Why NJ’s public health emergency response needs more work
December 23, 2024
NJ Spotlight News
Types : In the News
The focus in 2024 remained on reforms after sobering assessment of state’s COVID-19 response
New Jersey continues to beef up the state’s ability to respond to the next public health emergency using lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than 37,000 residents and reshaped everything from dining to learning to religious worship.
Officials said a task force of state government leaders continues to meet almost every month to identify ways New Jersey can better protect its citizens from ongoing threats, like respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which are now driving more people to the emergency room than COVID-19, according to the latest report.
“New Jersey has been through trauma and tragedy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The State was not properly prepared. Too many New Jerseyans died, got sick and suffered enormously. The lessons learned from the pandemic were paid for dearly, and must be heeded,” wrote attorney Paul Zoubek, of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhodes, who led the 15-month review process. Zoubek and the firm had been paid $3.7 million for this work, through November.
The report, requested by Gov. Phil Murphy who called for an examination of the state’s COVID-19 response, should serve as a memorial to those lost, Zoubek said, and also a “call to action” to invest in public health infrastructure, collaborative emergency response planning and training, efforts to improve health equity and other gaps that emerged during the pandemic. “Despite the lessons of the last four years, New Jersey remains underprepared for the next emergency.”