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JUNE 2020

contents

NJM | VOLUME 44 | NO.6

Terror,

Triage &

True

Heroics

A time like no other

for New Jersey’s valiant

first responders.

By Kevin Coyne

+

PAGE 38

The Good Fight

With unprecedented

speed, Garden State

researchers seek ways to

strike down Covid-19.

By Leslie Garisto Pfaff

PAGE 44

Reopening

the Shore

New Jersey’s beloved

beaches will have a different

look this summer.

By Shea Swenson

PAGE 48

Covid

Chronicles

Tales of caring, sharing

and innovation from all

corners of the state.

PAGE 52

Ambulances from all over

the country assembled at

the Meadowlands Racetrack

parking lot to help New Jersey

deal with the Covid-19.

The state was number 2 in

the country for Covid illnesses

and deaths.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT JONES

COVER: PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES WORRELL AND CHAD HUNT

JUNE 2020 NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 5

“NURSING is a progressive Art

that to stand still is to go backwords.”

~ Florence Nightingale

1953

2000

2020

Celebrating Hunterdon Healthcare Nurses

Over the last 67 years, the nursing profession has dramatically changed and the role of a nurse has never been more

important or valued. As nursing has evolved from caregiver to frontline leader, the commitment, compassion, bravery, and

fortitude of Hunterdon Healthcare nurses have only grown stronger.

Their selfless dedication and unwavering pledge to always place the patient’s care above all else is beyond a noble

deed or job expectation. Whether considered angels or bedside warriors their passion for caring for others is a gift they

demonstrate every day to every patient. From empathetic listener to life-saving superhero the connection they make with

their patients is the heart of what makes Hunterdon Healthcare special.

We thank all Hunterdon Healthcare nurses for your dedicated service, resilience, and leadership. Together we will continue

to change the face of healthcare and improve the lives of the communities we serve.

If you would like to thank a Hunterdon Healthcare nurse

on Facebook, please share your stories or pictures on

Facebook and tag us @hunterdonhealthcare

DECEMBER 2019 $4.99

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Officers’ Row,

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by Dennis G. Maida Jr.

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JUNE 2020

contents

NJM | VOLUME 44 | NO.6

64

UPFRONT

14 FIRST WORD

By Kate Tomlinson

18 IN-BOX

Reader feedback.

19 GARDEN VARIETY

People and places making

news in New Jersey.

25 ONLY IN NEW JERSEY

By Steve Adubato

26 GIVING BACK

The RAIN Foundation provides

a supportive environment

for LGBTQ teens.

32

By Royal Thomas II

27 STYLEPHILE

Your monthly guide to

Garden State shopping.

FEATURES

31 In the Dark

New Jersey’s arts institutions

await word about reopening,

fear longterm financial woes.

By Jacqueline Klecak

35 Urgent Call For Help

Covid-19 hit hardest at

longterm-care facilities.

Now come the postmortems.

By Kathleen O’Brien

EVENTS GUIDE

60 This month’s virtual

events around New Jersey.

Plus: rescheduled festivals.

EAT & DRINK

63 Settling for Survival

Amid huge losses, restaurants

adapt for takeout and

brace for a chastened new

normal. By Eric Levin

68 STATEWIDE DINING

Updated restaurant listings.

EXIT RAMP

72 Finding Love

in a Pandemic

Drastic times call for drastic

measures—like diving headlong

into a new relationship.

By Shelby Vittek

ABOUT THE COVER

Chalk drawings began to appear on New

Jersey streets soon after Governor Phil

Murphy issued a statewide stay-at-home

order on March 21. Though many were

simple and quickly washed away by spring

rains, they conveyed personalized messages

of caring and hope that could never

be matched by digital communications.

They also suggested the perfect medium

for the cover of New Jersey Monthly.

Photographers Chad Hunt and James

Worrell, both residents of Maplewood

and frequent contributors to this magazine,

often hang out together, but had

never collaborated on a photo shoot—

until now. Happy to get outdoors, the two

sought inspiration from chalk drawings

around town, then recruited Worrell’s

16-year-old daughter Edie to draw the

cover art and serve as their model.

With the chalk drawing done, and only

a short window when the light and shadows

would be just right, Hunt and Worrell

got to work. Hunt took drone photos of

Edie’s creation while James shot from his

ladder (as seen below).

Ultimately, we chose one of Worrell’s

shots from the ladder, adding just

six words to tell the story. The resulting

cover—austere yet hopeful—captures

the unified and confident spirit with

which New Jersey has stared down the

Covid-19 crisis.

PHOTOGRAPHS: (FISH) COURTESY OF AISHLING STEVENS; (COVER SHOOT) CHAD HUNT

Last year’s

grand prize

winner

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PHOTO

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NJM and Unique Photo present the

Cover Search 2019 winners.

26

HOLIDAY

GIFT

IDE A S

DIGITAL

ENTER YOUR BEST JERSEY PHOTO

IN OUR ANNUAL COVER SEARCH

Even with the current state of emergency, you can still flex your

creative muscles and enter the New Jersey Monthly & Unique

Photo Cover Search 2020. This year, amateurs and professionals

alike can submit an unlimited number of their favorite

Garden State shots. And you can submit any photo taken after

January 1, 2019. Entry deadline: September 30. The winning

photo will become the cover of the December 2020 issue of New

Jersey Monthly. For details about our great contest prizes, visit

njmonthly.com/CoverSearch2020

NEW JERSEY MONTHLY (USPS-337-470) (ISSN-0273-270X) is published monthly by New Jersey Monthly, LLC, 55 Park Place, Morristown, NJ 07963-0920, a limited liability company of the State of New Jersey. All contents of this

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year, $34.95 two years, $49.95 three years. Foreign orders, $30.95 for one year with payment enclosed. Single copies, effective 6/13, are available for $4.99 plus $4.09 each for postage and handling and tax. Issues prior to 6/13 cost

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and requests, as well as re mit tances and requests for service, should be sent to New Jer sey Monthly, Subscription Department, P.O. Box 6315, Harlan, IA 51593-1815. CUSTOMER SERVICE: Toll free 888-419-0419 or www.njmonthly.

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photography, artwork, or cartoons. They will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.


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publisher | editor in chief

Kate S. Tomlinson

ktomlinson@njmonthly.com

EDITORIAL

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deputy editor | dining editor

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Andrew Ogilvie

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associate editors

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jklecak@njmonthly.com

Shelby Vittek

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digital content editor

Jennifer Finn

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style editor

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home & garden editor

Lauren Payne

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yourCOLOR

GPS something for everyone.

copy editor

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editorial assistants

Royal Thomas II

rthomas@njmonthly.com

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contributing writers

Steve Adubato, Emily Bell, Marissa Rothkopf Bates,

Lindsay Berra, David Caldwell, Jill P. Capuzzo,

Marlaina Cockroft, Kevin Coyne, Adam Erace, Josh

Friedland, Debbie Galant, Karen Tina Harrison, Tina

Kelley, Tammy La Gorce, Kathleen Lynn, Tara Nurin, Leslie

Garisto Pfaff, Michael Aaron Rockland, Peg Rosen, Rosalie

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A TIME LIKE

NO OTHER

those of you who are familiar with

the rhythms of New Jersey Monthly

know that June normally brings our

annual Shore Guide. But not this year.

This year’s June issue is unique. It

starts with the cover: stark, simple,

and devoid of almost all headlines. Yet

we think it speaks volumes. Inside the

magazine, almost every page is devoted

to a single subject: New Jersey’s

response to the Covid-19 pandemic

that has battered the state, the nation

and the world.

Further, the issue is unique because,

for perhaps the first time in our 44-

year history, it was produced entirely

from scratch. That is, with a handful

of exceptions, these stories were not

in the works before the editorial team

started the reporting and photography

needed to create this timely issue.

Yet as proud as I am of the editorial

team’s work on this issue, it pales in

comparison to the achievements of so

many of our neighbors, whose stories

we are pleased to share on these pages.

Veteran freelancer Kevin Coyne

does a remarkable job documenting

the brave work of our first responders.

Leslie Garisto Pfaff, another longtime

contributor, reports on the groundbreaking

research being done in New

Jersey’s labs toward prevention and

treatment of Covid-19. And an entire

team of reporters contributes to our

“Covid Chronicles”—a collection of

dispatches and photos from around

the state.

Looking ahead, Shea Swenson reports

on what it will take to get the Jersey

Shore up and running this season. Associate

editor Jacqueline Klecak reveals

the post-pandemic questions facing

the state’s major cultural institutions.

Deputy editor Eric Levin checks in with

some of our top restaurateurs on their

hopes and plans for the future. And correspondent

Kathleen O’Brien examines

the challenges facing the eldercare facilities

hit so hard by the coronavirus.

It’s an issue like no other, for a time

like no other.


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Their courage and compassion

inspire us all.

One morning, a message written in chalk appeared in front of an RWJBarnabas Health facility.

The words couldn’t have been simpler, or more soul stirring, or more accurate.

“Heroes work here.”

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THE

5 must-reads

from New Jersey Monthly

A green algae

bloom last summer

filled King Cove in

Lake Hopatcong.

Beyond Hopatcong

Good article on Lake Hopatcong in your April issue, [but] what I find disturbing

is that you mention Greenwood Lake in only two lines. Greenwood

Lake is one of the most important bodies of water in New Jersey, supplying

water to over 3 million residents and thousands of businesses. What effect

do you think a contaminated, endangered Greenwood Lake will have on

almost half the residents in New Jersey? And the economic impact?

Governor Murphy found it fit to veto a bill that would have for the first time

funded the Greenwood Lake Commission $500,000 annually. The commission

was left to receive only $52,800 of his $13 million Harmful Algae

Blooms test program. It’s a very dangerous situation.

In the future, you might want to look beyond our friends at Lake Hopatcong

when doing a lakes story.

—Paul M Zarrillo

nj co-chair

greenwood lake commission

Get Your FREE

Newsletter Today!

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Weekend Buzz & Side Dish

Scone Pony: The Secret Is Out

I’m shocked that the Scone Pony

in Spring Lake didn’t make your

Best Bakeries list (April). You must

take a trip and try their delicious

scones, cinnamon buns, cheese

danish, macaroons and crumb

cakes, just to name a few. I almost

didn’t write because I’d like to keep

them a Spring Lake secret, but I

would be doing them, and your

readers, an injustice!

—Maureen Dicker

via e-mail

OÙ Est Chez Michel?

In the Best Bakeries feature, you

missed Chez Michel in West Cape

May.

—Terry K. Di Ubaldi

cape may

A Screen Gem

In reference to your story on New

Jersey drive-ins (April), I have fond

memories of going to the Union

Drive-In when I was growing up. It

was a challenge with three or four

kids in the car.

—Rose Motyczka

roselle park

Editor’s note: The Union Drive-In

operated on Route 22 from 1936-1983.

CONNECT WITH US

Send letters and comments to editor@

njmonthly.com or write to us at: In-Box, New

Jersey Monthly, P.O. Box 920, Morristown, NJ

07963. Letters will be edited for length and

clarity.

PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER BEAN/THE JEFFERSON CHRONICLE


garden

varıety

PEOPLE | CULTURE | BOOKS | SPORTS | MEDIA | BUSINESS | ENTERTAINMENT

PHOTOGRAPH: JAMES J. CONNOLLY

THE SCENE, UNSEEN. The sun was shining, the sky was a cloudless blue, but the Asbury Park boardwalk lacked any sign of life on an April afternoon during the

statewide coronavirus lockdown. Given social-distancing requirements, many Jersey Shore towns closed their beaches during the state of emergency. In Asbury

Park, the boardwalk was closed, but the beach remained open for exercise. In the nearby downtown, most businesses were shuttered for several weeks until late

April, when a number of well-known restaurants reopened for curbside takeout. All of the town’s iconic entertainment venues remained closed at deadline.


SUMMER READING

Final Draft: The Collected

Work of David Carr

Edited by Jill Rooney Carr

houghton mifflin harcourt

As the media

columnist

of the New

York Times, David

Carr was

a heat-seeking

missile with

pinpoint aim.

As this wideranging

collection,

edited

by his widow,

makes clear,

Carr, who died in 2015 and lived his last

years in Montclair, had first-rate reportorial

chops and a uniquely compelling

voice from his early days in his native

Minnesota. He wrote penetratingly on

subjects from AIDS to 9/11, and in a 2014

piece, he indicted himself, along with

other media figures, for turning a blind

eye to Bill Cosby’s transgressions.

—Eric Levin

Please See Us

By Caitlin Mullen

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schuster

In her eerie debut novel,

Caitlin Mullen leads

readers on a suspenseful

journey. Two women are

dead, their bodies laid

out behind a hotel just

west of Atlantic City.

Five more will be killed

before summer’s end.

When Clara, a boardwalk

psychic, begins to

have disturbing visions,

she thinks they’re linked

to the missing-persons

cases and takes on solving

these mysterious

disappearances.

—Jacqueline Klecak

The Ones We’ve

Been Waiting For

By Charlotte Alter

viking

In this look at the new

generation of American

politicians, Time correspondent

and Montclair

native Charlotte Alter examines

young leaders, including

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

and the other

millennials in Congress,

as well as elsewhere in

goverment, such as former

presidential hopeful

Pete Buttigieg. Alter believes

their understanding

of issues like climate, student

debt and big tech is

remaking the nation.

—Jacqueline Mroz

Einstein in

Bohemia

By Michael D. Gordin

princeton

university press

Albert Einstein spent

just 16 months at German

University in

Prague in 1911-12, but it

marked a professional

turning point for the future

Princeton resident.

The book recounts how

in Prague, Einstein developed

his theory of

general relativity that

set the stage for him to

receive the 1921 Nobel

Prize in physics and become

an international

celebrity.

—Tom Wilk

The Boy From

the Woods

By Harlan Coben

grand central

publishing

Newark native Harlan

Coben’s latest crime

thriller, set in fictional

Westville, NJ, features

missing teenagers, a feral

boy turned private

eye, a dynamo of a lawyering

grandma, and a

high school bully with a

reality-show-producer

dad. In true Coben fashion,

amid all this, there

are also political scandal

and romance.

—Tammy La Gorce

Wine Girl

By Victoria James

ecco

In this moving memoir,

Victoria James chronicles

her journey from her

first job waiting tables at

a diner in South Orange

to becoming America’s

youngest certified sommelier

at age 21 and leading

the beverage program

at her own Michelinstarred

restaurant. James

tackles the sexism in a

male-dominated industry,

finding her own voice

and passion for advocacy

along the way.

—Shelby Vittek

The Dead

Don’t Sleep

Steven Max Russo

down and out books

War never really leaves

you, according to author

and New Jersey resident

Steven Max Russo. In his

second outing, Russo introduces

Frank Thompson,

a Vietnam veteran

whose 40-year-old

grudge takes him back

to his small-town residence

in Maine, where

he knows it’s time to

prepare for battle. Only

this time, he’s the one

being hunted.

—Royal Thomas II

Rules for Moving

By Nancy Star

lake union publishing

Montclair author Nancy

Star doesn’t scrimp on

the juicy stuff. Her sixth

novel traces the trauma

of advice columnist

Lane Meckler, who has

misbegotten tendency

to change houses in

times of trouble. As she

shuttles her troubled

6-year-old son from one

domestic scene to the

next, she finds she’s got

some reckoning to do.

Star’s signature blend of

suspense, warmth and

wisdom travel through

every page.—TLG

How to Raise a

Reader

By Pamela Paul and

Maria Russo

workman

This guide to cultivating

one of life’s most essential

skills gives advice

to transform a child’s

reading experience from

chore to lifelong pleasure.

Paul, a former children’sbook

editor and Montclair

resident, and Russo,

a journalist, present agebased

sections with tips

to turn around reluctant

readers, create family rituals

around books, and

build a library.

—Deborah P. Carter


ENVIRONMENT

2020 Beach Cleanup: A Covid Victim

Clean Ocean Action reports last year’s trash trends. Anyone lose a toilet bowl?

like almost everyone in New Jersey,

the supporters of Clean Ocean Action

had to adjust their routines this spring.

Thousands of COA volunteers typically

celebrate Earth Day every April by descending

on the Jersey Shore (plus the

Delaware and Hudson rivers) to collect

bucketloads of plastic wrappers, foam

food containers and empty soda bottles.

This year, due to the state’s Covid-19

lockdown, the spring Beach Sweeps

went virtual, with participants sharing

memories from previous Shore cleanups.

That meant a missed opportunity

to gather debris, build awareness, and

collect data needed to track trash trends.

“It’s very disappointing,” says COA

coordinator Alison Jones. “With only half

the data in 2020, we lose the overall ability

to compare year-to-year findings.”

Still, the Long Branch–based environmental

organization had plenty to celebrate

on its 35th anniversary. In 2019,

a record 10,724 volunteers participated

in COA’s two half-day sweeps, retrieving

close to 500,000 items, including a

car bumper, a wheelchair, a toilet and a

$6,000 diamond engagement ring. (The

ring, which had been buried in the sand

in Asbury Park for two years, was returned

to its owner.) Other debris—more

than 100 commonly found items—was

tallied on data cards.

The 2019 sweeps revealed decreases

in plastic bags (down 13 percent from

2018), plastic bottles (down 15 percent)

and drinking straws (down 2.85 percent).

Jones attributes these declines to new

laws in several municipalities restricting

the use of disposable plastics. Foam

take-out containers, which have not been

included in most new legislation, were

up almost 39 percent, while plastic cigar

tips rose an inexplicable 43 percent. If

Volunteers haul a hefty hunk of trashed rope

during COA’s 2019 Beach Sweep.

COA is able to hold this fall’s planned

sweeps, Jones anticipates a big increase

in disposable gloves and face masks.

“We’re planning to update our data

cards, adding items we’re seeing more of,

like electronic cigarette cartridges and

dental picks,” says Jones. “We may have to

add face masks, too.”—Jill P. Capuzzo

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF THE CLEAN ACTION COALATION

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BOOKSHELF

Writer Lifts Veil on a Changing Cuba

Veteran NJ journalist Anthony DePalma reveals the extraordinary in ordinary lives.

in november 2016, Anthony DePalma

realized that after almost 40 years of

visiting Cuba, he needed to write a book

about it. Fidel Castro had just died,

the Obama administration had eased

restrictions on travel to the island, and

entrepreneurs were setting up shop.

DePalma, who lives in Montclair, had

arranged to lead eight tours in 2017

through the travel arm of the New

York Times, where he had worked as a

reporter for 22 years. He would have

ample time to continue his research.

But something else happened that

November, and when Donald Trump

entered the White House two months

later, his administration restricted

U.S. travel and imposed sanctions

and embargoes on Cuba, freezing the

Havana spring before it reached full

bloom.

DePalma, author of three other

books (and a longtime contributor

to New Jersey Monthly), persevered

nonetheless through almost three years

of intensive research. His book, The Cubans:

Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary

Times, came out May 26 from Penguin

Random House.

This elegantly written

chronicle of the intertwined

lives of five average

Cubans and their

families gives an unofficial,

and thus potentially

truer, account of the challenges

for people who,

DePalma writes, have an

“excess of prohibitions

and a minimum of inhibitions.”

(DePalma has a

personal connection to

Cuba: his wife, Miriam Zebina Rodríguez,

was born there, but left as a child.)

DePalma was surprised that what

he views as the greatest strength of the

Cuban people—their adaptability—is

also their gravest weakness. It explains

how the government has lasted for 60

years. Cubans are not in the streets demanding

change, DePalma

concludes, because they

are so busy adapting to the

restrictions imposed on

them.

For those who argue that

our current stance against

Cuba can push it toward

democracy, DePalma notes

that donated supplies to

fight coronavirus have

been held up because of

the embargo. “Do we really

want to be known as the

people who didn’t allow that shipment

to come in?” he asks.—Tina Kelley

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abuse or neglect at home, are

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RV Owners Eye

the Highway—In

Safe Isolation

jersey girl Tracey Swenson has what she

considers the ideal solution for post-lockdown

summer travel.

Swenson, her husband, Kurt, twin teen

daughters Tayte and Karly, and their dogs

will simply pack up their recreational vehicle

and hit the road without worrying

about access to sanitized hotel rooms or

trustworthy restaurants. That’s what the

Sparta family has been doing for years.

Now more than ever, in light of Covid-19,

the Swensons and other families appreciate

the isolation of their motor homes.

“You’re traveling and exploring with your

family and pets, but are self-contained—

meaning refrigerator, freezer, microwave,

stove, oven, toilet, shower,” says Swenson.

Those in the RV industry, such as

Heather Shannon, vice president of operations

at White Horse RV Center in Williamstown

and Egg Harbor City, are expecting

a surge in RV sales once the

coronavirus state of emergency is lifted.

“Times such as 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy

saw people seeking alternative means of

travel,” says Shannon.

Peter Gigantino, of 84 RV Rentals &

Service in Sussex, adds, “Travelers are

looking to avoid rest-stop bathrooms,

crowded airport lines and cramped cars.”

RV rentals remained available during

New Jersey’s state of emergency. Gigantino

says rentals are often used as temporary

offices or housing for first responders and

other essential workers (story, page 38).

RV parks also remained open. “When

you get to an RV park...you have the choice

to mingle at a safe distance or stay in your

camper,” says David Benn, owner of Pomona

RV Park & Campground in Pomona.

“We feel it’s absolutely the safest way to

travel,” Swenson concludes.

—Laurie Gordon

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF ANITA PFEFFERKORN


only in new jersey

BY STEVE ADUBATO

PHOTOILLUSTRATION: ANDREW OGILVIE (IMAGES FROM SHUTTERSTOCK)

The Race Factor

Historic disparities put people of color at greater

risk amid Covid-19 pandemic, experts say.

nationwide, reports have surfaced

regarding the disproportionate number

of African-Americans dying from

Covid-19. For example, at deadline,

African-Americans accounted for 70

percent of Covid-19 deaths in Chicago,

where they comprise just 30 percent

of the population. African-Americans

make up 13 percent of New Jersey’s

population, but 24 percent of virus fatalities,

according to state data for early

April. Public health officials have seen

similar impacts on people of color in

Philadelphia, Detroit and other cities.

Experts say that part of the reason

for these sad statistics is that people of

color—including Latinos—are disproportionately

affected by preexisting health

conditions. That puts them at greater risk

if infected with Covid-19.

But there’s more to the

story. According to Michellene Davis,

executive VP at RWJBarnabas Health,

government laws and policies and local

zoning regulations also contribute to

health disparities. Davis, a nationally

recognized health equity and policy expert,

says a major concern is the historic

displacement of people of color to inadequate

housing in densely populated

areas, where economic disinvestment

contributes to poorer living conditions,

and factory and environmental pollutants

compromise air and water quality.

Specifically, says Davis, exposure

to environmental hazards and limited

access to affordable medical care and

nutritious food yield “higher rates of

hypertension, heart disease, asthma and

diabetes among people of color today.”

And, while it might seem imperative

that these high-risk people of color

shelter at home during the Covid-19

pandemic, many are not privileged to

do so. “Often without personal protective

equipment, they are restocking

our groceries, driving our buses, making

and delivering our food, cleaning

and disposing of our trash,” says Davis.

If they don’t, she says, “they will not

be paid.”

Without the ability to shelter at

home, these workers—considered essential

under state guidelines—often

take fever reducers to get through shifts,

Davis says. As a result, if and when they

finally see a doctor, their body temperature

reads lower than the required level

for Covid-19 testing.

“This pandemic,” says Davis, “has

further highlighted the need for public

health leaders to focus on and work to

eliminate health disparities by setting

equitable policies, practices and recommendations

for screening, treatment and

training, especially during crises.”

Denise Rodgers, a medical doctor

and vice chancellor for interprofessional

programs at Rutgers, echoes

Davis’s remarks on historic race- and

ethnicity-based lifestyle disparities.

Rodgers says there’s much to be

learned from the current pandemic.

“The first lesson is somewhat related

to disparities and outcomes in race and

ethnicity,” says Rodgers. “We can never

allow our public health infrastructure

to be as weakened as it was when we

were confronted with this pandemic.

We have known about health disparities

for over 30 years.”

Rodgers acknowledges that the nation

has made progress in overcoming

these disparities, but says more work

is needed. “We need universal access

to health care,” says Rodgers, “because

a major obstacle to people being able

to treat their chronic illnesses, which

then would prepare them better to face

something like this, is disparate levels

of ability to get basic primary care.”

Adds Davis, “Inclusive health, education

and economic policies not only

will dismantle the effects of structural

racism in vulnerable communities, but

also will shore up the rest of society.”

STEVE ADUBATO, PHD, is the author of five books including his latest, “Lessons in Leadership”. He is also an Emmy® Award-winning anchor on Thirteen/WNET

(PBS) and NJTV (PBS) who has appeared on CNN, FOX News and NBC’s Today Show. Steve Adubato’s “Lessons in Leadership” video podcast with co-host

Mary Gamba airs Sundays at 10:00 a.m. on News 12+ and at 2:00 p.m. on AM970. Steve also provides executive leadership coaching and seminars for a

variety of corporations and organizations both regionally and nationally. For more information visit www.Stand-Deliver.com


giving back

SPOTLIGHT ON » THE RAIN FOUNDATION

VITALS

MISSION:

To address housing

insecurity in

LGBTQ+ young

adults aged 18-26 in

Essex County.

SERVICES:

RAIN offers emergency,

transitional

and permanent

housing, along

with individualized

case-management

services, as well as

substance-abuse

and mental-health

screening.

FOUNDED:

2013

HOW TO HELP:

Become a RAIN

volunteer, or donate

to the foundation at

essexlgbthousing.

org/get-involved

CONTACT:

Visit essexlgbthousing.org

or call 973-

675-6780

Better Weather Ahead

Young adults find a supportive environment at

a unique LGBTQ shelter in East Orange.

when claire wright was kicked out of her

residence last fall, she had nowhere to go. Then

she learned about RAIN. “It ended up being the

perfect fit,” says the 24-year-old.

The typical homeless shelter provides for

basic needs. The Essex County RAIN Foundation

offers that and more to LGBTQ-identifying

young adults agesd18-26.

RAIN founder and executive director Elaine

Helms worked in the World Trade Center’s Life

Safety Department and was on site when it was

attacked on 9/11. The chest, back and neck injuries

she sustained that day continue to plague her, and

she has PTSD-related episodes. The trauma set

her on a path of helping others as a nurse. During

her time as an intern, she witnessed several transgender

women offering sexual favors outside her

office just to earn a place to sleep. “They explained

they didn’t feel safe in normal shelters,” she says.

“My heart told me I needed to do something.”

Today, RAIN—which stands for Reaching Adolescents

in Need—provides emergency shelter for up

to 12 LGBTQ young adults at its

East Orange facility. Residents get

case managers who connect them

to the services they need. RAIN

offers weekly support groups and

mental-health counseling, as well

as financial-management seminars

and career training through

its partner agencies. “They have

resources for everything anybody

could need,” says Wright.

RAIN is unique in its focus

on the LGBTQ community. Of the estimated 4.2

million youth who experience homelessness

each year, up to 40 percent identify as LGBTQ,

according to the organization True Colors United.

A University of Chicago study found 62 percent

of homeless LGBTQ youths had been physically

abused. RAIN provides services under the federal

Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which helps victims

of sexual crimes. The foundation is supported

“There’s no lack

of spirit and

artistic vision

in the RAIN

house.”

—Volunteer Rebecca King

by grants and individual donations.

The supportive atmosphere at RAIN helps residents

overcome their challenges and achieve success.

The RAIN staff—mostly volunteers—operates

24 hours a day. The volunteers, like Rebecca King,

engage with residents, often

discovering their true talents.

“I noticed just how artistic

and creative nearly every

resident was,” says King. “They

told me about the music they

were working on, sang songs

they wrote, performed dances,

talked about starting up fashion

studios and art spaces. There’s

no lack of spirit and artistic vision

in the RAIN house.”

While sheltering in place during the Covid-19

emergency, residents had time to bond and share

movie and game nights. Wright, who is still a RAIN

resident, helped make masks for housemates.

To Helms, that was proof of RAIN’s success. “I

measure it by the kids and their actions and what

they get out of it,” says Helms. “When they gain

sustainability...that shows me the success of RAIN.”

—Royal Thomas II

FOR UPCOMING BENEFITS, GO TO NJMONTHLY.COM

SEND PICTURES OF YOUR RECENT FUND-RAISER TO GIVINGBACK@NJMONTHLY.COM

home base

Claire Wright,

a resident at

the LGBTQfocused

homeless

shelter RAIN

in East Orange,

sews masks for

her housemates

amid

the Covid-19

pandemic.

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF THE RAIN FOUNDATION


stylephile

EDITED BY DEBORAH CARTER AND SUSAN BRIERLY BUSH

1.

2.

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stylephile

COMING SOON

AFTER

134k 2,371

DREAM HOUSE

Kate Rumson (center)

renovated her central

jersey townhouse,

including the kitchen

(left), with input

from her Instagram

followers. She is now

doing the same for a

ground-up house build

in Monmouth County.

The new home

(rendering above),

is scheduled for

completion in 2021.

BEFORE

● TASTEMAKER KATE RUMSON

79.1k 358

Real House Input

Instagram followers weigh in on this

designer’s house build from top to bottom.

Kate Rumson wasn’t out to become an Instagram star. The former

investment advisor, now brand influencer and interior designer,

initially used Instagram to create a personal archive of home inspiration.

With each post her following seemed to grow exponentially.

Savvy enough to seize the moment, Rumson—a native of East Brunswick—began

using her followers as design consultants to cast votes

on everything from paint colors to plumbing fixtures as she revamped

her central Jersey townhouse. Now Rumson’s 2.4 million followers

are weighing in on her latest project, a 4,400-square-foot house she is

having built in Monmouth County.

When did the current project start, and when is it slated for

completion? Construction began in August 2019. I expect the

process to take longer than usual because of my schedule, but I’m

hoping to finished in early 2021.

Do you ever overrule your Instagram followers? If so, when and

why? Yes, just last month! Whenever I ask my followers for feedback,

I present two carefully analyzed options—I love both but rely

on them to make the final decision. I posted a spontaneous

poll while at a decorative-plumbing showroom

looking for the perfect bathtub for my new home. The tub

comes in high gloss and matte. I liked both and thought

either would work, so I let my followers make the decision.

After thinking about it, I realized the matte finish is

the best option, while 60 percent of my followers thought

I should go with the high gloss. Lesson learned: I won’t be

doing any more spontaneous A or B posts before carefully

analyzing the options myself.

Have you had any formal design or construction

training? I never studied either formally. When I was

younger, I read every book and article I could find about

design, construction and home building, Later, I learned

everything I know now from experience on job sites.

What can followers learn from your Instagram posts?

I try to make my platforms as educational as possible

not only by sharing finished projects, but also construction

progress, and most importantly, my thought

process. I walk my community through each decision,

explaining the whys behind every little detail.

How often do you post? Is there a strategy in the

pictures you choose? I post once a day on @the_real_

houses_of_ig and try to post one to two times per week

on my personal page, @katerumson. For The Real

Houses, I look for show-stopping but livable spaces—

photos homeowners can use as inspiration for their own

projects. On my personal page, I try to go deeper into

how beautiful homes come together, as well as sharing a

little about myself and my lifestyle. —Deborah P. Carter

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF KATE RUMSON


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arts

WAIT & SEE

Clockwise from top

left, the Montclair Art

Museum, WheatonArts,

Grounds for Sculpture

and Paper Mill Playhouse

anticipate the end of

their operations

intermission.

PHOTOGRAPHS: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: LAURA BAER; COURTESY OF WHEATONARTS; COURTESY OF GFS; LAURA BAER

In the Dark

Cultural institutions await word about reopening, fear long-term financial woes.

By Jacqueline Klecak

On a typical spring Saturday,

Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton

welcomes about 3,000 visitors

to roam its winding pathways. These days,

the sculpture park’s more than 400 human

figures and abstract shapes sit alone,

with only a groundskeeper to keep them

company.

It’s the same across the state, where

skeleton crews maintain dark theaters,

mothballed museums and other dormant

cultural centers that were mandated to

shutter on March 16 to help stop the spread

of Covid-19. At deadline, most of the institutions

were wondering when they would be

allowed to reopen; some were wondering if

they would ever reopen at all.

Arts and cultural organizations are

accustomed to going dark for periods of

time. But no one can remember an instance

when all arts institutions in the state simultaneously

ceased operation for months.

“Think about 9/11, the Kennedy assassination

and the recession of 2008—

these were moments in time,” says John

Schreiber, president and CEO of Newark’s

New Jersey Performing Arts Center. “This

[is] an evolving crisis. No one can be sure at

this time what to expect and what’s next.”

Months after chatter in theater lobbies

was silenced, museum exhibition openings

were halted, and arts-education programming

migrated online, New Jersey’s

best-loved cultural centers are crafting

their contingency plans. Each is preparing

for the unknown. Will they be allowed to

open this month, later in the summer, in

the fall, or not until 2021? They are looking

for guidance from government and health

officials, as well as Broadway, the sports

world and even places of worship. What

new rules will they have to follow? How

will they make visitors feel safe? What will

be the financial toll?

During the last week of March, the New

Jersey State Council on the Arts surveyed

arts organizations and workers to gauge

financial need in the sector at the height of

the health crisis. The survey garnered 750

responses in five days. The results were

grim: To survive a 90-day shutdown, organizations

would need $30 million collectively.

In a statement, the board of the New

Jersey Association of Museums added

context: “This crisis will have lasting

financial and operational considerations

for not just months, but years to come.”

To mitigate their losses, seasonal arts

centers in particular had to act fast.


arts

Almost immediately upon learning of the

statewide lockdown, Grounds for Sculpture

furloughed nearly 95 percent of its

staff. By May, just four staff members,

including executive director Gary Garrido

Schneider, remained, all working on

40 to 60 percent salary reductions. Since

65 percent of the cultural center’s income

is revenue— earned from ticket sales, the

onsite Rat’s Restaurant, cafés throughout

the park, education programs and rentals,

management is projecting a $2 million

loss if Grounds for Sculpture remains

closed through July.

Although drastic, the staff furloughs at

most institutions were done with an eye

on long-term survival. The Grounds for

Sculpture team focused on the questions,

“How do we hibernate until we can reopen

and make sure that we still have money to

pay people when we start back up?” says

Schneider.

Upon reopening, Schneider predicts

visitor limits may be capped at 500-1,000

patrons daily and admission fees may

need to be reduced. The 42-acre outdoor

museum gives visitors “breathing space,”

says Schneider. “And I think it’s the kind

of experience people will be looking for

when we’re able to get back outside.”

Similarly positioned to offer social distancing

in an arts environment is Wheaton

Arts and Cultural Center in Millville.

The 45-acre open-air campus boasts the

Museum of American Glass, interactive

artist studios and gift shops. “People can

wander,” says executive director Susan

Gogan, “but we’re in a holding pattern.”

The center’s spring season was scheduled

to launch April 1. Since then, they’ve

postponed or canceled all programming

through June, including their 50th anniversary

gala and visiting artist series.

Future WheatonArts events pose

problems as well. Last October, the Festival

of Fine Craft attracted more than 12,000

people over two days. That turnout is unlikely

this year. “We’re already at risk,” says

Gogan, “so to plan something where you

could potentially lose money is a concern.”

To save money and assure social distancing,

WheatonArts took the unusual

step of turning off the furnaces in the

glass studio. “I don’t think there’s ever

been a time, other than maybe when we

were in [Hurricane] Sandy’s path, that

we turned anything with natural gas off,”

says Gogan.

Before the lockdown, the center projected

about $860,000 in income from

April to June, including grants. They now

expect a net loss for the period.

Although the center held back their

annual donation appeal—“it just felt

insensitive to send when other groups

are raising money for personal protection

for health care”—Gogan reminds people

that arts centers are “treasures that need

to be protected.”

Museums are especially concerned about

a fall-off in contributions from loyal donors,

normally a reliable revenue stream.

“It’s that philanthropy that is going to

make or break institutions like museums

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in the next several years,” says Cleveland

Johnson, executive director of the Morris

Museum. “Will their support be diverted

to other things? Are they going to recognize

that arts and culture still need that

support? Will it be seen as a priority?”

Most of the Smithsonian-affiliated museum’s

income comes from foundations,

corporations and individual donors. This

year, some supporters expedited delivery

of funds and have been willing to consider

reallocation of project-specific funding

for operating expenses.

This spring, it was the Morris Museum’s

turn to host the juried New Jersey Arts

Annual. Instead, that exhibit was rolled out

online, with information and multimedia

content about the artists and their work

shared daily on social media. When the

museum opens again, “we will reset the

clock,” says Johnson. That exhibit and others

will stay open for three or four months.

The Montclair Art Museum is in a

similar situation. MAM’s spring exhibitions,

which opened in February, will be

extended to the fall.

Shifting dates is relatively easy. Making

cuts to staff and expenses is not.

“We had to cut as much as possible,

which was extremely painful, to make

sure there was a museum on the other

end of this,” says MAM director Lora Urbanelli.

That meant temporarily reducing

regular employee headcount from 52 to

22. Those who remained are on part-time

hours, including Urbanelli. Even with the

building closed, expenses remain, including

HVAC (the artwork must be kept at a

certain temperature) and insurance.

MAM has also shifted to virtual offerings.

“I think that’s going to serve us well,

even when we get back in gear in a more

normal way,” says Urbanelli.

Among MAM’s digital initiatives is

the Jersey Artist Marketplace, a multiple-pronged

fundraiser for artists, the

museum, and to-be-announced partner

agencies. All proceeds will be shared: 50

percent to the artist, 40 percent to the

museum, and 10 percent to partners. “It’s

great for the artists who really have seen

a drop in their ability to stay visible and

sell their work,” says Urbanelli.

Independent artists have been hit hard

by the shutdown of galleries, which are

sometimes their only path to exposure.

Molly Sanger Carpenter, a mixedmedia

artist based in Mannington

Township, was counting on exposure and

money from her May solo show at SOMA

NewArt Gallery in Cape May. Instead,

the exhibit was presented virtually, with

curbside pickup of purchased works.

“As an artist, sure, you do it for money,”

she says, “but you also do it because

there’s something about getting your

work out there in front of people and

making your statement.”

Carpenter also does secretarial work

for her husband’s landscaping business.

Thanks to income from that hustle and

an upcoming commission for the Joint

Health and Sciences Center in Camden,

Carpenter has not had to apply for loans

set up for artists. “I know there are artists

2020 Season

OUR 2020 SEASON

WILL BE COMING SOON!

It’s June, and while we’re still on the long

COVID-19 “intermission,” we’re hoping that we

can soon bring you the much-needed medicine

that great theatre can supply! We especially hope

we can open our Outdoor Stage production of

Much Ado About Nothing for your viewing pleasure

in July when, hopefully, seeing a show under the

stars will be a welcome opportunity to gather safely

and without concern!

Call our Box Office or check our website and social

media for daily updates and more information on

when our doors will open again.

We miss you!

Pictured: the set of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2007. Photo by: Andrew Murad.

973-408-5600

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that are in worse straits than I am,” she

says, “I have food in my refrigerator, and

I’m able to carry on.”

The New Jersey Theatre Alliance has

also helped creatives with short-term

financial issues. The organization created

a relief fund to assist workers affiliated

with member theaters while they wait for

unemployment checks. The fund provided

$60,000 in grants to about 105 workers.

“We wanted to get some money into

their hands as quickly as possible,” says

John McEwen, executive director of the

Alliance. “That could make the difference

of making a rent payment, groceries

or gas in the car.”

Nicolette Lynch, an actor and teaching

artist for Luna Stage in West Orange,

was among the recipients. “[It’s] very

exciting,” says Lynch about the grant.

“We live in that sort of not-knowing as

performers,” she says. “Our lives can

change instantly, so we’re adaptable.”

But these are different times. Lynch,

who is also the managing director for

Newark’s Yendor Theatre Company, was

relying on her Luna Stage income for the

coming months. The temporary closure

of the two companies has been jarring,

says Lynch. “Our work is people,” she

says about being an actor, “it’s people in

terms of how to execute and in terms of

who receives it, who benefits from it.”

It’s difficult for performing arts centers

to predict what protocols will need to be

rolled out when patrons can return.

Perhaps social distancing will still

be in effect and masks will be required.

Some institutions may choose to take

patrons’ temperature at the door. “What

we want to do is take it very slow,” says

NJPAC’s Schreiber. “There is no rush to

reopen; there can’t be, because people’s

health is on the line. That’s what’s paramount.”

That’s not to say that NJPAC,

which has rescheduled or canceled

about 150 shows due to the shutdown,

isn’t eager to greet the public again.

While theaters discuss how to bring

people back into close quarters, they are

also looking at other options, including

live-streaming new performances.

“It’s a highly complicated issue,” says

Mike Stotts, managing director of Paper

Mill Playhouse. Artists will need to be

compensated appropriately, but also,

“there is nothing that can really be done

to replace the experience of doing a live

show in front of a live audience,” he says.

“It is very difficult to try to achieve that

with social distancing. Can it even make

sense for our kind of business? I have

great doubts about it. And financially,

I’m not sure it makes sense.”

Stotts cautions: “I fear that it will take

a long, long time for our industry to recover,

because already [it’s] pretty much

hand to mouth.”

Ironically, a previous financial crisis of

its own in 2007 left Paper Mill better prepared

than others to endure the current

emergency. That crisis nearly shut down

the theater. Instead, it emerged from the

ashes with a retooled business model that

has allowed the organization to build a

reserve fund, which is coming in handy

now, while revenues have stalled. As of

the beginning of May, the 60-person fulltime

staff had not been furloughed. “But

the reserves aren’t endless,” warns Stotts,

“and we need to reserve whatever we can

for whenever we restart, because that will

take another infusion of capital.”

The Covid-19 shutdown cost the theater

two productions, as well as its annual

fundraising gala. Altogether, those hits

have resulted in a loss of about $5 million.

The hope is that patrons will donate

show tickets back to the company. For the

gala, which nets about $930,000, Paper

Mill expects to get more than half of the

money in contributions from people who

would have paid for tables.

Despite all the pain and uncertainty the

coronavirus has caused for the state’s arts

institutions, they can take heart in the

appetite for culture that audiences have

shown while sheltering at home. They’re

listening to music, reading, exploring

creative online content, and acting out

skits, says McEwen. “We can’t forget the

unique contribution that we make to the

public. Not only now, but always.”

McEwen predicts traversing this

new way of operating will take time and

some trial and error. “But I do believe

theater and the arts in general will be

back because it’s something people

need,” he says, “[It] makes such an impact

on people’s lives, on their mental

health, on stretching that imagination

muscle. It helps us learn about

ourselves, learn about each other. It’s

something people crave.”


health

GLASS

CURTAIN

Jennifer Harold’s

reflection appears in the

window that divides her from

her mother, Sheila, 93, during

visits to Bentley Assisted

Living. The Branchville

eldercare facility is one

of the few in the state

untouched by

Covid-19.

Urgent Call for Help

Covid-19 hit hardest at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

After the headlines, come the postmortems. By Kathleen O’Brien

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF JENNIFER HAROLD

Imagine you’re going to visit Grandma

at her nursing home. As you approach

the visitors’ entrance, a

thermal camera scans the temperature of

everyone in your family. Luckily, you’re

all fine. If anyone had a fever, the door

would automatically lock.

Once inside, you notice an employee

collecting a saliva sample from a nurse’s

aide. Another worker is leaving, looking

dejected; it turns out she has a second job

at another long-term care facility that

has a flare-up of Covid-19 cases. For that

reason alone, she’s banned from working

here for the time being.

Just as the 9/11 attacks changed the way

we move around airport terminals, the Covid-19

pandemic has put an end to casual

access to nursing homes, experts predict.

It was expected—even predicted—that

the novel coronavirus would harvest many

of its victims from the frail and elderly. In

fact, it was inevitable the virus would find

its way into nursing homes, says Laurie

Facciarossa Brewer, the state’s long-term

care ombudsman. “What wasn’t inevitable,”

she says, “was the scope of the infection,

and the number of deaths.”

The extent of the tragedy has been welldocumented.

In Sussex County, the Andover

Subacute and Rehabilitation Center

catapulted into the headlines when local

authorities discovered the disease’s rampage

outpaced the 697-bed facility’s ability

to deal with the corpses. Their overnight

inspection Easter weekend revealed 17

bodies stored in a makeshift morgue. As

of May 4, there were at least 67 reported

deaths at the facility, according to the New


health

Jersey Department of Health.

In Bergen County, the death toll hit

69 at the New Jersey Veterans Home in

Paramus, where workers complained

they were told to avoid using face masks

because it would scare the residents. The

administrator there later resigned.

At least three-quarters of the more

than 600 facilities where the elderly live

in a group setting eventually reported at

least one Covid-19 case. To date, deaths

in such facilities account for nearly half

of the state’s total. These facilities are licensed

by the state Department of Health

and are subject to surprise inspections

nearly annually that last three to four

days. In addition, a facility can be visited

by the ombudsman’s staff in response to

a complaint.

Nursing homes and assisted-living

centers can’t be hermetically sealed like

some futuristic biodome. Staffers come and

go, vendors make deliveries, relatives and

friends drop by for a visit. In the pandemic,

all posed a risk to the residents inside.

“The virus didn’t come in on an airplane.

It came in, whether from a worker

or a family member,” says state Senator

Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex). Vitale, chairman

of the Health, Human Services and

Senior Citizens committee, authored a

bill signed into law last summer mandating

that long-term care facilities have a

response plan for outbreaks.

Some of the facilities posting the most

deaths had shaky safety records before

the pandemic, as indicated by nursing

home data at medicare.gov. Andover

Subacute and Rehabilitation Center had

a one-star rating from Medicare.

“They were giving out masks to everyone

when this first all started, then they

stopped handing them out,” a nursingcare

specialist told New Jersey Monthly

in an e-mail exchange. The woman, who

preferred to remain anonymous, works

at the Andover facility on an as-needed

basis. She and others resorted to bringing

their own N95 masks from home. On her

shifts, she saw some staff using no personal

protection equipment (PPE) at all,

while others were appropriately wearing

masks, gloves and hair coverings.

Yet to assume such weaknesses alone

explain the deaths in congregate care

misses the point: Covid-19 could bring even

a respected, five-star facility to its knees.

The distress signal from the Catholic order

operating St. Joseph’s Home for Seniors

in Woodbridge came in mid-March, when

staff illnesses and quarantines left all the

care to just three nuns. The state swept in

to evacuate the residents, with six buses

taking them to a facility in Morris County.

Vitale remembers a conversation he

had with Judith Persichilli, the state’s

health commissioner, who began her long

career in health administration as a nurse.

“She said, ‘Joe, if I can’t get staff people

“They were giving out masks to everyone

when this first all started, then

they stopped handing them out.”

up there, I will put on a gown and go

up there myself,’” he recalls. “And she

would’ve.”

The day St. Joseph’s was evacuated,

Fran Groesbeck’s sick mother was the

only resident transported to a hospital.

At one point during her 32-day stay at the

hospital—Raritan Bay Medical Center

in Perth Amboy—her family was told

she probably wasn’t going to make it. In

a FaceTime call, they asked for her final

wish. Her immediate response: “That St.

Joseph’s can reopen.”

Out of gratitude for the care their

mother received at St. Joseph’s, the

family set up a GoFundMe page for the

home. “The love these sisters show, it’s

unconditional,” Groesbeck says. “Their

responsiveness was incredible.” (Luckily,

Groesbeck’s mother survived.)

Despite their best efforts, the virus, with

its diabolical ability to use asymptomatic

individuals to infect others, exposed a key

gap in the fortifications against it: Staffing.

All the masks in the world won’t help if you

don’t have enough workers.

What lessons have been learned to

counter that? What innovations worked?

At the virus’s peak in Bergen County,

the Actors Fund Home in Englewood had

nearly a third of its staff either out sick or

quarantined for exposure. Administrator

Jordan Strohl’s solution was to throw

money at the problem.

Healthy employees were offered a

SOMBER DUTY

Staff at Andover

Subacute and Rehabilitation

Center

prepare to transport

a deceased resident

after Covid-19 swept

through the Sussex

County facility. An

overnight inspection

on Easter weekend

revealed 17 bodies in

a makeshift morgue.

$50-a-day bonus just

for coming to work. Pull

a second shift? That’s

another bonus. Choose

to work in one of the

“hot zones” set up for

Covid-19 patients? See

even more money in

your paycheck.

PHOTOGRAPHS: EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/GETTY IMAGES


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Actors Fund Home employees who

couldn’t come to work because schools

were closed and they had kids at home were

reimbursed up to $100 a day for childcare.

Those who feared using public transportation

were reimbursed for Uber expenses.

“I told my board, ‘Now’s not the time

to worry about money,’” Strohl says.

Staffing shortages and low pay have

long plagued the industry. The issues

were made worse, paradoxically, by

the robust pre-pandemic economy

and recent increases in the minimum

wage. The average certified nurse’s

aide makes $15 an hour, according to

Brewer, the ombudsman.

“If you can work at Target or you can

work in a nursing home, which are you

going to pick?” Strohl asks.

The inevitable Covid-19 postmortems

will likely feature a repeat of the tug-ofwar

in which owners of long-term care

facilities claim Medicaid payments are

too low to fund quality care, and the government

says it simply can’t pay more.

Vitale, for one, is fed up with that

dance. “I’m tired of hearing, ‘If only the

reimbursement were better. We can’t hire

people.’ You’re paid to protect these people.

That’s your job,” he says. “There’s no excuse

for managing their care so poorly.”

Brewer as well feels the pandemic

raised the need for urgent reforms.

Facilities should have warehouses full of

PPE— “boatloads of the stuff, more than

you think you’ll ever need.” The state

needs better tools to root out bad apples

from acquiring for-profit homes. “Every

facility should have a registered nurse,

who is certified in infection control,

whose only job is to oversee infection

processes,” says Brewer. And “testing,

testing, testing” of every staff.

Most importantly, any increase in government

funding should be tied to proof

the extra money is going straight to pay increases

that would attract more workers,

Brewer says, and not to the bottom line.

“Out of every challenge comes an opportunity,”

she says. “And I just hope this

opportunity isn’t squandered.”

Kathleen O’Brien is a former columnist

and healthcare reporter for the Star-

Ledger. More recently, she has written for

Oncology Live, Oncology Nursing and The

New York Times.

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TERROR,

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HEROICS

UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES

FOR NEW JERSEY’S VALIANT

FIRST RESPONDERS. BY KEVIN COYNE

BACK TO WORK

EMT Andrea Guzman

returned to

work at St. Clare’s

Hospital in Passaic

after two weeks out

sick with Covid-19.

“The shortness

of breath was the

scariest thing I’ve

experienced.”

at 6 am on the first monday in April,

Andrea Guzman was due to report

for a 12-hour shift as an EMT in West

New York—her first day back after

two weeks out sick. “I couldn’t sleep

the night before,” she says. “I felt like a

rookie. I was terrified.”

But she was far from a rookie. At

29, she had already spent six years

in the emergency medical service

and was just one step away from her

paramedic’s license. But the world to

which she was returning was far more

dangerous than the world she had left.

The Covid-19 wave had swamped the

northeast corner of New Jersey where

she worked. Emergency rooms were

overrun. There were triage tents outside

and patients on ventilators lining

hallways inside. EMTs and paramedics

were racing to keep up with the

flood of 911 calls. People were dying.

They were dying of what Guzman

had just survived.

“The shortness of breath was the

scariest thing I have ever experienced.

To get from the bed to the bathroom felt

like you’d worked out for 20 minutes of

continuous running,” she says. “I should

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT JONES

have gone to the hospital, but I was so

scared to end up intubated that I didn’t

go. By the grace of God, I recovered, but

my body doesn’t feel the same.”

She had reason to be scared. A week

before she was leveled by the virus—

“like a train hit me,” she says—one

of her EMT partners on a St. Clare’s

Hospital ambulance in Passaic did

something he never did: He left early,

complaining of a bad headache. “He

never complained of anything,” she

says of Israel Tolentino, who was also a

Passaic firefighter. He died two weeks

later, while she was quarantined, the

first Covid-19 victim among the state’s

Emergency Medical Services community.

“Izzy was the first one to pass, and

I was the last one to work with him.”

Guzman worked her first three

days back in West New York—like

many EMTs, she works at multiple

agencies—handling as many as 20 or

more calls a day, three times as many

as usual. Then, she worked three days

in Passaic, witnessing just how capricious,

vicious and swift Covid-19 can

be. “We had one patient on oxygen,

we had the paramedics, we were do-


TRIAGE

Norbert

Gosiewski,

an EMT and

dispatcher

for McCabe

Ambulance in

Bayonne, had

to determine

which patients

needed to be

hospitalized

and who could

be treated at

home.

FACING FEAR

McCabe EMT

Sergio Sosa,

who tested

positive for

Covid-19, says

anxiety has

been a major

problem for

his colleagues.

“They think

they’re going to

die.”

ing everything we could for him, and he

looked at me and said, ‘I feel like I’m dying,’

and he went into cardiac arrest just

like that, in a matter of seconds,” she says.

“We were turning into the hospital, and

they were able to get him back in the ER,

and I was like, ‘All right, good,’ because he

was a young guy. And then I came back

with another patient, and he was gone. He

coded again, and they were unable to get

him back this time. We have to take a deep

breath and go on to the next.”

Back in Passaic, Tolentino wasn’t the

only colleague missing. Guzman’s supervisor,

Kevin Leiva, had died a week later—the

state’s second EMT Covid death.

“I was outside the building, crying,”

Guzman says. “Things are not the same.

Just three weeks before, we were all together

and everything was fine.”

In her first four weeks back, she had just

two days off. “I know people call us heroes

and everything, but you know, some days I

don’t feel like one,” she says.

The main weapon that New Jersey

has against Covid-19 in 2020 is the same

weapon France had against the bubonic

plague in 1348: retreat. Close the door and

try to keep it out. But somebody has to open

the door and go out on the streets to confront

an enemy that nobody can see. While

most of us retreat, some of us advance.

“i call them invisible bullets,” says

John Grembowiec, chairman of the New

Jersey EMS Task Force, and the EMS director

at University Hospital in Newark.

“Everything you touch and breathe, you

have to worry about.”

First responders are the first line of defense:

the EMTs and paramedics who answer

the calls of frightened people who feel

air escaping their lungs like a balloon deflating;

the police who face the plague of bad

behavior that persists even in a pandemic;

the firefighters who quell the accidental

conflagrations that pay no heed to lockdown

orders. Their sirens are a discordant chorus

of fear and hope—fear that those invisible

bullets have penetrated another body, hope

that someone is out there to help; fear that

something else has gone wrong, hope that

someone is trying to fix it.

The toll—not fully tallied—has been

high. At deadline, the New Jersey EMS

Task Force, based on a survey to which

just over half of the state’s EMS agencies


AT THE READY Hudson County EMS coordinator Mike McCabe, left, and John Grembowiec, chairman of the state’s EMS Task Force, survey the

army of ambulances from around the country that assembled at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford during the Covid-19 outbreak.

responded, reported that 640 EMS personnel

had tested positive for Covid-19;

13 died from it. According to the Office of

the Attorney General, 495 New Jersey law

enforcement officers tested positive; eight

died. And according to a Division of Fire

Safety survey, to which about two-thirds

of the state’s fire departments responded,

190 firefighters tested positive; four died.

Anyone who doubts the severity of the

virus outbreak that has paralyzed New Jersey

needs only talk to the first responders

who have seen it up close and who reach for

the grimmest language when describing it.

“Like a war zone,” says Michelle Idler, a

senior paramedic at University Hospital.

“We’re in doomsday scenario,” says Billy

Vanides, another senior paramedic at University.

“This is nothing like we’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve probably seen more death in the last

three weeks than I did in my whole career,”

says North Bergen EMS Chief Dave Prina.

“There’s just so much tragedy that these

first responders are seeing on a daily basis

it’s tough to even comprehend,” says Mike

McCabe, chief of operations for McCabe

Ambulance in Bayonne, EMS coordinator

for the Hudson County office of Emergency

Management and the North leader of the

New Jersey EMS Task Force.

