Below is an update from Mayor Steve Fulop:

I was excited as most of you to end the month of April after all the challenges it presented and as we begin the month of May, I’m optimistic that this new month will bring positive changes.

To date, there are 5,518 COVID-19 cases in Jersey City and 285 fatalities but the positive signs of progress are starting to show as COVID-19 patients at JCMC are down 48% from the peak and Carepoint has had a 30% decline in their COVID patient count.

While the fight is not over and you should not be relaxed in social distancing, we must slowly shift our conversation towards a gradual return to the new normal. We are taking very thoughtful and careful “baby steps” forward here in Jersey City and I wanted to use this weekly update to summarize the specific steps we have taken over the last week.

Testing

Next week, we will expand our COVID-19 testing to include ANY resident requesting it – even if you are not showing symptoms. We are one of the first in the country to do this. This is a part of our initiative to help get our City functioning again as we know more testing is essential to moving our local economy forward.

We will also begin antibody testing this week for our residents. Yesterday, we signed a contract with a lab directly and will be the first municipality in NJ providing this service. We will begin on Monday and Tuesday with screening our front line workers and then we will allow any resident to call and schedule an appointment.

Appointments are necessary and beginning next Wednesday, you can call to schedule your appointment for an antibody test at (201) 547-5535.

Parks

Last week, we took the step to open our 5 largest parks and later in the week, the state of NJ followed us with announcing they would do the same. We opened the parks with safety measures in place and I’m happy to report that all went exceptionally well and that’s why this week we will open 4 additional parks:

• Columbia Park
• Mary Benson
• Arlington Park
• Ercel Webb Park

Farmers’ Market

In another effort to move forward and help our local economy, we will start to open our nine farmers’ markets throughout Jersey City next week. Things are not going back to the way they were and just like we did in opening the parks, we will be taking many precautions. You will see more space between vendors, you will be required to wear masks and there will be rules in place, but we are trusting our residents to make good decisions.

We’ll offer each market tools to manage costs, provide sanitation stations, and provide food for those in need at the end of the market day. This will help both farmers and our struggling families. At this time, we are discouraging multiple family members, prepared foods, and music at the markets and we need to focus solely on essentials at this time.

Taxes

This week Governor Murphy announced that he will allow municipalities to extend tax collection requirements from May 1st to June 1. While I fully recognize that the 30 days isn’t going to change the situation much for most families, we are still going to opt in and give our Jersey City families the full timeline that we are allowed by the Executive Order of Governor Murphy. If this should change further, we will take the appropriate steps at that time

Street Sweeping 

This past Monday we started street sweeping again on the main streets and this coming Monday we will return the entire City back to the regular schedule with enforcement. After 7 weeks of not sweeping regularly, we can see the toll that it has taken and the time is now to start moving the City back to functionality. Preventing Coronavirus is partially about maintaining cleanliness and awareness of our surroundings, so we do feel that the time is right to start street sweeping again. I understand it is a nuisance to move your cars daily, but we need to continue to keep our City clean from litter.

Again, this is a slow path forward but nonetheless, we are moving forward. Stay safe and healthy.