Murphy approves final bill in $100M business COVID-relief package

Gov. Phil Murphy on April 13 approved the last piece of legislation in a $100 million business COVID-relief package – a bill allocating $10 million to support child care services across the state.

The latest infusion of cash is seen by proponents as a key measure in helping working parents transition back to the workplace.

“Without the commitment of child care providers so many of our frontline essential workers would have been unable to go to work filling so many important needs,” reads a April 13 statement from Acting Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman.

Child care providers have struggled for the duration of the pandemic, thanks to COVID-19 restrictions and a surge of parents working for home.

Like the other $90 million of programs Murphy approved, this is being financed via federal funds from the Trump-era COVID-19 stimulus plan.

“Child care providers are absolutely critical to New Jersey’s workforce, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hit them especially hard,” the governor said in a statement. “This legislation will help to ensure that these providers can continue to weather the pandemic and remain open and able to meet the needs of so many New Jerseyans who rely on them.”

Over the past two weeks, Murphy approved four other small business relief bills–all out of a $100 million package of employer assistance that lawmakers proposed.

This legislation will help to ensure that these providers can continue to weather the pandemic and remain open and able to meet the needs of so many New Jerseyans who rely on them.
— Gov. Phil Murphy

“The impact” of the grants “could be seen up and down our streets for the thousands of small businesses whose doors remain open,” Murphy said April 12 at a bill-signing ceremony at Jammin’ Crepes in Princeton.

A $35 million pot of grant money is being set aside for COVID-hit bars and restaurants, while $15 million of grants will go to arts and culture organizations, $15 million toward small businesses and nonprofits, and $25 million to businesses with up to five employees.

Those funds will be overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which is convening April 14 to hash out rules for $85 million of those grants. Some portions of the money will be jointly operated by the NJEDA and other state agencies.

According to the governor’s office, the NJEDA awarded $250 million in grants, low-interest loans and other forms of COVID-19 monetary relief to roughly 55,000 businesses over the past year.

“This is … an economic crisis that is coming to an end but still very real for small businesses,” Tim Sullivan, who heads the NJEDA, said this week. The funds, he assured, will “get out the door prudentially, judiciously, but expeditiously.”

State lawmakers have been pushing for a greater say in how the state spends federal aid, especially the $6.4 billion that the state will get under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, including more business grants amid the pandemic.

During an April 6 budget hearing, Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo, D-36th District, pressed New Jersey State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio on whether “we have commitments from you that your administration will work with the Legislature” on how to spend the money, something which the administration said it very much favors.

NJ pausing J&J vaccine use following federal advisories (updated)

New Jersey health officials and several local hospitals are pausing their roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, following an advisory sent out by the Biden administration April 13.

“Out of an abundance of caution … the New Jersey Department of Health this morning paused the administration of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine across all vaccination sites in the state,” New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in an April 13 statement.

“All New Jersey vaccination sites have been told to cancel or put on hold appointments for the J&J vaccine until further notice,” she continued. “For individuals scheduled to receive the J&J vaccine, the department will work with all vaccination sites to make arrangements for the administration of an alternative two-dose vaccine.”

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli joins Gov. Phil Murphy as he conducts a vaccine site visit at Kean University on March 26, 2021. – JOSUE LORA FOR THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

It is not clear how many New Jersey adults this will affect. Persichilli said the state is getting 15,600 J&J doses this week– the rest are Pfizer or Moderna.

Representatives from the Burlington and Hudson Counties vaccination mega-sites said they are both halting the use of the J&J vaccine. Officials at both sites said they do not expect the latest development to disrupt this week’s COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

Earlier on April 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged a nationwide “pause” of the J&J vaccine, following reports that the shot is associated with increased risks of blood clots in some patients. Federal officials say they want time to review the safety of the J&J vaccine, but they noted that the blood clots are a microscopic percentage of the 7 million doses so far administered. This point was reiterated by Persichilli and J&J executives.

“The adverse reactions … appear to be very rare,” Gov. Phil Murphy said at a morning press conference in Paramus, noting that none of these symptoms have arisen in the roughly 235,000 New Jerseyans who got the J&J vaccine. “No one who has received this vaccine should panic or worry.”

But, he continued, “a pause for further investigation is a precautionary and smart step” that will serve to “ensure confidence” in the vaccine.

“We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine,” reads a J&J statement. “We have been working closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we strongly support the open communication of this information to health care professionals and the public.”

