The Wrap: COVID-19 and Municipalities

‘The Wrap’ is a feature from the Herald editorial team that offers our take on the news of the week. Get ‘The Wrap’ in your inbox every Monday by signing up at https://bit.ly/HeraldWrap.
Dec. 7-13
Numbers Climb as Vaccine is Approved 
The first vaccines are making their way from Pfizer’s plants to the U.S. in ultra-cold shipping containers. The county can expect frontline health care workers to begin being vaccinated in a matter of a day or two.
Cape Regional Medical Center (CRMC) will begin dispensing the vaccine to staff with the greatest exposure to COVID-19 almost immediately, as the doses arrive. As of Dec. 13, CRMC has 26 COVID-19 patients.
The federal Pharmacy Partnership, with large pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, will be the mechanism for vaccinations at long-term care facilities. 
Frontline health care workers and long-term care facilities are priorities in the state vaccination plan and will likely use the limited supply that will arrive this week.
Meanwhile, the numbers of new cases in the county grew at a rate of about 47 cases per day, on average. This week (Dec. 7-13) saw 333 new confirmed cases reported by the county Health Department, with five new fatalities. 
One day this week, the county reported 63 new positive tests. The large number of individuals being cleared to come off quarantine kept the active case totals relatively steady.
The county entered the past week with 520 active cases among county residents, and it ended with 534. There are another 30 active cases reported among nonresidents, all of them in Cape May.
Plans to vaccinate 70% of the eligible population will take months to execute and will be dependent on the supply of the various vaccines in line for approval after Pfizer.
The logistics and distribution challenges are unlike any the nation faced before.
With the virus spreading rapidly, accommodations are being made to what would otherwise be normal schedules.
Stockton University will delay the start of its spring term. Schools across the county continue to grapple with staff shortages, as professional and other staff enter periods of cautionary quarantines after potential exposure to the virus. 
The state announced a grant program directed at dealing with “learning loss” among students due to the pandemic’s effect on school instruction.
COVID-19 made its presence known at the Coast Guard base, with an isolated impact on three companies at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May.
Procedures are in place to keep COVID-19 out of the Cape May County Correctional Facility, increasing the facility’s safety for inmates and staff.
Middle Township also tightened restrictions on residents who enter municipal buildings. The municipality is maintaining its full set of services.
The county announced it was suspending the Grab and Go meals program at Ocean City and Upper Township senior centers until Dec. 28. Home delivery meals will proceed on the normal schedule.
Members of the community found new ways to maintain a bit of social normalcy. At least one municipality generated ways to combat the boredom factor among the county’s youth. Meanwhile, others across the region find new ways to celebrate safely. Hanukkah traditions continued amid the threat of the virus.
Municipalities Remain Busy in the Offseason
Across the county, municipal governments are busy with roadwork and capital projects.
Wildwood Crest introduced a $5.3 million bond ordinance for various capital projects, about half of which will involve street work.
Upper Township will use a state grant to improve Bayview Drive, in Strathmere. Meanwhile, a decision on the fate of the proposed Strathmere hotel stalled. 
Dennis Township will use a state Department of Transportation grant for the reconstruction of Chestnut Street, in Belleplain.
In Stone Harbor, residents heard the plans for the Villa Maria by the Sea site, at 111th Street. The project will involve demolition of the existing complex built in the 1930s, with a smaller religious retreat house and a 13-lot residential subdivision taking its place.
In Cape May, 10 acres of vacant city property saw streets vacated as part of the process to place the property on the Recreation and Open Space Inventory to protect the lots from future development. 
Meanwhile, a councilman-elect went to court to get a temporary injunction against four women he said defamed and harassed him on social media.
Ocean City held a town hall meeting to respond to questions about flood mitigation efforts. Elsewhere, Ocean City High School celebrated its girls soccer and field hockey teams’ success winning state sectional championships.
A Sea Isle City family spread holiday cheer with a tree planted and decorated on the beach, at 44th Street.
Cape May County appointed a new acting county administrator. The county is also making an application to be designated a weather-ready county, indicating its efforts to inform residents about severe weather threats. The program is run through the National Weather Service.
A new report on county tourism noted that strong, late-summer activity helped lift lodging losses suffered in the early months of the pandemic. The report said that tourism revenues, as of Sept. 30, were down 25% from 2019.
And…
The remains of a sunken American submarine were located off the Delmarva Peninsula. The submarine was one of 37 commissioned during World War I.
Orsted, a global leader in offshore wind farms, submitted a bid to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to develop its Ocean Wind-2 Project.
A volunteer at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center found the season’s first “cold-stunned” sea turtle. The turtle, who failed to migrate to warmer waters in time, is undergoing treatment.
A county couple committed themselves to a nursing home ministry in a time of loneliness and despair among many long-term care residents.