Expect ‘Hard Winter’: Chair, Princeton Board of Health

PRINCETON, NJ – Princetonians need to brace for a long and tough few months, according to the chair of the Princeton Board of Health.

"It is going to be a hard winter,” warned Dr. George DiFerdinando. “If we can get through this winter, alive and healthy, the spring will be beautiful.”

Last week, Princeton reported 30 new cases of the coronavirus. And in the past 14 days, the township has seen a total of 54 cases.

As COVID-19 cases across the United States continues to surge, Princeton, too, is seeing a spike in weekly numbers. This spike has left many puzzled as most townspeople are wearing masks and following COVID-19-related guidelines.

“Princeton is not an island,” said DiFerdinando. “We obviously get a lot of people coming in every day to work here, to enjoy the town. And so, we're not cut off from the rest of the state or county or the rest of the world. That's probably the most fundamental answer.”

The physicians said that even if the town was doing everything right, cases are bound to increase.

The Princeton Health Department, said DiFerdinando, is currently seeing an increase in cases among people who work in health care and those associated with club sports.

“Especially travel sports, where people get together. These are all outside events,” he said.

The physician said parents are often puzzled how their child contracted the virus despite playing sports outdoors.

“The real reason with sports is, you really can't stop from running into each other,” he explained.

DiFerdinando said people usually socialize before and after the game which raises the chances of COVID-19 spread. “I'm not blaming people for doing what is natural. But sometimes I'll gently push back and say, ‘Well, I guess the virus just didn't get the memo that we weren't supposed to get it outside.’”

Recently, Gov. Phil Murphy restricted the number of people gathered at an outdoor sporting event to 25. DiFerdinando said this just shows the state's numbers display the same findings as the Princeton numbers — that outdoor sporting events were contributing to the increase in COVID-19 virus cases.

The virus also poses great danger to those who must work outside of their homes due to the nature of their jobs and their financial circumstances. This group is more likely to become infected.

A disproportionate number of low-wage workers in Princeton are people of color. However, an even stronger predictor is income and class.

“Those people, by doing their jobs, are at higher risk. It all sounds overly simplistic, but people have to work. People need to do even more, to protect themselves and others,” said DiFerdinando.

Despite Princetonians masking up and maintaining social distance, there are certain habits they haven't changed, which leads to infections, said the physician.

During Thanksgiving, many Princetonians traveled out of state, participated in gatherings, or had visitors — all potential avenues for the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

DiFerdinando said the complete impact of the Thanksgiving week in numbers isn’t in yet. But he understands that altering habits can be difficult for people.

“I’ve worked with infectious diseases. All of those conditions require people to change their behavior, but sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “Behavior change is really hard.”

DiFerdinando said the only way forward is to keep working with people. “We can't give up. The situation is too dire.”.

With numbers rising almost every week, the physician said he can’t worry about the past. Instead, he’s constantly focused on the present and future.

The coming weeks, said DiFerdinando, are extremely crucial.

“The numbers of infected people who are diagnosed with the infection will greatly increase between now, exactly a month from now, or maybe, six weeks from now,” he said.

Based on available data, DiFerdinando said the health department is speculating when the peak of the current surge will occur.

DiFerdinando said the Princeton Board of Health will be releasing a new set of guidelines and advisory sometime this week.

“We want to give people the best information we have. We don’t want to force them do what’s in their own best interest, we just want them to have the best information,” he said.

But with Gov. Murphy saying NJ could get its first COVID-19 virus vaccine around Christmas, Princetonians can hope to see a beautiful spring, said DiFerdinando. “Given what we’ve learned so far about the vaccine, and the dates that I'm looking at — then sometime around April 1 or Tax Day, the general public will have an opportunity to be vaccinated,” he said.

“We just have to make it to Tax Day — April 15. Wouldn't it be great if we're running around outside on April 15?”

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