Four New Jersey hospitals issued statements or responded via email saying they are pausing use: University Hospital in Newark; Atlantic Health System based in Morristown, which owns and operates several hospitals across North Jersey; Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and Valley Health System based in Ridgewood.

An advisory meeting with the Center for Disease Control is scheduled for April 14 to discuss how public health officials should move forward with the J&J vaccine.

The pause could wield a blow to plans from elected leaders like Murphy and President Joe Biden to reach a semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy by the summer.

But Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, assured that the announcement “will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan,” as the J&J doses make up just 5% of the shots in people’s arms.

State health officials were expecting J&J vaccines to make up 1 million of the 8.5 million doses expected by the end of June, the rest being the two-shot versions from Pfizer and Moderna.

Murphy assured on April 13 that the state would still be able to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 4.7 million adults by the end of June, despite the pause on J&J vaccines.

“The department will await further guidance from the federal government. The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss these adverse events and make recommendations to the CDC on how to proceed,” Persichilli continued.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:09 p.m. EST on April 13, 2021, to include remarks from representatives from the Burlington and Hudson Counties vaccination mega-sites and Gov. Phil Murphy, and to update the list of hospitals in N.J. pausing use of the vaccine to include Holy Name Medical Center and Valley Health System.

Feds recommend ‘pause’ on J&J vaccine following blood clot reports

U.S. health officials are urging the nation to “pause” the use of any Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, following reports that the shot is associated with increased risks of blood clots in some patients, further jeopardizing national efforts for a summer of normalcy.

“[COVID-19] vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government, and we take all reports of health problems following COVID-19 vaccination very seriously,” reads an April 13 morning tweet from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Today FDA and @CDCgov issued a statement regarding the Johnson & Johnson #COVID19 vaccine. We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.

— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) April 13, 2021

The FDA continued that it, along with the Center for Disease Control, are investigating “six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine,” but assured that those cases “appear to be extremely rare.”

A CDC meeting is scheduled for April 14 to discuss the cases, and “until that process is complete, we are recommending this pause.”

The pause could wield a blow to plans for elected leaders like Gov. Phil Murphy and President Joe Biden to reach a semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy by the summer.

New Jersey’s goal is to reach the arms of 4.7 million adults by the end of June, which Murphy said on April 12 would rely on a combination of 1 million one-shot J&J doses, and 7.4 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The state fully vaccinated 2.2 million adults as of April 12, and health officials are vying to get enough shots in the arm to counter surges fueled by the more contagious B.1.1.7 variants.

A major drop-off of J&J doses thanks to manufacturing errors at a Baltimore plant last month means 15 million doses went to waste.

Dose supply of the J&J shots in New Jersey cratered from 131,000 doses last week to 15,600 doses this week and just 5,200 viles next week, according to New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

But Murphy said he was “comfortable” that the expected dose supply means the late June goal is “well within our reach.” Persichilli agreed, calling the timeline “reasonable.”

A 52-year-old Edison man reportedly developed pneumonia after getting the J&J inoculation in early March, and tested positive for COVID-19 a month later, according to abc7ny.com. He is now in critical condition at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison.

“It will happen,” Persichilli said. “The efficacy could be close to 100%, but there are also a percentage of cases that are either contracted COVID-19 before they got vaccinated or were exposed afterward and will fall ill.”

Rockefeller Foundation names Newark in $20M equitable COVID vaccination plan

The Rockefeller Foundation announced April 13 that it selected Newark as one of five pilot cities to launch a historic $20 million equity-first vaccination initiative to improve the vaccination rate among communities of color, which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The foundation will invest in United Way of Greater Newark’s public education campaign to improve confidence in the vaccine among Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), women, the homeless, youth aging out of foster care, undocumented residents and other communities. Additionally, United Way of Greater Newark will partner with community partners throughout the city to deliver vaccines through mobile vaccine units in these same communities.

“Equitable vaccine distribution has been a challenge throughout our country, but especially in majority Black and Brown communities that have historically suffered high poverty rates, poor educational outcomes and poor health outcomes as a result of systemic racism,” said Catherine Wilson, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Newark. “We’re excited to be partnering with The Rockefeller Foundation on this important initiative so we can continue working with our cross-sector partners to ensure members of our Newark community have the information they need to make informed decisions about the COVID-19 vaccine and the ability to access it when they are eligible.”

The foundation will initially collaborate with five organizations, including United Way of Greater Newark, to deploy equity-first, hyper-local public health interventions in Baltimore, Md.; Chicago, Ill.; Houston, Texas; and Oakland, Calif.

During the second phase of the initiative, the foundation will collaborate with several national organizations to take lessons learned from the first five cities and ensure that at least 70 million people of color are vaccinated by July 2021.

“Because of existing structural inequalities—including health care access, wealth gaps and systematic racism—people of color have been much more likely to both contract COVID-19 and die from this virus,” said Otis Rolley, senior vice president for the U.S. Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. “The Rockefeller Foundation is launching this initiative because a vaccination strategy that does not seek to directly combat inequities stands to further entrench them.”

NJ posts 2,000 COVID cases as wave slows over weekend

The latest wave of COVID-19 outbreaks showed signs of slowing down over the weekend, as state health officials race to vaccinate millions of New Jersey adults by the summer.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced on April 12 that the state logged another 2,079 COVID-19 cases–the lowest in five weeks. The seven-day average was 3,173 cases, down 18% from last week but still 8% up from last month.

The state logged a “relatively stable” range of COVID-19 patients: 2,261 by the latest count, Murphy said. Second-wave hospitalizations peaked at 3,873 on Dec. 22, 2020, and were more than 8,000 in April 2020.

But the biggest indicator that the pandemic is slowing was the drop in transmission rate, which fell below 1 for the first time in months.

Saturday’s rate was .98, down from 1.07 on April 5. The transmission rate announced April 4 stood at .94. Anything above 1 means that for every one person who gets infected with COVID-19, they spread it to at least one other person.

“Also, remember that the rate of transmission is calculated using a seven-day rolling average of positive test reports, so this number tells us that we are currently seeing a gradual decrease in the rate of spread,” the governor continued.

New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli warned though, that the fatality count, and the number of patients on ventilators have both gone up in recent days.

“Definitely our testing shows that the younger demographic account for the highest percent of the test,” she added

State health officials are aiming to vaccinate 4.7 million adults – those over the age of 16 – by June 30. The vaccines are a vital component of permanently rolling back restrictions on businesses, travel and public gatherings, which have been in place this past year to keep the spread of the virus at bay.

The state fully vaccinated 2.2 million adults as of April 12, and health officials are vying to get enough shots in the arm to counter these surges fueled by the more contagious B.1.1.7 variants.

The best and moderate-case scenarios call for hospitalizations and daily cases to peak on April 19 and then coast down over the summer. A worst-case scenario calls for a peak dragging on from May to June, in what Murphy described as a “long hot summer.

Full eligibility opens up on April 19, fueling a worsening “supply-demand imbalance,” but Murphy has defended that approach, which has left more people vying for a COVID-19 vaccine than there are in the available supply of doses.

“I would much rather be where we are, with doses getting into arms nearly as fast as they are arriving, than to have millions of doses sitting unused in a freezer,” he said.

A widespread shortage of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson doses is expected to crater in the coming weeks, thanks to a manufacturing mishap that led to 15 million doses going to waste.

New Jersey got 550,000 doses of the COVID-19 shot last week, split among the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna versions and 131,000 doses of the J&J version, according to Persichilli.

That drops to 466,000 doses this week, including a drop to just 15,600 J&J doses. Next week, the expected J&J dosage supply drops to just 5,200 viles.

Murphy greenlights $15M small business COVID relief

Gov. Phil Murphy signs Assembly Bill 5446 into law at Jammin’ Crepes in Princeton, on April 12, 2021. (Josue Lora/ NJ Governor's Office). — Gov. Phil Murphy signs Assembly Bill 5446 into law at Jammin’ Crepes in Princeton, on April 12, 2021. – JOSUE LORA/ OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

New Jersey small businesses and nonprofits battered by the pandemic will be able to apply for state aid under a new $15 million grant program Gov. Phil Murphy approved on April 12.

The state assistance is meant to help employers that have taken massive financial hits because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past two weeks, Murphy approved three other small business relief bills–all out of a $100 million package of employer assistance. Those funds are coming out of the state’s Trump-era federal COVID-relief grants.

A $35 million pot of money is being set aside for COVID-hit bars and restaurants, while $15 million of grants will go to arts and culture organizations and $25 million to businesses with up to five employees. A final bill that has yet to be approved allocates $10 million for daycare.

