Hoboken City Council Votes Down Proposed $250 Facemask Fine

HOBOKEN, NJ — The Hoboken City Council voted 6-3 on Wednesday night against a proposed $250 fine for individuals not wearing a mask in a public place.

On Wednesday night, Councilman Phil Cohen, who frequently sides with the administration of Mayor Ravi Bhalla, said, "It’s disappointing that the City Council failed to pass the face mask ordinance tonight ... Hoboken needs to instill a culture of compliance with respect to mask-wearing in places where it is impossible to practice social distancing."

He said that seniors are afraid to venture out because of "the risks of COVID-19 and the poor rates of compliance in our community."

He added, "The failure to authorize the city to issue warnings and tickets for such risky misconduct emboldens 'mask-less' visitors to continue squeezing past us on our sidewalks and in our parks."

The city, located across the Hudson River from Manhattan, packs 53,000 people into one square mile. There are also 140 liquor licenses potentially in use at any one time, and dozens of restaurants providing outdoor dining.

Councilman Michael DeFusco, who voted against the ordinance, said Thursday morning, "Factually speaking, the ordinance rehashed an existing July 8 Executive Order from Governor Phil Murphy, word by word. The proposed legislation only added two short and questionably enforceable clauses: one that broadly define the city employees able to issue a summons; the other set the limits of the fine at $250."

He added, "The fairness of having employees not trained in public health and the possibility of bias impacting their decision creates a dangerous slippery slope, policy wise ... Given this legislative overreach was more press stunt than policy, I call on Mayor Bhalla to put politics aside and continue working with the City Council ... I remain fully committed to seeing an aggressive enforcement of the governor’s Executive Order, so long as it does not include a financially punitive fine. Instead, let’s focus our city’s resources on continuing Covid-19 education/outreach, mask distribution and bringing Hoboken together through science and facts, not driving us apart with politics."

Earlier on Wednesday, the city had, using its Nixle alert system, emailed residents the results of a survey about the ordinance, which they said had been filled out by 3,661 people from Monday to Tuesday about the masks. The city had sent out the link to the survey using a Nixle alert on Monday as well.

The city reported that a slight majority of respondents, or 51 percent, indicated they agreed or strongly agreed with the implementation of an ordinance that allowed for the fine in situations when social distancing is not possible.

The proposed ordinance mirrored the executive order issued by Gov. Phil Murphy currently in effect in the State of New Jersey, that requires face masks to be worn in situations where social distancing is not possible.

Currently, the CDC recommends that people wear facemasks to cut down on exposure to coronavirus.

So far, Hoboken, one of the first cities in the area to begin shutting facilities in March, has lost 31 residents to the virus, with no new fatalities since May. (Two women who passed away in April and May, who were in their 60s, were recently reported to the Health Department.) See below for more statistics.

More survey results

Additional results of the Hoboken facemask survey included:

• Of the “high risk” population, including seniors or those with serious underlying medical conditions, 70 percent indicated they would feel safer or much safer if a $250 fine was instituted. (The federal government recently said that about half of American adults who are not elderly have some kind of "pre-existing condition.")
• The city said that 62 percent of respondents indicated that they believed a $250 fine would make other people more likely to wear face masks, while 37 percent indicated that a $250 fine would make them more likely to wear a face mask outdoors.

• 89 percent of residents said they agreed or strongly agreed that face masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19, with 11 percent not sure or disagreeing with the claim.

• 64 percent of residents said they wore a face mask all or most of the time outdoors, 25 percent of residents said they wore a face mask some of the time outdoors and 11 percent of residents said they hardly ever or never wore face masks outdoors

For full results of the City’s face mask survey, click here.

Hoboken coronavirus statistics and trends

Last Thursday, the city said it now has had a total of 687 known, confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The city said that Wednesday and Thursday, it had reports of two and one new case respectively (included in the 687 total).

The city had gone a week in June with only one new case, then experienced an uptick in new cases in July — as did many New Jersey cities — after facilities started reopening and people traveled to states with higher numbers. The governor has also blamed large parties for high transmission rates.

