Hoboken Covid 'Continuing To Increase'; Municipal Court Closed

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a coronavirus update Saturday that despite the vaccine rollout and a lack of recent holiday gatherings, coronavirus cases are still increasing in the mile-square city.

Bhalla said Saturday that from Feb. 27 through March 5, the Health Department received confirmation of 295 positive tests for the virus. Bhalla said some of the numbers stem from a backlog that was cleared. However, he added, "Even taking this into account, it’s clear that cases are continuing to increase, and that it’s still critical to take the virus seriously."

These were the numbers from the previous two Saturday updates, before this one:

• Feb. 20-26: 218 new cases
• Feb. 12-19 (eight days): 204 new cases

Bhalla added, "As before, contact tracing indicates that many of these new cases can be linked to indoor gatherings, travel outside of New Jersey, and spread from household contacts."

There was also a recent outbreak at the Hoboken Community Center, the former YMCA that houses up to 96 men. Of 44 recently tested, 20 tested positive. At least one recent fatality there was attributed to the virus.

Last week, there were no new fatalities due to the virus reported in the city. The fatality rate remains at 43.

Hoboken University Medical Center is treating 19 covid patients, including five Hoboken residents, Bhalla said.

The Hoboken Health Department reported these positive cases:

Feb. 27: 71
Feb. 28: 19
March 1: 57
March 2: 45
March 3: 38
March 4: 27
March 5: 38

Municipal court closed

Bhalla said that due to a positive COVID-19 case, Hoboken Municipal Court will be closed the week of March 8.

Those who have been in close contact with the individual who tested positive have been given appropriate guidance from the Hoboken Health Department, Bhalla said.

To get tested for the virus or sign up for a vaccine:

• To sign-up for a coronavirus test and view availability in Hoboken, visit www.hobokennj.gov/testing.
• To see the rest of the mayor's message, with vaccination statistics, future vaccinations, updates on outdoor workouts, and more, click here.
• To get a coronavirus vaccine through the sites in Hoboken, Hudson County, or at CVS, Acme, and other means, see Patch's updated story from Friday: Hudson County Covid Vaccine Updates: CVS, Acme, More
• Some in New Jersey have been helped to find an appointment through social media groups, like New Jersey Covid Vaccine Info on Facebook, which has 67,000 members.

Recent updates on vaccines:

• Find out if you qualify for a vaccine in New Jersey by clicking this link.
• Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, are a new type of vaccine that doesn't include the weakened virus, but teaches human cells to make a protein that triggers the immune response (read more about that here). The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is more traditional (see stories about all three vaccines here and here.) Doctors say that the important metric is that all three are effective in preventing serious illness and death from covid, and that having the majority of the public vaccinated will lessen the spread.

National and New Jersey fatalities

• The state of New Jersey said Wednesday that it had confirmed 63 new deaths since the day before, bringing the total death toll from the virus statewide to 21,052. While daily deaths are down from early January, they are still much higher than the all-time daily low of two new deaths reported on Sept. 7.
• On Monday, the state said 1,865 patients statewide were hospitalized with the virus, 387 of those in ICU and 226 of those on ventilators.
• As of Monday, 525,000 Americans have died of the virus. (You can see which states had the highest death toll in the past week on this CDC map.)

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