Information from the Governor’s office

Religious Leaders met with the Governor Murphy’s staff today ( December 11)  about COVID related issues.

Here is a synopsis of the conversation.

Get Covered New Jersey

New Jersey now has its own Official Health Insurance Marketplace.  The open enrollment period is November 1 to January 31.  Reminder that the deadline for January 1 coverage is December 31.   The state provides subsidies for New Jersey residents.  The webpage supports many different languages.    More information is available at https://www.nj.gov/getcoverednj/

Court Cases and Rulings concerning issues about the pandemic

The Governor restricted Houses of Worship 25% up to maximum of 150 people earlier this year.  There is litigation against the New Jersey order for restrictions of houses of worship. In a case similar from California, the Supreme Court sent it back to the lower courts to review. It is expected that the New Jersey litigation, which is similar to the California case, will have a similar response from the Supreme court.  The question was asked if the number of 25% to 150 people would be changed in the near future. The response is that the Governor staff are waiting for the court to rule before making any decisions for the change.

Second Wave of Infections and COVID Vaccines

Second Wave is well underway.  The Governor staff is focused on surgical response and trying to not go back to the hard lock down.  There are tools to assisting in mitigating the second wave.

 COVID Testing.  More testing is available. At home testing kits are available in some areas.  Encourage people to get testing. Testing sites and information are available at https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/testing#test-sites

Contact Tracing is vital important. Encourage your congregant to respond to contact tracers. It is important to be able to help contain the virus.

Avoid Groups – A lot of spread of this second wave comes from individuals meeting in small groups. Please find ways to gather online or outside.  It is hard not being with family and friends during this holiday season. The models for cases are not good if we do not all take steps to keep the virus from spreading.

Vaccine – The state will first focus on health care workers and high risk in care facilities. The system is being set up right now. New Jersey is still a few months out for the vaccine for the general public. More information will be coming out soon.

Meeting in Person or Remote?

The group was asked how many had Houses of Worship that were still meeting in person. Many leaders reported that most of their Houses of Worship are virtual.  The Episcopal Diocese of Newark congregations are all remote as of Monday. Unitarian Universalist Congregations are all remote. Safety of the congregation and the community, especially the most vulnerable, is paramount over meeting in person.