Bergen New Bridge CEO Has Breakthrough COVID Case

PARAMUS, NJ — Bergen New Bridge CEO Deborah Visconi has been a trusted voice in the county's fight against COVID-19, and a strong advocate for testing and vaccinations.

Now, she's one of the growing number of breakthrough COVID cases among vaccinated people in the state.

Visconi said she tested positive for COVID on Wednesday of last week during routine surveillance testing. By that afternoon, she had left work and alerted the senior team of the news.

"I'm in intellectual denial that it actually happened," Visconi said on a Thursday afternoon phone call from her home, where she is working remotely and recovering.

Her biggest immediate concern was the health of her family, who she had just visited to celebrate her father's 91st birthday party. All were vaccinated, she said, and none have tested positive since.

Quickly, Visconi's concern shifted to her own health, as symptoms developed, and she received an infusion of monoclonal antibodies, which helps boost the immune system against the virus, she said.

She's feeling better, and said her "symptoms are diminishing everyday," but added that the mental aspect of having COVID now, more than a year out from the onset of the pandemic, has been draining.

"The emotional aspects of the situation are more prominent at this point than the physical symptoms," she said.

New Bridge is the state's largest public hospital, and has been at the center of the county's COVID vaccination and testing efforts since the beginning of the pandemic.

Visconi's message, post breakthrough case, is that the testing and vaccinations she's been touting work.

She believes her symptoms, which include a lingering cough and slight fatigue, would have been much worse without the vaccine. Additionally, the surveillance testing allowed her to quickly notify those around her that they should be tested promptly as well.

As for what she'd tell the residents of Bergen County and the rest of the state?

"The message to the world would be get tested, this could really happen to anyone."

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