The COVID-19 Winter surge is beginning to affect the operations at New Jersey hospitals. As the New Jersey Hospital Association noted COVID hospitalizations increasing 47% in just one week, hospitals in all regions of New Jersey have entered “level red” in their visitation precautions that generally restricts visitors, except under certain circumstances. The new visitation policies come as the state reported 3,604 COVID-19 patients at its 71 New Jersey hospitals as of Dec. 30, the highest amount since 3,553 on Jan. 14. North-JerseyNews.com
Urgent care centers across the U.S. are grappling with what to do as the Omicron variant hits employees and the demand for COVID-19 testing surges. CityMD, a chain of urgent care clinics in the New York City area, closed 31 of its locations in recent weeks, including 12 on Dec. 29. Reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S. increased roughly 60% this week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resulting in a seven-day daily average of cases hit about 240,400. The Wall Street Journal
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. tested positive for the coronavirus on Dec. 30. The veteran congressman, who represents the 9th District in North Jersey, said he was fully vaccinated, including receiving a booster shot. “Blessedly my symptoms are mild,” Pascrell said in a statement. “I am working from home and will closely monitor my health. Omicron spreads like wildfire and is no joke. If you haven’t yet, get off your butt and get vaccinated and get boostered; these shots are the only reason my case is luckily mild. Don’t worry about me — get your shots!” InsiderNJ
The New Jersey Education Association is calling for school officials to look “carefully and honestly” at the data before telling students and teachers they have to return to the classroom next week. “Based on current conditions, a number of districts have decided to temporarily move to remote schooling, and we support that decision,” said Steven Baker, a spokesman for the NJEA. “We believe every district should look carefully and honestly at the data and make the decision that best protects the health and well-being of students and staff.” Paterson, Bayonne, Union City, Irvington, South Orange-Maplewood, Camden and New Brunswick are among the districts that have announced they will keep classrooms closed and begin January with remote learning. NJ.com
Four more Hudson County school districts announced today that students returning from winter break next week will learn remotely. Kearny, East Newark and Weehawken will be remote the full week. Hoboken will require all students and staff to take a PCR test Jan. 3, 2022 and is expecting the results back by Jan. 5, 200 before deciding whether to return to in-person instruction. The Jersey Journal
Sussex County Board of County Commissioners has asked its legal counsel to write a letter to the state Attorney General’s Office requesting “up-to-date” information on the state’s investigation into the COVID-19 deaths of residents at Andover Subacute and other state nursing homes. The letter, to be presented at the commissioners’ Jan. 5. 2022 meeting, will request that acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck ask the state to honor all requests for information filed by the county under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) pertaining to the deaths and the investigation. New Jersey Herald
A new virus surge and Winter storms have left airlines and their passengers in a holiday mess. Airlines have been canceling more than 1,000 flights a day to, from or within the United States. Carriers and their employees say the latest chapter of the pandemic, the Omicron variant, has cut deeply into the ability to staff flights, even though a vast majority of crew members are vaccinated. The New York Times
East Orange will host a federal COVID-19 testing site for 12 days beginning Jan. 1, 2022 as cases in New Jersey and around the country continue to surge. The site—at 90 Halsted St., in the city’s Division of Senior Service’s multi-purpose room—will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 1 to Jan. 12 to provide free PCR tests to all New Jersey residents. Officials said the site can handle up to 1,000 people per day, and results will be available in about 24 hours. NJ.com
Two doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine provided up to 85% protection against hospitalization from the Omicron variant, researchers in South Africa reported on Dec. 30. The study from the South African Medical Research Council evaluated a second booster shot in 69,092 healthcare workers from Nov. 15 to Dec. 20. Researchers observed that effectiveness preventing hospitalization rose to 84% from 63% within 14 days and then 85% one to two months post-boost. PoliticoNJ
New Jersey Republicans have asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to affirm redistricting tiebreaker John E. Wallace, Jr.’s logic in supporting a Democratic congressional map or to order him to go back and reconsider it. In their court filing, Republicans said that Wallace “did not engage in any negotiations with the Republican or Democratic Delegations as part of any of these public hearings, nor did any negotiations or discussions take place in private during the time of the public hearings….At no time during the three-days of discussions did Chair Wallace meet with the two partisan delegations together, nor did the partisan delegations exchange maps.” New Jersey Globe
Legislation that would give consumers greater flexibility in transferring or reselling a purchased ticket was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in early December. Dubbed the New Jersey Ticket Consumer Choice Act, the bill would guarantee the right of ticket purchasers to opt-out of restrictions that limit their ability to transfer the tickets, either by giving them away or reselling them. “Anyone who has bought tickets for a baseball game, a concert or a Broadway show knows that life events can sometimes preempt best-laid plans. When that happens, consumers need to have a practical recourse to resell or give away their tickets without having to go back to the original online vendor and log into their platform,” said State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-37). North-JerseyNews.com
A proposed new high school in Hoboken has become a contentious issue for a number of residents in the city, and some of them are organizing to tell others to say no to the plan. Matt Majer, a founder of the advocacy group Northwest Hoboken Homeowners Alliance, has raised issues with how the project was introduced, while Pavel Sokolov, the secretary of the Hoboken Republicans and the chairman of the Hudson County Young Republicans, has criticized the lack of community outreach for the proposal. Hudson Reporter
And finally…It has been a long December. Let’s hope the Counting Crows are wrong and that the next year is better than the last.
