To increase availability of COVID-19 testing in the state, Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Dec. 27 the CDC will establish a surge testing site in New Jersey. The site will be part of the CDC’s Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) for COVID-19 Surge Response effort, which partners with pharmacies and commercial laboratories to provide free testing resources to underserved communities. “With the recent increase in COVID-19 cases, it is imperative that we remain vigilant and provide tools for our residents to stay safe,” said Murphy in a press statement. “This testing site will be an invaluable means to continue mitigating the spread of the pandemic. I thank our federal partners for their continued support and commitment to keeping New Jerseyans healthy.” North-Jerseynews.com
Bergen County and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center have added new COVID-19 testing sites to meet a sharp rise in demand due to holiday gatherings and the continued spread of the more infectious omicron variant. PCR tests will be available to anyone who lives, works, volunteers or attends school in Bergen County at Ramapo College in Mahwah and Conlon Hall in Bergenfield on Dec. 29 as well as Slocum Skewes Elementary School in Ridgefield on Dec. 30. The Record
Hudson County has opened new COVID-19 vaccination sites in Bayonne and North Bergen with federal and state support as booster shots remain in high demand. The sites at Stephen R. Gregg Park’s multipurpose center in Bayonne and Braddock Park in North Bergen are open to anyone eligible for a shot and have Federal Emergency Management Agency canvassers to help with language translation. The Jersey Journal
COVID illness is impacting New Jersey healthcare providers from both a capacity and staffing standpoint. The sharp increase in hospitalizations has caused some hospitals to begin diverting patients to other healthcare facilities. Further stressing the healthcare system is a shortage of workers—a growing number of hospital staffers have been infected by this latest COVID wave as infections and exposures have taken 600 employees out of service across the Hackensack Meridian Health hospital network. And CityMD has closed some of their clinics for the second week in a row due to staffing issues, including in Jersey City, Wayne and Oakland. NJ1015.com
The U.S. record for daily coronavirus cases has been broken, as two highly contagious variants—Delta and Omicron—surge across the U.S. Hospitalizations and deaths are also rising, but remain far below earlier peaks. The seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 on Dec. 28; the previous U.S. daily cases record was set on Jan. 11, when the seven-day average was 251,232. The Washington, Maryland and Virginia region is now a focal point of the Omicron outbreak. The New York Times
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh signed an executive order mandating mask wearing inside city-owned buildings and vehicles on Dec. 28. The mandate will not apply to privately owned buildings, such as restaurants. Sayegh said the order is limited to city property because of the difficulty of enforcing the mandate inside restaurants, where masks are taken off for eating and drinking. But any building owned or operated by the city will fall under the mandate, including the police and fire stations and libraries. InsiderNJ
Oakland police are warning residents about a fake COVID-19 test scam. While waiting for test results at a local business, multiple victims say two male suspects offered them tests to speed up the waiting process. After the victims received what they believed to be a COVID-19 test, they provided the men with their personal identifying information. At the facility, the suspects were wearing lab coats and claiming to work there. Once police arrived on the scene, the offenders left. News12 New Jersey
Rep. Josh Gottheimer spoke out against rising antisemitism at colleges across the country and emphasized the need to protect Jewish students from the threat of on-campus violence. It is something that the Congressman revealed happened to him when he was touring Bergen County with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo earlier this year. “Not long ago, I held an event in my district to talk about the benefits of the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill, only to have members of the Working Families Party disrupt the event by screaming ‘Jew’ at me. What has our country come to?” Gottheimer asked. North-Jerseynews.com
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a powerful Democratic force in Congress during the Obama presidency, died Dec. 28 at the age of 82. As the Senate’s top Democrat, Reid successfully blocked President George W. Bush from privatizing Social Security, and later helped enact the 2010 health-insurance law known as the Affordable Care Act. The Nevada native also led a push to change the Senate’s procedures to confirm executive-branch nominees and most judges with a simple majority, a momentous move that permanently altered the chamber’s character. The Wall Street Journal
A company under contract to New Jersey acknowledged its technology had been compromised in a “systems intrusion” that has left multiple state agencies temporarily incapable of printing official documents, according to the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. The vendor, R.R. Donnelly, has retained cyber forensic experts and contacted law enforcement to investigate the breach and said that no personal information was compromised as a result. However, multiple departments in the state government remain unable to produce printed materials, including checks and motor vehicle documents. The Daily Record
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded more than $54 million to support New Jersey’s maintenance, upgrade, and improvement plans at the state’s airports. The funding, appropriated through the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021, would make $42.4 million available for projects at Newark Liberty International. “This funding will ensure they have the resources to make the necessary upgrades and repairs they need to keep their workers and air travelers safe,” said Sen. Bob Menendez. North-Jerseynews.com
New Jersey’s minimum wage goes up by a dollar beginning Saturday, Jan. 1. The minimum wage will increase to $13 an hour for most hourly workers as part of a five-year plan signed by Gov. Phil Murphy two years ago to bring the minimum wage to $15 in 2024. NJ Spotlight News
And finally….John Madden, a Hall of Fame football coach, broadcaster and video game pioneer, died at the age of 85. The New York Times
Governor Phil Murphy took a family vacation to a luxury destination south of the border – during a COVID-19 surge, this time spending eight days in Costa Rica as cases in his state spiked 600% in the last month due to the highly-contagious Omicron variant. As dumb and irresponsible as he is, the lt. governor is now in charge and that’s scarier than Murphy being here to make his copious mistakes – deadly mistakes- in person. Murphy must be recalled. His dereliction of duty is an impeachable offense – recall at least; he did far worse than Christie’ being splayed out on the beach when the parks were closed to the rest of us and Murphy’s holiday is worse than Bridge-gate. Where is the press on this matter? Murphy thinks he deserves a vacation like the rest of us ; that a joke; he lives in a mansion on the river in Middletown and the state is in the midst of the worst surge of the pandemic. Murphy must be recalled !!!!!