Mayor Michael Venezia and members of the council partnered with Bloomfield small business owner Nicolle Walker to provide boxed lunches to the entire township staff, who continue to provide essential services to Bloomfield during the coronavirus crisis. Above, members of the Bloomfield Police Department enjoy their meals.
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — As the number of positive cases of COVID-19 around the world continues to rise, Bloomfield’s total has risen as well. As of the morning of April 28, according to the New Jersey State Health Department, of the 13,148 cases in Essex County, 781 are in Bloomfield. Forty-three people have died from complications of the virus. Mayor Michael Venezia said in an April 26 statement that, while the curve appears to be flattening, the number of positive cases in Bloomfield had fluctuated over the previous few days.
“We had 19 positive cases today. This is a great sign, but, as I said before, it has been a bit of a roller coaster the last couple of days,” Venezia said. “Friday’s number was 24 and Saturday 19. We are also seeing positive signs in the amount of COVID-19–related medical calls. The data from where we were three weeks ago to where we are today is night and day. Remember, stopping the spread of COVID-19 was about not overwhelming our health care system.”
According to the state, Essex County has the third most positive cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey, following Bergen County and Hudson County. Within the county, Bloomfield has the sixth most positive cases of the virus, behind Newark, East Orange, Irvington, West Orange and Belleville.
“People have been asking me, ‘Why are Bloomfield’s numbers so high?’” Venezia said. “I don’t have the exact answer to this, but Bloomfield is the fourth largest town in Essex County, with about 50,000 residents; we have a good portion of our population that live in close proximity with each other, and the biggest reason is many of our residents are front-line essential worker,s such as nurses, police officers, firefighters, EMS, construction, etc.”
According to his statement, township officials are working on plans to help restaurants that have smaller indoor spaces facilitate more outdoor seating when they are able to open again. There will be more dining-under-the-stars events and the possible trading of parking spaces for outdoor seating.
Like every other district in the state, the Bloomfield School District is closed and will remain so until at least May 15. Gov. Phil Murphy has not yet made a decision about whether or not schools will be open before the end of the school year. In an update to the community on April 24, Superintendent of Schools Salvatore Goncalves and Assistant Superintendent Joe Fleres said they are making plans to sanitize the buildings, modifying curriculum to address the gap that will appear when students do return to school and considering alternative plans for year-end events such as Bloomfield High School’s prom and graduation ceremony.
“There is no single, best solution to long-term virtual schooling/remote learning, and we fully recognize that no single approach is going to be perfect,” Goncalves and Fleres said in the statement. “This said, we remain confident that our teachers, staff and administrative teams are giving it their all and working together to evaluate best practices and make improvements and adjustments so we deliver the best possible product to our students; this assurance is being provided following our weekly virtual meetings with staff and our principals’ assessment that their teachers remain committed to our new alternative learning method.”
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