ONE YEAR IN
A year after first local case, Mercer County’s battle with COVID-19 continues on as vaccinations increase
COVID-19 has killed hundreds of Mercer County residents, upended traditional in-person learning and caused financial turmoil in the one year since the novel coronavirus hit New Jersey.
But with vaccinations ramping up and schools mostly reopened outside of Trenton, local officials are cautiously optimistic as life slowly inches toward a semblance of normal.
“It’s been a full year since a novel coronavirus began altering our lives,” Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said in a community letter last Friday. “Throughout this ordeal, health care workers and others on the front lines in Mercer County have heroically led the battle against COVID-19, and the rest of our community has stepped up by following public health protocols and supporting each other. I thank all of you for that and for the many sacrifices you’ve made.”
“We’ve come a long way together since March of 2020,” Hughes added, “but we need to go farther. I’m confident that the COVID-19 vaccination process will continue to improve as the federal government ramps up vaccine supply and the New Jersey Department of Health fine-tunes its online Vaccine Scheduling System and call center.”
Of the approximately 21,240 New Jerseyans killed by COVID-19, at least 846 of them called Mercer County home.
In the capital alone, more than 6,000 were infected and 85 people died.
Mayor Reed Gusciora credited members of the local Asian American community with forewarning leaders about the deadly virus. The city was forced to cancel its annual Chinese New Year celebration in January 2020 over concerns about the deadly virus.
At that point, New Jersey only had two suspected cases. And the virus hadn’t yet been discovered in Trenton.
Communities like West Windsor were instrumental in helping the capital city get its hands on much-needed PPE, Gusciora said, protecting first responders and helping lessen the death toll.
“There were many sleepless nights,” Gusciora said, as the state rounds a corner in the COVID-19 fight.
More than 50,000 Mercer County residents have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since this scientific breakthrough last December by Moderna Inc. and Pfizer-BioNTech, according to county officials. And now Johnson & Johnson has a single-dose shot on the market.
The Trenton Public Schools District has embraced all-remote learning since the schools shut down last March, but the district finally plans to reopen for hybrid instruction May 3.
A hybrid instructional model provides students with a combination of inperson instruction and virtual instruction. Other districts in Mercer County, including East Windsor Regional, Ewing Township, Hamilton, Hopewell Valley, Lawrence, Princeton, Robbinsville and West Windsor-Plainsboro, have already embraced hybrid learning in the middle of this pandemic.
Facial coverings or masks, social distancing and enhanced cleaning remain staples of life as the public health emergency lingers on in the Garden State.
“In our individual ways we’ve all experienced the harshness of COVID either physically, mentally, emotionally or financially,” Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin said Tuesday. Yet, “Here we stand as a community to come out of this stronger as a township, as a state and as a country.”
Gyms and fitness centers like the Hamilton Area YMCA are back in business after being temporarily shuttered last year to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Some businesses closed permanently, and some remained open and never closed at all.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed legislation designating March 9 of each year as “COVID-19 Heroes Day” in New Jersey.
“From nurses and doctors to grocery store workers and law enforcement, countless essential workers have been working day and night to serve New Jerseyans during these trying times,” Murphy said Tuesday in a press statement. “It is my honor to sign this bill recognizing the heroic efforts of those who have been serving on the front lines. These heroes have brought us to this moment where we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.