By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor@Blogfinger.net.
Dave. Let’s enlarge the conversation about viral risks in the Grove:
Tent Village is more congested than the typical neighborhoods in the Grove. Also its wonderful lifestyle in the summer is communal and outdoors and would be a magnet for viral transmission. It reminds me of a summer camp and should not be activated this season. Allowing it to reopen will be too risky.
Our homes in the Grove are on small lots, and we are in close proximity to each other, but the risk there is not nearly what it is for the tents.
The most important principal for prevention of Coronavirus is to mitigate human to human contact. So, for example, let’s keep the lid on our porch culture this season.
We should not engage in finger pointing. For example, second homers come in two styles. Those who came here to stay, in order to avoid the dangers in the city, may increase the population somewhat, but they can maintain distancing like everyone else. They just should self-isolate for 14 days after arrival.
Another variable of concern has to do with turnover. We can’t have people coming back and forth from the cities only to stay for a few days. That is a recipe for a new infusion of virus every weekend. Such visitors may be second homers, but there are other worries which are greater.
Short term rentals should be banned until this epidemic is resolved. Airbnb rentals may be one of those gypsy-like groups, although the Airbnb rental business is currently in a state of steep decline due to cancelled reservations.
And the greatest danger to all of us are the mega-events which are planned, throughout the “season” by the CMA and the Chamber of Commercials, and they will draw floods of virus-laden tourists into our town. Human to human contacts will be out of control if those hordes show up.
It will be like Genghis Khan and his horsemen galloping into town in the 13th century, killing the populace, and carrying off the women.
All of those mega-events, such as the forthcoming May Flea Market, must be cancelled.
NANCY WILSON:
The thought of crowds of people funneling into Ocean Grove in the upcoming warm weather sounds like a Grimm Fairy Tale, and
one that may not have a happy ending.
Until there is a cure, or a vaccine , I suggest sitting in your own backyard.
…so you could live Happily Ever After ..!
Editor: Hi Jean; I agree, and don’t forget those who are “funneling” in and out of our town. With each round-trip they potentially bring a new viral load with them, especially if they come from a hot spot such as New York or associate with infected individuals such as those who provide such care..
No matter how they go about loosening the restraints of our society, we all need to continue being careful. —Paul Hello to the Jackster.
Well said!! Your son is a hero and so is his family for supporting him!
Hopefully people like Old Timer and Kevin Chambers will understand how disgraceful, uninformed, and selfish their opinions are. Amazing there are people in the OG community who simply don’t understand how serious this is ESPECIALLY here with our seniors who fought in wars to keep us safe, paid taxes to build roads and schools for us, and all they ask for in return is to allow them to live their retirements in peace.
Tents, beaches, Auditorium should be closed, and understand something, I LOVE these three facilities as much as anyone else.
I’m an old timer as well as a retired nurse. I have been coming to OG since I was 3 and have lived here year round for over 40 years. I love everything about OG which is why I chose to raise my children here. My son is a nurse who is knee deep in corona virus every time he goes to work. He worries constantly about his family and I worry about him. He has told me how random it is in regard to whom it kills and who gets better.
So when I hear people saying let’s open everything up, let’s go out there and live our lives I am outraged. Could you be more clueless, more selfish, more self absorbed?
If you want to play Russian roulette with your life, by all means go and do so, but how dare you make that choice for all the other people you may come in contact with and for my son who may have to take care of your sorry asses.
As Christians we are challenged to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” How about making some “loving choices?”
I am high risk but my daughter is having her first baby in June and I would like to be around for that.
Also worth thinking about:
The parks and the beach here are wonderful open spaces where those here can benefit from fresh air, exercise, and natural beauty. With all the added stress of coping with the necessary changes we must make in our lives right now it would seem a huge pity if ways could not be agreed upon to take advantage of (and properly allocate use of) all this space.
Of course the easy solution would be to take a sledgehammer to the problem of people crowding onto these spaces, especially as the weather warms up. That easy solution would be to simply close the beaches and the parks.
Would it not be a more civilized solution to allocate specific days and/or times of day to different people wishing to continue to benefit from these amenities?
A well thought out plan for this might even stand a chance of holding up as a workable example for other beach towns to emulate. For example we could have the life guards enforce social distancing on the beach and have stricter rules about not swimming out beyond where people can stand—after all, what lifeguard wants to be giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to half drowned swimmers right now?
We could enforce the rules by making sure people have read them before being allowed on the beach where they would be given an armband of a specific color to wear that day. There would also be very high fines for violations coupled with offenders not being allowed back on the beach. And so on. Suggestions for making this work?
What people who oppose sensible public health measures at a time like this ignore is consideration for others. While economic matters and claims of personal liberties are certainly serious considerations, flouting social distancing measures is unacceptable from a public health perspective.
These people impose danger to others around them since asymptomatic spread of this coronavirus is documented, and many vulnerable OG residents and visitors are elderly or handicapped, and it is our responsibility to protect them.
Our boardwalk is open, while towns all around us have closed boardwalks. So people from these other towns come to the Grove for our boardwalk.
This is no different than the weekenders coming here from the city. The OG boardwalk should be closed by the CMA.
Editor’s note: We don’t know why the CMA has not taken action on the Boardwalk issue—they offer no explanation, but they do owe the people of Ocean Grove an explanation.
If the Township, County or State believe that the CMA inaction is endangering the public, then they should step in now. A highly contagious time in the history of Corona in NJ is currently in progress. Why take a chance?
FDR’ s speech, “The only thing we need to fear is fear itself” should be changed to, “the only thing we need to fear is irrational fear.”
I don’t want any of these irrational people with their irrational fears telling me what to do.
If you fear for your life stay locked up in your houses and let those who want to live their lives by going to the boardwalk or beach, live their lives.
Let’s get the NJ Corona Task Force to get some sensible recommendations to Governor Murphy. Opening the tents will get a lot of people infected.
The lack of public health awareness on the part of people like this “Oldtimer” is frightening.
The idea of opening the tents this summer is outrageous: they are barely six inches apart — certainly not six feet!
Without social isolation much more than 2% of the world population will die including yourself. You have shared an irresponsible and baseless opinion This pandemic is extraordinarily dangerous.. Anyone who listens to your views could die from this.
I think it is insanity to suggest that Ocean Grove should just shut down because of the density of the housing (tents included). COVID-19 is a serious health threat, but certainly not the calamity that elites and the media would make it out to be (which they do to justify and reinforce their own power, authority, and ratings).
Wake up everyone. (98+% of people will not die from COVID-19. Why destroy the economy and the fun of the beach? It’s inevitable that most people will eventually catch this flu. Just accept it and live your life fully. And I say this as a 64 year old who suffers from mild asthma. The irrational pursuit of a risk free life is just not worth it.