At the onset of the pandemic, Vinnie Brand, the owner of Stress Factory comedy clubs in New Jersey and Connecticut, had just opened a restaurant adjacent to his Bridgeport club and employed more than 50 full-time employees to whom he proudly provided health insurance. He was also “essentially” debt free, save for a $25,000 line of credit.
New Jersey’s coronavirus outbreak capacity limits for restaurants, bars, casinos, gyms, personal care services and amusement venues increase to 50% beginning Friday.
The first of two big expansions this month of COVID-19 vaccine eligibility in New Jersey begins Monday with transportation workers and several other groups who can now schedule shots, though appointments remain hard to get.
Firefighters are still working Monday morning to contain a major forest fire in Ocean County that destroyed commercial buildings in Lakewood, damaged more than two dozens homes in neighboring Brick and left one firefighter critically injured.
A year after officials reported the first case of COVID-19 in New Jersey, the numbers of cases, deaths and hospitalizations tied to the virus are declining. Demand continues to outpace supply for coronavirus vaccines, but hundreds of thousands of doses are expected to ship in coming weeks and the state’s goal of immunizing 4.7 million people by this summer seems possible.
New Jersey-based Merck said Saturday that the experimental antiviral drug molnupiravir it has been developing with Ridgeback Bio showed a quick reduction of the infectious virus in a study among participants with early COVID-19.
They warned “winter is coming” and said then-President Donald Trump’s administration deserved “shame” for not sending New Jersey more robust federal aid.