“A prolonged emergency,” says Deputy

Chief Larry Cattano of the Perth Amboy

police department.

The virus is inescapable, upending first

responders’ jobs and threatening their

health and safety wherever they go. “This

officer was just doing what he was supposed

to do, got called because this guy

decided to assault his wife,” Cattano says

about a domestic-violence call during

which a Perth Amboy officer was spat on

by a man who said he had the coronavirus.

The state attorney general’s office took over

prosecution of that case and several similar

ones, upgrading the charges to terroristic

threats during a state of emergency (2nd

degree). The officer was quarantined and

returned to duty after he tested negative.

“He’s just there doing his job, and he needs

this extra thing thrown upon him—the

thought of, Am I infecting my family now?”

In Jersey City, some new fire-academy

graduates found themselves on virus duty

before they were even sworn in, helping

people who lined up at the city’s coronavirous

testing center at fire department headquarters.

“It’s kind of what we signed up for

as firefighters, to help other people,” says

T.J. Cleary, who is following three uncles

and two cousins into the department.

“Some of them were really bad off to

where they couldn’t stand, couldn’t talk—

something I didn’t expect at all,” says Khalil

Jackson, who has wanted to become a firefighter

since he was four, riding in the back

seat of his grandmother’s car, asking her to

follow the sirens to a fire.

After three weeks at the testing site, they

were assigned to fire stations, and at 12:33

am on their first night, an alarm came in: a

two-family house on Cator Avenue. They

helped contain the smoky fire to two rooms

on the first floor; nobody was injured. “So my

first day on, I had my first fire,” Jackson says.

Streets everywhere have been emptier

during the lockdown. Traffic was flowing

easily on what is usually the clogged artery

of Communipaw Avenue in the section

of Jersey City that police officers Shane

O’Brien and Dylan Solt patrol on the evening

shift. “There are people out, but we’re just


DOUBLE DUTY Captain Rick Rodriguez, center, with members of the fire squad at Engine 19, Ladder 8 on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City.

In addition to fighting fires, the Jersey City Fire Department provides first responder emergency medical services.

trying to send them on their way,” Solt says.

O’Brien and Solt have been partners for

most of the two years they have been on the

force. Now, they wear masks around their

necks as they drive, pulling them up whenever

they get out, as they did a few nights

after the fire, at the scene of a fatal shooting

on Brinkerhoff Street. “This time, we put

our masks on,” O’Brien says. “That’s the

only thing different from what we would

usually do with a shooting victim.”

But for EMTs and paramedics, as they

race to keep pace with the surging stream

of Covid-19 victims, everything is different.

“This has been their time to shine and

really show what it is they can do, and have

done, in the face of danger,” Hudson County’s

McCabe says. “We’re the ones going in.”

“i can now repeat the instruction card

for CPR with my eyes closed,” says Norbert

Gosiewski, who works as both an EMT

and a dispatcher for McCabe Ambulance,

guiding panicked callers through resuscitation

efforts as he sends help their way.

“I can regurgitate it from muscle memory

because I’ve said it so many times.”

It started with what they termed “FC”

calls—people with a fever and cough,

alarmed that they might have contracted the

virus. But as hospitals filled and state-issued

protocols changed, EMTs and paramedics

began doing something they never imagined

they would: field triage—determining which

patients might be better off treated at home

instead of in a hospital.

“The hysteria has eased, but the severity

of the calls is worse,” says Gosiewski, who

started volunteering as an EMT in high

school after becoming enthralled with the

TV show ER. “People are now calling when

they’re really sick.”

EMTs now have to tell the families of

people they take to the hospital something

they never thought they would: that the

family can’t go, too. Gosiewski remembers

one woman he took to the hospital. “She did

not want to go by herself,” he recalls. “The

fear in her face, and the fear in her husband’s

face, and not knowing if they were

going to see one another broke my heart.

It’s like going into a black hole, and you

don’t know if the person is going to come

out. The helplessness in that man’s face—

it’s unexplainable. It leaves me speechless.”

Gosiewski has not gotten sick, but some

of his coworkers have. “For a lot of people,

anxiety plays a major role—they think

they’re going to die,” says Sergio Sosa, a

McCabe EMT who returned to work after

testing positive and quarantining. “I can

actually tell them, ‘Listen, you’re going to be

okay and I know that because I’m okay, I did

it, I dealt with it. I’ve been in your shoes.”

On Sosa’s first shift back, four of his calls

were to patients who were either unresponsive

or unconscious, all Covid-19-related.

“Basically, people were just dropping like

flies,” says Sosa, 41, who decided on an EMS

career after starting as a volunteer in his late

30s and reviving a cardiac-arrest patient

through CPR. It was only the second time

he had performed CPR, and the man later

came back to thank him for saving his life.

One call on that first shift after

quarantine was from a woman whose

Covid-19-positive husband had lost consciousness

after she got him into the car

to take him to the hospital. Heavy rain was

falling as Sosa put him into the ambulance.

Another was from the family of a man in

his 40s. “They thought he was sleeping off

a cold, but when they went to check on him,

he was barely breathing,” Sosa says.

So great was the need and so strained was

the system that the statewide EMS Task

Force mobilized its largest operation since

its formation in the wake of 9/11: field hospital

tents, oxygen trailers, emergency cots

and medical ambulance buses that, early on,

before nursing homes were overwhelmed by

the virus, evacuated 79 elderly residents from

a Woodbridge nursing home. It also brought

reinforcements from across the country that

staged in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium:

75 EMT and paramedic units in the first

batch, followed by 100 more.

“They’re watching the news, and they’re


GOOD TO GO

In Jersey City,

T.J. Cleary was

among the recent

fire academy

graduates

who plunged

immediately

into virus duty.

“It’s kind of

what we signed

up for...to help

people.”

EYEWITNESS

Khalil Jackson,

another

newly minted

Jersey City

firefighter, was

shocked by

the condition

of some Covid

victims. “They

couldn’t stand,

couldn’t talk—

something I

didn’t expect

at all.”

seeing these reports of massive death and

highly infectious disease, and they still

raised their hands and said, ‘I’ll go to New

Jersey,’” says Mike Bascom, team leader for

the task force and the Monmouth County

EMS coordinator.

at university hospital, on a day when it all

seemed as if it might collapse, some paramedics

raised their hands, too. On the morning of

April 4, a Saturday, Billy Vanides was on his

first day off after working 10 days straight on a

paramedic truck. Then his phone rang. “They

said the ER needs help; if you can show up,

show up. So I got out of bed, and 40 minutes

later I was in the ER,” he says.

The ER was overloaded with Covid-19

patients and short of nurses, and the call

for paramedics was a Hail Mary pass the

hospital hadn’t tried before. “The nursing

staff looked at us, and they were in awe that

we showed up to help,” he says. “Some of

them were in tears.”

Sixteen people from the EMS department—nine

paramedics and seven nurses—

turned up to help that day. “I was just amazed

that people came out of the woodwork when

that call went out to help,” says EMS Task

Force chairman Grembowiec. “I had some

tears in my own eyes hearing that.”

Michelle Idler answered the call, too.

“The busiest night I’ve had on the street

doesn’t compare to the eight hours in the

emergency department that day,” she says.

They inserted IV lines, did EKGs and

blood work, helped with intubations and

moved patients. Idler was particularly

struck by a young man, not much older than

she, who was struggling to breathe and was

finally put on a ventilator. “It’s easy to talk

yourself into thinking that, because you’re

young and you’re healthy, you’re invincible,

but something like that really does its best

to rock that belief from you,” says Idler, 29.

“I think we’ve all kind of resigned ourselves

that we’re going to get it, if not from a patient,

then from a coworker.”

She and Vanides have both since been

called occasionally to help out again when

the ER is swamped. “Wherever they need

me is where I’m going. Wherever we need

to go, we’ll go,” Vanides says. “This is what

we do. When things are bad, we don’t think

about it—we just go.”

Kevin Coyne is a frequent contributor to

New Jersey Monthly.


44 MONTH 2020 NJMONTHLY.COM

PHOTOGRAPHS: (SUBJECT) NAME HERE; (SUBJECT) NAME HERE

THE GOOD

FIGHT

With unprecedented speed, Garden State

researchers seek ways to strike down Covid-19.

By Leslie Garisto Pfaff


fter new york, no state had been harder

hit by the Covid-19 pandemic than New

Jersey. So it’s fitting—given both our sense

of urgency and our wealth of medical

and scientific resources—that the

state is deeply engaged in the global

effort to vanquish the disease. From

vast pharmaceutical and research

powerhouses like Johnson & Johnson and Rutgers

University to a small biotech company with a

single focus, New Jersey scientists are playing

an essential role in the search for ways to treat

patients suffering from Covid-19 and to stop the

disease in its relentless march across the globe.

THE PUSH FOR A VACCINE

When Paul Burton, the chief global medical affairs

officer of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen pharmaceuticals

division, talks about the company’s

efforts to create a vaccine to protect against

Covid-19, he uses words like “unprecedented” and

“unparalleled.”

Under other circumstances, those adjectives

might be dismissed as hyperbole, but in this case

they’re merely descriptive. Never before has the

search for a vaccine been so aggressive or so accelerated

(which, by the way, are also adjectives

Burton uses).

In the case of Covid-19, a process that can take

10-15 years is being squeezed into a span of 12-18

months. It began almost immediately after January

10, the date on which Chinese scientists announced

that they’d successfully decoded the genome of

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Janssen was well positioned for such a challenge.

It had already developed successful vaccines for

Ebola and Zika, so it had in hand the technology to

create new vaccine candidates.

“Creating the new vaccine,” Burton says, “involves

taking a piece of the coronavirus DNA—specifically,

one that codes for the protein that latches onto human

cells—and placing it inside a dead adenovirus.”

An adenovirus, Burton explains, is basically a safe

common cold virus, which is good for transporting

things into humans, but it lacks the DNA needed to

replicate. “So, the vaccine”—essentially, the coronavirus

DNA and the dead adenovirus that contains it,

along with inert components the keep the vaccine

from degrading or its ingredients from separating—

”can’t cause a cold,” Burton says. “And the protein it

produces can’t cause harm either.”

For the hoped-for Covid-19 vaccine, Janssen

found three extremely promising pieces of coronavirus

DNA from which they’ve created three separate

vaccines: a lead candidate and two backups. After

a candidate is chosen, a series of clinical trials will

start. If the vaccine is found to be safe and efficacious,

manufacturing will ramp up.

What Janssen is doing—and as far as Burton

knows, this has never been done before the Covid-19

pandemic rendered the need for a vaccine so

urgent—is conducting various phases of vaccine development

in parallel, rather than in sequence. As

of this writing, the company was expecting to begin

Phase 1 trials as soon as September and was already

preparing for the manufacture of 300 million doses

of the vaccine, which could be delivered to the public

by the end of this year. “That,” says Burton, “is an

unprecedented timeline.”

Also unprecedented is the amount of collaboration,

both nationally and globally, on the creation

of this particular vaccine. J&J researchers in New

Jersey, across the country, and in Janssen’s facilities

in the Netherlands are all working on the vaccine,

along with scientists at BARDA—Biomedical

Advanced Research and Development Authority, a

branch of the federal government with which Janssen

already had a relationship—and a host of other

organizations around the world.

“When we do research, we definitely do it

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY VICKTOR KOEN


globally,” Burton says. “What I

think is unprecedented is the degree

of collaboration and engagement

and energy that everybody is bringing

to this problem right now. It really is a

team effort.”

Dr. Steven Libutti,

above, chairs a multidisciplinary

Rutgers study

of antiviral medications,

including hydroxychloroquine.

Dr. Sabiha

Hussain is principal

investigator on

the trial.

RUTGERS RALLIES ITS FORCES

In late March, as Covid-19 forced

educational institutions across the

country to shut down most of their

ongoing research activities, Rutgers

announced the formation of a university

hub known as the Covid-19 Center for

Response and Pandemic Preparedness.

Like the country’s other great research

universities, Rutgers called on

scientists across an array of its own

institutions—including the Institute for

Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases;

the Institute for Translational Medicine

and Science; Rutgers New Jersey Medical

School; Rutgers Cancer Institute of

New Jersey; and schools of pharmacy,

public health, engineering, computational

science, social sciences and

others—to focus on learning more about

SARS-CoV-2 and to develop treatments

for the disease it causes.

The cancer institute, for instance, is

running a clinical trial to see whether

hydroxychloroquine sulfate, a drug used

to treat malaria and some autoimmune

diseases—used alone or in combination

with the antibiotic azithromycin—can

reduce the amount of the virus (called the

viral load) in patients suffering from Covid-19.

In the trial, 160 patients are being

divided into three groups: One is receiving

hydroxychloroquine

alone; a second is being

given the combination

medication; and a third

is receiving a placebo,

but will be allowed to take

hydroxychloroquine after their

blood samples have been taken on day six.

The two medications were shown to

have some promise in reducing viral loads

in a French study and have been widely

touted by President Trump as a potential

game-changer in the fight against Covid-19.

Steven Libutti, the study’s chair

and the director of the cancer institute,

noted that there were some 15 studies

going on across the nation that focused on

different aspects of the two medications.

While the Rutgers study expects to have

data on viral load two weeks after the last

participant has been enrolled, it will follow

patients for an additional six months to

see how the medications affect them over

time. “Hopefully,” says Libutti, “since each

of the studies is asking slightly different

questions, the answers will give us better

insights into whether these agents work,

when might be the best time to use them,

and which patients would be most likely to

benefit from them.”

(On April 24, the FDA cautioned against

the use of hydroxychloroquine without

close supervision, as serious heart rhythm

problems have been observed in some

patients taking the medication, with and

without azithromycin. Libutti notes that,

as of the end of April, the Rutgers study

had enrolled 70 patients, and researchers

in the trial had not observed any serious

cardiac issues. )

Another potential antiviral treatment,

Ryanodex, or dantrolene

sodium, is being studied by its

manufacturer, Eagle Pharmaceuticals,

in Woodcliff Lake. The drug works by

restoring cells’ normal calcium levels,

which can be affected by some viruses,

and showed success at doing so against

SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.

Rutgers is also studying the potential

benefits of so-called convalescent

plasma—blood plasma from patients

who have survived Covid-19 and have

developed antibodies against the disease.

By April 28, researchers had infused 70

severely ill patients with the plasma. (A

similar study is ongoing at Hackensack

Meridian Health in Nutley.)

The Rutgers study isn’t being conducted

as a traditional double-blind,

randomized, placebo-controlled trial (in

which one group of patients gets a treatment

and the other is given a placebo, and

neither group knows which is which),

notes Mark Klapholz, chair of the department

of medicine at Rutgers New Jersey

Medical School and principal investigator

on the trial, “because of the high need for

some therapy that would help fight this

disease, and also because of the limited

availability of plasma.” (Potential plasma

donors who have tested positive for

Covid-19 can call 973-972-5474, or e-mail

covidplasma@uhnj.org.)

As of this writing, at least one of Rutgers’s

research studies was already making

inroads against Covid-19, in terms

of the way the disease is diagnosed. The

study—led by Martin Blaser, director

of the Center for Advanced Technology

and Medicine; Jeffrey Carson, New

Brunswick provost at Rutgers

Biomedical and Health

Sciences; and Reynold

Panettieri, director of the

Institute for Translational

PHOTOGRAPHS: (DR. HUSSAIN) KIM SOKOLOFF; (DR. LIBUTTI) JOHN O’BOYLE


PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF CELULARITY

Medicine and Science—looked into the

percentage of health-care workers who

had contracted Covid-19, using both

throat swabs and saliva samples as a

means of diagnosis.

The saliva test was so successful at

detecting Covid-19 that Rutgers immediately

sought and received FDA approval,

and the first saliva tests were being

administered at a drive-through facility in

Edison by April 15. The test is significant

because it doesn’t require swabs, which

have sometimes been in short supply, and

is less invasive than the swab test and

therefore less risky to health-care workers

administering the test.

Rutgers also developed the first rapid

test for the virus, with results available

in 45 minutes, instead of one to five days.

The test, notes David Alland, director

of the Center for Emerging Pathogens

and the new Covid-19 hub, and principal

investigator on the health-worker study,

has the potential to be used in clinics

and doctors’ offices rather than being

confined to a central lab.

In an interview posted on the university’s

website, Alland said the test “will

be a game-changer for crucial medical

decisions, including how to triage patients,

when to isolate, and how to treat.”

What’s more, because the test can

identify very low levels of the virus, it

could also be invaluable in helping to detect

small new outbreaks of the disease

once the pandemic has passed.

The university is also looking at the

nature of the virus itself, particularly

at the biomarkers—abnormalities in

patients that indicate the presence of a

disease—it elicits.

“This disease is unlike anything any of

us have seen before,” says Klapholz. The

markers for inflammation, for instance,

have been “extraordinarily abnormal, extraordinarily

high in many, many patients,”

he notes. Researchers hope that studying

these biomarkers will help them predict

the course of the disease in patients and

determine, at an early stage, who might

develop a more severe form of the illness.

BOOSTING IMMUNITY

Work on the virus isn’t limited

to pharmaceutical giants and

large research universities.

Celularity, a 20-year-old, Warren-based

biotechnology company with some 200

employees, specializes in therapies for

cancer and other diseases using so-called

natural killer (NK) cells taken from human

placentas. In early April, the FDA

granted the company permission to begin

an 84-patient trial of an immunotherapy

called CYNK-001, which uses placentaderived

NK cells to help rev up the immune

system in Covid-19 patients.

In the human body, NK cells are

the advance guard, scouting out and

destroying virally infected cells even

before the immune system can begin

creating antibodies against the virus

causing the infection.

“This is a numbers game,” says

Celularity founder and CEO Robert

Hariri, “keeping the overall burden

of virus low over a period of several

days, at which time the patient’s

own adaptive system learns how to

respond to the infection.”

Boosting the immune response

may prove crucial in treating Covid-19.

There is some evidence that the

vulnerability of older patients and those

with an underlying disease is linked to a

less robust immune system. It’s also possible,

says Hariri, that, like HIV, SARS-

CoV-2 may have the ability to damage a

patient’s immune response.

The initial study, which began in April,

is looking at the safety and efficacy of the

drug in patients with early signs of the

disease. The next wave of studies will

determine whether CYNK-001 can help

patients with more advanced and severe

forms of Covid-19.

Some scientists have expressed worry

that any drug that boosts the immune

system could release a so-called cytokine

storm, an immune response so extreme

that it damages a patient’s lungs, heart

and other organs. It’s believed to have occurred

in some patients, especially those

under 50, suffering from Covid-19. Hariri

argues that a benefit of

At Celularity,

Robert Hariri’s team

is experimenting with

cell therapy to boost

immune response in

Covid-19 patients.