“The impact” of the grants “could be seen up and down our streets for the thousands of small businesses whose doors remain open,” Murphy said at the April 12 bill-signing ceremony at Jammin’ Crepes in Princeton.

NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan delivers remarks as Gov. Phil Murphy signs Assembly Bill 5446 into law at Jammin’ Crepes in Princeton, on April 12, 2021. (Josue Lora/ NJ Governor's Office). — NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan delivers remarks at the bill signing ceremony. – JOSUE LORA/ OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Like the other three programs, this $15 million tranche of funding is being overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which over the past year has awarded an estimated $250 million of grants, low-interest loans and other forms of COVID-19 monetary relief to roughly 55,000 businesses.

Tim Sullivan, the NJEDA’s chief executive officer, said the rules and application process for these programs will be voted on at the upcoming Wednesday board meeting.

“This is … an economic crisis that is coming to an end but still very real for small businesses,” he said on Monday. The funds, he assured, will “get out the door prudentially, judiciously, but expeditiously.”

OPINION: Receipts from the pandemic

Senior man shopping in a supermarket with a medical face mask — DEPOSIT PHOTOS

As New Jerseyans look to the day the state is fully reopen for business, gatherings and life in general, one thing has remained constant throughout the ordeal: the trip to the local grocery store.

Since we surpassed a year of grappling with this lingering health crisis, it is important to reflect on the early uncertainty from this invisible enemy. The grocery and food retail stores wobbled initially, but then quickly stood as a critical lifeline for both shoppers and employees.

The lightning-fast outbreak and dramatic impact of the coronavirus created panic and emptied store shelves. There was no template for this sudden pandemic. The food industry worked closely with the Governor’s Office and other state leaders to address the many challenges, shore up the supply chain, inform the public and support our brave and dedicated workforce.
The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) led a statewide communication effort to provide critical information and resources to New Jersey shoppers and the food industry workforce, ensuring people were still able to get food and supplies despite tight government mandates and restrictions.

Gov. Phil Murphy described the work of the food industry as “mission critical.” It has been an incredible year with great change to the shopping experience, implementation of safety protocols, unprecedented growth in online shopping and inspiring industry stories in serving our most vulnerable populations and food banks.

Let’s fast forward to today. The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) just released a new report titled Receipts from the Pandemic: Grocery Store Investments Amid COVID-19 and the Resulting Economics of an Essential Industry that highlights the massive $24 billion investment the food retail industry made in response to the sudden challenges to the nation’s shopping and food consumption habits as a result of the stay-at-home orders and restrictions.

Grocers’ dramatic and unanticipated actions included significant safety, workforce and technology investments that enabled them to service their communities during this unpredictable health crisis.

The report, based on a survey of 52 FMI member companies representing almost 40% of the nation’s food retailing industry, offers the first comprehensive cost analysis of the actions taken to safely keep grocery stores open throughout the pandemic.

Overall, the report found that food retailers have spent approximately $24 billion for pandemic-related expenses since March 2020.

Here are a few insights into ways grocers nationwide responded to the pandemic, fed our communities and invested in protective and sanitation products:

Increase in payroll and incentive pay: $12 billion
Increase in benefits: $5 billion
Non-Monetary benefits and vaccine incentives: $1 billion
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other safety expenses: $1 billion
Cleaning and sanitation supplies, labor and other related expenses: $3 billion
Technology and online delivery expenses: $1.5 billion

And now, food stores play another vital, lifeline role during this pandemic. In New Jersey, grocers with pharmacies are fully engaged in the vaccination distribution effort.

As more supply becomes available, an increasing number of our local supermarkets will be able to vaccinate customers and their workforce. Our supermarket members with pharmacies are now coordinating with their grocery competitors to vaccinate their workforce to protect our frontline workers.

There is probably no industry other than healthcare that has played such a meaningful and critical role in supporting our residents during this health crisis. We look forward to reopening New Jersey and supporting the state’s economic health and recovery as a proud frontline industry.

Linda Doherty is president and CEO of the New Jersey Food Council, the trade association representing 1,200 retail food stores, wholesalers, manufacturing and service companies that collectively employ more than 200,000 associates in the state.

$35M in COVID relief grants cleared for restaurants, bars

Gov. Phil Murphy approved the creation of a $35 million grant to help keep bars, restaurants and other eateries afloat that have been pummeled by COVID-19 and in-person restrictions.

