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Fine Print: NJ’s New Details on Reopening Schools

New guidelines on mandatory face masks, with 10 exceptions

BY JOHN MOONEY , NJSpotlight

Title: “School Reopening Frequently Asked Questions”

Author: New Jersey Department of Education

When: Friday, Aug. 7, 2020

What it is: The Murphy administration on Friday released the latest guidance for the reopening of schools in the form of an FAQ (“frequently asked questions”). The guidelines include the latest rules on the mandatory use of face masks, conditions around social distancing in the classroom, and a range of other issues involved with opening schools.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: August 10th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Education, New Jersey | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Fine Print: NJ’s New Details on Reopening Schools

Howell Police Break Up 300 person party

The Howell Police Department announced on Sunday evening that they are breaking up a “pop-up” party on Wilson Drive in the Ramtown section of the Township.

Police from Wall, Brick, Jackson, Freehold, Monmouth and Ocean County Sheriffs and the State Police have been called for assistance.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: August 9th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Howell, Monmouth County News, New Jersey | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Howell Police Break Up 300 person party

Murphy Pays Boston Consultant $23.5M for Coronavirus Work Rutgers Already Doing

BY LILO H. STAINTON, NJSpotlight

New Jersey has committed to spend some $23.5 million over three months to beef up the state’s contact-tracing capacity under a deal signed last week with a Boston-based consulting group doing similar work in New York state.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: August 7th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, New Jersey | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Murphy Pays Boston Consultant $23.5M for Coronavirus Work Rutgers Already Doing

Patients fled primary care during COVID-19

WASHINGTON — If Dr. Erica Swegler, a solo primary care doctor in Austin, Texas, hadn’t gotten her bank to delay payments on one of the loans she had taken out to open her practice five years ago, she said, “I would have been out of business in April.”

Likewise, she’s sure she would have had to close if she hadn’t also received a $36,000 federal Payment Protection Program coronavirus loan to carry her over a couple of months while her patients stayed away in droves. Ditto if Medicare and Medicaid hadn’t relaxed rules to allow for compensation and better reimbursement rates for telehealth visits … Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: August 3rd, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Health Care | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

NJ School Reopening: What’s Next as Plans Are Made to Open Classrooms

Lawmakers, unions and activists are weighing in as schools work out details

By JOHN MOONEY , NJSpotlight

The back-and-forth continued this week over what New Jersey schools will look like in a month, with districts up against an August deadline to devise their reopening plans and others not shy about weighing in on what those plans should look like.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: July 31st, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Education, New Jersey | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on NJ School Reopening: What’s Next as Plans Are Made to Open Classrooms

Monmouth Freeholders Launch Small Business Grant Program

Small businesses located in Monmouth County can apply for grants of up to $10,000 starting on Monday, August 3, 8:00 a.m. at monmouthcountycares.com, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Sue Kiley announced during a press conference in Freehold this morning.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: July 29th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Monmouth County News, New Jersey | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Plans in the Works to Increase Capacity of NJ’s Contact-Tracing Corps

Photo via Pikrepo

House parties tied to new coronavirus cases point to need for tracking infected people — especially teens

By LILO H. STAINTON, NJSpotlight

With nearly 90 new COVID-19 cases linked to young people who attended house parties at several Jersey Shore communities — and the potential exposure of hundreds more — state officials continue to encourage people to get tested and cooperate with contact tracers.

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: July 28th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, New Jersey | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Plans in the Works to Increase Capacity of NJ’s Contact-Tracing Corps

N.J. coronavirus clusters linked to Middletown teen house party, LBI lifeguard gathering increase to about 100 cases

Roughly 100 coronavirus cases have been linked to a teen house party in Monmouth County and a separate gathering of Jersey Shore lifeguards on Long Beach Island leading state officials to urge caution for those kinds of flare ups.

“We continue to see outbreaks arising from gatherings among young people,” Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said during New Jersey 100th coronavirus briefing on Monday.

She said health officials have traced 35 new cases to a party among lifeguards on Long Beach Island. Eighteen lifeguards are from Harvey Cedars’ beach patrol and 17 from Surf City’s, according to … Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: July 27th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, New Jersey | Tags: , , | Comments Off on N.J. coronavirus clusters linked to Middletown teen house party, LBI lifeguard gathering increase to about 100 cases

N.J. has nation’s 2nd highest unemployment rate even as we reopen. What that means for our economy.

New Jersey is the only state in the nation to see the number of new coronavirus cases drop in the last two weeks, but the pandemic’s financial impact continues to grow, according to a new Rutgers study.

The economic freeze, fueled by coronavirus restrictions that shut down businesses for months and urged residents to stay home, has found the Garden State experiencing historic losses and rebounds that would typically take years happen in just a few weeks.

James Hughes, economist and University professor at Rutgers University, warns the unstable economy is a “life force of its own.”And that, he s… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: July 27th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, New Jersey | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on N.J. has nation’s 2nd highest unemployment rate even as we reopen. What that means for our economy.

Middletown Health Department Asks That Teens Get Tested For COVID-19


Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

A July 11 house party on West Front Street in Middletown is believed to be the source of a COVID-19 outbreak among Township area teenagers, according to an announcement by the local health department.

The Middletown Township Department of Health and Social Services is currently investigating a cluster of approximately 20 COVID-19 cases in young adults ages 15 to 19. 

Read the rest of this entry » Posted: July 23rd, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: COVID-19, Middletown, Monmouth County, Monmouth County News | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments »