Most years we worry only about parking; but this year is different. Paul Goldfinger photo. 7/4/15 ©

Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor. Blogfinger.net.  This is a re-post from exactly one year ago, but with a note from today.

Ocean Grove is one of the smallest towns at the Jersey Shore. And it is the densest in terms of one house piled on another with minimal distancing.  We may be less than six feet away on our porches from the next door neighbor.

In some ways we are a typical shore town in that we have a beach and a boardwalk, and we have no restrictions on parking.  So, like other shore towns, people come to enjoy the beach and the boards.  Some beach towns attract more people than others:  Seaside Heights with its chaotic and wonderful boardwalk is such a place.

But Ocean Grove is a magnet for more than that including “historic Ocean Grove” with its architecture that has attracted artists, architects, builders, and historians.

And then there is small town Ocean Grove which yields young families who love the safety and warmth of the environment and its people.  I see kids and their parents playing Wiffle ball and tag in the park.

There is the OG porch culture where friends like to visit our home owners just to sit on the porch and be there.  My neighbor eats all his dinners on his summer porch, with candles and a chandelier.

And there is show business OG with a marvelous classical music schedule each summer.

And then we have the Camp Meeting Association OG, the town’s founders, who have an ambitious program schedule each summer, almost every day, and some of their events bring in thousands of visitors of the sorts that other Shore towns would never see.

So the point is that there is the potential for huge numbers of summer people densely packed per square mile in this 1/2 sq. mile town; more density perhaps than any other Jersey Shore town.  And with density comes a greater chance of transmission.

And the group that would be most at viral risk are those who actually live here.  More so than the tourists who bring the virus but then go home at the end of the day, wash their hands, and forget about it.

And all these tourist attractions this summer will look worrisome rather than inviting since the virus will remain active for one or two years.

The best we can hope for is that everyone follow the distancing  and masking parameters and also for the numbers of tourists coming into town to be cut back sharply.

Without that, Ocean Grove may turn into the most dangerous town at the Shore.  And that could happen unless the Camp Meeting Association, Neptune Township and the Chamber of Commerce work together to reduce the viral load and the transmission.

And, of course, we need the strict cooperation of residents and visitors.

Will we get the unselfish help that we need?

PALAST ORCHESTER AND MAX RAABE

Editor’s note:   On 5/12/21, The New York Times reported that the risk of catching COVID  outdoors is less than announced before by the CDC.   It depends on which trials are analyzed.

Overall, instead of a 10 % risk   (ie 10% of all infections are transmitted outdoors,)  it may be as low as .1%.  Of course, that is overall, and if you are outside standing in the middle of a tight crowd or near people who are coughing/sneezing, the number is probably higher, so use common sense regarding whether to mask or not.

There is, I can already see, a sense of confidence in not wearing masks outdoors, but be alert.  You can still catch the virus outdoors, but the risk is overall very small.

And then there are the unchartered waters of vaccination.    This comment is from a GWU professor today May 12:

“It’s clear vaccines are cutting transmission dramatically. But some “breakthrough” infections still do occur, and researchers are still trying to determine the level of risk posed to others by someone who is infected after vaccination.”