Pared down directives still advocate strongly for face coverings, staying outdoors and getting the COVID shot as a means to minimize risk and keep your family and friends safer.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert pretty much reiterated Gov. Phil Murphy's stance on the holiday: “[E]njoy it, this is the time that children love,” adding that getting the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the holiday is an “extra degree of protection.”

Molnupiravir, an investigational oral medicine, has had positive results in its clinical trial. If authorized, it could be the first treatment of its kind for COVID-19.

With the holidays approaching, and the CDC's flub on issuing guidance for a socially distanced holiday season, that was since recalled, one thing is clear: COVID-19 will continue to be on people’s minds through the end of the year, and it has businesses and public health experts wary.

As of  Oct. 6, there were 986 hospitalizations—the last time the number was under 1,000 was on Aug. 23, when the state’s 71 acute-care hospitals logged 982 patients, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

New syringe and needle lines at one of the company's Nebraska plants, completed as part of a public-private partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services' Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, will provide the federal government with priority access to hundreds of millions of pieces of equipment.

Companies currently involved in the state-run Small Business Lease Emergency Assistance Grant Program can qualify for rent relief grants of up to $10,000.

"The page had a technical update on Friday, but doesn’t reflect the CDC’s guidance ahead of this upcoming holiday season," the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement to several news outlets. “CDC will share additional guidance soon.”

The New Brunswick-based health care company says that protection against COVID-19 increases when a second shot, given about two months after the first, is administered.

The Community Stage Relief Grant Program, which provides grants of up to $300,000 for businesses that have some kind of involvement in the promotion and production of live events and were affected by COVID closures, will award funds to smaller venues that suffered losses during the pandemic.

The Kenilworth-based drugmaker said it saw “compelling results” in trials for molnupiravir, which reduced the risk of hospital or death by roughly 50% for those with mild to moderate cases of the virus.

According to New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, upward of 1.1 million New Jerseyans could qualify to get the extra shot.