Between March and the first half of June last year, restaurants were open only for take-out and delivery, with sit-down dining – both in- and outdoor – closed the entire time.

Establishments were allowed to reopen for outdoor dining only beginning last June, and finally allowed to resume indoor dining at 25% capacity beginning Labor Day weekend last year. Indoor capacity expanded to 35% just before Super Bowl weekend, and then to 50% last month.

But with restaurants running at slim margins even at full capacity, many business owners say they’ve been hardly able to stay afloat.

And so government assistance, be it state aid or federal relief from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, has been seen as a vital lifeline to dining establishments.

“These are among the places that have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” Murphy said at the bill-signing ceremony on the afternoon April 8 outside of Bourré Cajun BBQ Cuisine in Atlantic City. “Margins for our restaurants, if they’re positive at all, remain razor-thin.”

This new bill opens up grants to restaurants with up to 50 employees. It’s the third bill Murphy approved in a broader set of $100 million in proposed COVID-relief grants the state Legislature sent to the governor’s desk on March 25. On April 8, Murphy approved $15 million of grants for arts and culture organizations and a $25 million pot of money for businesses with up to five employees.

Like those two programs, this $35 million tranche of funding is being overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which over the past year has awarded an estimated $250 million of grants, low-interest loans and other forms of COVID-19 monetary relief to roughly 55,000 businesses.

All of that money would come out of the state’s share of federal assistance provided under the Trump-era COVID-19 relief package approved in 2020.

GOP lawmakers pitch spending plan for NJ’s $6.4B COVID relief (updated)

The state Legislature’s top Republican lawmakers are floating a plan for how they want the Murphy administration to spend the $6.4 billion it’s getting from the Biden team under the American Rescue Plan.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have shown an increasing desire for more input on how Gov. Phil Murphy’s team spends the federal COVID-19 relief money, arguing that the input was lacking with the Trump-era funds.

As of Feb. 28, the state spent nearly $1.97 of the $2.4 billion it got under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, according to state auditor David Kaschak. That’s part of $7.9 billion in federal aid that’s gone to the state either directly or to public agencies like mass transit, local governments or universities.

Both parties argued that they did not have anywhere near enough input on where those funds went and that it was done entirely by the administration.

Assembly Republican Jon Bramnick, R-21st District — Bramnick

“New Jersey will soon be swimming in cash from the federal government and I want to make sure those funds are dedicated to helping our taxpayers and the unemployed,” Assembly Republican Jon Bramnick, R-21st District, said April 8 in a statement.

The presence of federal aid, plus more than $4 billion in new debt and soaring consumer demand, mean the state is flush with billions of dollars more in cash, defying expectations that the COVID-19 business shutdowns would crash the economy and state finances.

To that end, Murphy is in the midst of approving $100 million of grants for COVID-hit businesses, paid for with funds from the CARES Act. The $6.4 billion is not included in Murphy’s $44.8 billion spending plan, which covers expenses between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.

“Any decision on how to spend American Rescue Plan funds will be contingent on upcoming guidance from the US Treasury Department,” said Alyana Alfaro, press secretary for the governor’s office.

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The Senate GOP caucus said it wants the Murphy team to spend $2.5 billion over three years on bolstering the state’s unemployment fund. Of that, $1 billion would go toward paying off any debt that the state took on in order to finance state-run jobless benefits before any interest accrues.

Another $1.5 billion would go toward refilling the state unemployment system and staving off employer tax increases that would typically finance the years-long replenishment.

Half a billion dollars would go toward upgrades to the state unemployment system’s “antiquated computer systems, and for IT upgrades with the state Motor Vehicle Commission.”

The plan calls for $1.5 billion over three years for long-term capital projects for “state, public and private schools, institutions of higher educations, local governments, libraries” and other public agencies, so that the state would not accrue more debt.

Another $1 billion would go toward COVID-relief aid for pandemic-hit businesses and nonprofits, half a billion dollars for mortgage and rental assistance programs, and another $500 million toward staving off any cuts in state aid to New Jersey’s K-12 school districts.

“Our plan puts the [$6.4 billion] of federal funds to use in a responsible way that will help New Jersey overcome the challenges of the pandemic,” Sen. Steven Oroho, R-24th District, the top Senate Republican budget lawmaker, said on April 8. “If we don’t undertake those costly upgrades now when we have the money, they’re unlikely to happen any time soon.”

