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Essex County Politics · January 21, 2021 2:36 AM
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LILO H. STAINTON, HEALTH CARE WRITER | JANUARY 21, 2021
NJ Spotlight News
New COVID-19 diagnoses and hospitalizations could peak within days in New Jersey before beginning a gradual, months-long decline, according to state predictive modeling that also indicates 70% of eligible residents could be immunized by June 1, allowing for significant community protection against the pandemic.
State health officials were quick to explain that the immunization timeline is heavily dependent on federal supply of vaccines and the June 1 target assumes that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson serum not yet approved by federal regulators is available in March. Until then, the vaccine rollout will have limited impact on infection trends, the model notes.
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · January 21, 2021 2:32 AM
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By Nikita Biryukov, January 20 2021
New Jersey Globe
New Jersey will likely see the return of mostly mail elections in the spring and summer as the state continues to grapple with the pandemic.
The state last began to administer vaccines that, so far, continue to be in short supply. Before taking office, President Joe Biden said he planned to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost the nation’s vaccine production.
Officials aim to have vaccinated 70% of residents, a figure they say will be enough to achieve herd immunity and begin a return to pre-pandemic normalcy, by Memorial Day. It’s not yet clear how increased vaccine production will affect that timeline, but health officials have identified supply shortages as the current bottleneck in the state’s vaccination strategy.
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · January 20, 2021 3:26 AM
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NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS | JANUARY 20, 2021
Jan. 19, 2021: President-elect Joe Biden speaks at the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center in New Castle, Delaware.
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When he becomes president Wednesday, Joseph Biden is expected to make immediate changes in policy areas upended by President Trump — first through executive orders, then through an aggressive push with a Congress controlled by Democrats.
Up first, as Biden has promised, is an overhaul in the nation’s response to COVID-19 and its rollout of the needed vaccines. Then a return to work combating climate change. Beyond that, a new Biden administration is expected to have broad impact on life in New Jersey. From finances to climate to COVID-19, NJ Spotlight News looks at key areas where Biden is said to be making changes.
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · January 19, 2021 3:24 AM
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LILO H. STAINTON, HEALTH CARE WRITER | JANUARY 19, 2021
NJ Spotlight News
Jan. 15, 2021: Linda Leeman gets vaccinated at the Edison Vaccination Facility.
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In New Jersey, COVID-19 vaccines are now available at more than 160 locations — including hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers and government-run clinics — and four of the state’s planned six mega-sites are now immunizing eligible individuals.
But six weeks after the first New Jersey resident got her initial dose, the statewide operation continues to run at far less than full speed. Concerns include public confusion, a complex sign-up system, an initial workforce shortage in some places, and perhaps the biggest hurdle of all, not enough vaccines to meet the demand.
“We’ve got plenty of people (to administer vaccines), it’s not an issue” at the Gloucester County mega-site, state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), a former county freeholder, told NJ Spotlight News last week. “We just need the vaccine,” he said. “We’ve really got to step it up now.”
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · January 18, 2021 4:32 AM
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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
01/17/2021
Politico
National Guard soldiers head to the east front of the U.S. Capitol.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event.
The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. And it underscores fears that some of the very people assigned to protect the city over the next several days could present a threat to the incoming president and other VIPs in attendance.
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · January 18, 2021 4:20 AM
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RAS J. BARAKA | JANUARY 18, 2021
NJ Spotlight News
Ras J. Baraka
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The first major changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule, which are designed to reduce lead traces in drinking water, were announced before Christmas, to give cities plagued by high lead levels some guidelines and goals.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the new rules were a top priority to “accelerate reductions of lead in drinking water to better protect our children and communities.”
Acceleration is the operative word. This problem, like many health issues, disproportionately affects Black and brown people in older homes in cities across America, but lead is found in drinking water indiscriminately, in suburbs and rural communities alike.
Among the new rules is the gradual removal of lead service lines that connect individual homes and buildings to the water mains, giving municipalities a 33-year window for full replacement.
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