Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli on Tuesday thanked New Jersey businesses for all the safeguards they have implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, but said a full reopening of the state’s economy without indoor occupancy restrictions was unlikely without a large-scale vaccination program in 2021.
Speaking by video conference during a Virtual Town Hall sponsored by NJBIA and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Persichilli said that essential workers and vulnerable populations will likely receive the first round of vaccines when they become available, hopefully by the end of 2020. A larger scale vaccination program would come in 2021 once the next round of vaccines is available.
“I want everyone to be knowledgeable about the COVID-19 vaccine…to consider getting vaccinated,” Persichilli said. “That will be the only way we will be able to return to a full reopening. Masking, social distancing, washing your hands, and respiratory etiquette will continue, even as we are vaccinating individuals, to bring us to a point of what we call community protection.”
NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka and Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Tom Bracken urged the commissioner to tie decisions on more fully reopening businesses to regional data, such as the number of positive COVID-19 cases in a given area of the state.
“I look at the state on a statewide basis,” Persichilli said. “The number of cases is just one indicator. We actually look every day at 10 a.m. at a series of indicators that the epidemiologists prepare for us,” she said, adding that other indicators include the COVID-19 transmission rate and the number of influenza-type illnesses and COVID-like illnesses being reported by hospital emergency rooms.
“It’s not as simple as just looking at one set of indicators and making a decision for reopening,” Persichilli told Siekerka. “I would be happy to go over with you what that looks like on a daily basis. It might give a better idea of what we could do together.”
Siekerka said the business community would welcome the opportunity to talk with the commissioner more in-depth at a future meeting about its proposal for a “regional approach with metrics.” A regional approach is key in case hot spots of COVID-19 appear in the months ahead, Siekerka said, noting the economy cannot endure another statewide shutdown as it did in March.
Persichilli said New Jersey residents should be preparing for the possibility of a resurgence of both influenza and COVID-19 illnesses this fall. The Department of Health is strongly urging residents to get the flu vaccine before the end of October in order to achieve the most protection, and to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.
In the meantime, social distancing and good hygiene practices are essential while the state gears up to implement a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination program in 2021.
“For those who can, telecommuting is still recommended…and face-to-face meetings and travel should be limited,” Persichilli said. “The only tools we have in our toolkit right now are safeguarding tools – masking, social distancing, washing hands frequently and respiratory etiquette. It’s really all we have.”
To watch the entire virtual town hall, go here.
4 responses to “Health Commissioner Says COVID-19 Vaccine Needed Before Full Business Reopenings”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
And what if a vaccine is years away? Really bold statement for a problem that has a 99.98 survival rate.
Greg:
Excellent point. Just how much pain can this state inflict on the business community? While other states are effectively moving ahead with solid reopening strategies, we remain mired in uncertainty with no solid data to justify the destruction of thousands of businesses and the entrepreneurs and their families behind these operations. History will surely show the irreparable harm this administration has had on the physical, mental and financial health of our residents.
All I can say is that I did not vote for these morons who are making the decisions that are destroying the businesses and the NJ economy.
What???? This is crazy. The only ones making things worse is the state. If you want to ruin NJ thats the way to do it. Small businesses are hurting and many will just have to close and believe me many are leaving and many more will leave. The Covid 19 numbers were never correct. This health commissioner, does she know the survival rate is like 99 percent. Come on this just to ruin the economy. You people work for us, just remember that because we will all remember when its time for your elections.