Middlesex County's Top Stories Of 2020

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — From death, illness and job loss to a vaccine bringing new hope, here are the top stories that defined Middlesex County in 2020:

East Brunswick, Carteret Teens Fall Through Ice On Same Night. Both Died.

It may seem like a million years ago, but it was actually just 12 months: On Jan. 22, a Wednesday night, teen boys in East Brunswick and Carteret fell through partially frozen ponds in two separate incidents. Both boys had been playing on the ice with their friends, and were daring themselves to see how far out they could go.

In East Brunswick, three boys fell into the pond on Civic Center Drive. When police got there, two of the boys were able to successfully pull themselves out, but one, Yousef Khela, 13, still remained in the water. Arriving officers immediately formed a chain and entered the pond, but he slipped under the ice before they could reach him.

Six East Brunswick police officers and two firefighters were treated for hypothermia, three so badly they had to be taken to the hospital. One police officer was racing so fast to get to the pond that he got into a car accident and also had to be hospitalized.

That exact same evening in Carteret, David Tillburg, 15, fell into partially frozen Carteret Park pond. He had also been at the pond with friends. It took rescue workers nearly an hour to pull him out. He was pronounced dead at Newark's University Hospital Thursday morning. His aunt put up a tearful plea asking parents to talk to their children about ice safety.

Coronavirus; Edison vaccine mega site opening soon

It can't not be the story of the year. To date, there have been 45,130 COVID cases in Middlesex County and 1,404 COVID deaths, according to the county's dashboard. Many of these deaths occurred at nursing homes and the state-run veterans' home in Menlo Park, but this virus also claimed the lives of Middlesex County residents in their 60s, 50s, 40s and even younger.

The good news is coronavirus vaccines are being given out now and the county is prepared to open the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, one of six vaccine "mega sites." The expo center is expected to open by early January.

Metuchen Man, 25, Fights For Life Amid Coronavirus 'Red Tape'

One healthy young person who was nearly killed by the coronavirus is Jack Allard, 25, of Metuchen. Jack survived the virus, but his story is incredible: Jack is a 2016 Bates College alumnus and a two-time All-American lacrosse athlete. He was in perfect health. He lived in Metuchen with his girlfriend and took the Northeast Corridor train line into Manhattan daily for his job as a banker. He fell ill March 13 with symptoms including vomiting, back pain and a fever.

His condition deteriorated rapidly; he was taken to JFK Medical Center in Edison and put in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. Jack's family got U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer involved, who had to fight to get him put on a drug trial for remdesivir — after a lab lost Jack's positive test result. He also had to be airlifted to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital for the trial.

Jack walked out of the Penn hospital in late April, five weeks after being put on the ventilator. Gov. Murphy said Allard's story is a reminder that the coronavirus can kill anyone.

Rutgers scientists develop first-ever coronavirus saliva test

Let the rest of the world have a swab jammed high up into their nasal cavity. New Jersey-ites just spit into a test tube.

Researchers at the RUCDR Infinite Biologics at Rutgers developed a coronavirus spit test this spring, and its results are 100 percent comparable in accuracy to the nasal swab, according to the FDA. The test uses a Nobel Prize-winning laboratory technique, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), that detects SARS-CoV-2 virus nucleic acid (in this case RNA) in a saliva sample.

Rutgers' spit test has been praised by everyone from Gov. Murphy to President Trump. The test was given emergency FDA approval back in March, and the next day the White House called Rutgers, asking how it can go nationwide. The saliva test is also now approved for at-home use.

Four drown in East Brunswick pools this summer

East Brunswick again saw heartbreak in 2020, seeing four people drown in backyard pools in the summer of 2020. In the first incident, a man in his sixties, his daughter-in-law in her thirties and her 8-year-old daughter all drowned while swimming in an above-ground pool at a home on Clearview Road. The family had just moved into the home, and they did not know how to swim, said the county prosecutor.

That was in late June. Then over the July 4 holiday weekend, a four-year-old toddler accidentally fell into a swimming pool at a party and drowned, according to East Brunswick police. That happened at a home on Sandalwood Drive; police say the child fell into the pool during a kindergarten graduation party. When adults realized the boy was missing, a family member observed him at the bottom of the in-ground pool.

Those haircuts at Woodbridge police headquarters ...

How can we forget when it was revealed that the Woodbridge police department had been quietly giving haircuts to officers at police HQ all throughout March, April and May, in violation of Gov. Murphy's shutdown of barbershops and salons?

The Middlesex County prosecutor even got involved, and looked into whether it was proper for the Woodbridge PD to pay the barber $1,605 in federal CARES Act funding. Woodbridge police maintained their officers had to adhere to strict grooming requirements, and that barber operated with the full blessing of the town health department.

Deer Crashes South Brunswick Black Lives Matter March

The Black Lives Matter movement swept the country this summer, including in South Brunswick, where 750 people marched on June 12.

But nobody could have predicted what happened when a large-scale political movement occurred in Central Jersey former farmland: A startled deer ran out of the woods and collided with three protesters, seriously injuring one. The 69-year-old woman who had to be hospitalized for her injuries has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home. Police released video of the incident: Video Released Of Deer Running Into South Brunswick Protest March