COVID Quarantine Recommendation Reduced In Maplewood And South Orange: Officials

MAPLEWOOD AND SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Health Departments of Maplewood and South Orange said Tuesday that they've adopted a modified 7-10 days quarantine guideline for COVID exposure in conjunction with national recommendations, meaning people who are a "close contact" of someone with COVID are no longer being told they must quarantine for 14 days.

"The 14-day quarantine is still the preferred and strongly recommended quarantine guidance by the NJ Department of Health," noted the health officers in both towns. "However, we also recognize that as society is opening up, people are returning back to work, and we are in a situation where full in-person school is the only option, the 14-day quarantine for community transmissions has been difficult and a hardship."

Parents had complained to the school district at a Monday night meeting that it was too difficult to quarantine for 14 days in some cases, according to a TAPinto story, particularly since students weren't allowed to cut the time short upon testing negative.

The district had released its COVID safety plan in August.

However, the health officers said the change is only occurring now because the area is at a "moderate" transmission level for the time being.

"Once the regional transmission level moves to HIGH, then the state recommendation is to return to the 14-day quarantine for both community and in school transmission and that is what Maplewood and South Orange will follow," said health officers Candice Davenport of Maplewood and John Festa of South Orange.

Last year, the transmission rates climbed as people traveled for holidays.

The pair said in their announcement, "Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) guidance of a 10-day isolation for those who are COVID positive and a 14-day quarantine for those who are close contacts. Because we have been cautious, careful and stringent in our approach we have averted and prevented the further spread of COVID in the community thereby reducing the risk of illness, hospitalization and deaths."

"The modified quarantine as per the NJDOH and CDC is an 'acceptable alternative' only while we are in Moderate transmission levels," they further cautioned. "We understand that there is an increased need to go back to normal after 19 months. However, we still must do our part in decreasing the risk of transmission in our community ... when the time comes that our regional transmission rate is determined to be HIGH by the NJDOH, we will return to the 14-day quarantine, and expect the public’s full cooperation and compliance."

"These last 19 months have been difficult for everyone and continue to be a major challenge for those of us in public health and all healthcare settings as we have seen the number of COVID cases rise over the last two months and as COVID hospital admissions increase," the officials noted.

High Death Rate In Some States

In fact, nationally, the virus claimed 14,000 more lives since a week ago.

New Jersey has the ninth lowest rate of COVID deaths per capita right now. But in some states, hospitals are filled and other patients must put off treatments. See the state list here.

The COVID vaccine is 95 percent effective against the virus, according to medical professionals, and while vaccinated people may have "breakthrough cases" — particularly among Delta — there is a lower chance of hospitalization or death for those vaccinated, they say.

New Jersey Hospitalizations Up; More On Ventilators

On Friday, Sept. 17, 1,150 people in New Jersey were battling COVID in hospitals. Of those, 142 are on ventilators. Here are prior weeks' numbers:

• Friday, Sept. 10, 1,167 were hospitalized in New Jersey with COVID and 128 were on ventilators.
• Friday, Sept. 3, 1,054 people in New Jersey were being treated in hospitals for COVID, 109 on ventilators.
• Friday, Aug. 27, 1,022 people were hospitalized with COVID, 98 on ventilators.
• Friday, Aug. 20: 923 hospitalized, 73 on ventilators.

More than 668,442 Americans have now died from COVID, up from 654,409 people the previous Friday. The previous Friday, the death toll had also climbed 11,000 since the Friday before. You can see which states have the highest recent death rates here.

New Jersey's latest weekly report on transmission in the area is here.

The determination is based on metrics such as case rate and positivity rate. And it may be used in determining school districts' protocols and other health measures.

Local Health Officer Recommendations

The local health officers gave this advice to slow the spread and death toll:

1. Get vaccinated (for those who are eligible)
2. Test regularly especially after travel, if you have been exposed, and if you have symptoms
3. Masking and social distancing is recommended for those who are unvaccinated when they are in large group settings with people who are not of your household and/or you are in close contact with others who are also unvaccinated
4. Consider the amount, and type of gatherings you plan to attend, especially if you have an unvaccinated household member. Consider if it is worth the disruption of a quarantine, if you were exposed at that gathering or event.
5. Continue to practice social distancing
6. Outdoor activities are safer than indoor activities but more mitigation strategies put in place in either scenario, helps to reduce risk
7. Outdoor sports are recommended to mask and maintain 6 feet of social distancing on the sidelines and to wear a mask when walking on or off the field. It is understood that when in active play, mask wearing can be more detrimental, however consider reducing the unmasked playing time to less than 15 minutes, per player for the entire game. For more guidance, refer to https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_GuidanceForSportsActivities.pdf
8. Be honest in your exposure history. Quarantine prevents the spread of the virus to others. Remember that not everyone is eligible to be vaccinated whether that be due to age reasons or medical concerns. While some may recover easily from this virus- not everyone is as fortunate.

*The modified quarantine refers to a quarantine of 7 days from last date of exposure if tested on day 3-5 and the test result is negative. It is 10 days of quarantine if a person does not get a test.
To follow the weekly COVID-19 CALI Score Surveillance Reports and monitor the regional transmission level, go to: https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/statistics/covid/#1 Read more

Read More About COVID And NJ:

• The Latest Data, Details On Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases In NJ
• COVID Hospitalizations Spike In NJ As Delta Variant Spreads
• Mayor: Westfield Had One Coronavirus Death In July
• NJ Mom Urges: Please Listen to COVID 'Long-Haulers'
• 4 Things To Know About The Delta Variant Of Coronavirus In NJ
• New Jersey Town Says: Get Vaccinated Or No Spaghetti For You
• Rise In Child COVID Hospitalizations Prompts Vaccination Plea
• NJ Hospital Preps For COVID Surge As Kids Set To Return To School

More Information

• 98 percent to 99 percent of recent COVID deaths were unvaccinated people, according to one study earlier this summer.
• Here is information on vaccine side effects, including the most rare but severe effects.
• COVID survivors may suffer from long-term symptoms.

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