4 Hoboken Day Cares Open For Essential Workers Amid Coronavirus

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said Tuesday night that four registered Hoboken day care centers will be allowed to reopen on Wednesday to serve essential employees during the coronavirus crisis.

Bhalla had closed all day cares in town as of March 14, the day after the public schools closed. But on March 31, Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order permitting certain registered day cares in various towns to open starting April 1.

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These centers will be considered emergency day cares for children of essential workers only — a group that includes, of course, the staff of emergency day care centers.

The group also includes health care workers, fire and emergency services personnel, jail employees, social service employees, and certain workers defined in executive order 107.

The day cares include the Boys and Girls Club, for kids ages 6-13, and three private day cares that take infants and older.

Hoboken, located across the river from New York City, has approximately 53,000 residents. There are so many residents who are serving as emergency workers in New York during the crisis, that after the 5:25 a.m. NJ Transit bus to the city was canceled, they complained to the mayor. The agency had to restore the route.

The mayor also said on Tuesday night:

• The city is up to 116 confirmed coronavirus cases.
• Trader Joe's will now restrict the 8-9 a.m. shopping period only to seniors and vulnerable populations.
• Starting this Friday, ShopRite will close at 8 p.m. instead of midnight. It will continue to hold senior hours between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.

The mayor encouraged residents to avoid food shopping on the first few days of the month, after needy people get their funds to buy food.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday there were 69 more deaths in the Garden State from coronavirus from the previous day, bringing the total deaths in from the disease to 267, including eight in a Wanaque nursing home.

More than 18,000 are confirmed to have it, and more are waiting for test results, which often take several days.

Experts say that the novel coronavirus, because it's new, is more lethal and much harder to treat than the flu.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

Residents who have questions about coronavirus can call 211 or contact the State of New Jersey's hotline at 1 (800) 222-1222.

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