. A bill Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Dec. 21 reduced the amount Atlantic City’s casinos must pay to the local government as part of a five-year-old payments-in-lieu-of-taxes program, which was intended to stabilize the city’s tax base by eliminating a rash of tax appeals filed by the city’s casinos. The bill’s supporters said the changes are needed to keep the casinos and their jobs alive. Critics said it rewards casino owners at the expense of taxpayers. New Jersey Monitor
And finally…Rutgers is expected to receive and accept an unexpected Gator Bowl invitation after Texas A&M could not field a team due to COVID issues to face Wake Forest. NJ.com
