Tom Bracken, the president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, cautioned that any requirement “would cause some serious damage to certain companies because a lot of employees do not not want to be vaccinated or they would leave, and I think that was already happening.”

State health officials were expecting a mid-January peak of between 6,000 and 9,000 total patients. As of the evening of Jan. 12, the state logged 5,933 people hospitalized with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19.

Legislators are holding off on a bill that would extend the governor's COVID-19 orders for another 45 days, after charging that he did not inform them of his plans to enact school mask mandates for the next three months.

The requirements from New Jersey’s largest university are the latest among pandemic-related mandates and delayed openings that the state’s higher education institutions are implementing amid a surge of the omicron variant and holiday-related positive cases.

The biggest fear right now is lack of staffing, and facilities are being told to prepare for as much as 30% of their staff to be out sick with the virus at any given time, according to Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

Newton-based Natural Solutions Foundation, along with its trustees Ralph Fucetola and Rima Laibow, allegedly distributed a product called “nano silver,” which they claimed could treat, prevent and cure the virus, according to the DOJ.

The orders from the Passaic and Hudson county municipalities follows similar new orders from places including Newark, South Orange and Montclair.

The companies announced on Dec 23 that their combined resources will increase the availability of test kits to consumers.

A Monmouth University survey found many respondents “worn out” or “angry” with how COVID-19 has affected their lives. And support for mask rules and workplace vaccine mandates have also slipped since initially rising in September as the delta variant spread.

New Jersey is one of two states that will take part in a federal pilot program to upgrade its infrastructure and experience.

The governor said the numbers represented "a good start and it’s going to get better, it needs to get better.”

The latest proposal would provide credits for wages that certain small businesses paid to employees to keep them on board over the course of the public health emergency.