Xiaokui Zhang, below,

is the firm’s chief

scientific officer.

cell therapy is that “we

can dial up and dial

down the therapy by

controlling the dose,

the frequency or the

interval of dosing,

and the duration that

those cells are active in

the patient.”

“It’s a complicated

disease,” Hariri says

of Covid-19, “and it’s a

complicated trial—no

two patients are the

same. Some are going to

come in with a lot of comorbid conditions;

others will come in otherwise healthy.”

Even if some patients respond well to cell

therapy, others may not—which is why

every bit of research is so important.

Hariri no doubt speaks for all the

scientists laboring to attack the world’s

worst pandemic in 100 years: “This is a

disease,” he says, “that’s going to require

a multitude of strategies.”

Leslie Garisto Pfaff is a longtime contributor

on health, science and other topics.


New Jersey’s

beloved beaches

will have a

different look

this summer.

By Shea Swenson

aily badge quotas. Blankets on the

sand spread six-feet apart. Strolling

the boardwalks in swimsuits and

face masks. Al fresco dining in parking

lots. This could be summer at the

Jersey Shore, 2020 style.

In past years, as the summer

season kicked off at the Shore, Gary

Engelstad, the mayor of Bradley

Beach, would be focused on attracting

as many people to his town as possible.

“This year,” says Engelstad, “it’s so

weird to be thinking, How do I limit the

number of people on the beach? It blows my

mind that that’s a thought I must have.”

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and lacking

strict guidance from Governor Phil Murphy on beach

access, municipalities down the Shore must decide for

themselves how to mandate and monitor social distancing

on their beaches and boardwalks. At deadline, as the

state awaited word of an end to Murphy’s stay-at-home

edict, it remained unclear when beach towns would be

open for business and how beachgoers would react to

new guidelines for summer days down the Shore.

While dates and details will likely differ from town

to town, government officials at all levels and business

owners alike agree that reopening the Shore as early

in the season as possible is imperative.

Beach Haven is home to some 60 businesses, all

packed into one square mile, all reliant on summer

tourism. For Mayor Nancy Davis, those businesses

are a priority. While waiting for definitive

word from Trenton on reopening dates,

Davis is working on plans to ensure that local

businesses make it through the season—and

beyond. Under consideration in Beach Haven

and other municipalities: easements allowing

restaurant seating and retail sales racks to spill

over onto sidewalks and into parking lots.

More than ever, Davis says, innovation

will be the key to success. She envisions store

windows filled with displays, but in place of an

open door for shoppers, a link to order items

online. Similarly, Shore restaurants—which

will likely have to space out their tables and

therefore serve fewer customers—can be

expected to shift a considerable part of their

dinner business to pickup and delivery.

“There will still be plenty of people who

won’t feel comfortable enough to eat in public,

as well as people who are high-risk who

shouldn’t be dining in restaurants when they

immediately reopen,” says Mark Hinchliffe,

chief brand officer of the Asbury Park-based

Smith Restaurant Group. “That’s where takeout

comes into play.” Among other restaurants,

Smith operates Porta in Asbury Park, which

opened for pickup-only in late April, after shutting

its doors mid-March.

“This is an evolutionary tipping point for

the restaurant industry,” says Hinchliffe. “New

models are being made up on the fly. It’s a time


PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES J. CONNOLLY



for rapid experimentation with little to

no safety net.”

the biggest change visitors to the Jersey

Shore are likely to see this season will

be on the beaches. Some towns anticipate

limiting beach access—a development

that seems contrary to the very nature of

the Shore experience.

“We are seriously considering a reservation

system for daily badges where we

would have a quota of available badges

and run all of them through an app,” says

Engelstad of Bradley Beach. Under this

model, seasonal badge-holders would take

priority over daily beachgoers and would

be guaranteed beach access. Weekenders

and day-trippers would use the app to buy

badges ahead of time for a specific day. On

the sand, roped-off, open lanes for access

and egress would keep beachgoers from

bumping into each other.

A number of Monmouth County beach

towns hope to unify behind this concept,

Engelstad says, but some are slow to embrace

new technology and reluctant to sacrifice

the tradition of on-site badge sales.

Engelstad acknowledges their concerns.

“A lot of people are used to just

showing up and buying a badge because,

in the past, we would never say, ‘Oh,

we’re full,’” he says. “This is an extremely

drastic change.”

Putting limits on parking availability is

another potential means for Shore towns

to reduce beach crowding. Governor

Murphy mentioned this tactic in early

May, while talking to the media about

possible reopening guidelines.

On LBI, Beach Haven’s Davis does

not anticipate restrictions on daily or

seasonal beach badge sales, or a price

change. Instead, she hopes to spread

out the crowds along Beach Haven’s two

miles of beaches. “Right now, what we

have is designated, guarded beaches. People

tend to congregate there,” she says. “If

we can spread the lifeguards out over the

two miles so people don’t congregate in

one specific area, I think that will help.”

Hiring additional lifeguards and using

some to patrol the beaches would aid this

effort, but Davis thinks most beachgoers

will distance appropriately without having

to be reminded.

Davis is hoping all of LBI’s towns synchronize

their reopening solutions.

“There are six municipalities on the

island,” Davis says. “If one town didn’t sell

beach badges, or all the beaches were closed

but a couple, we’d have everybody flocking

to those [open beaches]. It’d be crazy.”

Ben Rose, marketing and public relations

director for the Greater Wildwoods

Tourism and Improvement Development

Authority, doesn’t predict many issues

with visitors keeping their distance on

Wildwood’s beaches, most of which are

famously vast. “One main factor that

we have is our spacious beaches where

families can spread out.”

In Point Pleasant Beach, officials hope

to reopen in stages. “We are planning to

open the Maryland Avenue Beach on May

15,” says Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul

Kanitra. “It will be open to the public. We

will also be allowing all beach associations,

homeowner’s associations, beach

clubs, what have you, that own their sections

of the beach, to be open.”

Still, reopening will be subject to the

availability of seasonal police officers.

This year, pandemic-induced cancellations

of state-run training sessions will

leave seasonal officers in short supply.

In a year that could require additional

policing to enforce social distancing, the

shortage could be tough to overcome.

“Because we currently have just

one-third of the police officers we need

seasonally, we’ll have parking restrictions

east of the tracks,” says Kanitra. “Once we

have all our seasonal officers in place, we’ll

reassess opening all the beaches and the

boardwalk access.” His goal is for all of the

municipality’s beaches to be safe and fully

operational—without new restrictions on

access—by July 4th weekend.

Kanitra questions whether all Shore

towns should coordinate their reopening

plans. He suggests a phased reopening

based on rates of infection. “It seems foolhardy,”

says Kanitra, “to treat a municipality

that has zero cases the same as a municipality

that has dozens of new cases a day.”

Indeed, citing their area’s low infection

rates, Cape May County officials on

May 5 submitted to the governor a 35-

page plan for the “safe, smart, progressive”

reopening of the county’s beaches,

hotels, restaurants, shops and other

tourism attractions.

even as municipalities lay the groundwork

for reopening the beaches, Shore

businesses are evaluating what the sum-

Virus Clouds Picture

for Shore-Rental Season

randy sinor, a broker at mary allen realty, has been working on Long Beach

Island for 35 years. He’s never seen a summer season shape up quite like this one.

The Shore rental market this summer was looking to be bountiful, says Sinor—until

Covid-19 hit like a tidal wave.

“We’ve got homeowners who decided that they do not want to rent their properties

this coming season, and they’ve canceled their guests,” he says. “We have guests who

are worried, fearful of what could happen, and we’ve got those folks canceling.”

As the pandemic continues to weigh on New Jersey, prospects for this summer

season remain clouded. At deadline, short-term rentals were suspended in many Shore

towns, in keeping with Governor Phil Murphy’s stay-at-home orders. Even the governor’s

six-step plan for reopening the state hasn’t been much help, since it does not set

a reopening date.

In a typical season, Sinor says, his preseason cancellation rate for summer rentals

would be around 1 percent. “Today, I probably have about a 10–12 percent cancellation

rate,” he says. “Economically, it’s very impactful.”

It doesn’t help that there are so many separate Shore municipalities, each with its

own definitions and restrictions on such matters as short-term rentals.

“As of right now, I know Spring Lake has suspended [rentals] through June 1,” says

Chris O’Neil, rental manager for Diana Turton Realtors in Spring Lake. In mid-March,

beach towns halted the administration of the Certificates of Occupancy required for

short-term rentals. No certificate means no tenants. While some municipalities have


mer will bring. When will they be able to

open? How will they incorporate socialdistancing

rules? Will they need to hire

the usual number of seasonal workers?

Where will those workers come from?

Many seasonal businesses fill thousands

of open positions through the

exchange visitor, or J-1, program, of

the federal Bureau of Educational and

Cultural Affairs. The Shore relies on these

foreign students to supplement the small

numbers in local hiring pools. Without

these employees from overseas, businesses

may come up understaffed.

“It [could] potentially be a rough

season,” says Lou Cirigliano, director of

operations for Casino Pier and Breakwater

Beach in Seaside Heights, as he

ponders the impact of the coronavirus

state of emergency on recruitment. “We

closed right as we began hiring,” he says.

“The virus has affected the international

student program, and many more people

may be afraid to work in close proximity

with others.”

Given the pandemic, the federal Bureau

of Educational and Cultural Affairs,

while not suspending the J-1 program,

recommended that start dates for foreign

workers be postponed “for 60 days after

March 12, 2020,” according to a State Department

official. That meant Shore businesses

were unable to employ J-1 workers

until about May 12—less than two weeks

before the traditional Memorial Day

weekend start of the summer season.

Even without a strict suspension,

current U.S. travel restrictions on foreign

nationals remain a potential barrier for

the J-1 workers. President Trump’s declaration

in April of a temporary ban on

immigration further clouds the situation.

Then again, some believe the need for

J-1 students may be reduced this year. “I

don’t know if those jobs, respectfully, will

even be available this season,” says Michael

Egenton, executive vice president

of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

“I have to imagine that there’s

going to be several businesses there that

may not be in full operation or may not

even be able to open.”

In additon to addressing staff uncertainties,

municipalities and private

businesses are working

on new sanitization and

projected dates to lift

the suspensions, others,

such as Sea Girt, have

suspended issuance

of COs “until further

notice,” leaving renters,

landlords and realty

agents in limbo.

If and when a start

date for the Shore season is announced, that, too, will create a problem: a mad dash for

last-minute rentals.

“If we open up for business for Memorial Day, anyone who wants to rent in June or

July will need to jump on it,” says Eric Birchler, the broker owner of Birchler Realtors,

with offices in Lavallette, Ortley Beach and Seaside Park. In such a scenario, Birchler

predicts that rental demand could easily outstrip supply.

What’s more, when reopening dates are established, many preexisting rental contracts

will need to be reworked. Some renters might want to postpone their vacations

until later in the summer. Others might want to apply their deposits to next year or

attempt to get refunds.

Depite the uncertainty, brokers say renters shouldn’t expect any significant fluctuations

in rental rates. “Most [contracts] are already done. I don’t see owners giving a

discount on existing contracts,” says Birchler. “And I won’t be recommending any owners

raise their prices.”

To address renters’ concerns, some Shore realty agents have agreed to a standardized

addendum for new leases signed this season, according to Birchler. The addendum states

that deposits will be returned if, at the time of the lease start date, New Jersey has not

lifted its stay-at-home order and/or if beaches remain closed.— Shea Swenson

social-distancing systems.

In the Wildwoods, Rose says, the tourism

industry is implementing advanced

sanitizing protocols for hotel rooms and

public areas. Local restaurants will have,

additional approved outdoor seating. The

area’s main attraction, Morey’s Piers, is

installing queues and spacing protocols.

At Beach Haven’s Fantasy Island

Amusement Park, similar spacing and

sanitization rules are in place for the

season. Park owner Brian Wainwright

says they are considering removing every

other arcade game and filling only half

the seats of carnival rides each go-round.

And for the first time in the park’s 35

years, guests may need to be counted at

controlled entry points.

even with all of these precautions in

place, some communities are concerned

that people will be reluctant to travel this

summer—or at least, that the season will

get off to a slow start.

“We did a projection,” says Rose, “and

we’ve been looking at the studies, and it

looks as though, even when the travel ban

lifts, people will still be cautious in the

beginning.” Those projections show the

Wildwoods would only have between 30

and 42 percent of their usual business

this year. And that reduced market is

something every town will be competing

to capture.

But for some potential beachgoers,

months of lockdown may be more of an

incentive for summertime getaways. At

La Mer Beachfront Resort in Cape May,

while preseason reservation rates were

lower than projected before the pandemic,

cancellation rates were low as

well. When he looks at his numbers, La

Mer owner George Andy feels confident

that this summer season will still be a

success.

“We were at first very concerned with

cancellations and the fallout from the virus,

but so far, the majority of our guests

say they can’t wait for us to reopen,” says

Andy, whose family has owned La Mer

for more than 50 years. “While the state

of air travel is unclear, I am confident

staycations will prevail and be even more

popular than ever once we come through

the other side of this.”

Additional reporting by Lauren Payne in

Point Pleasant Beach.


COVID

CHRONICLES

TALES OF CARING, SHARING AND INNOVATION FROM ALL

CORNERS OF THE GARDEN STATE.

Evelyn and Steve Shalom marvel at the groceries delivered to

their Montclair home by volunteer Nicola Watson, foreground, a

yoga instructor and wellness professional who connected with the

couple through the community-building Umbrella website. ✤

ASBURY PARK //

This Fundraiser Is a Puzzle

Jenna Lazar likes to make art that does more

than just hang on a wall. In her workshop,

called After Rain, the Asbury Park-based photographer

and her husband, Bobby, turn shots

of iconic Shore-town scenes into what she

calls “functional art.” In addition to traditional

prints, After Rain sells flip-flops, coasters,

flasks, backpacks and more, all printed with

scenes from down the Shore.

As Covid-19 forced their neighbors, and their

family indoors, the Lazars found a way to use

their creations to entertain and give back to the

community. Now, through After Rain’s website,

onlyafterrain.com, customers can order Jenna’s

photos in the form of 130-255 piece jigsaw

puzzles, starting at $25. For each puzzle sold, 10

percent is donated to Asbury Park Dinner Table,

a nonprofit focused on providing meals to those

in need.

“We’ve had such a great reaction in the community,”

Jenna says. “Our best sellers used to be

posters, and now, all of a sudden, we’re puzzle

people.” —Shea Swenson

BAY HEAD // Stress Relief Via Zoom

Seeking to help stressed-out health care workers “stay centered in a really difficult time,” wellness professional Sally Younghans began offering

free “decompression breaks” using the ubiquitous Zoom app. The daily 30-minute sessions—part meditation, part stress management—are

timed to hospital shift changes at 8 am, 4 pm and 8 pm.

Younghans conducts the Zoom sessions from her Bay Head home. She begins each with a personal check-in. “I ask them to think

about how they’re feeling without getting caught up in the story around that feeling,” she says. “They begin to share. You’re in a circle of

trust, and it creates an instant bond.” The group then takes “a collective breath,” says Younghans, and she guides them through a traditional

meditation session. “We end with love and kindness affirmations.”

Younghans, whose business, MELT (Mindful Education Life Tools), provides mindfulness-training programs for professionals, is also

offering mindfulness sessions for at-risk youth in Newark and Atlantic City, through her connections with Covenant House.

Go to decompressionbreaks.com for more information.—Lauren Payne

PHOTOGRAPH: ED KASHI/VII


BERNARDSVILLE //

Doing Good in the

Worst of Times

Megan McDowell and her fellow volunteers at

Heartworks make it their mission to provide support

for families dealing with severe illnesses or

grief. The Covid-19 pandemic required more than

simple acts of kindness.

“We heard about Covid patients at Morristown

Memorial Medical Center who were about to be

put on ventilators, but had no way to communicate

with their loved ones, unless they borrowed a

nurse’s private cell phone,” recalls McDowell. “So

we went outside our usual mission to purchase 15

iPads for the hospital.”

McDowell and her cadre of do-gooders are

always on the lookout for ways to help. Since the

health crisis spread to Central Jersey, the Bernardsville-based

group has sent $15,000 in checks to 18

area families; arranged for restaurant deliveries and

gift certificates for Covid-19 caregivers; organized

car parades for ill and grieving kids; and handled

errands for local VFW veterans.

Heartworks (njheartworks.org ) was formed after

McDowell witnessed an outpouring of kindness

when her brother-in-law, John Farrell of Basking

Ridge, was killed in the 9/11 attacks. “Heartworks is

about taking care of each other the way we did after

9/11. This pandemic is reminiscent of that same

feeling. We all need each other,” she says.

—Susan Brierly Bush

A group of 12 Mount Tabor residents tapped into their collections

of vintage quilting material to sew some 300 masks for donation

to the Atlantic Health System. Before sending the masks

on their way, local jewelry artist Danielle Merzatta arranged

them into this colorful mandala on her dining-room table. ✤

PHOTOGRAPHS: (MASKS) COURTESY OF DANIELLE MERZATTA;

(MUSICIANS) COURTESY OF MAYA EPPENBACH

CAMDEN // Food Baskets, Diapers

and More—From the Heart

For those seeking to help communities in need, sometimes the biggest

challenge is figuring out how to reach into those communities.

Heart of Camden has a solution for that. The 36-year-old nonprofit

community-development organization acts as liaison between

donors and some of Camden’s most vulnerable residents.

“We’re on the ground,” says Carlos Morales, Heart of Camden’s

executive director. “We have the benefit of being an organization

that people historically have donated to, and connections within the

community to get things out quickly.”

Soon after statewide stay-in-place orders were issued, Heart

of Camden distributed boxes of food from Virtua Hospital’s Food

Pantry to 100 families in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood.

The following week, Goodwill of South Jersey offered a U-Haul

full of adult and baby diapers, which Heart of Camden delivered to

homeless people and assisted-living residents. Next up was a Sewing

for Seniors campaign, with Heart of Camden asking anyone with

needlework skills to help sew face masks for 250 seniors.

“A lot of our seniors are living by themselves. They’re worried

and scared,” says Morales. “And with the governor requiring everyone

to wear a mask going to the grocery store, getting these face

masks delivered is even more critical.”—Jill P. Capuzzo

CAPE MAY //

The Band Plays On

The day the music died in Cape May was short-lived. On

the same day the state barred social gatherings, musical duo

Lelah and Jay Eppenbach (aka the Honeyhawks) started

playing live for friends on Facebook from their living room.

Their kickoff concert, the Virtually Cape May Happy

Hour, was heartening. Lelah called out to friends as they

joined them online. The Eppenbachs’ kids ran into the

room and waved. In time, the Eppenbachs’ get-togethers

morphed into a concert series featuring 50 musicians, with

twice-nightly shows and audiences of up to 200. A virtual

tip jar allowed performers to support local charities or outof-work

colleagues.

“We’re grateful for the

musicians in our community

and music’s ability to

distract and soothe,” says

Lelah. “It’s a big difference

from playing in a bar.

