Hoboken Coronavirus Cases Up; Official Clarifies School Comment

HOBOKEN, NJ — In his weekly coronavirus case update on Monday, Mayor Ravi Bhalla said the city continues to see a "substantial" rise in new cases.

During a seven-day period ending Sunday (from March 29 through April 4), the city saw 221 new cases, according to the update. This was a rise from previous week-long periods announced in March: 193 people, 163, and 188.

Currently, Hoboken's hospital is treating 15 patients for the virus, two of them Hoboken residents, Bhalla said.

"With a rise of variants across New Jersey combined with increased travel [for Spring Break], we continue to see a substantial rise of cases in Hoboken, matching a trend throughout New Jersey and other parts of the country," Bhalla wrote. "I ask residents to please take extra precautions given this nationwide surge, and continue to wear a mask, social distance, avoid large crowds and indoor gatherings, and prioritize outdoor activities."

The city has had 4,532 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, with 49 fatalities.

Statewide, New Jersey reported this week:

• 53 new deaths were confirmed from Monday to Tuesday (22,132 state death toll in total)
• 2,292 people currently hospitalized for the virus as of Monday
• 645 "variants of concern" diagnosed as of Monday

Hoboken vaccinations

Bhalla wrote Monday that thousands of Hoboken residents have already been vaccinated.

"As of Saturday," he wrote, "the Hoboken Health Department and Carepoint have administered 5,954 total vaccinations, which include 1,922 second doses as well as 98 Johnson & Johnson doses. As of last Monday, 3,396 total doses were administered by Hudson County to Hoboken residents, which include 2,195 first doses and 1,201 second doses. Riverside Medical Group’s location in Hoboken has administered 4,069 first-doses, and nearly 3,000 second doses, the majority of them to Hoboken residents."

As of April 19, all New Jersey residents over 16 will be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine.

Click here for Patch's updated list for where to get a vaccine in Hoboken and Hudson County, and volunteers who will help.

The county of Hudson said they'd have slots open starting Tuesday night.

Coronavirus in the schools

Bhalla said that the Health Department's contract tracing has determined that "many of the new cases can be traced to the following" sources:

• Indoor parties and social gatherings of friends and non-household members
• Spread among household members
• Participation in indoor recreation activities
• Travel to other hot-spot states and internationally
• Certain instances of spread within schools, with 300 children having either tested positive or quarantined throughout March

Bhalla's counts above contained a note, for the first time, about possible school spread. The message did not specify which schools in the city, public and private, were taken into account.

Hoboken School District Superintendent Christine Johnson responded to the statement Tuesday afternoon.

"Lumping everything together from all schools, and lumping positive cases together with quarantine numbers, is a bit misleading," Johnson said.

She said that after checking with principals of the six district public schools, "We had the following isolated student cases in the month of March with no spreading or transmission. In many of these cases, children contracted the virus while already quarantining as a result of a family member that was positive or they were quarantining due to another child on a travel sports team."

• Hoboken Middle School: 1 case
• Connors: 2 cases
• Brandt: 5 cases
• Wallace: 6 cases
• Hoboken Middle School: 1 case

There were also 5 cases at Hoboken High School. Of those, the superintendent said, "One of the five cases may have been linked to two of the five, but we can't be sure because the kids were already quarantining."

The public schools are currently on Spring Break. Students will go remote next week, and must be tested for the virus before returning, as they have done after Thanksgiving and winter break.

When a positive case is confirmed in a class and there has been close contact, the classroom goes remote for two weeks.

For more information about testing, vaccines, and the rest of the mayor's Monday message, click here.

Mayor Bhalla's office pointed Tuesday evening to a new Nixle alert with a few more details about which schools were counted. See the updates here.

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