SOUTH RIVER–With a borough employee being tested for coronavirus (COVID-19), the Borough Council’s March 23 meeting was canceled while pending test results are processed.
Mayor John Krenzel said the employee has been tested for COVID-19 and the borough expects results in two days.
Due to the need for other employees to self-quarantine pending test results, the South River Municipal Building and all offices located at 48 Washington St. will be closed until further notice, according to a prepared statement from the South River Police Department.
“As we have ended one week and are beginning another, I figure it is good time to take stock of where South River is. I will not give you the information that you already have but rather try to fill some gaps,” Krenzel said in a prepared statement.
“I think many are suffering from information overload. I suggest taking a break from the news. Take a walk, a bike ride, watch a movie—especially a comedy. I am partial to Abbott and Costello, like ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,’” Krenzel said in the statement.
Krenzel said there are two people in town who tested positive and they are quarantined. The people have not been identified to officials; Middlesex County is handling the situation.
“We can expect more. Remember, we are doing all this shutting down to slow the spread, not stop it,” Krenzel said in the statement.
Krenzel said the borough was advised to close its parks. The reasoning is that a sick person may touch something or people may congregate in an unsafe manner. Yet, people are walking over the barriers, he said.
“The police cannot patrol everywhere. I look at it that you people are smart enough to protect yourselves. You have had what to do repeated ad nauseam. I believe the vast majority are smart enough to take the proper precautions,” Krenzel said in the statement.
Keep in touch with the police department, Krenzel said, by visiting the police department’s Facebook and sign up for Nixle.
“The situation is fluid and keeps changing. On [March 21], I was part of a telephone conference with our two U.S. senators and another conference with the Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management,” Krenzel said in the statement.
“Please use common sense. There is no need to lose sleep or panic. You have heat, electricity, water, telephone service and the internet; this is not [superstorm] Sandy. Check in on the elderly and homebound. Be kind to each other and remember to sneeze and cough on your arm and not in your hand and we will all get through this,” Krenzel said in the statement.
For more information, visit www.southriverpd.org/covid-19.