Middlesex County Progressive candidates call on County officials to implement mobile COVID-19 testing, suspend evictions and house all homeless.

New Brunswick, NJ – The slate of Middlesex County Progressive candidates is calling on Middlesex County officials to take decisive action as our community fights back against the coronavirus peril.

Freeholder candidates Catherine Hunt and Neeharika Thuravil and County Clerk candidate Herb Tarbous today are calling on Middlesex County Freeholder Director Ronald G. Rios and Middlesex County Sheriff Mildred S. Scott to urgently expand the county’s response in response to the unexpected spike in number of positive coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Middlesex County.

The candidates are calling on county officials to follow the leads of other jurisdictions in New Jersey and elsewhere and urgently implement the following:

–          Mobile and/or drive-thru rapid COVID-19 testing facilities

–          A moratorium on all evictions and foreclosure sales until such time normal community operations resume

–          Provide housing for all homeless people in the county.

Freeholder candidate Catherine Hunt said, “We are asking Middlesex County join with Essex County and Mercer County in suspending foreclosure sales and evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The Middlesex Sheriff has suspended foreclosure sales through April 1^st, and we believe it needs to be extended until such time that normal community operations resume. The idea that the county would continue to put people out on the street during this period of extreme instability in unconscionable.”

Neeharika Thuravil, co-President of the Rutgers University Progressives who is also a freeholder candidate stated, “We urgently need drive-thru and mobile testing at this stage of the pandemic. Testing is the key to slowing the spread of the virus. Making it easier for people to get tested without going to a centralized testing location is imperative.”

Herb Tarbous, Progressive candidate for County Clerk said more can be done to shelter Middlesex County and New Brunswick’s homeless population.  “I commend Freeholder Director Ronald Rios’ efforts and program housing all the county’s military veterans. I certainly hope this successful program will be extended to include all of the county’s homeless, particularly around the New Brunswick rail station.”

The three Progressive candidates will be competing in the June 2^nd Democratic Primary.