What Trump’s national emergency and new legislation for coronavirus will mean for N.J.

WASHINGTON— Two new pools of federal money will flow to New Jersey to help the state cope with the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump’s national emergency will free up $50 billion in federal funds for New Jersey and other states to tap to help cover their costs of responding to the virus. The president called it “a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease.”

And bipartisan legislation that passed the House early Saturday could mean $810 million in new Medicaid funding for the state, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorit… Read the rest of this entry »

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Trump: Google building self-check website for coronavirus

President Donald Trump announced Friday that internet giant Alphabet is creating a website where people will be able to check whether they have  symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

Verily Life Sciences, once a project in a Google X lab devoted to “moonshot” projects and now its own health business unit, is testing a “tool to help triage individuals for COVID-19 testing,” Google confirmed on Twitter.”Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time,” the tweet said, referring to San Francisco and s… Read the rest of this entry »

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Smith: Stopping coronavirus pandemic and finding a cure, vaccine must be our highest priority—no matter the cost

WASHINGTON, DC – As the House tonight passed its second comprehensive bipartisan bill to combat the coronavirus (COVID 19), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said that “containing the outbreak, finding a cure and a safe and effective vaccine must be our highestpriority—no matter the cost.”

“We must contain the coronavirus pandemic and protect all people, especially those most vulnerable to the disease such as the elderly and those with serious chronic medical conditions,” said Smith, who strongly supported and voted for the measure hours after President Trump declared the coronavirus a national emergency, opening the door for states and local governments to receive additional federal assistance. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monmouth County Freeholders Press Conference on COVID-19

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Highlands Postpones St Patrick’s Parade

The 18th annual Highlands St. Patrick’s Parade, scheduled for Saturday, March 21, has been postponed due to Governor Phil Murphy’s recommendation that events of 250+ people be cancelled.

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Physical Therapist in Manasquan Charged With Sexual Contact With Two Employees

Lukas DeLorenzo

Lukas I. DeLorenzo, 35, of Neptune Township, was charged yesterday with fourth degree Sexual Contact for illegally groping two employees under the guise of training them in physical therapy, according to an announcement by Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

DeLorenzo and his wife, Katherine, are the owners of Coast Rehab, a physical therapy practice with locations in Manasquan and New York City. Read the rest of this entry »

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Trump says widespread coronavirus testing to begin ‘soon’ as administration cuts red tape

(USA Features) President Donald Trump said Friday that thanks to reductions in regulatory burdens widespread testing of Americans for COVID-19 are set to begin “soon.”

“The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!” he wrote in a tweet Friday morning.

The president also criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead organization in the health fight against the virus, for having a testing system in place he said would “always be inadequate and slow for a large pandemic.” It wasn’t clear what syst… Read the rest of this entry »

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Trump’s reelection betting odds dropping amid pandemic handling

President Trump was considered a lock for reelection by odds makers for the last several months.  After the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic this week, gamblers now consider the 2020 presidential election a toss up between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, according to sportsbetting.ag

Last week the odds of Trump being reelected were -200, meaning a $20 bet would return only $10 if the President wins on November 3.  The odds are -11o today, meaning an $11 bet will return $10 if Trump gets another term. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hackensack Meridian Restricts Hospital Visitation

Hackensack-Meridian Health is restricting visits to its patients in all of its hospitals and nursing homes, and rehabilitation facilities according to an announcement by the organization.

HMH’s Monmouth County hospitals are Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, and Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel.

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Murphy recommends cancelling gatherings of more than 250

BREAKING: Today, I am recommending the cancellation of all public gatherings of 250+ people, including parades, concerts, and sporting events.

Social distancing works. This is our best chance to mitigate the chance of exposure & rapid spread of #COVID19.https://t.co/AKOFRSvkQF pic.twitter.com/uFVplz6L3y

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) March 12, 2020

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