It’s intimate, and there’s a

beautiful reciprocity.”

—Lynn Martenstein

CLIFTON //

Hasty Revamp for School Lunch Program

On March 12, Mark Gengaro received the shocking news: effective March

16, New Jersey schools would close to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The

district administrator of climate and security for the Clifton Public School

District faced a huge challenge: overhauling the state-sanctioned freeand

reduced-lunch program to meet social-distancing regulations.

“We didn’t have a lot of time,” says Gengaro. And there was a lot to do.

Gengaro and his team developed instructions and maps for the students

who qualify for the program—roughly 55 percent of the district’s kids.

The information was written in English, Spanish and Arabic—the most

common languages of the more than 70 spoken at the district’s 19 public

schools.

On March 17, the revamped nutrition service was up and running at

three schools designated as drive-thru and walk-up distribution sites.

To minimize contact exposure, meals are distributed on Monday,

Wednesday and Friday from 10–11:30 am—a small window of time

to serve a total of 10,000–12,000 meals weekly. Printed packets of

schoolwork are also distributed to families who may not have Internet

access. At each location, it’s all hands on deck. Six custodians clean

tables. About a dozen staff members don gloves and masks to serve

food. Behind the scenes, 15 workers from Pomptonian, the district’s food

service, prepare the meals.

To boost morale, music is played at the pick-up locations, and teachers

or administrators are present. “[Students] smile when they see their

principal helping distribute the meals,” says Gengaro.

Once the rush dies down, the staff sometimes delivers food and

instructional packets to qualified students who could not retrieve the

packages. “We understand that this is the only meal that a family may

even get,” says Gengaro.—Jacqueline Klecak

Roseann and

Alan Shaiman

of Montclair,

with son Zac,

share love and

paper kisses on

a drive-by visit

to family and

grandkids in

Wayne. ✤

HADDONFIELD //

Socially Distant Sculptures

The mailman is wearing a face

mask, as is the older couple on the

bench. It’s a sign of the times that

some of the life-size sculptures in

and around Haddonfield’s historic

downtown have been outfitted in

protective gear.

The whimsical installations began

in 2014, and there are now 20

sculptures in the central business

district of this Camden County

town. Some, like the couple—Steadfast and Loyal, by

artist Ken Ross—are permanent; other pieces rotate.

The Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust was the

brainchild of Stuart Harting, who envisioned the public

art as a regional draw for the borough. In addition to

the downtown installations, there is a Children’s Sculpture

Garden in Tatem Park that features a bronze sea

lion, toad and rabbit.

A 13-foot giraffe was supposed to be added to the

menagerie in April during Haddonfield’s second Annual

Sculpture Month, but his arrival was delayed by

the state lockdown.

A naming contest for the giraffe resides online.

“This is a temporary setback,” explains Harting. “The

giraffe is still looking forward to a trip to Haddonfield.”

—Patricia Alex

ISLAND HEIGHTS //

Ocean County Bell Ringers

The sun was about to set over Toms River when Barbara

Parisi stepped onto the wrap-around porch of her 19thcentury

Victorian in Island Heights and began ringing a

hand-held teacher’s bell. The 67-year-old kindergarten

aide certainly wasn’t calling any students in from recess.

Rather, Parisi was adding to the symphony of

church bells, chimes, and clacking pots and pans

sounding throughout Ocean County from 7-7:02 pm

every Wednesday in solidarity against coronavirus.

Following the lead of New York City and Connecticut,

28-year-old yoga instructor Tara Marqua of Little

Egg Harbor launched the Ocean County bell-ringing

campaign on social media in early April.

Her #oceancountyflattensthecurve message was

soon shared by more than 1,500 people. By mid-April,

Ocean County had the eighth highest coronavirus

numbers in the state, with 4,016 confirmed cases and

166 deaths. With each passing week, the countywide

evening chorus grew louder.

“In the beginning, people were wondering, Why’s

the church bell ringing?” says Katie Frankovich, 58, who

rings an antique bell and a bicycle bell each Wednesday.

“Then you start to hear other bells, and pots and

pans banging, and it really carries.”—JPC

PHOTOGRAPHS: (SCHOOL) COURTESY OF SAMANTHA DEROSE; (SCULPTURES) COURTESY OF MARY ALEX;

(CAR) COURTESY OF JASON TUCHMAN


C O V I D C H R O N I C L E S

PHOTOGRAPHS: (GW BRIDGE) GEORGE STEINMETZ; (ROLLISON) LAURA MOSS

JERSEY CITY // Days of Fear, a Lifetime of Gratitude

Noted aerial

photograper George

Steinmetz caught

this eastbound view

of the empty toll

booths at the Fort

Lee approach to the

George Washington

Bridge at 7:43 pm

on Tuesday, April

14. Typically, the

bridge would still

be packed with

commuters heading

home to Jersey. ✤

A week before Easter Sunday, Jersey City resident Rich Rollison, 68, came down with a range

of symptoms: aches, chills and a deep cough. Within 48 hours, he made the short walk from his

home to Christ Hospital, where he lay on a gurney in an ER hallway for 14 hours until a room was

available. A few days later, Rollison’s Covid-19 test came back positive. “I’ve never felt so bad in

my life,” he says. “I would literally just lay and stare at the ceiling for hours and listen to all the

sounds of disaster around me.”

Released after six days, Rollison calls the six-day hospital stay a “life-changing experience.” He

will be forever grateful to his health care workers. “They’re risking their lives to go to work every

day,” he says. “Everyone was so kind and upbeat, and I really appreciated it, because I was scared.”

Rollison says he is surprised to see some people not following social-distancing guidelines. “I

was really careful. I wore gloves and masks everywhere,” he says. “It just amazes me that people

aren’t taking it more serious.”—Shelby Vittek

NUTLEY //

Teacher

Reveals a

Silver Lining

As a first-grade teacher at

Nutley’s Washington School

for 16 years, Kristen Fazio

knows the importance of

being adaptable. That skill

came in handy during the

speedy transition to remote

teaching in mid-March.

On the last day of inschool

instruction, Fazio and

her colleagues scrambled

to brief their students on

Schoology, a virtual learning

system. The teachers

were also navigating new

territory: how to simulate

the classroom environment

from afar.

“That’s the difficult thing

with this,” says Fazio. “You

have to meet their needs,

but it’s hard to through

the computer.” Suddenly,

parents or guardians had

to play larger roles. Fazio’s

6- and 7-year-old students

need an adult’s help using

the computer and completing

work. For a teacher, that

means being more flexible.

The virtual school day runs

9:30 am-noon and 2–3 pm,

but Fazio fields e-mails and

phone calls after hours from

working parents.

Brainstorming with

fellow teachers has eased

the adjustment to distance

learning. “I’m grateful for the

good teamwork,” she says.

Raz-Kids, an online

guided-reading program, has

been a lifesaver. Through the

program, students record

themselves reading, and

teachers offer feedback.

Another useful tool: Google

Meet, a video-conferencing

service that gives Fazio’s 20

students the opportunity to

see each other and Fazio.

The lockdown, says

Fazio, “has become a learning

experience for everybody.

That’s the little silver

lining.” —JK



Ambushed: A Doctor on the Telemedicine Frontier

Dr. Rujuta Saksena practices oncology and hematology at Overlook Medical Center in

Summit. During the coronavirus lockdown, she and many of her colleagues were forced

to connect with patients using digital devices. She posted about the experience at njmonthly.com.

Here are excerpts:

Centuries of doctor-patient relations

have centered on in-person exchanges

and physical examinations. We

have been conditioned to view that

as the norm. Then came the Covid-19

ambush. Health-care providers have

been forced into an overnight “arranged

marriage” with telemedicine.

For some of us, there is potential for

love.

Over the past few weeks, I have

had conversations with my colleagues

about the new flavoring of

our professional life. Here are some

heart-warming notes about telemedicine

in the time of Covid-19:

● Seeing our patients in their pajamas

is endearing.

● We can work in pajamas, too.

● Finally “meeting” their dogs and

cats that they talk so much about.

● Reminding them about social

distancing as their grandkids play

on their laps.

● Feeling amazed after a successful

FaceTime visit with an 89-yearold.

● Enjoying a cup of coffee with our

patients is now acceptable.

● Fixing our hair in the camera during

video chats is easy.

● We can kic off our heels and the

patients won’t know.

● iPads are now a legitimate business

expense.

This is all in addition to the benefits

of keeping patients safe from

unnecessary infectious exposures,

improving access to care, cutting

health care costs, and contributing

toward a greener earth from fewer

car emissions.

To be fair, this optimistic view

of telemedicine has to be weighed

against its downsides: lack of physical

examinations, inability to console

patients during bad news, inability

to obtain valuable blood work, etc.

However, to get through this crisis

with as little PTSD as possible, we

need to keep our rose-colored eye

shields on.

As one colleague put it, “It’s just a

different vibe.” ✤

NORTH WILDWOOD //

Boardwalk Sewing

Empire

Phyllis Ida Concordia closed Rapunzel’s, her

home-décor shop on the Wildwood boardwalk,

two days before Governor Murphy shut down

all nonessential businesses. She closed early,

hoping to give visitors one less reason to shop.

A skilled seamstress who makes the shop’s

custom pieces, Concordia decided to put her

talent to work against Covid-19 by making

face masks. With 200 bolts of fabric and

100 yards of elastic in stock, Concordia was

ready when Cape Regional Medical Center

posted an appeal for masks. The next day, she

mobilized volunteer stitchers via Facebook to

mass-produce coverings. Her pitch: “You get

precut materials for free, you get no money,

and you get props for doing a good thing.”

Recruit Donna Dorworth provided free pickup

and delivery.

The sewing circle grew to 37 volunteers.

By deadline, they had sewn more than 1,700

masks for hospital staff and were mid-stitch

through another 1,000 pieces. Concordia’s goal

is 5,000 masks.—LM

PATERSON //

Food Pantry Addresses Hunger—and Fear

Before Covid-19, the Father English Community Center food pantry in Paterson

allowed people to visit only once a month. But when the quarantine threw thousands

of people out of work, that restriction was lifted.

“Anytime they need food, they can come to us,” says Carlos Roldan, program

director for the pantry. “They are scared. They don’t need to be hungry.”

Worst hit, he says, are undocumented immigrants who have lost jobs, but are

shut out of unemployment insurance, food stamps and Covid-related stimulus

checks. “They will not get anything,” says Roldan.

The food bank, run by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson, usually

serves about 7,000 people a

month. By late April, it was on

track to serve more than double

that number.

The numbers are also up

at the nearby CUMAC food

pantry. Both Paterson pantries

try to keep workers and clients

at a safe distance. “We don’t

want to spread the virus, yet we

want to stay open to make sure

we feed as many people as we

can,” says Rose Bates, director

of community engagement at

CUMAC. —Kathleen Lynn

PHOTOGRAPHS: (DR. SAKSENA) COURTESY OF THE DOCTOR; (FOOD BANK) COURTESY OF CUMAC


PRINCETON //

From Keepsakes to Hospital Essentials

In early April, orders ground to a halt at Patchwork Bear, Jennifer

Cura’s Princeton-based keepsake company. At the time, Cura didn’t

expect to put her sewing skills to use for an entirely new purpose. Then

she heard from Dr. Garrett Sutter, chairman of emergency medicine at

Capital Health Hospitals and a fellow parent at her childrens’ school.

Anticipating a shortage in protective gear at the Trenton and

Hopewell hospitals that comprise the Capital system, Sutter asked

Cura if she could design an isolation gown. The 50-year-old Cura, who

normally makes stuffed memory animals and quilts out of saved clothing,

sprang into action, creating sample gowns made of both Tyvek and

muslin. Neither material fit the bill.

Ultimately, focusing on a durable gown that could be washed and

reused, Cura scored quilting material from a fabric warehouse in Paterson.

Sew-on cuffs came from a sweatshirt manufacturer in Pennsylvania.

After testing the new prototype, hospital personnel suggested

that the Velcro fasteners be replaced with wrap-around ties. “They

wanted something they could change out of quickly and they could do

by themselves,” says Cura.

The order was placed: 1,000 gowns, stat.

Cura brought home four sewing machines from her Princeton

studio and recruited her son, Luke, and daughter, Mia, to help sew the

gowns. Husband Rick cut the fabric. Needing more help, Cura turned

to Trenton-based Switlik, a supplier of inflatable vests and rafts for the military. Monies raised on GoFundMe supported

the project. In fewer than three weeks, the unlikely team was able to fulfill the hospital’s needs. Subsequently,

Cura’s family sewed gowns and masks for the Army Corps of Engineers.

“She’s not a medical person, she’s just someone who was able to fill a breach,” says Sutter of Cura’s ingenuity. “The

people who are wearing these gowns are really appreciative.”—JPC

PHOTOGRAPHS: (GOWNS) COURTESY OF RICK CURA ; (DRIVER) LAURA BAER

RIDGEFIELD PARK //

Tempers Flare in the Grocery Aisles

There are some days when Christina Thomas doesn’t feel like

going to her part-time job at the Ridgefield Park IGA. But, says

Thomas, “I know that if I don’t go into work, there’s no one

there to take my spot.”

Thomas, a student at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut,

returned home to Bogota when classroom teaching

was suspended and began picking up shifts at the Village IGA,

where she has worked on and off for the past three years. The

coronavirus hit Bergen County hard, and the store is often

short-staffed, putting extra pressure on Thomas. She says it’s

difficult to complete her duties at the store while also enforcing

social distancing. What’s more, conditions at the store are

often hectic and can grow contentious. Tempers have flared.

“Lines are going down the aisles, and people are snapping

at each other saying, ‘Stay six feet back’ and ‘Where’s your

mask?’” she says.

While some shoppers are on edge, others maintain their

neighborliness and inquire about her life—just as they did before

the pandemic. “A lot of people are caring,” says Thomas.

“They’ll ask me how I’m doing, even though they don’t know

my first name. But now, there’s a gloominess to it.”

—Royal Thomas II

UPS driver Mike

Canfield has done

more than his

share during the

coronavirus lockdown.

“I’m doing

more stops than at

Christmas,” says

Canfield. “It’s not

the volume that’s

greater, it’s the

number of stops.

I usually do 120

stops in a day; now

I’m doing 200.”

People throughout

New Jersey gained a fresh appreciation for

postal workers and drivers like Canfield,

who have been bringing the world to their

doorsteps throughout the health crisis. ✤



TEANECK //

Improvising a New ICU

A tsunami of Covid-19 patients slammed Holy Name Medical Center in

March. Beds were in short supply; isolation pods were needed.

Steven L. Mosser, vice president for facilities, met with workers on a

Sunday to lay out the challenge. They had to move fast; there was no time

to wait for construction materials to be delivered.

“It was like a scene from Apollo 13,” says Mosser, who told his crew, “If

it’s not available today, we can’t use it.” The team fanned out to multiple

Home Depot and Lowe’s stores to grab supplies.

Within a month, 30 facilities employees and 50 contractors, plus volunteers

from around the building, transformed the hospital. They increased

the number of intensive care beds from 19 to 121. The number of beds in

negative-pressure rooms, where contaminated air is vented outside, was

upped from 12 to 276. They used plexiglass, duct tape and PVC pipe to

fashion more than 200 makeshift iso-pods, which surround patients to

limit the spread of contagion. Holy Name is seeking a patent for its iso-pod

design, but in the meantime, sharing it with other hospitals on YouTube.

Normally, creating a new intensive care unit would take nine months of

planning, permitting and bids. Holy Name built two in a matter of weeks.

Unlike his medical colleagues, Mosser, a mechanical engineer by training,

doesn’t usually get to save lives, but he feels that his Covid-19 efforts

probably did just that.

“That’s probably the most rewarding thing you can do,’’ he says.—KL

VERONA //

Masks for Veterans—

and More

Brett D’Alessandro, a former U.S. Marine sergeant,

and his girlfriend, Alexa Modero, have been

operating the Verona-based nonprofit Backpacks

for Life since 2014. The company distributes its

signature, American-made product, the Bowery

Pack, to homeless veterans. The backpack

includes a locking cable and collapsible sleep pad

and is stuffed with a rain poncho, blanket, toiletries

and emergency supplies.

But when Covid-19 hit, D’Alessandro and

Modero did an about-face. They began making

masks. “We developed great contacts in the U.S.

textile industry through the manufacturing of

our backpacks, and we knew we had the ability

to help,” says D’Alessandro. “It was a two-week

process of learning the materials and how to make

effective masks at the lowest cost possible, and

then we were on our way.”

The masks, which were fast-tracked for FDA

approval, are manufactured at United States

Manufacturing Company (USMC) in Passaic, a

cut-and-sew factory owned by Mario and Domenick

Monaco, who are also former Marines.

The masks consist of three layers of nonwoven

polypropylene that is water repellent and

breathable and has a bacteria filtration efficacy

of 95 percent.

D’Alessandro raised $45,000 through grants

and a GoFundMe campaign in April and produced

and distributed 7,234 masks to veteran’s associations,

VA hospitals, homeless shelters, soup

kitchens, police and fire departments, and small

municipalities. They are continuing to raise money

to achieve their goal of giving out 150,000 masks.

“We make no profit whatsoever,” says

D’Alessandro. “We just want to get the masks into

the hands of groups who have a need and can’t

otherwise afford them.”—Lindsay Berra

Call them signs

of the times.

Handmade

signs sprouted

on lawns and

in windows all

over the Garden

State, sharing

messages

of hope and

support amid

the fear and

suffering of the

pandemic. ✤

PHOTOGRAPHS: (HOLY NAME) COURTESY OF JEFF RHODE/HOLY NAME MEDICAL CENTER;

(SIGNS) ALL IRA BLACK EXCEPT HELLO FRIENDS, LAURA BAER


Out of the ICU and

Into the Driveway

Dr. Anish Samuel wasn’t taking any

chances. With a 2-year-old son and a very

pregnant wife at home, Samuel, an ICU

doctor specializing in pulmonary care at

St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in

Paterson, knew extreme precautions were

needed to protect his family from the coronavirus.

Samuel was working on the front

lines against the disease; even the most intense

daily cleansing routine wasn’t enough.

There was only one thing to be done: He had

to move out.

Luckily, Samuel heard about a Facebook

group called RVs for MDs. After completing

an application, he connected with an RV

owner in West Orange, who took his camper

out of storage and hauled it to Samuel’s

driveway in Nutley.

Shortly after Samuel moved into the RV,

his wife, Jessica, a nurse anesthetist, gave

birth to a baby girl. Now her parents are

staying with her to help care for the infant. ✤

PHOTOGRAPHS: (DR. SAMUEL) LAURA BAER;

(MASK MAKING) COURTESY OF ELIN DELGHIACCIO

VOORHEES //

Empty Shelter Pivots to

Providing Pet Food

Like most things in the era of coronavirus, it’s

anything but business as usual at the oldest and

largest no-kill animal shelter in South Jersey.

The Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees

has been nearly emptied, with most animals

placed in foster care for the duration of the state

lockdown. Adoptions, intake and veterinary

services have been curtailed. A long-awaited

construction project is on hold, staff has been furloughed,

and the organization’s largest fundraiser—a

5K walkathon—was moved online.

But food-pantry programs for pets have

tripled in response to community need, says Maya

Richmond, executive director at AWA. “Our

whole world has had to pivot and change,” she

says. “We’re looking for ways to take the pain out

of people’s financial losses.”

AWA partnered with two local churches

and the Voorhees Police Department to deliver

donated pet food and supplies to home-bound

people and pets. The shelter continues to operate

its Chow Stops program, delivering those items to

needy pet owners in Camden.—PA

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP //

Making Face Shields at Warp Speed

What started as a small project by

the robotics and computer clubs

at Warren Hills Regional High

School quickly snowballed into a

community-wide volunteer effort

that produced more than 15,000

face shields.

Junior Bobby Delghiaccio got the

ball rolling when he borrowed the

school’s 3D printer to make anchoring

clasps for surgical masks. The

concept worked, but it was too slow, he says. Club advisor Daryl Detrick

then found a simple pattern for clear plastic face shield, and snagged the

sought-after components on the Internet, “just a few days ahead of the

curve.”

The club gave kits of clear plastic, foam strips, double-sided tape and

tie clasps to 200 area families. Within 48 hours, those families assembled

15,000 shields in kitchens and dining rooms throughout Warren County.

With similar speed, a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $40,000.

Students at Mt. Olive High School got involved as well.

The shields were distributed to hospitals, nursing homes and EMT

workers throughout the region.

The project taught an important lesson. “I’ve learned our community

is awesome,” says Delghiaccio.“In not a lot of time, we were able to accomplish

an amazing amount.”—Kathleen O’Brien


JUNE EVENTS GUIDE

Search by town or date at njmonthly.com/things-to-do-in-nj

I Theater I

Paper Mill Playhouse

The Millburn theater presents livestreams

on Facebook from their long-ago Humanities

Symposium Program. Every Thursday at 7 pm,

tune in for performance videos from their

vault, featuring Paper Mill and Broadway stars.

Scheduled through June 11, these

symposiums are also accessible

after the live viewings. (facebook.com/PaperMillPlayhouse)

State Theatre New Jersey

Visit the historic New Brunswick

theater’s Online Culture Fix, a

digital theater hub for all ages. Test

your knowledge of theater facts;

listen to podcast interviews and

read Q&As with past performers.

Learn more about past productions

through study-guide resources; view sessions of

Milk & Cookies, a storytelling and music series for

young children; enjoy musical performances from

artists-in-residence; watch a time-lapse video of a

production day; take quizzes and more. (stnj.org/

events/online-culture-fix)

Jersey City Theater Center

The organization has launched JCTC Conversations

Online: Voices From Around The World, a

weekly series that links international and Jersey

City artists. These interactive Zoom meetings include

performances, interviews and discussions

with participating musicians, poets, spokenword

artists, singer/songwriters and actors.

Audience members can join the conversations.

(jctcenter.org)

NOTE:

All listings

presented here are

virtual activities.

Most public events

have been canceled

due to the state of

emergency; check

our website for

latest event updates.

Shakespeare

Theatre of

New Jersey

Walk down memory lane

with artistic director

Bonnie J. Monte in her

online diary series—“our

humble and small gift

to you in these difficult

times,” she writes. Read

about the highs and lows

of Monte’s 30-year tenure

with the company.

Guest diarists include

longtime company

members and subscribers.

shakespearenj.org/

memorylane.html

New Jersey Repertory Company

Check out the Long Branch–based theater’s Beyond

the Curtain series. In each two-minute video,

a playwright, actor or director reflects on his or her

time working with the company. (vimeo.com/njrep)

McCarter Theatre Center

Connect with the Princeton theater through

McCarter@HOME, a virtual center offering

classes, interviews, play-reading groups and

behind-the-scenes videos.

(mccarter.org/mccarterathome)

Mayo Performing

Arts Center

The theater’s Virtual Arts web

page is updated regularly with an

abundance of videos for patrons

to watch from local, national and

international performing artists.

Remember MPAC’s summer

concerts on the Morristown Green?

Enjoy archival footage from those

musical performances. (mayoarts.org/virtual-arts)

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

NJPAC in Your Living Room is an online portal

offering a collection of videos from past

performances and workshops, as well as arts

content from NJPAC partners. (njpac.org/

inyourlivingroom)

I Art I

Grounds for Sculpture

Founded by the late Seward Johnson in 1992,

this 42-acre park in Hamilton houses 400

larger-than-life abstract forms and human figures.

Explore the outdoor museum’s collection

online. (groundsforsculpture.org/art/collection)

New Jersey Photography Forum

Shutterbugs can browse more than a thousand

Schedules may change; call to verify event information.

Submit your event to the online calendar via njmonthly.com/submit-an-event or by e-mail: events@njmonthly.com

photographs in the forum’s breathtaking digital

galleries. (njphotoforum.com)

Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center

In honor of the center’s 50th anniversary, reminisce

with an archival photo gallery of glassmaking

through the years. Get creative with the

weekly family art workshop video series. Watch

process videos and view exhibit galleries from

past Emanation Projects, the center’s annual

site-specific exhibition. (wheatonarts.org/

learn/connect)

Newark Museum of Art

The 110-year-old museum’s 130,000 works

include Asian, African, Latin-American, ancient

Mediterranean and American art. Browse

these collections online and learn more about

each work and artist. (newarkmuseumart.org/

search-our-collection)

Montclair Art Museum

Opened in 1914, the museum’s holdings of

American and Native American art total

12,000 pieces. Peruse 650 of these works in

the museum’s digital collection.

(montclairartmuseum.org/exhibitions)

Morris Museum

The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection occupies

an entire wing of the 1913 museum. It displays

150 antique mechanical musical instruments

and moving figures—known as automata—from

the late 16th through early 20th centuries. See

Rowan University

Art Gallery

The “Tracing Origins” exhibit brings

together three Philadelphia-based

artists who create work inspired by

their ancestral homelands and native

cultures. Check out the vibrant

works through this virtual exhibit.

rowan.edu/artgallery

PHOTOGRAPHS: (A SCENE FROM THE MISANTHROPE) COURTESY OF SHAKESPEARE THEATRE OF NEW JERSEY; (ARTWORK) COURTESY OF ROWAN

UNIVERISTY ART GALLERY


Rescheduled

Festivals

The Montclair Literary Festival was

originally scheduled for March 25–29. The

main festival day is rescheduled for September

12. (succeed2gether.org/montclairliterary-festival)

The Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City,

originally scheduled for March 27–29, is

rescheduled for October 9–11. (thefest.com)

The Atlantic City Beer and Music

Festival, originally scheduled for April

3–4, is rescheduled for August 7-8.

(acbeerfest.com)

The Jersey Shore Wine & Food Trucks

Festival in Lakewood, originally scheduled

for April 25, is rescheduled for October 3.

(jerseyshorewinefestival.com)

PHOTOGRAPHS: (NJSO) COURTESY OF TRISTAN COOK; (BATTLESHIP NJ) COURTESY OF BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

Through NJSO at Home, classical music lovers can listen to hours of broadcasts and

recordings of past performances by the orchestra. The group also has new video programs.

In the Couch Concerts series, NJSO musicians share performances from their

homes. In the Instrument Showcase, artists demonstrate both familiar and rarely

seen instruments. The NJSO Youth Orchestra Spotlight explores the experiences of

student musicians. njsymphony.org/musicians-music/njso-at-home

them for yourself online. (morrismuseum.org/

mechanical-musical-instruments-automata)

Hunterdon Art Museum

The Clinton museum is offering five virtual

exhibitions. Enjoy a panoramic view of the

in-person galleries. Click on each work to learn

more. (hunterdonartmuseum.org/virtualexhibitions)

Princeton University Art Museum

View the museum’s collection, which includes

more than 100,000 works from five continents.

(artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections)

I Music I

Grammy Museum Experience

Every weekday at 3 pm, tune in as director of

artist relations and programming Mark Conklin

interviews various recording artists in the

museum’s Mini Masterclass video series. View

all videos after they premiere on YouTube.

(grammymuseumexp.org)

I Kids I

The Growing Stage/The Children’s

Theatre of New Jersey

TGS TV is an online arts-enrichment academy.

Each week, a new theme with corresponding

educational resources and activities is shared

via Facebook. (growingstage.com/tgstv)

Adventure Aquarium

Keep kids busy with downloadable animalfocused

worksheets, word scramblers, writing

prompts, and compare-and-contrast activities.

Also, view videos of animal feedings.

(adventureaquarium.com/kids-activities)

I Video Tours I

Cape May Lighthouse

“Climb” the 199 steps to the watch gallery of

the 1859 beacon for sweeping views of the

Atlantic Ocean. (capemaymac.org/experience/

cape-may-lighthouse)

Physick House Museum

A guide provides an oral history as he walks through

the 1879 Victorian estate in Cape May. (capemaymac.org/experience/emlen-physick-estate)

Battleship

New Jersey

Children and adults alike

can explore the nation’s

most decorated battleship

through a 30-minute

video tour. Stuck-athome

students can also

engage with the interactive

content added daily

to the ship’s YouTube

channel. youtube.com/

battleshipnewjersey

The Cape May Music Festival, which

is typically held in May and June, has

rescheduled some concerts for September

and October. (capemaymac.org)

TEDxAsburyPark, originally scheduled

for May 2, is postponed until spring 2021.

Date TBA. (tedxasburypark.com)

The Pour Into Summer Wine Festival

in Wildwood, originally scheduled for May

16–17, is rescheduled for October 3–4.

(wildwoodsnj.com)

The Crawfish Fest in Augusta, originally

scheduled for May 29–31, is rescheduled

for August 21–23. (crawfishfest.com)

The Maplewood–South Orange Book

Festival, originally scheduled for June

5–6, is rescheduled for September 25–26.

(mapsobookfest.org)

The NJ Beer Festival Aboard the Battleship

in Camden, originally scheduled

for June 20, is rescheduled for November

7. (battleshipnewjersey.org)


NJM Newsletters

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PHOTOGRAPH: ERIK RANK

yx

eat & drink

eat &

drink

EDITED BY ERIC LEVIN

Settling for Survival

Amid huge losses, restaurants adapt to takeout and

brace for a chastened new normal. by Eric Levin

“it’s a madhouse every minute of the

day,” said Al Santillo, pushing another

pizza into his century-old brick oven.

“I’m 63, and my buddies say, ‘retire

and come play cards,’ but I feel needed

here.” The oven, 16 feet deep, is in the

tiny house in Elizabeth where Santillo,

the son of a baker, grew up. Since the

pandemic began, he’s been putting in 15-

hour days and has committed to donating

seven pies a day to the local hospital

and EMS squad “for the duration.”

“I’ve been here 30 years,” he said,

“and I’ve never been this busy.”

With the restriction of restaurants to

takeout and delivery in response to Covid-19,

pizza—inexpensive, transportable

and beloved—may be one of the few

relative bright spots, at least for places

like Santillo’s that were already takeout

dynamos. “Pizzerias,” said Domenico

Boccia, a salesman for Ferraro Foods in

Piscataway and one of Santillo’s suppliers,

“are surviving the best of anybody.”

But if pizza is a bright spot, it bobs in

WRAP

AND RUN

Meny Vaknin, chef/

owner of Mishmish in

Montclair, completes a

take-out order and places

it with others for pick up.

“I’ve got no time for

anything else,” he

says.

a sea of darkness. As of early May, when

this issue went to press, “97 percent of

restaurant operators in the state have

laid off or furloughed employees,” said

Marilou Halvorsen, executive director

of the New Jersey Restaurant and

Hospitality Association. This amounts

to about 222,000 people out of work in

a restaurant and hospitality labor force

that was about 350,000 strong, she said.

The National Restaurant Association

estimates there are 19,050 eating and

drinking places in the state.

For owners, the decision to close temporarily

or soldier on was not easy. Shutting

down meant not only loss of income,

but giving away or throwing out precious

inventory while continuing to shoulder

fixed costs such as rent, taxes, utilities.

Staying open made sense only if the

menu could be readily adapted to takeout—impractical

for fine dining exemplars

like Restaurant Nicholas in Red

Bank or the Ryland Inn in Whitehouse

Station. But restaurants run on passion.

For many operators, staying open, or

reopening after a brief closure—even

with reduced staff, a reduced menu and

reduced prices—was a bet worth making.

“If we had kept closed,” said Meny

Vaknin, whose flagship, Mishmish, is

one of three restaurants he owns in

Montclair, the risk of losing customers

as well as valued staff would have

increased, making it “harder to come

back.” To boost revenue, a number of

places, including South + Pine in Morristown,

Viaggio in Wayne, and all Turning

Point locations, began grocery items.

To ease the pain, Congress created

the Paycheck Protection Program to

make small-business loans that

would be forgiven if at least 75

percent of were applied to payroll.

But the fine print imposed

conditions that, for restaurants,

were seen as hobbling. Chief

among these was the requirement

to spend all the money

within eight weeks, a span in which

normal operations were impossible.

Still, several respected New Jersey

restaurateurs took the loans, including

Vaknin, Dan Richer of Razza in Jersey

City, and Neilly Robinson of Heirloom

Kitchen in Old Bridge. “It’s given us the

confidence to operate with a full staff,”

Robinson said. “It’s nothing to scoff at.”

On April 22, the National Restaurant

Association released a pamphlet,

Covid-19 Reopening Guidelines, that

confirmed a lot of speculation. In addition

to heightened standards for sanitizing

surfaces and employee hygiene, it

recommended spacing tables at least six

feet apart and placing partitions between

them. Suggestions included, “Consider a

reservations-only business model, ...try

not to allow guests to congregate in waiting

areas or bar areas, ...[and] discontinue

self-serve buffets and salad bars.”

These restrictions will mean perhaps

a 50 percent reduction in seating

capacity and therefore revenue. It’s

questionable whether small restaurants

can survive under those terms. Whether

people will flock to take those seats

also remains to be seen. At some point,

restaurants will again be allowed to seat

people at tables. Whether people will

readily take those seats and accept close

proximity to others, even with partitions

and such, remains to be seen.


yx

eat & drink

SPICY PULLED BEEF

WITH CRISP TORTILLAS

AND PICO DE GALLO

Anthony Bucco

executive chef

Felina, Ridgewood

“people in hospitality spend a minimum of 60

hours a week at work,” says Bucco, who lives with

his wife, Ellen, and three sons, ages 11-15. “When

that gets pulled out from underneath you, it’s hard

to put your finger on your identity.

“I’m not used to being home,” he admits. “It’s a

little scary. I’m trying to fill the hours of my day. I’ve

cut the grass three times, cleaned the garage, and

played a lot of wiffleball with my sons. I’ve got plenty

of projects to keep me busy, but my concern is,

when does the restaurant industry come back?”

Bucco serves on the board of directors of the

New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

When we spoke in late April, he said people

were hoping there might be some restricted level of

reopening this summer, June being “optimistic.”

When Felina was open, Bucco would cook dinner

on his days off, but now he’s cooking every night. Of

his spicy pulled beef, he says, “This dish is flavorful,

great for the kids—they love the crunch and salt.”

FRESH PITA

WITH ROASTED

CAULIFLOWER

Ehren Ryan

chef/co-owner

Common Lot, Millburn

Big Fish,

Smaller Ponds

At home, with time on their hands and no

staff to command, chefs adjust to life at the

family stove. Here, seven executive chefs offer

recipes and reflections. By Eric Levin

Illustrations by CHANTAL BENNETT

NOTE: For recipes, see njmonthly.com/chefsathome

the challenge for ryan and his wife, Nadine, “is

keeping a 2-year-old entertained.” That would be

Oskar. “He’s gotten involved with my planting cauliflower”

in the backyard, Ryan says. “When the parks

were open this spring, we spotted ramps coming up.

Oskar wasn’t the biggest help; he was more stepping

on them than picking them with us.”

Like his folks, Oskar is an adventurous eater,

though not yet discriminating. “Anything in arm

range, he’ll taste, then give some to the dog. We

taught him to share, and

he’s taking it literally.

“Under lockdown,

I’ve been cooking with

Oskar in mind. In this

recipe, he loves helping

make the pita. It keeps

him busy, and he loves

seeing the end result,

which helps make him

want to eat it.”


FISH IN A BAG

Aishling Stevens

executive chef

Restaurant Latour,

Hamburg

ESCAROLE

AND BEANS

Joey Baldino

chef/owner

Zeppoli, Collingswood

after initially shutting

down, Baldino

decided to do weekend

takeout “to look

out for my staff as

much as I could.” As

for his own cooking

at home, “I live alone.

I’m a bachelor,” he

says. “I have a very

small kitchen, so I’m

limited in what I can

do, but I have an

expansive library of

cookbooks, probably

200-300. This recipe

is an old favorite of

mine.”

SHAKSHUKA

Ben Pollinger

chef/owner

The Hill, Closter

pollinger’s wife, Christine, had the idea of organizing

the family into a formal kitchen brigade of

chef, sous chef, server and dishwasher. She, Ben, and kids Catherine, 11, Caroline,

14, and Nate, 16, switch jobs each day, executing a dinner menu they work out a

week in advance. “I’m always there to offer guidance,” says Pollinger. “It’s been

a good way to give the kids a little understanding about life. They’ll have the

resources to cook when they’re on their own.” Does he balk at being dishwasher?

“Not at all. It’s really the backbone of any restaurant. Nine out of 10 chefs will tell

you they’d rather the line cook call in sick than the dishwasher.”

The beauty of shakshuka, he says, “is that it’s pretty simple and shows you can

do something with eggs other than make an omelet or scramble.”

PORK SCHNITZEL

WITH POTATOES

Nicholas Harary

Nicholas, Red Bank

as the chef of a fine-dining restaurant, “it

always cracks me up when someone looks in my

cart at the supermarket and says, ‘I can’t believe

you eat Frosted Flakes,’” Harary says. “Truth is, I

don’t, but my kids do. Normally, I cook dinner for

the kids once or twice a week, but now I’m cooking

every night, and the challenge is finding things

they like while not boring me to death. I’ve found

that the kids will eat anything as long as cutlets

are involved, and that’s what you have here.”

“most chefs don’t

cook at home,” she

says. “But now I’m

going to the grocery

store a lot. Everybody’s

hurrying, but I’m just

strolling along, looking

at everything, really

enjoying it.

“This is one of the

best ways to cook

fish—the bag keeps all

the flavors beautifully

intense. It’s simple,

quick, and has a very

easy clean-up.”

VEGETARIAN

RISOTTO

AJ Capella

executive chef

Jockey Hollow Bar and

Kitchen, Morristown

“i haven’t had this

much time off since

eighth grade,” says

Capella, 30. “It’s a scary

and nervous feeling.