As of Thursday, 165,000 Americans had died of coronavirus, and more than 5 million have tested positive.

As of last weekend, 35 states remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days. Read more: More Kids Getting Coronavirus.

In New Jersey last Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy said the number of coronavirus cases statewide has risen to 186,594, with 14,054 confirmed deaths. That included 699 new cases since the day before and eight newly confirmed deaths.

But the daily death rate in New Jersey has been declining since back on April 30, when it reached a peak of 460 residents in 24 hours.

Many other states reached record daily death rates in July (see the daily totals in each state here). They have pulled back on their reopenings, including Texas, which closed bars after seeing record numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

New Jersey updated its list on Tuesday of states that residents must quarantine upon returning from. There are now 35 states included.

See below for other recent Hoboken coronavirus and reopening updates:

SCHOOLS

• The Hoboken public schools are slated to reopen on Monday, Sept. 14 with distance learning, and then those who chose on-site learning can report to their buildings on Sept. 21. READ MORE: Hoboken Schools Will Now Start Remotely
• The district has offered a reopening plan giving parents a choice of either full-time in-person learning (until 3 p.m.) or full-time distance learning. In the buildings, there will be restrictions, such as kids wearing masks and maintaining a 6-foot distance.
• The governor's school reopening guidance was published on June 26.
• The state has said that all districts must offer a remote learning option.

BUSINESS

• Here is the August schedule of Hoboken "summer streets" that are restricted to vehicles, to encourage walking, bicycling, and outdoor dining.
• Hoboken recently received almost $1.9 million in funding for small businesses, to be distributed in $20,000 grants. Read more here.
• Hoboken businesses received government PPP loans to help with payroll, rent, and more during the pandemic. Read the list here.
• More than 50 of the city's restaurants opened the week of June 15 for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Some of those have added "streateries" for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Two of the city's weekly farmers' markets reopened in June. READ MORE.
• The city and Patch both have directories of businesses that are open and closed. Check them out and add your listing. READ MORE.
• The city will be closing off certain blocks for businesses to expand and draw foot traffic. READ MORE.
• Here's what you need to know about applying for unemployment and other benefits during coronavirus. MORE.
• Read more about unemployment, small business, and other coronavirus regulations and benefits in New Jersey here.

LIBRARY

• Residents can return library books and other materials by placing them in the library book/media dropbox in front of the library (500 Park Ave.) from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The library has begun no-contact "curbside pickup" service. Library patrons will be able to reserve the materials online, place their orders via email to hobkcirc@bccls.org, or call (201) 4202346, ext. 5102. For additional details, visit hobokenlibrary.org.

PARKS

• Most Hoboken parks reopened earlier this summer.
• Playgrounds reopened last month. Kids over 2 must wear a mask in playgrounds in Hoboken.

GYMS

• Bhalla said recently, "According to Governor Murphy, the following activities are permitted at indoor gyms starting July 2, as provided by his office: 'individualized indoor instruction by appointment only where an instructor is offering training to an individual, and the individual's immediate family members, household members, caretakers, or romantic partners. If a gym or fitness center is offering multiple simultaneous instructions at the same facility, these instructions must take place in separate rooms or, if they take place in the same room, must be separated by a floor-to-ceiling barrier that complies with all fire code requirements.' "

NURSING HOMES

• New Jersey residents have become alarmed at the high number of residents who have passed away in nursing homes, rehabs, and similar facilities, and have charged that the facilities are undercounting the numbers and not adequately protecting residents and staff. The state has faced questions for weeks from the press about how they will address the problems. They announced plans last month to increase testing at some long term care facilities and to bring in the National Guard to help make changes.
• The state has begun releasing death toll statistics for long-term care facilities like rehabs and nursing homes. See the list here.
• You can report problems with long term care facilities here, or if you suspect coronavirus related misconduct, here.
• Some New Jersey long-term care facilities reopened for limited visits, with precautions, in July.
• Other states have also been dealing with nursing home deaths more recently, including a recent outbreak in a Texas nursing home.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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