Rising COVID-19 cases in Jersey City due to in-home gatherings, says mayor

COVID-19 cases are on the rise throughout the country. Experts believe this is the start of the so-called “second wave.” Unfortunately, coronavirus Jersey City cases are also on the rise.

“Over the prior three weeks, cases have tripled from roughly five cases per day to over 15 per day,” said Ward E Councilperson James Solomon via e-mail. That was at the start of the month. As of October 31, Jersey City has a 7-day rolling average of 32 new cases per day, according to data provided by the JC COVID Dashboard. (By comparison, it was in the single digits for most of September).

While the mayors of Hoboken and Newark are mandating new curfews for their respective cities, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is not putting any new restrictions into place at this time. “Our extensive Contact Tracing efforts for JC show our current uptick isn’t related to businesses, but more so family/friends hosting in-home gatherings,” tweeted the mayor. “We are using our data to assist our already struggling businesses by adding testing and providing necessary supplies and support so that we can minimize further devastation with restrictions now.”

One of the new COVID-19 testing sites has already been dispersed to the corner of Jersey Avenue and Newark Avenue in downtown Jersey City. The mobile testing facility is available from 10am through 5pm on weekdays.

NJ governor won’t rule out a total shutdown

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with ABC-7, Governor Phil Murphy said he’s prepared to shut the state down should numbers rise uncontrollably. “You have to leave that on the table,” Murphy told ABC-7. “I certainly hope we don’t have to.” Gov. Murphy also said that a lot of New Jersey’s transmission is happening “behind private doors where folks are letting their guard down.”

On Sunday, New Jersey reported over 1,751 new coronavirus cases, according to the NJ COVID-19 Dashboard. Hudson County has the 4th largest increase behind Camden, Essex, and Bergen counties.