New Jersey is closing the door for the COVID testing opt-out option for certain employees in the state.
Gov. Phil Murphy made the announcement on Jan. 19 that all workers in healthcare settings and high-risk congregate living facilities, including corrections officers, must be fully vaccinated—including a booster shot—while eliminating the test-out option by the end of March.
“We are no longer going to look past those who continue to put their colleagues and, perhaps I think even more importantly, those who are their responsibility, in danger of COVID,” said Murphy. “That has to stop.”
Deadlines Announced
Those in the healthcare community have a deadline of Jan. 27 to get their first vaccine dose and to be fully vaccinated by Feb. 28. For those in high-risk congregate living facilities, they are required by Feb. 28 to get the first dose and March 30 for the second.
“It is important to remember for those working in the healthcare setting that the test-out option is already coming to an end due to the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld last week,” said Murphy during a press event for the opening of a COVID-19 testing center in Galloway, the second such federally-backed one in the state.
The first ordered mandate from the Murphy Administration that offered a test-out option for all workers in New Jersey hospitals, long-term care centers, prisons, and a number of other state and private healthcare facilities and high-risk congregate settings went into effect Sept. 7, 2021.
Booster Timelines
As for those who are fully vaccinated but have not yet received their booster, healthcare workers are mandated to receive a third shot of Moderna or Pfizer or a second shot of Johnson & Jonson by Feb. 28 and high-risk congregate living facility workers by March 30.
“The science tells us that is no longer just good enough to get your primary series as being boosted is necessary to protect yourself and those around you,” stated Murphy.
For those boosters eligible beyond those cutoff dates, they have three weeks to get the shot after they become eligible. Murphy said the only exemptions will be for disability or other medical reasons as well as deeply held religious beliefs.
No Other Expansion Plans
“Anyone found in non-compliance will be subject to their work places’ disciplinary process upto and including termination of employment,” said the governor.
In questions after the announcement, Murphy said he has no plans to expand the mandate “at this time.”
He added that this is consistent with his pledge for no universal mandates as “this is very specific to these settings because this is where we believe the risks are the highest…we are just trying to meet the moment.”
Daily Data
As of Jan. 19, the cumulative number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Jersey was 1,749,235 with 8,467 total new PCR cases. There were 2,720 probable cases, bringing the cumulative total of antigen tests to 276,381. The total number of individual cases for the state is 2,025,616.
As for those that have passed, the state reported 145 confirmed deaths, bringing that total to 27,432. The state listed probable deaths at 2,883, bringing the overall total to 30,315. State officials noted 86 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours of reporting that have not yet been lab confirmed.
For North Jersey counties on Jan. 18, Bergen had a total of 877 new confirmed cases and 202 new probable cases, Essex 869 new cases and 109 new probable case, Hudson 548 new cases and 76 new probable cases, Morris 602 new confirmed cases and 63 new probable cases, Passaic 407 new cases and 83 new probable cases, Sussex 139 new cases and 34 new probable cases, and Warren 110 new cases and 31 new probable cases.
Of the total confirmed deaths in North Jersey, Essex County has the most with 3,018, followed by Bergen at 2,880, Hudson with 2,301, Passaic at 1,955, Morris at 1,125, Sussex at 327, and Warren County at 273.
In regards to probable deaths reported Jan. 18, Bergen has 314, Essex has 310, Morris has 274, Hudson has 275, Passaic has 205, Sussex has 75 and Warren has 27.
Of the 6,145,961 fully vaccinated individuals studied as of Dec. 27, 2021, 128,172 New Jersey residents have tested positive for COVID who were fully vaccinated (2.1%). Of those 1,687 have been hospitalized and 448 COVID-related deaths—less than 1% in each category.
In the week of Dec. 20-26, 2021, breakthroughs accounted for 31.0% of all new cases (31,334 of 101,000), 0.2% of new hospilizations (4 of 2,640), and five of the 146 deaths.
State Testing
As for the rate of transmission reported Jan. 19, it increased to 0.96 from 0.92 the day before. The daily rate of infections from those tested Jan. 14 was 20.2%; by region, the rate was 18.1% in the North, 21.9% in the Central region and 23.5% in the South.
Long-term Care Facilities
Health officials noted 557 long-term care facilities are currently reporting at least one case of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 22,157 of the cases, broken down between 9,769 residents and 12,388 staff.
Cumulatively, 2,346 long-term care facilities have reported an outbreak infecting 43,578 residents and 35,408 staff, for a total of 78,986.
The state’s official death total will now be reported as those that are lab confirmed, sits at 8,878 on Jan. 19. The facilities are reporting to the state 8,270 residents deaths and 147 staff deaths.
