One Fatality In Coronavirus Outbreak At Hoboken Men's Shelter

HOBOKEN, NJ — A board member at the Hoboken Community Center confirmed Friday that there has been 20 recent coronavirus cases among residents of the center, which is a former YMCA that houses up to 96 single men. One resident has passed away, said board member Juan Melli.

Melli said Friday, "The county has a facility at Christ Hospital [in Jersey City] that they opened to provide space for people who can’t isolate themselves. Those who tested positive have been given the option to voluntarily move to the facility. Forty-four residents and staff were tested and 20 of those tested positive. We were made aware by a family member of one resident who passed from COVID."

City spokesman Vijay Chaudhuri referred questions about the center to Melli. But he said the total fatalities in Hoboken due to the virus are now 43 — two more than the number of fatalities reported by the city on Saturday.

The Community Center also runs a food pantry for Hoboken residents in need. Melli said the pantry is in a separate part of the facility and does not need to move. "There’s no access to the food pantry from the MBS low-income housing facility," Melli said Friday.

Taking precautions

Melli said, "Since the start of the pandemic, the Hoboken Community Center’s affordable housing program has been proactive in taking a variety of measures to provide for the health and safety of its residents and staff. As a congregate living setting, the HCC implemented new and continuing measures to address the risk of infection."

He said these included installing plexiglass partitions at the front desk, adding hand sanitation machines, distributing PPE to residents and staff, posting signage requiring masks and social distancing, limiting elevator rides to two people maximum, distributing meals and groceries to residents to encourage isolation, and third-party cleaning including frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces.

"Late last week," he said, "HCC learned from residents and family members that there were several positive COVID-19 cases in the building including one resident who sadly passed away. Upon learning this, HCC contacted the city of Hoboken Health Department, which was instrumental in connecting HCC with services provided by Hudson County."

On Monday, the city provided voluntary testing to residents and staff. "On Tuesday," Melli said, "HCC was notified that a significant number of residents tested positive. ... Since that time, HCC, Hudson County, Hoboken OEM and Health Department have worked to encourage all positive residents to relocate to the county’s facility including providing transportation."

When asked if the population — which includes a number of seniors — has been vaccinated, Melli said that the HCC had provided information to residents about how to be vaccinated, and some already have been, but it was voluntary.

A story in Hudson County View detailed other precautions that are being taken.

Hoboken coronavirus statistics

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hoboken — a mile-square city of 53,000 residents — has confirmed 3,193 cases of the virus. Hoboken University Medical Center is currently treating 21 patients with COVID-19, including six Hoboken residents, Mayor Ravi Bhalla said Saturday.

Bhalla on Thursday urged Hoboken residents to avoid non-essential travel outside of New Jersey to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Here is a list of city testing sites. Check for updates on Hoboken Nixle.

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New Jersey toll and vaccine information

While the death toll in New Jersey is declining again, deaths and hospitalizations have not decreased to the level of Sept. 7, when there were 2 deaths reported statewide in 24 hours.

On Wednesday, the state reported 57 new confirmed deaths from the virus in 24 hours, and 2,070 people battling the virus in hospitals.

The state has confirmed 55 cases in New Jersey of the UK variant of the virus.

Vaccine information

Presently, the state's sites are vaccinating people in the 1A and 1B groups, including certain essential workers, seniors over 65, and people 16-65 with chronic medical conditions. Find out if you qualify by clicking this link.

People can register for an appointment on the state's hub for any of the state's six megasites, besides checking the other websites listed below.

Here is a link to Hudson County sites. The city of Hoboken also has some locations, linked in the beginning of the story linked here.

Some in New Jersey have been helped by social media groups, like New Jersey Covid Vaccine Info on Facebook, which has 67,000 members.

Two types of vaccines are presently offered, and more are on the way:

• Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, are a new type of vaccine that doesn't include the weakened virus, but teaches human cells to make a protein that triggers the immune response (read more about that here).
• The FDA may announce by Friday whether they will recommend a new one-shot vaccine developed Johnson and Johnson, which could be available in late March and uses more traditional technology. Read more about how it compares to the other vaccines by clicking here and here. Having the majority of the public vaccinated, no matter which vaccine, will also lessen the spread.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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