The plan does not include any mention of using funds to pay down any of the state’s older, higher-interest debt – something floated by Murphy and backed by several key figures in the state’s business community.

Sarlo backed a similar proposal, and on April 6 said that “it’s incumbent upon us to work with this administration… to pay down debt and… make sure that we make these investments strategically… that we plan for the next two or three fiscal years.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. EST on April 9, 2021 to include comments from the governor’s office.

Unemployment claims surge as thousands go a year without work

New weekly jobless claims have surged week over week as the state pushes past 246,000 people that have been claiming jobless benefits for more than a year, according to state and federal labor officials.

Data released April 8 by the federal Department of Labor show that 18,470 people in New Jersey filed for unemployment the week ending April 3, compared to 16,728 people the prior week.

According to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, weekly claims hit an all-time low on the week of March 6, when just 9,840 people filed for unemployment.

The new surges come as the state pushes into its 13th month of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to drag out mass business shutdowns and keep the economy on pause.

All told, more than 2 million New Jerseyans have sought unemployment assistance since March 2020, when Gov. Phil Murphy ordered sweeping closures and restrictions on businesses like restaurants, retail, salons and barbershops, casinos, malls, gyms and theaters.

Unemployment shot up from 3.7% in March 2020 to 16.3% the next month. It rose even further to an all-time record-high unemployment rate of 16.8% in June, outdoing unemployment surges seen during the Great Recession and Superstorm Sandy.

While a relaxation of restrictions on indoor dining led to an increase in new restaurant and dining job positions opening up, Murphy has warned that he would pause business reopenings amid the latest wave, which health officials say is driven by the dominance of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom.

Murphy has also relaxed the capacity at indoor and outdoor venues like concert arenas, and raised the outdoor gathering capacity.

Mass vaccination efforts are key to building herd immunity against the variant and allowing a rollback of many restrictions. The goal is to fully vaccinate 4.7 million adults by the end of June, of which the state has reached nearly 2 million arms. But that process has hit a snag, with vaccine supply expected to plummet this month.

Since the onset of the pandemic over a year ago, the state has given out $26 billion in unemployment benefits, most of it from federal COVID-relief programs like the added $300 or $600 a week, as well as federal extensions and special benefits for freelancers and part-time workers.

Still, the system has been plagued by delays and bureaucratic snags, leaving many residents going weeks or months without a check and with no luck getting answers or updates.

However, an automatic review and re-filing system within the state Labor Department means that benefits for more than 246,000 claimants were automatically removed over the past five weeks, according to labor officials. The process “could have taken up to three months without this upgrade in place,” the Thursday statement reads.

Governor OKs $15M COVID-relief grant for arts, culture

Gov. Phil Murphy approves legislation to create $15 million arts and culture COVID-19 relief program on April 8, 2021, in Long Branch. – EDWIN J. TORRES/GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

Gov. Phil Murphy approved the creation of a $15 million grant to help keep afloat the arts and culture organizations that have been pummeled by COVID-19 and in-person restrictions associated with the pandemic.

Establishments – like museums, concert halls and performing arts centers – have had to close their doors entirely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These venues depend on ticket sales and large turn-outs to generate a profit, but a months-long stay-at-home order and virtual state of lockdown, followed by limits on non-essential retail and indoor dining, further slammed arts, culture and tourism, and have caused profits to crater.

The newest batch of funding – approved on April 8 – is the second bill Murphy approved in a broader set of $100 million in proposed COVID-relief grants the state Legislature sent to the governor’s desk on March 25. All of that money would come out of the state’s share of federal assistance provided under the Trump-era COVID-19 relief package approved in 2020.

Last week, Murphy approved a $25 million grant program for the state’s smallest businesses known as microbusinesses—those with up to five employees.

“We knew we had to stand up programs that would help upkeep the future of the arts in New Jersey… even if our stages went dark,” the governor said at the Thursday bill-signing ceremony at the West End Arts Center in Long Branch.

Half the money will be given out by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a nonprofit organization that typically provides grants to community-level and regional arts and culture organizations across the state.

“These relief dollars will put thousands back to work, boost the economy, and help ensure New Jersey’s arts industry survives to safely do what they do best,” Secretary of State Taesha Way, whose department includes the state council, said on Thursday.

The other $7.5 million will be overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which over the past year has awarded an estimated $250 million of grants, low-interest loans and other forms of COVID-19 monetary relief to roughly 55,000 businesses.

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