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Aug. 10-16:
Schools Open in Three Weeks
With the opening of school fast approaching, questions abound. The county has 15 separate reopening plans spread across its 16 operating districts. The state continues to offer expanded guidance, keeping the situation fluid.
Two questions are paramount: will children be safe, and will reopened schools mean additional community spread of the virus? The guidance on both issues is inconclusive.
Most districts, in the county, will try to reopen in September, with a hybrid instruction model that relies on some in-person instruction of designated cohorts of students who will be physically in school buildings at alternate times. Remote learning will continue to play a major role in the instruction model.
Except for the county districts with low enrollments, separating students into groups was the only practical way to utilize the space and still maintain the proscribed protocols for distancing. The school plans describe the intended way that everything will work, from transportation, to instruction, to recess, to meals, to bathroom use, to mask wearing, and all the rest.
“This will be a school year like no other,” is a phrase often used by Gov. Phil Murphy.
School districts promise that remote learning will be vastly improved over the experience everyone endured when school did a sudden unexpected pivot away from in-person instruction in the spring. The state changed course, yet again, this past week, announcing that some districts that are unable to fully comply with state health protocols may even open the year fully remote. No county district has elected to do so.
One question on everyone’s mind is how long can schools hold the virus at bay and maintain the in-person component of their instruction models? Across the nation, schools have opened only to face rolling closures due to outbreaks. Cape May County’s advantage is its relatively controlled rate of community spread.
Unlike other areas of the state, the county also has a unique factor working for the schools. As the reopenings begin the day after Labor Day, the large temporary population that swells the county by a factor of five or six during summer will begin its return to the base county permanent population level of less than 100,000 souls.
A Perfect Storm is Possible
The recent visit of Tropical Storm Isaias reminded all that it’s hurricane season. With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) predicting an active storm season, public attention was drawn to the odds makers at the Climate Prediction Center.
The center issued a warning that, in the fall, conditions may be right for an El Ñino Southern Oscillation. In short, they opened a La Ñina watch, potentially complicating an already problematic storm season.
One can’t forget that the pandemic is still producing soaring case numbers in many places outside Cape May County. Health officials have thrown their own curveball into the mix when they expressed strong concern that the late fall and early winter flu season could substantially add to the health crisis, especially if many individuals forgo the annual flu vaccination due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The county already had plans to update its Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Recovery Takes on New Elements
In a unanimous opinion, the New Jersey Supreme Court declared the COVID-19 bond act constitutional, paving the way for the state to borrow up to $9.9 billion to offset revenue lost and expenses incurred due to the pandemic. The bill giving the state the right to borrow without gaining the approval of the voters was challenged by the state Republican Committee.
The arguments have begun over the wisdom of borrowing at a massive scale and pushing that debt into the future, something Trenton has not hesitated to do in the past.
Meanwhile, here at home, the county government has begun reducing spending in anticipation of revenue hits to the county budget yet to surface. What has not happened yet, but all fear may, is a decline in property tax receipts, especially as the county economy begins to taper off into its slower fall and much slower winter.
All is still happening within the context of a pandemic that remains with us.
The state is working to provide funding for long-term care facilities, locations that were very hard hit during the peak months of the virus’ visit to the Garden State. Another bill would help schools with the cost of COVID-19 related supplies.
Murphy moved to open college computer labs. The state Division of Community Affairs also moved to relax restrictions Aug. 11 and increase the use of telemedicine for the treatment of patients with chronic pain, including those who qualify for medical marijuana.
Virus-related deaths in the county slowed significantly, although this past week saw one additional resident fatality.
Even with the trajectory of new cases moving in the right direction, enforcement of the governor’s executive orders remains a concern. This week, a North Wildwood bar was cited and fined for ignoring required safety protocols.
Hawaii was added to the state’s travel advisory. Should some individual choose to leave Waikiki on a flight to Newark, that individual would be expected to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Municipal Projects Advance
Several municipal projects unrelated to the epidemic moved forward this week.
In Avalon, the governing body discussed a $2.5 million project to replace all the borough’s aging water meters with equipment that allows the meter to broadcast its data to a cell tower antenna, eliminating the need for staff to physically read meters.
Cape May Clerk Erin Burke certified a citizen-initiated petition for the second time in a month. Both petitions put forth bond ordinances for the replacement of the current firehouse, one arguing for a new firehouse at $5 million and the other supporting a $15 million combined public safety building that would include the city’s police department, as well. The high probability is that residents will have two overlapping referendums on the ballot, in November.
In yet another move by citizens prodding their municipality, an online petition, with 167 signatures, is making the rounds in Sea Isle City, intending to have officials increase accessibility for bicycle riders in the town.
Wildwood Crest has had a long-standing policy against organized events on its beaches. Requests for such events continue to flow to the borough anyway. At a recent meeting of the governing body, there was active discussion of changes to the policy, with Mayor Don Cabrera arguing that “wedding receptions and reunions are about as Wildwood Crest as you can get.”
After months of delays, Middle Township persevered through the pandemic and expects to have a grand opening of the Rio Grande Park, along Railroad Avenue, in October.
And…
The county continues to come in dead last among the state’s 21 counties in terms of census returns. A local citizen’s group took up the cause, urging greater participation in the census, as a way of getting a fair share of the federal funds that are distributed based on census returns.
Even as the governor signed an executive order establishing a modified vote-by-mail election, in November, the county freeholders declared their opposition, arguing that the mechanism produces significant delays in the count and opens the election to fraud. In short, the state’s top Democrat pushed for vote by mail and the county’s top Republicans (the freeholder board is all Republican) opposed the plan; America in microcosm.
The Cape May County Zoo welcomed a baby cotton-top tamarin. The tamarin is among the smallest of primates and is native to Columbia. The baby is doing well and staying close to mom and dad.
Avalon – Look how Trump has junked up the fireplace in the White House with those fake gold add ones. Just like the Taj Mahal which looked like a brothel. Why does he love that fake gold look?
