Industry experts warn that COVID-19 is surging in New Jersey’s long-term care centers driven by BA.4 and BA.5, the highly contagious omicron subvariants. With case numbers climbing among residents and staff, state health officials on Friday discussed a renewed effort to stem the spread of COVID-19 among a vulnerable population. Jim McCracken of LeadingAge New Jersey and Delaware, said, “This disease is everywhere, it is very easily transmitted. And we have employees coming in and out of buildings on three different shifts a day. It is difficult to keep this under wraps.”
“We need to acknowledge that people are going to get sick and that when they do, they need to be treated rapidly. So we need surveillance testing, we need rapid access to anti-virals, we need to make sure when people come in to visit, that they are not bringing the virus in,” said epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera of Montclair State University.
