2 Years Of COVID In Hoboken, NJ: Photos From The Beginning

HOBOKEN, NJ — Last week marked two years since Hoboken, a mile-square city directly across the river from Manhattan, imposed a 10 p.m. curfew throughout town — the same week it closed schools, playgrounds, and other facilities in anticipation of a coming threat not seen in this lifetime.

On March 15, 2020, Hoboken reported its second and third coronavirus cases. Mayor Ravi Bhalla said, "As will be the case with every positive result, the Hoboken Health Department has proactively reached out to anyone who was in contact with both individuals."

Now, two years later, the city of 60,419 people has seen more than 9,400 cases among residents, 63 deaths, and an unknown number of people suffering from long COVID (one mom tells her story here).

What the optimists hoped would be a two-week lockdown continued much longer, but it did manage to eventually stop the rampant deaths statewide. New Jersey saw its worst day ever on April 30, 2020, with 430 COVID deaths in one day, or one every three minutes. The numbers began to decline after that.

However, as doors reopened and gatherings were held, cases rose. Hoboken had lost 31 residents to COVID through May 2020, then didn't lose another resident until that December.

With cases dwindling in the mile-square city (and at least 98 percent of residents 12 and over vaccinated), Hoboken lifted its "State of Emergency" last week.

Also last week, 79 people in New Jersey died of COVID.

All photos above are from March 2020 in Hoboken.

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