the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, Senator Anthony M. Bucco said group homes and long-term care facilities are almost certain to face a staffing crisis resulting from a new executive order by Governor Phil Murphy.
“Nursing homes, group homes, and veterans homes are already struggling to find enough skilled staff to care for New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents,” said Bucco (R-25). “By eliminating the testing alternative to vaccination for workers in these settings, Governor Murphy is virtually guaranteeing that residents will face a shortage of caregivers. That will lead to unnecessary tragedies in facilities that have already sustained thousands of deaths during the pandemic.”
Governor Murphy announced Executive Order No. 283 today, which requires workers at health care facilities and high-risk congregate settings to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations and mandatory boosters.
All covered workers will be required to be vaccinated and boosted and will no longer be permitted to submit to testing as an alternative to vaccination, except in limited situations.
“With the high transmissibility of Omicron among the vaccinated, testing workers makes more sense than vaccination to keep LTC residents safe,” said Bucco. “I don’t understand why Governor Murphy would eliminate the option that appears to be the most dependable. It’s crazy.”
Senator Holly Schepisi agreed the new executive order announced by Governor Murphy eliminating a testing alternative to vaccination and boosters for health care workers will lead to a shortage of doctors and nurses in New Jersey in the aftermath of the Omicron surge.
Schepisi questioned the logic of the governor’s new order, noting that a landmark study from Israel demonstrated that boosters and even a fourth dose of a COVID vaccine do little to protect against the transmission of the Omicron variant.
Further, after such study, Israel’s vaccine chief is now saying vaccine passports are no longer relevant and should be phased out due to the equally high rates of transmission among vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
“The governor’s executive orders stopped being about science long ago,” said Schepisi. “There’s absolutely no data in support of this new executive vaccine mandate on health care workers. Even worse, Governor Murphy’s order may actually lead to greater spread of COVID in health care facilities by eliminating the testing option which with Omicron is proving to be a safer alternative to determine if someone is positive as vaccines have proven to be ineffective at stopping the transmission of this variant.”
Schepisi said this illogical order demonstrates why important policy decisions should be made in consultation with the Legislature, and not dictated by executive fiat.
“We’re at the stage of the pandemic where there’s no excuse to circumvent the legislative process,” added Schepisi. “While Omicron surged through New Jersey over the past month, this week the numbers have drastically declined. Seven counties have seen their infection rates drop at least 40%, including Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, Passaic, and Somerset. In Union County, the infection rates have dropped over 50% this week alone. Nothing about this order is so urgent that it needs to be done today. We should discuss this kind of policy change in an open and transparent manner, and we should give health care workers the opportunity to tell us their concerns. After everything they’ve been through, they know a hell of a lot more about the impact of this virus than Governor Murphy ever will.”
Senator Bucco said residents in group homes and other congregate care facilities often have few options when the level of care deteriorates or their facility closes.
“I have spoken to the operators of a number of facilities and the families of residents and they all are extremely concerned about maintaining staffing levels and the quality of care,” said Bucco. “What’s Governor Murphy’s plan for backfilling critical positions when nursing and veterans home workers who have concerns about the vaccine are fired? He better have an answer before he enforces another potentially disastrous order.”
At the start of the pandemic, the Murphy administration issued orders forcing nursing homes, veterans homes, and other long-term care facilities to accept COVID patients, long before vaccines or therapeutics were available.
The outbreaks resulting from those directives led to thousands of deaths, including hundreds at State-run veterans homes.
In the trauma of the aftermath, long-term care facilities lost qualified staff that they have struggled to replace.
