EnviroPolitics Blog

N.J. coronavirus deaths increase to 10,985 with 152,719 cases. Officials confirm 146 new deaths, 1,394 new positive tests.

Coronavirus in New Jersey: Update on May 22, 2020

By Brent Johnson and Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

As New Jersey kicks off Memorial Day weekend with open — but socially distanced — parks and beaches, officials on Friday announced 146 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus and 1,394 new positive test results in the state, though Gov. Phil Murphy says the outbreak here continues to slow 11 weeks after it started.

The Garden State has now reported 10,985 known deaths attributed to COVID-19, with at least 152,719 cases confirmed since the first positive test was announced March 4.

New York is the only American state with more coronavirus deaths and cases than New Jersey, a state of 9 million residents.

When the numbers are combined, New York and New Jersey account for almost 42 percent of all the COVID-19 deaths reported across the United States, according to public data.

Still, officials note the number of daily deaths, cases and hospitalizations continues to drop. This is the 16th straight day the Garden State has reported fewer than 2,000 new cases and the fifth straight day the state has reported fewer than 200 new deaths.

”Every trend we need to see to move along our road back we are seeing,” Murphy said Friday morning during his daily press briefing in Trenton. “Every key indicator is down from the peak, and the bad days are just as often followed by and equal, if not better, good days.”

As the numbers have fallen, Murphy has begun to gradually pull back the near-lockdown restrictions he installed over the last two months. He has allowed parks to reopen, non-essential businesses to offer curbside services, and says beaches, boardwalks and lakes can be open with social-distancing guidelines starting Friday — the unofficial kickoff to summer.

On Thursday, Murphy said more businesses — including gyms, hair salons and barber shops — may be allowed to reopen with guidelines “in a matter of weeks.”

And during Friday’s briefing, Murphy announced he’s allowing more people to gather outdoors, up to a maximum of 25, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Indoor gatherings remain limited to 10 people.

This does not include outdoor dining or graduation ceremonies, he said. But it does include outdoor church gatherings and fitness classes, his office said.

In addition, Murphy is allowing public and private recreational campgrounds to reopen.

He stressed that visitors must still practice social distancing and are “strongly recommended” to wear face coverings.

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PennDOT worker’s Facebook rant that she’d ‘gladly smash into a school bus’ isn’t protected under Constitution, high court rules

A PennDOT worker’s Facebook post saying she would ‘gladly smash into a school bus’ got her fired, until Commonwealth Court reinstated her. This week, the state Supreme Court said her speech was not protected by the First Amendment, clearing the way for her termination.

By PETER HALL The Morning Call

A PennDOT worker’s Facebook rant about smashing into careless school bus drivers is not protected by the First Amendment, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled.

The rant cost Rachel L. Carr her job in 2016 after other members of the Facebook group where she made the posts sent screenshots to PennDOT. Carr appealed to the State Civil Service Commission, which upheld her termination.

A Commonwealth Court decision reinstated Carr after finding that her comments were protected speech, but the Supreme Court on Tuesday disagreed and upheld Carr’s firing.

The justices found Carr’s rant held little public importance and interfered with PennDOT’s mission of public safety, two of the factors courts must consider in determining whether a public employee’s speech is protected.

Under a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision, public employees can be fired for comments on issues of public interest only when their employer can show a negative result is likely.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court established additional factors to determine whether speech is protected, including whether the remarks prevent the agency from carrying out its responsibilities; prevent the employee from carrying out his or her own responsibilities; interfere with working relationships; and how, when and where the remarks are made.

“While there is no present dispute whether Carr’s comments touched on a matter of public concern, they were essentially a rant based on her personal observation of a particular bus driver rather than an explanation of safety concerns that she became aware of as a department employee,” Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy wrote.

According to the opinion, Carr posted in the “Creeps and Peeps” Facebook group May 24, 2016, that she was frustrated with school bus drivers in the Erie area, calling them “horrible” and “hella scary.” She said school buses ran her off the road daily and one asked her “to t-bone it.”

“I don’t give a s— about those little babies and I will gladly smash into a school bus,” Carr wrote. When other members of the group suggested she should care more about the safety of children, Carr doubled down, saying she would put her safety before that of schoolchildren, the opinion says.

