Below is an update from Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla on COVID-19:
Impact of COVID-19 testing in Hoboken
The Hoboken Health Department reported two new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, and three yesterday, for a total of 593 known cases. One fatality was removed from Hoboken’s total, which is now at 29. Three hundred and fifty-one of the 593 COVID-19 cases have been reported as fully recovered. The majority of new cases this month continue to be residents in the 17-30 and 31-40 age brackets.
The Hoboken Health Department today also gave further confirmation that during their extensive contact tracing over the past two weeks, no one who tested positive for COVID-19 reported attending the peaceful demonstration in Hoboken (the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) confirmed over 1,000 residents for COVID-19 testing with Riverside who attended the demonstration). The Health Department also updated my office that several of the recent, positive cases were residents who recently came back from states with high rates of COVID-19 spread.
I want to reiterate my thanks to our Health Department for continuing to conduct extensive contact tracing on every confirmed case in Hoboken, which they’ve done from the very beginning of the pandemic. Their contact tracing has helped prevent more infections and has almost certainly saved lives.
Returning from hot spots
I thank the many residents who have taken our call to get tested and quarantine seriously after coming back from other hot spot states. CERT, which receive the calls at our City Hall hotline have reported that a number of residents have in fact called for testing after returning from these regions, with higher than normal call volume over the past few days. As a reminder, if you can postpone travel out of New Jersey, especially to states such as Texas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and more, I urge you to do so. If you’ve returned from these regions, Governor Murphy has mandated a 14-day quarantine.
City will pay cost of tests at Riverside for uninsured
Some individuals who do not have health insurance and received a COVID-19 test at Riverside may have received a recent bill or phone call for payment. If you are uninsured and received a bill or phone call for payment, please disregard it as the City is working with Riverside to process payment for anyone who does not have insurance. Anyone who does not have insurance will not have to pay a bill for COVID-19 testing thanks to our partnership with Riverside.
Primary Election on July 7
The Primary Election in New Jersey is now on July 7. Every registered Democrat and Republican should have received an absentee ballot in the mail, as mandated by Governor Murphy. If you’ve received your Vote By Mail (VBM) ballot, please fill it out and send it back in the mail as soon as conveniently possible.
If you are not registered with a party (ie unaffiliated) or did not receive your absentee ballot, please click the link below to fill out a VBM application, which should be filled out, mailed and received by the Hudson County Clerk at least seven days before the election. The Hudson County Clerk will then send you the actual ballot.
Click here for the VBM application: https://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/New-VBM-English.pdf
If you’re voting in the election, I recommend residents to fill out an absentee ballot or request one in the mail, to avoid voting in person. If for some reason you did not receive a ballot in time and still want to vote in the election, there will be one polling location open in each of Hoboken’s six wards for voters to vote on paper provisional ballots.
Capping of delivery fees
Today, Governor Murphy signed legislation capping third party delivery fees throughout the state of emergency. Third party delivery services are capped at 20% if delivered by a delivery company, or 10% if delivered by the restaurant’s own delivery person. I’m glad to see this legislation signed into law at a state-wide level, which will provide some needed relief to our small businesses. Every dollar of revenue is crucial to our business owners and this legislation will help ensure our local business owners aren’t unfairly taken advantage of by third party companies with large delivery fees. I thank Governor Murphy for taking into account feedback from businesses in Hoboken and across the state.
As always, the best way to support our businesses if taking out food or getting it delivered is by calling the restaurant directly and paying by credit card over the phone, which eliminates any fee by a third-party service.
Basketball
While we had opened the outdoor basketball courts at Elysian Park, Church Square Park and behind the Multi-Service Center for non-contact shooting with scrimmages and full contact prohibited, several did not follow these rules despite repeated requests from staff on hand at the courts. As a result, we’ll be keeping the basketball courts closed as we evaluate ways to create a safer environment for next week
Finally, I leave everyone with a quote from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who today made a plea to all Americans to continue to take the virus seriously: "I think what we're missing in this is something that we've never faced before, is that a risk for you is not just isolated to you, because if you get infected you are part -- innocently or inadvertently -- of propagating the dynamic process of a pandemic."
Please, have consideration for our most vulnerable populations. Take precautions to help us beat the pandemic - wear a mask and take appropriate social distancing measures.
Have a great weekend and please stay safe.
Ravi S. Bhalla
Mayor
