Freeholders Weigh Mandatory Mask-wearing, Limiting Caucus Meeting Participants

CREST HAVEN – Masks worn in public can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but can the county make wearing them mandatory?
If it does, how would the mandate be enforced?
Those were among the health-related issues discussed by Cape May County freeholders at the July 7 caucus. 
Message signs on the Garden State Parkway could convey to incoming tourists, as well as residents, the need to wear masks in public everywhere in the county. 
How the county might get the governor’s office or New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which oversees the parkway, to approve warning messages was also mulled by the board. 
Acting Administrator Michael Donohue urged the board to stall on such action, since he thought that Gov. Phil Murphy might issue a statewide directive, which he did July 8 by an executive order requiring masks outdoors when social distancing isn’t possible.
“I think we’re on the right track here, and I think we’re really trying, and I think everybody’s trying to be very responsible; all the businesses and the Health Department, all the employees, mayors and police departments,” Thornton said, “but I can tell you we’ve got a real problem on our hands, and we just can’t let up one minute. It’s a dangerous situation, and people have to understand that even if you’re a young person, you’ve got to understand that it’s a dangerous situation, and don’t be reckless.”
Hacked
Just over 13 minutes into the 3 p.m. meeting, a hacker’s voice shattered the Zoom meeting with a blast of obscenities.
“We got crashed,” said Director Gerald Thornton. “How awful, how awful,” he said, and ordered the meeting stopped.
About 12 minutes later, those in attendance were sent new online instructions, and the meeting reconvened without incident.
The intrusion made Thornton wonder about future participants at the Tuesday caucus meetings, held online since March. Those meetings, open to the public, do not allow public comment. Department heads and freeholders routinely discuss a variety of matters at the meetings. Public comments are permitted at regular meetings, held the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. 
“We’ll just limit the number of participants, and make sure (the Herald) and Atlantic City Press will get notice, but other than that, just limited to participants,” said Thornton. 
Thornton said he would talk to those in the technology department about how best to register those who will virtually attend future meetings. No decision was made on the matter.
Additionally, the prospect of resuming public, in-person freeholder meetings was pushed back from July until possibly August or later, according to Thornton, based on concerns of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 
Crest Haven Visitors
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson informed the board that residents of Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center may have two family members visit them “under closely watched conditions.”
Since March, only virtual visits were allowed, due to concerns of spreading the COVID-19 virus.