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Today’s coronavirus updates from NJ Spotlight (5/21/20)

New Jersey officials reported an additional 1,304 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, for a statewide cumulative total of 151,472.By counties, the most new positive results were reported in Middlesex (115), Monmouth (103), Bergen (93), Camden (93) and Passaic (86).
Statewide, results have now been reported on 544,274 tests, including negatives.

Total deaths among New Jersey residents due to complications of COVID-19 stands at 10,843, with an additional 98 confirmed fatalities reported today.Four counties are now reporting more than 1,000 fatalities: Essex (1576). Bergen (1,508), Hudson (1,121) and Union (1,005).

Statewide, 3,208 patients were being treated for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the state’s hospitals as of last night, a decrease of nearly 200 from the day before.896 were in critical or intensive care, the first time since early April that number fell below 900.700 required ventilators, another significant decrease.143 were new patients as of yesterday.286 COVID-19 patients were discharged, either to their homes or other care facilities.

The daily, or spot, positivity rate of COVID-19 tests on Sunday, May 17 stood at 18% statewide, a second day that it was up from the 12% recorded earlier this week.Officials have noted that they suspect tests conducted on the weekend might be cause for the increase, but they are further monitoring.

NJ Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said officials have now confirmed 19 cases of children between the ages of one and 18 showing signs of a rare pediatric inflammatory ailment known as Kawasaki disease, an overnight increase of four cases, and seven in the last two days.Fourteen of the children have tested positive for COVID-19.Six remain hospitalized. There have been no deaths from the syndrome reported in New Jersey. Persichilli has said the condition is treatable and urged parents to watch out for symptoms such as irritability or sluggishness, abdominal pain with no ready explanation, rash, conjunctivitis, enlarged lymph nodes or swollen hands or feet.

A total of 4,502 deaths among residents at 530 nursing homes and other long-term care centers in New Jersey have been laboratory confirmed as cases of COVID-19.A total of 5,456 deaths of LTC residents have been reported during the pandemic, when those without a laboratory confirmation of coronavirus are included.Persichilli reported that there’s been another death at the state Veterans Home in Menlo Park, bringing the total there to 61, in addition to 79 at its counterpart in Paramus, and three at the third state home for veterans, in Vineland.

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Coronavirus deaths approach 4900 in Pennsylvania with cases exceeding 65,000

Daniel Patrick Sheehan reports for The Morning Call

The state Department of Health on Thursday reported 980 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 65,392.

The death toll rose by 102 to 4,869.

The state reported 303,514 people have tested negative for the coronavirus, which has killed more than 93,600 Americans and about 330,000 people worldwide since emerging in China late last year. The first Pennsylvania cases were reported March 6.

In Lehigh County, 192 people have died of the illness. Northampton County has recorded 186 deaths.

The age breakdown of positive cases:

Nearly 1% are ages 0-4;
Nearly 1% are ages 5-12;
Nearly 2% are ages 13-18;
Nearly 6% are ages 19-24;
Nearly 37% are ages 25-49;
Nearly 26% are ages 50-64; and
Nearly 29% are ages 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred among patients in that age category.

Nursing and personal care homes report 14,113 resident cases of COVID-19, and 2,306 cases among employees, for a total of 16,419 at 570 distinct facilities in 44 counties.

Of total deaths, 3,234 have been residents from nursing or personal care facilities. Approximately 4,871 cases are in health care workers.

Non-life-sustaining businesses in the red phase are ordered to be closed and schools are closed statewide through the remainder of the academic year. Currently, 37 counties are in the yellow phase of reopening; 12 more will move to the yellow phase Friday.

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New York coalition pushes back on $28M budget cuts to organics recycling

The image by Tdorante10 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

E.A. Crunden reports for WasteDive

New York City Council members are under pressure from constituents to salvage the city’s organics recycling programs, a victim of budget cuts due to fallout from the new coronavirus.

During an hour-and-a-half long committee meeting last week on the city’s sanitation budget, multiple council members questioned the decision to cut the curbside organics collections and other efforts, arguing they are key to achieving 2030 “zero waste” goals aimed at combating climate change.

“I’ve received the most amount of emails and calls relating to organics recycling,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso, chairman of the sanitation committee, who pushed Kathryn Garcia, commissioner of New York’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY), on the decision.

