For Immediate Release:
March 12, 2020
County officials monitoring Coronavirus situation in Monmouth County
FREEHOLD, NJ –With four presumptive positive cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Monmouth County, County officials are assuring residents that they are monitoring the situation and taking action to ensure the public health and safety of Monmouth County residents.
Two of the presumptive positive cases include a 66 year old female from Hazlet and an 83 year old female from Hazlet who are both being treated at Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center. The Golden Age Adult Day Care Program, where both of these individuals were clients, has voluntarily closed and is working in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Health and the Monmouth County Health Department.
The two other cases include a 27 year old male from Little Silver who recently attended the Biogen conference in Boston and a 17 year old female from Little Silver who is an immediate family member of the 27 year old male.
“We continue to assure you that the freeholder board is actively engaged and in constant contact with the local mayors and the New Jersey Legislative Delegation as well as the New Jersey Governor’s Office and the New Jersey Department of Health,” said Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone. “We are committed to ensuring that the County has the necessary resources to respond and mitigate this evolving situation.”
“All Monmouth County and municipal health officials are following guidelines set forth by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) the Governor’s State of Emergency Declaration and the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) for response to COVID-19 cases,” added Freeholder Director Arnone.
All Monmouth County and municipal health officials are following the guidelines set forth by the CDC and the NJDOH for monitoring and response to COVID-19 cases.
The best defense against the Coronavirus is to practice safe respiratory hygiene and take steps to prevent the spread of germs including washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and staying home when sick. However, residents should be aware that as investigations into these four cases continue, additional cases may be identified.
“Again we would like to reiterate that it is important to have factual, up to date information about the coronavirus,” said Freeholder Deputy Director Kiley. “If you have questions, go directly to the CDC, the New Jersey Department of Health or the Monmouth County Health Department.”
There have been social media reports of individuals going door to door claiming to be from the CDC. The CDC is not deploying teams of people to go door to door and conduct surveillance, so people should not let these individuals in their homes or speak with them.
The CDC has a “share the facts, stop fear” page which is quite useful in determining what is fact vs. fiction with regard to the coronavirus. It can be accessed at cdc.gov/coronavirus.
Timely and accurate information can also be found at www.nj.gov/health and anyone with questions can call the NJDOH COVID-19 24-Hour Public Hotline 1-800-222-1222 or email to ncov@dohnj.gov.
Links to the CDC and New Jersey Department of Health are currently posted to the Monmouth County Health Department webpage, www.visitmonmouth.com/health.