School Outbreaks
According to the state dashboard with just 60% of all New Jersey schools reporting, new student cases totaled 28,523 and new staff cases 8,646 in the last week as of Jan. 9. Cumulatively, 141,734 cases have been reported— 109,341 students and 32,393 staffers.
The vaccination rate for teachers in the Garden State is 83.9% overall. In North Jersey counties, Bergen was tops at 90.8%, followed by Warren at 90.3%, Morris at 86.8%, Sussex at 86.0%, Passaic at 85.1%, Essex at 83.1%, and Hudson at 69.8%, the lowest county in the state.
In regards to outbreaks related to in-school transmissions as of Jan. 18, the state has tracked 406 school outbreaks and 2,365 cases linked to those outbreaks since the 2021/2022 school year starting Aug. 7, up 18 outbreaks and 110 cases from the week previous.
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 in the new report, Bergen County has 51 confirmed outbreaks with 274 cases, Morris County has 31 confirmed outbreaks with 197 cases, Passaic County has 20 confirmed outbreaks with 173 cases, Sussex has 29 confirmed outbreaks with 156 cases, Essex County has 24 confirmed outbreaks with 128 cases, Hudson County has 18 confirmed outbreaks with 89 cases and Warren County has two confirmed outbreaks with 12 cases.
Vaccine Distribution
The number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in New Jersey totaled 13,296,241 in-state, plus an additional 528,882 administered out-of-state for a grand total of 13,825,123 as of Jan. 19.
Of those who have received the vaccine, 6,317,240 received their second dose or the one jab Johnson & Johnson dose in state and another 213,569 out of state, bringing those fully vaccinated to 6,530,809. A total of 75% of those eligible are fully vaccinated in New Jersey and 88% have received at least one dose.
State officials reported boosters and third shots of 1,394,773 for Pfizer and 1,165,052 for Moderna. A total of 55,030 New Jerseyans have received their Johnson & Johnson booster shot. Overall, 2,614,855 have received a booster or third shot. Overall, 46% of those eligible have received their booster.
In North Jersey, Bergen County has 693,938 residents fully vaccinated, Essex 559,144, Hudson 500,589, Morris 374,098, Passaic 339,588, Sussex 89,786, and Warren 58,300.
correct me if I’m wrong, he said that a booster protects you and those around you. I believe that is incorrect. it maybe protects you from serious illness but it’s quite obvious that the shots don’t protect anyone from spreading the virus to others. everyone I know is vaccinated, boosted and still got Covid, myself included. mandating shots is wrong, especially if they don’t stop the spread
These vaccines do not stop infection spread or transmission. Therefore mandating them for anyone is completely unnecessary. There is no justification in science or law or morality to mandate these vaccines for anyone at all.
I knew that when Murphy called his opponent a white supremacists in the last election debate, that he was a power-hungry lunatic
This executive order is just an attempt to politically shame in alienate and marginalize anyone who disagrees with the Democratic and progressive agenda.
Those healthcare workers who have deferred vaccination either because they simply don’t want it or because they have natural immunity which is durable and long-lasting, are some of the most ethical informed healthcare people in the state
These are the people who are most likely to oppose governor Murphy‘s actions. So governor Murphy is purging them.
It’s pure vindictive spiteful revenge power politics.
thank you; well said
Need one be pigeonholed into being a Democrat or Republican to be for or against the mandate? The focal point should be how have these vaccines truly served as stopping the spread and giving full immunization as real vaccines have done in medicinal history to warrant such measures?
To penalize healthcare workers and anyone else who has chosen not to be vaccinated for the sake of guarding their health, in light of what has been demonstrated as scientifically an unreliable as well as unpredictable result of the CoVid vaccines efficacy, is an “under my thumb” display of tyranny, giving no choice in the matter of autonomy regarding an individual’s own right to choose in a so called democracy.
My understanding of science has been that new efforts to assist humankind and the preservation of our species on this our planet Earth, be conducted through a series of trials over a longevity of time that prove their Reliability and Predictability of outcome; for better or worse, but goodness knows ostensibly for the better, and not to potentially induce degrees of unknown harm indefinitely.
Where are the other studies on the Naturally Immune; those that have not been vaccinated, not fallen ill, not worn masks or have, and have been repeatedly tested or not? Are any scientists getting this down? Are any scientists curious about this?
Must who is unvaccinated be condemned as bad; thoughtfully and deliberately trying to harm their fellow human? Must everyone who is vaccinated be enshrined and upholding the greater good? Let’s think on these things and really put our minds and hearts together.
Understand as spoken by one physician: “Behold CoVid 19, the humbler of humankind.”
There are no absolutes except that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West.