Garcia called the choice to suspend curbside collection until June 30, 2021 “just really awful,” but asserted the program generates only $50,000 annually at present and doesn’t pay for itself.

Belinda Mager, DSNY’s director of communications, confirmed to Waste Dive the department “is dealing with changing budget realities.” Out of $106 million in cuts to DSNY programs, $21.1 million is hitting curbside organics collection. Seven city compost project partner organization efforts — part of the 27-year-old New York City Compost Project — have also been suspended for the 2021 fiscal year, freeing up $3.5 million, along with $2.9 million in annual recycling outreach funding for GrowNYC. Those cuts discontinue funding to GrowNYC’s zero waste programs, resulting in a loss of 32 full-time jobs and 50 part-time jobs.

“The Department of Sanitation has long supported our recycling partners – they play a crucial role in their communities and helping the city move towards zero waste,” wrote Mager via email. “While our budget cuts were painful, and not taken lightly, we do look forward to a day in the future when funding for all Sanitation-related programs can be restored.”

A new campaign to save compost

Organics recycling proponents hope they can lessen the impacts from some of the cuts. A coalition consisting of a number of local groups have banded together under #SaveOurCompost, which includes support from the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, ALIGN NY, Big Reuse, and the solid waste advisory boards for Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.

The coalition has had some success so far, garnering more than 15,000 signatures on a petition arguing organics recycling is essential for the city. And the group is supporting efforts such as the Community Organics and Recycling Empowerment (CORE) Act, which would create 177 drop-off sites for organics and electronics waste. The coalition is seeking to preserve around $7 million for community organics recycling and curbside e-waste, focusing on the smaller cuts suggested to the budget.

That relatively small amount of funding would, proponents argue, go a long way towards filling the void left in the wake of the curbside cuts. It would also help GrowNYC continue to operate its 76 food scrap drop-off sites, which provide the feedstock for six community composting facilities.

“It’s not going to replace tonnage that curbside was doing, but [it’s] going to give people an option,” said Justin Wood, director of organizing and strategic research for NYLPI.

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Dow Chemical complex and a Superfund cleanup threatened by Michigan dam failures

Water overrunning the Sanford Dam on Tuesday, one of two dams in central Michigan that failed because of heavy rains.
Photo credit…TC Vortex, via Reuters

Hiroko Tabuchi reports for The New York Times

Floodwaters from two breached dams in Michigan on Wednesday flowed into a sprawling Dow chemical complex and threatened a vast Superfund toxic-cleanup site downriver, raising concerns of wider environmental fallout from the dam disaster and historic flooding.

The compound, which also houses the chemical giant’s world headquarters, lies on the banks of the Tittabawassee River in Midland, where by late Wednesday rising water had encroached on some parts of downtown. Kyle Bandlow, a Dow spokesman, said that floodwaters had reached the Dow site’s outer boundaries and had flowed into retaining ponds designed to hold what he described as brine water used on the site.

The Superfund cleanup sites are downriver from the century-old plant, which for decades had released chemicals into the nearby waterways. The concern downriver, according to Allen Burton, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan, is that contaminated sediments on the river floor could be stirred up by the floodwaters, spreading pollution downstream and over the riverbanks.

“You worry about the speed of the current, this wall of water coming down the river,” he said. “It just has a huge amount of power.”

[Read more on why a third of Michigan’s Dams are still at risk.]

Mr. Bandlow of Dow said the company was “implementing its flood preparedness plan, which includes the safe shutdown of operating units on site,” which still manufactures plastics and other chemical products. He said only essential Dow staff remained on site to monitor the situation and “manage any issues as a result of the flooding.”

Mr. Bandlow did not provide information on the status of the cleanup sites.

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Over the years the Dow complex has manufactured a range of products including Saran Wrap, Styrofoam, Agent Orange and mustard gas. Over time, Dow released chemicals into the water, leading to dioxin contamination stretching more than 50 miles along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. Research has shown that dioxins can damage the immune system, cause reproductive or developmental problems, and cause cancer.

[Read about the new crisis Michigan is facing: flooding.]

There is also a tiny nuclear research reactor on the site, used to create material that can be used in product experiments. Overnight, Dow filed an “unusual event” report with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission warning of potential flooding at the site. But the reactor had already been shut down because of the coronavirus crisis, and there were no indications of flood damage on Wednesday.

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