Here's A Millburn Mom (And Volunteer EMT) After Coronavirus Call

MILLBURN, NJ — After volunteer emergency workers from Millburn were featured on an NBC segment on how how front-line workers are dealing with coronavirus, the EMT's began highlighting their volunteers on their Facebook page, and said they need donations. They are not taxpayer-funded.

"In more than 60 years of service to Millburn Township, we have never billed a single patient or their insurance," the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad wrote on their page on Thursday. "Please use the link to donate to the squad. We’re depending on you just like you’re depending on us. Thank you. https://www.mshvfas.org/donate."

Among their posts, they featured a photo of a local mom of two after a suspected COVID-19 call, wearing protective gear head to toe.

"Our volunteers are still providing the same around-the-clock 911 emergency medical service as last month, last year and last decade," says the post.

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On Monday afternoon, Gov. Phil Murphy said that 198 New Jersey residents have died from the disease, including eight who died at a Wanaque nursing home. More than 16,000 are confirmed to have tested positive.

He has stressed staying at home and social distancing as a way to slow the spread of the illness and avoid overwhelming hospitals.

According to statistics released by the CDC, while those who are older are more likely to be hospitalized from coronavirus, officials say they are seeing more cases of young people who are seriously ill, and a baby in Illinois died from the virus this past week.

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

Experts say that the new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, 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. COVID-19, the strain that emerged in China in late 2019, 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.

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