When New Jersey reopens — and that day is coming we’re assured — it will take a village, literally, to get things going again. From the private sector to the public sector, discussions are already underway to do just that, and The Citizens Campaign, the community-building nonprofit, is setting itself up to play a big role.
“We basically put together the rough outlines of a plan for communities to be able to return to public life,” said Harry Pozycki, the founder and chair of The Citizen’s Campaign.
The campaign is targeting five towns in Jersey: Newark, Paterson, Plainfield, Perth Amboy and Trenton. The plan is to augment community emergency response teams to help with important tasks, like distributing masks and delivering food to those in need. But one of the most important tasks critical to controlling the spread of COVID-19 is contact tracing.
“We have to be able to immediately trace anyone who tests positive so that we can alert those they’ve been in contact with within the 48 hours that they’re getting the symptoms. And then they can watch out for themselves, as well as isolate and we keep the virus tamped down. That’s the idea,” Pozycki said.
The program began in Perth Amboy and will be rolled out to other cities in the weeks to come. Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, back in the office after testing positive for coronavirus in March, says effective contact tracing is critical to restarting his city’s small business sector.
“In Paterson a year ago we created what we called a strike team and they respond to communicable diseases. The last thing we need right now with COVID is that the contact tracing gets overwhelmed,” Sayegh said.
Because Paterson’s economy relies on Main Street business, the mom and pop shops that are especially key in a city that doesn’t have of a large corporate sector.
“Barber shops, hair salons, restaurants — that is a thriving industry in our city,” the mayor said. “And my analogy that I use is that it’s like turning on a faucet. You got to do it very carefully, very gingerly. If we see things unfortunately erupt again, we’re just going to have to quickly turn that faucet back off.”
But any reboot of an economy takes money. Pozycki says his organization will also help cities establish a relief fund to help pay for efforts.
“So that we can at least collect enough funds to be able to distribute masks to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them and any additional communications needs to make sure we’re all aware of the same health protocols, both in our own homes and in our businesses,” he said.
You may not see it, and in our current state of communal unease it may be hard to believe, but there is another side to this mountain. And while we may all still be climbing, plans are moving for how we restart our lives once we make it to the top.
