Jack Green Construction Company opens tents for 2020 season. NJ.com photo 5/12/20.
Paul Goldfinger photo. Summer 2019. Tourists visit Tent Village at night.
May 12, 2020
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor@Blogfinger.net
President Michael Badger and Henry Will, CMA trustee who spends the summer in a tent, were interviewed today for an article in NJ.com about the opening of the 114 tent enclave despite the risks of the coronavirus. The author of the piece is Avalon Zoppo.
Will acknowledged that life in the tent colony was dense and close, but Badger was certain that spending 4 months in a tent there would pose no risk.
Yet Badger said, “Space is tight.”
This tightly packed Tent Village is a classic “congregate setting” which the CDC frowns upon as unsafe.
Will said that some life style adjustments might be needed to reduce the risks.
“We’ll have to modify some things,” Will said, “But I think we’ll still have community.”
“Badger said he’s confident dwellers will be safe vacationing at the shore for four months.”
He said that the canvas was better than a mask indoors and that his renters would follow all precautions outdoors as set forth by the state and the CDC.
The article quoted Badger as being reassured that if 6 foot distances were not possible then his renters would wear masks.
He said that he will also instruct people how close they should place their towel to others at the beach and how close to walk on the boardwalk.
But no one was interviewed who might have differing opinions about viral transmission in this “tight knit” environment.
As usual for the media, the reporter resorted to stereotypes and lack of careful research when describing the Grove. He said, “Ocean Grove is a largely religious community of about 4,200 year round residents founded by a group of Methodists…” He doesn’t have a clue as to how people live who rent in Tentland.
And he did not ask a single probing question about the viral dangers amongst the tents or about the risks to everyone in town due to huge unrestrained tourist events coming up, many sponsored by the CMA.
Is it possible that the reporter is unaware of the terrible pandemic currently enveloping the state of New Jersey?
This decision to go ahead with putting hundreds of people into a space that is as close as a refugee camp seems to be astonishingly irresponsible.
Badger said that 250 people will live there for the 4 month $7,000 summer rental. He didn’t mention all the visitors and tourists which are part of that active compressed social scene.
Even if Badger gets lucky and has no viral casualties, his reasoning is naive and dangerous. He is gambling with the lives of everyone who stays in or visits the Tent Village and secondarily with the lives of the many summer residents in the Grove proper.
And, by the way, this sentence was in the article: “Two workers tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantined, pushing the opening back two weeks.”
ELLIS MARSALIS:
Here is a link to our recent post about health risks in Tent Village:
