Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden is upset about the care that military veterans are getting and and the attention that the media is giving to the plight of inmates in State and County prisons compared to the sparse coverage the media is giving convalescing vets in state run homes.
“This is shameful,” Golden said of reports that the high rate of mortality at New Jersey’s veterans homes since the COVID-19 pandemic broke. “We hear more about our inmates than our veterans. Everyday I receive calls from reporters on the status of inmates and there is blanket coverage on those in the jail, yet there’s sparse coverage on our veterans.”
New Jersey’s veterans memorial homes have also been “severely impacted” by the still-growing coronavirus outbreak, the state’s top health official said Wednesday.
The state has three living facilities for military veterans — in Paramus, Edison, and Vineland. As of Thursday afternoon, 58 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and 14 have died from it, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.
The Paramus home has been hit particularly hard, with 40 confirmed cases, five residents hospitalized, and 10 deaths from COVID-19, Persichilli said.She added that the homes have had “staffing is… Read the rest of this entry »
As the coronavirus spreads and demand for medical gear far outstrips the supplies, doctors in the U.S. may have to choose who among their patients lives and who dies. Doctors in Italy have already been forced to make such moral choices.
In a recent article in The New York Times, six doctors at five of the major city hospitals said they were worried they would soon have to make painful decisions regarding who should come off lifesaving ventilators.
In addition to the moral anguish of this decision, they also outlined their concern about potential lawsuits or criminal charges if they went against the wishes of a patient or family.
State officials, nonprofit leaders offer advice on where to turn as, with businesses shutting down, thousands lose insurance along with jobs
By Jon Hurdle, NJSpotlight
Many thousands of New Jerseyans have lost their employer-paid health insurance as businesses across the state have closed their doors in the COVID-19 pandemic, and now employees are scrambling for coverage through Obamacare or Medicaid.
State officials and nonprofit leaders offered advice on Wednesday on how to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Medicaid, and on where to turn if you are among the estimated 500,000 people who were uninsured even before the coronavirus hit.
Some 70% of New Jersey employees get their health insurance through their employer, and so loss of a job often means loss of health coverage, said Maura Collinsgru, health care program director for New Jersey Citizen Action, a liberal advocacy group that provides direct services to low- and moderate- income people.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday announced new restrictions aiming at curbing the spread of the coronavirusin New Jersey, ordering all employees and shoppers at the businesses allowed to stay open to wear face coverings.
Businesses must also limit the number of customers allowed inside stores to a max of 50% of their capacity. The governor previously ordered a widespread shut down of businesses in the state, among other sweeping measures to combat the contagious pathogen. Some stores, including supermarkets, were deemed as essential and permitted to keep open.
Also on Wednesday, officials announced t… Read the rest of this entry »
American Restoration technicians disinfecting a Hazlet Police Vehicle
All American Restoration, a Freehold based mold remediation and environmental cleanup company, is using its science and technology to keep Monmouth County first responders safe from COVID-19.
Last weekend the the company disinfected police cars and ambulances in Red Bank, Little Silver and Hazlet, in an effort to prevent first responders from being infected by the corona virus via surface transfer in their vehicles.
Without relief, property owners hit hard by illness or income loss will have to cover payments due May 1 or incur penalties
Homeowners are facing a May 1 deadline for paying property taxes.
By JOHN REITMEYER , NJSpotlight
To ease the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, New Jersey homeowners have been granted mortgage relief from banks and a reprieve from evictions. But no such help has been approved thus far from local property tax bills.
That means many homeowners who are dealing with economic hardships caused by severe illness, the loss of a job or a shuttered business are also being forced to cover quarterly property tax payments by a state-imposed May 1 deadline.
Potentially making matters worse for thousands of New Jersey homeowners is the state’s recent freezing of all funding for the next installment of Homestead property-tax relief benefits. They were supposed to be paid out by the state as direct credits to effectively reduce those May quarterly bills, but Trenton is facing its own economic shortfalls.
Monmouth County has 2800 positive cases of COVID-19 as of April 7, according to an announcement by Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Sue Kiley. 71 County residents have succumbed to the virus, according to the NJ Department of Health.
Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone said that the public will be restricted from the County’s parks and golf courses, effective April 8, due to the Executive Order that Governor Murphy signed today in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Nine lives ago (in February), when the world gawked at photos of Chinese cats wearing masks to ward off the coronavirus, veterinarians elsewhere were quick with reassurance that pets were unlikely to get sick.
The vets are still saying that. But with the news Sunday that a Bronx Zoo tiger had tested positive for the virus, the infected-pet scenario no longer seems quite so far-fetched.
In addition to Nadia, the 4-year-old Malayan tiger with a confirmed infection, six other big cats at the zoo in New York had dry coughs and were presumed infected — prompting other zoos to reexamine their safety m… Read the rest of this entry »
