‘THIS TOO WILL PASS’
Turner offers a bit of optimism after creating false alarm in nursing home from coughing woman, state begins wider testing as count rises»
TRENTON » Coronavirus has some capital city residents in a craze.
One man who lives at the J. Conner French Towers called Sen. Shirley Turner’s officer in a panic Monday, thinking he may have contracted COVID-19 when a woman accidentally coughed on him a short time before in an elevator, The Trentonian has learned.
Sen. Turner confirmed her office received the call and “took it very seriously,” immediately contacting City Hall, which sent out a team of experts.
The 11-story building, run by the Trenton Housing Authority, has more than 150 unit for elderly and disabled Trentonians.
“Everybody is very alarmed by this virus because they’re not getting the kind of response they want to hear,” Turner said. “The first law of nature is the law of self- preservation. This coronavirus has brought the worst out in some people, but there are a lot more out there trying to help others.”
The incubation period for the virus is 2 to 14 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But the man wasn’t wasting any time.
Nurses from the health department were dispatched out the senior apartment complex. They donned personal protective gear and screened the woman, who wasn’t tested because she wasn’t showing any symptoms.
“It was a false alarm,” Mayor Reed Gusciora said. “She was just a cougher. I can’t blame him, but there is a hysteria going on out there. We’re on high alert.”
While many people are heeding state officials’ mandate against public gatherings and employing social distancing, Gusciora said city officials had to break up a “retiree card game” at the same housing complex.
“We had to shut down the community room. They’re in there playing cards. We’re like you can’t do that,” he said. “Even seniors and young people think they’re invincible.”
At 78 years old, Turner understood the elderly Trenton man’s angst because she’s also in the “endangered
species” cohort.
The virus is considered more dangerous to older adults and those with chronic conditions.
While taking extra precautions, Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) said she’s trying not to worry about getting infected, more concerned with how fellow New Jerseyans are coping with the state lockdown as health officials try to contain the spread of the virus.
“I think you just have to forget about yourself,” said Turner, whose office has assisted senior citizens with getting groceries since many are afraid to go out in public. “There are those of us who feel we’re obligated to be there for our constituents as they have been for us in every election. I hear it from my children, ‘Don’t go out. You can’t come into contact with people.’ How do you not come into contact with people?”
Turner credited Murphy and other state leaders “yeoman’s job” handling of the crisis, saying the governor has put residents’ wellbeing above his own.
Murphy quickly returned to work after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his kidney.
Turner said the governor is telling residents like it is and “not sugar-coating” the outbreak.
New Jersey has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the U.S., with 3,675, behind only New York. State officials on Tuesday reported another 17 deaths, New Jersey’s highest single-day total since the outbreak, bringing the total number of deaths to 44.
Murphy signed an emergency package of bills in response to the pandemic. And he’s taken unprecedented measures to try combat the virus, including closing schools and non-essential businesses and ordering residents to stay home.
Trenton has only had three positive COVID-19 cases.
No fatalities from COVID-19 have been reported in Mercer County, but questions remain about the circumstances behind the death of Jamie Rocco, a teaching aide in Hamilton. She reported being ill and quarantined before her sudden passing.
Officials in Hamilton reported a seventh case Tuesday, involving a 27-year-old woman. There was no immediate word on whether she was hospitalized or in isolation at home or her condition.
Turner joined Gusciora in calling for the opening of a testing center near Trenton.
Gusciora is working with local leaders to bring a testing center for first responders to the capital city and hopes to set up a separate one for the public.
The city set aside $1.2 million in funds to respond to the global pandemic.
“This thing is going to hit us like a tidal wave,” Gusciora said. “And all the precautions aren’t going to be enough to keep this from spreading.”
While there’s no downplaying the severity of the outbreak, Turner said she’s optimistic New Jersey will stem the tide.
“This too will pass,” she said. “We will get through this. We’re all on the same boat. And we will all sink or swim. We have to stop thinking about ourselves and work together and cooperate.”