Maplewood Offices Remote Until Next Monday As Covid Cases Rise

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The township of Maplewood announced last week that Town Hall employees will be working remotely until Jan. 11, "to mitigate risk and community spread" of coronavirus after the holiday season.

In a Dec. 28 email, the town reported that they've had a total of 729 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 141 since Dec. 1.

Maplewood has seen 27 fatalities. Here are some more statistics by month.

"Cases continue to rise, and rapidly," the email read. "There is substantial community spread in the community, both locally and nationwide. The Township of Maplewood will transition its Town Hall staff to remote work until Jan. 11 to mitigate risk and community spread following the holiday season."

The email noted, "For the last 10 months the Township has worked to implement the tools necessary to provide a safe work environment and continue delivering the services our residents expect. Town Hall and all our public buildings remain closed to the public, but residents can continue to do business with the township virtually. If you are unable to reach an employee, please be sure to leave a voicemail. All voicemails are forwarded automatically via e-mail and someone will return your call."

The Maplewood Library will continue curbside service.

Read more here on permit applications and on doing business with the town.

351,000 American deaths

As of Sunday night, 351,000 Americans had died of the virus. See which states had the highest death toll in the past week here.

At the height of the crisis in New Jersey, when testing and PPE were scarce, 460 people died from the virus in 24 hours on April 30.

The death rate had, for several months, been plummeting as people stayed inside and took precautions. Back on Sept. 8, the state announced two new deaths confirmed in 24 hours.
But deaths began rising again with gatherings, reopenings, and travel to states with higher transmission.

Just before Christmas, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that New Jersey recorded 111 fatalities from Tuesday to Wednesday. The state had marked a seven-month record-high in terms of total coronavirus hospitalizations, with 3,841 new hospitalizations (3,612 who had tested positive and 279 who were awaiting their test results). 765 patients were in the intensive care unit (ICU) beds on Wednesday, 485 patients were on ventilators.

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 426 patients were discharged from hospitals, and 498 new patients were admitted.

In total, more than 16,900 people in New Jersey have now passed away from the virus.

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