Woodbridge mayor provides update to St. Joe’s seniors, coronavirus cases in town

The following statement was released by Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac on March 27:

“Just a quick update on the St. Joseph’s [Seniors Home assisted living facility and nursing home]. We have heard from many people whose parents were there and who were moved to CareOne in Whippany and they are all very satisfied. There is a top floor for those who are not impacted by the virus and a bottom floor for those who are. The communication from the facility to the families has been terrific and residents are appreciating the ability to talk with their loved ones.

They are no longer counted in our Woodbridge numbers, but they will always be counted in our Woodbridge hearts. Please continue to pray for their well-being.

We are following national trends with two straight days of significant increases in the number of coronavirus cases. In the last 24 hours, we went from 40 to 54, which is our largest daily increase to date. Our GIS modeling still shows no concerns about any clustering of cases. Please also say a prayer for those impacted by this awful pandemic.

We still remain blessed by the commitment of our residents and businesses toward helping our Woodbridge Township family. Supplies and food donations keep coming in and our efforts to deal with our homebound population are being overwhelmed with volunteers. Please keep paying attention to anyone in your vicinity who you know lives alone.

Please remember to avoid non-essential travel and public gatherings and to continue personal practices of frequent hand washing, coughing or sneezing into your sleeve and social distancing of at least six feet. The state has warned that strict enforcement action will take place.

Locally, our police, public works and health departments remain out in the field and business can still be conducted with town hall and other departments by phone, mail or online. Please be patient with our response times.

We will continue our normal sanitation and recycling collection schedule into next week but we have suspended bulk pickups. Our Convenience Center remains open under reduced hours from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

We posted a list on our website and Facebook of open pharmacies and food stores, plus restaurants that offer takeout and delivery, so please share that with anyone who needs it. If you notice any corrections that need to be made to these lists, or if we missed any business, please let us know.

Our parks remain open but please use caution when using the playground equipment. All basketball rims are being taken out of operation.

We continue to notice gloves, wipes, paper towels and other hygiene products in our sanitary sewer system where they could clog pipes and cost you as a homeowner a lot of money for remedies. This practice also costs the township money when our main lines and pump stations get clogged. Please throw these items in the regular trash.

Our census remains a priority so if you have not done so already please take the time to fill out the forms and send them in.

 

We will keep you posted of future developments and updates on a regular basis.

We got through two weeks so far and we might have a few more to go. We will keep doing whatever we can to keep Woodbridge safe and healthy and we really appreciate the calls and texts and emails of support from our residents. Thank you so much for everything that you are doing and thank you for making our job that much easier.

Thank you and please be safe.”