Other than walking

the dog and grocery

shopping, I’ve been

cooking dinner for my

girlfriend every day. We

live together, and she’s

a vegetarian. This risotto

recipe beautifully

highlights spring and

summer vegetables.”


libations

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF NAUTI SPIRITS DISTILLERY

Lifting Spirits

From hand sanitizer to expanded home delivery,

producers of alcoholic beverages adapt to the pandemic,

and the public responds. By Shelby Vittek

on a typical day, the two stills at Nauti

Spirits Distillery in Cape May produce

vodka, gin, whiskey and rum. But recent

months have been anything but typical,

and the stills have been repurposed to

combat the coronavirus. Since March,

they’ve been working around the clock to

create 300 gallons of hand sanitizer a week.

When the outbreak caused a nationwide

shortage of sanitizer, distilleries all

over the state rushed to help. Nauti was

among the first, along with Claremont

Distillery in Fairfield, Jersey City’s Corgi

Spirits and Asbury Park Distilling.

“We had plans in place before the

federal government even authorized it,”

says Nauti Spirits co-owner Steve Miller,

who teamed with Partners Pharmacy

in Springfield Township to make an

SAFE STUFF

Kevin Bascom, a

member of the Nauti

Spirits production

team in Cape May, fills

a bottle with hand

sanitizer.

FDA-approved product. The sanitizer,

80 percent alcohol, includes a touch of

vitamin E oil for skin moisturizing and

tea-tree oil for a pleasant scent.

Nauti donated the start-up batch to

first responders, assisted-living centers

and nursing facilities. When that initial

need was met, they opened sales to the

public at the distillery, charging 50 cents

an ounce, just enough to cover costs.

Customers can use their own containers

or buy one from the distillery.

“We’re not selling it for a high price; we

refuse to do that,” Miller says.

After Governor Phil Murphy shut

down nonessential businesses, Miller

was forced to lay off 11 of his 15 employees.

Making sanitizer in significant quantities,

he says, “has been a real challenge

for a very reduced crew.” In early May,

when this issue went to press, Miller was

planning a “return to normal” involving

rehiring staff with a loan from the federal

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Under the terms of the program, the loan

is forgiven if at least 75 percent of it is

applied to payroll.

Miller also needed to replenish his

stock. “We blew through pretty much

everything we had distilled previously

that we were going to use for vodka or

gin, most of which was made from the

corn we grew on our farm,” he says. Buying

corn from other local farms, Nauti

started making whiskey and gin between

batches of sanitizer. Flipping between

the two products has required a “massive

amount” of cleaning to keep the stills in

top shape for spirits production.

During the shutdown, breweries and

wineries have also been restricted. Murphy’s

order banned all tasting-room visits

and on-site events. Home delivery was

allowed only for wineries. But on March

30, Murphy temporarily lifted the

delivery ban for breweries. (Distillers

were still limited to curbside sales.)

Being able to deliver cases directly to

doorsteps has helped some breweries

stay afloat amid the mass closings of

bars and restaurants.

“The biggest struggle for us is losing

sales in our BYO outlets,” says John

Cifelli, general manager of Unionville

Vineyards in Ringoes, referring to the

2012 law that allows wineries to sell their

products in up to 15 off-site locations.

“Fourteen of those 15 are in restaurants,

and they are doing very little business.”

The good news for the industry, if not

necessarily for public health, is that alcohol

consumption is up. National sales of

alcoholic beverages rose 55 percent in one

week at the beginning of the pandemic, according

to market research firm Nielsen.

With liquor and wine stores deemed

essential businesses in New Jersey, retailers

have been winners—especially those

equipped to ship directly to consumers.

Now there’s a new shortage: shipping

supplies, especially boxes. “I got a phone

call from a desperate liquor store offering

me two times the cost if I had any to

spare,” says Cifelli, who was out of boxes

himself. If you can drive to your local

brewery, winery or distillery to pick up

your order, you’ll be doing them a favor.


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yx

STATEWIDE DINING GUIDE

Search our top picks by town or cuisine at njmonthly.com

Chosen by New Jersey Monthly:

Top 30 in state, 2019-2020

• Chosen by New Jersey Monthly:

30 Best New Restaurants, February 2020 issue

BYO No liquor license

B Breakfast

L Lunch

D Dinner

Takeout

Delivery

X Wheelchair accessible

prices (most entrées)

$ Under $15

$$ $15 to $25

$$$ Over $25

I North I

BERGEN COUNTY

• Benares 327 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff; 201-

904-2222. Indian cuisine, featuring tandoori

chicken, biryanis and chocolate cake.D Daily.

$$$ BYO (★★★ Jan 2020)

• Brasserie Mémère 107 Vervalen St, Closter;

201-660-8822. French cuisine, featuring escargot,

boeuf bourguignon and chocolate mousse.

D Daily. $$$

Café Panache 130 E Main St, Ramsey;

201-934-0030. Gourmet bistro, featuring

Jersey-caught fish, house-made pasta and filet

mignon with woodland mushrooms. L Tues–Fri

D Tues–Sun. $$$ BYO X

Felina 54 East Ridgewood Ave,

Ridgewood; 551-276-5454. Modern Italian

seasonal cuisine, featuring pastas, crudos and

short ribs. D Tues–Sun. $$$ X

The Hill 252 Schraalenburgh Rd,

Closter; 201-899-4700. New American

cuisine, featuring carrot salad, asparagus

risotto and soft-shell crabs. D Tues–Sun;

brunch, Sun. $$$

Houston’s 1 Riverside Square Mall #181,

Hackensack; 201-488-5667. New American

cuisine, including sashimi-tuna salad, crab

cakes and hot fudge sundae. L/D Daily. $$$

(★★ Dec 2019)

Lefkes Estiatorio 495 Sylvan Ave, Englewood

Cliffs; 201-408-4444. Modern Greek

cuisine, including grilled whole fish, poached

halibut, lamb chops and sushi. L/D Mon–Sat.

$$$

Osteria Crescendo 36 Jefferson Ave,

Westwood; 201-722-1900. Modern Italian

cuisine, including fungi crespelle, T-bone steak

and pasta. D Tues–Sun. $$$

Pho Thai-Lao Kitchen 3219 Maywood Ave,

Maywood; 201-712-0700. Thai/Laotian fare,

featuring noodle soup, Esan spare ribs and

crickets. L/D daily. $$$ (★★ Feb 2020)

Saddle River Cafe 171 East Saddle River Road,

Saddle River; 201-282-2300. American fare,

featuring lobster omelet, wedge salad and acai

bowls. B/L/D daily. $$$ (★★½ March 2020)

Saddle River Inn 2 Barnstable Ct, Saddle

River; 201-825-4016. French menu, featuring

tuna carpaccio, escargot and Maribar filet

mignon. D Tues–Sat. $$$ X

Somos 185 River Road, N Arlington; 201-

621-0899. Latin cuisine, featuring flatbread,

meatballs and squid-ink spaghetti. L Sat & Sun,

D daily. $$$ (★★★ May 2019)

• Stern & Bow 171 Schraalenburgh Road,

Closter; 201-750-3350. American fare, featuring

steaks, raw oyster bar and pizza. L/D Tues–Sun.

$$$ (★★½) March 2020

• Ventanas 200 Park Ave, Fort Lee; 201-583-

4777. Latin American fare, featuring roast duck,

crackling pork shank and chocolate hazelnut

cake. L/ D daily. $$$ (★★★ Jan 2020)

TO OUR READERS

Due to the state of emergency, many

of the restaurants listed were temporarily

closed at deadline. The listings

indicate restaurants that are open for

takeout or delivery. Visit njmonthly.

com for the latest information.

ESSEX COUNTY

• Allegory 609 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair;

973-329-5600. New American fare, featuring

chicken tagine, potato-crusted cod and Cracker

Jack torte. D Mon–Sat. $$$

• Bloom 648 Bloomfield Ave, Verona; 973-

433-7256. French cuisine, featuring potato-leek

soup, bulgogi cheese sandwich and Korean

cheese steak. D Tues–Sun. $$$ (★★★ Feb 2020)

• Bistro d’Azur 14 Academy St, South

Orange; 973-327-9725. French Mediterranean

menu, featuring roasted beets, lobster crepes

and orange sorbet. D Tues–Sun. $$$ (★★½ Feb

2020)

Common Lot 27 Main St, Millburn;

973-467-0494. New American menu,

featuring beef tartare, duck leg ragù and rice

pudding. L Tues–Fri, D Tues–Sat. $$$ BYO

• David Burke at Orange Lawn 305 N. Ridgewood

Road, South Orange; 973-552-2280. American

fare, featuring salt-aged beef, bison short rib

and butternut squash ravioli. D Tues–Sat $$$

Fascino 331 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair;

973-233-0350. Italian and New American

cuisine, featuring porcini-dusted scallops,

house-made pasta and Berkshire pork chops. D

Mon–Sun. $$$ BYO

• Faubourg 544 Bloomfield Ave; 973-543-

7700. French-Mediterranean cuisine, featuring

fricassee of snails and chicken oysters,

salmon with fennel and figs, and madeleines.

D Tues–Sun, brunch Fri–Sun. $$$ X (★★★ Dec

2019)

Il Vecchio Café Italian Village, 234 Bloomfield

Ave, Caldwell; 973-226-8889. Italian

cuisine, featuring house-made pasta, burgers

and pizzas. L/D daily. $$ X

La Pergola 20 Essex St, Millburn; 973-376-

6838. Italian cuisine, featuring house-made

pastas, fish stew and braised short ribs. L

Mon–Fri, D daily. $$$ BYO X

Legal Sea Foods 1200 Morris Turnpike,

Short Hills (Short Hills Mall); 973-467-0089.

Seafood menu, featuring New England clam

chowder, flame-grilled fish and oysters. L

Mon–Fri, D daily. $$$ X

Pharmacie 398 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair;


featuring burgers, hanger steak and specialty

cocktails. D Tues– Sun. $$$ (★★½ April 2020)

Verjus 1790 Springfield Ave, Maplewood;

973-378-8990. Updated bistro classics,

including escargot, beef bourguignon and roast

duckling. D Tues–Sun, brunch Sun. $$$

HUDSON COUNTY

• Bread and Salt 435 Palisade, Jersey City.

Italian menu, featuring pizza, meatballs and

assorted bean dishes. D Tues–Sun. $$$

Cucharamama 233 Clinton St,

Hoboken; 201-420-1700. Latin-American

cuisine, featuring ceviche, poached

octopus and spiced-chocolate flan. D daily,

brunch Sun. $$

Cellar 335 335 Newark Ave, Jersey City;

201-222-1422. Asian-American fare,

featuring avocado fries, Duroc pork ribs and

ice cream sandwiches. D Tues–Sat. $$/$$$

Corto 507 Palisade Ave, Jersey City; 201-

420-6290. Italian menu, featuring ravioli,

Angry Chicken and pork chop. D daily, L Sat &

Sun. $$/$$$

• Domodomo 200 Greene St, Jersey City;

201-267-0222. Asian menu, featuring sushi,

squid-ink pasta and Korean fried rice. L/D

Mon–Sat. $$$

MORRIS COUNTY

Blue Morel 2 Whippany Rd, Morristown;

973-451-2619. New American cuisine, featuring

a raw bar, Berkshire pork porterhouse and

peach-blueberry crumble. B/L/D daily $$$ X

the statewide dining guide is a selected directory for dining out in New Jersey. Restaurants that have been reviewed by our critics—indicated by stars and the

month in which the review appeared—and those that have purchased advertising space in New Jersey Monthly are included in this guide. Send recommendations to

Statewide Dining Guide, New Jersey Monthly, P.O. Box 920, Morristown, NJ 07963-0920.

To keep our listings current, we remove the rating from restaurants not visited within the last two years. This does not reflect in any way the quality or service of the

restaurant. Please call ahead to check a restaurant’s hours and credit card policy. Visits by our critics are made anonymously to avoid preferential treatment.


iPad

9:45 AM 100%

Black Horse Tavern and Pub 1 West Main St,

Mendham; 973-543-7300. American cuisine,

featuring salad, burgers and prime rib. D Wed–

Sun (tavern), L/D daily (pub). $$/$$$

George and Martha’s 3 South St, Morristown;

973-267-4700. New American cuisine,

featuring cornbread, meatloaf, grilled steaks

and brick-dough wrapped salmon. L/D daily.

$/$$

Il Capriccio 633 Route 10 E, Whippany; 973-

884-9175. Regional Italian cuisine, featuring

house-made pastas, organic meats and wildcaught

fish. L Mon–Fri, D Mon–Sat $$$

Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen 110 South

St, Morristown; 973-644-3180. Italianinfluenced

American cuisine, featuring dayboat

scallops, salumi boards and oysters. L Tues–Fri

D Tues–Sun, brunch Sun. $$$ X

The Office Tavern Grill 3 South St, Morristown;

973-285-0220. Upscale comfort

fare, featuring flatbreads, burgers and Belgian

mussels. L Mon–Sat, D daily, brunch Sat & Sun.

$$$ X

Piattino 83 East Main St, Mendham; 973-543-

0025. Italian fare, featuring pizza, pasta and

pan-seared salmon. L/ D daily. $$/$$$

Looking for great places to

EAT?

njmonthly.com

• Sandi’s Soul Bites 82 Speedwell Ave, Morristown;

862-2428088. Soul food fare, featuring

barbecued ribs, fried catfish and hush puppies.

L/D Tues–Sat. $$/$$$

Serenade 6 Roosevelt Ave, Chatham;

973-701-0303. American cuisine with

fried oysters, slow-roasted duck and flourless

chocolate tart. L Mon–Fri, D daily. $$$

South + Pine 90 South St, Morristown; 862-

260-9700. New American cuisine, featuring

hanger steak, spring rabbit and sweet potato

blondie. L /D daily. $$/$$$ X

Tomo’s Cuisine 144 Route 10, East Hanover;

973-887-0021. Japanese fare, featuring sushi,

fatty tuna and broiled mackerel. L Wed–Fri, D

Tues–Sun. $$/$$$ (★★★ Oct 2019)

Town Bar + Kitchen 80 Elm St, Morristown;


tuna tartare, Peruvian shrimp and Frenchcut

chicken breast. L/ D daily. $$/$$$ X

White Birch 380 Route 206 S, Flanders;


featuring pork belly, red snapper and vegan

chocolate cake. L Tues–Thurs, D Tues–Sat,

brunch Sat & Sun. $$$

PASSAIC COUNTY

• Bamboo Village 997 McBride Ave, Woodland

Park; 973-837-6201. Chinese fare, featuring

Peking duck, seafood soup and cold chicken

in pickled ginger sauce. L/D daily. $$

• Cafe Chameleon 60 Main St, Bloomingdale;

973-85-6969. American fare, featuring

pork tenderloin, venison and red snapper. D

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yx

STATEWIDE DINING GUIDE

Tues–Sun. $$$ UPDATED LISTING (★★★ April 2020)

Chef Yang 1105 Route 46 East, Clifton; 973-

777-8855. Szechuan and Chinese-American fare,

featuring shredded pork with bean curd, mapo

tofu and braised pork belly. L/D daily. $$ (★★

August 2019)

Cheng Du 23 6 Willowbrook Blvd, Wayne;

973-812-2800. Szechuan cuisine, featuring,

vegetarian dishes, dumplings, and tea-smoked

duck. L/D daily. $$

Viaggio 1055 Hamburg Tpk, Wayne;

973-706-7277. Italian menu, featuring

antipasti, chicken cacciatore and ricotta gnocchi.

L Tues–Fri D Tues–Sun. $$$

SUSSEX COUNTY

Black Forest Inn 249 US Highway 206, Stanhope;

973-347-3344. German cuisine, featuring

house-made bratwurst, Wiener schnitzel and

Icelandic sole. L Wed–Fri, D Wed–Sun. $$/$$$

Restaurant Latour Crystal Springs

Resort, 1 Wild Turkey Way, Route 94,

Hardyston; 973-827-0548. American cuisine,

featuring artisan cheeses and Colorado mountain

lamb; Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning cellar

with more than 100,000 bottles. D Thurs–Sun.

$$$ X

Salt Gastropub 109 US Highway 206, Stanhope;

973-347-7258. American cuisine, featuring fried

sprouts and chickpeas, scallops and grits, and pub

wings. L Sat & Sun, D daily. $$/$$$

YiaYia’s Greek Kitchen 432 Route 206, Montague;

973-948-8088. Greek cuisine, featuring

moussaka, Greek salad and spanakopita. L/D

Tue–Sun. $$ (★★★ Nov 2019)

UNION COUNTY

A Toute Heure 232 Centennial Ave, Cranford;

908-276-6600. American cuisine, featuring

octopus, chicken and dumplings and Basque

cheesecake. L Tues–Fri. D Tues–Sat. $$$ X (★★★

June 2019)

Chez Catherine 431 North Ave W,

Westfield; 908-654-4011. French cuisine,

featuring escargots with garlic and parsley, breast

of duck with orange sauce and apple tart. L

Tues–Fri, D Tues–Sat. $$$

Giovanni’s Bistro 449 Springfield Ave, Berkeley

Heights; 908-464-6644. American menu,

featuring grilled branzino, braised short rib and

cannolis. L Tues–Fri; D Tues–Sun . $$$ X

Grain & Cane 250 Connell Drive, Berkeley

Heights; 908-897-1920. American menu, featuring

New York strip, braised short rib and lemon

cake. L/D daily. $$$ X (★★ Jan 2019)

The Office Tavern Grill 61 Union Pl, Summit;

908-522-0550. Comfort fare, featuring

flatbreads, burgers and mussels. L Mon–Sat, D

daily. $$$ X

Piattino 67 Union Pl, Summit; 908-219-4901.

Italian fare, featuring Neapolitan pizza, pasta

and pan-seared salmon. L/ D daily. $$/$$$

Publick House 899 Mountain Ave, Mountainside;


burgers, frenched chicken breast and Heath

Bar sundae. L Mon–Fri, D daily. $$/$$$ (★½ April

2019)

WARREN COUNTY

The Inn at Millrace Pond 313 Johnsonburg Rd

(Rt 519), Hope; 908-459-4884. Seasonal American

fare, featuring roast half duckling, mixed grill

and fish. L/D daily. $$ X

James on Main 105 Main St, Hackettstown;


shrimp and grits, and French onion soup. D

Tues–Sat, brunch Fri–Sun. $$ BYO (★★★ June

2018)

I Central I

HUNTERDON COUNTY

• Canal House Station 2 Bridge St, Milford;

908-995-7200. Seasonal, rotating menu, featuring

roasted duck legs, carrot-ginger soup and

chocolate-ginger cake. L Wed–Sun. $$$ X

The Ryland Inn 111 Old Route 28,

Whitehouse Station; 908-534-4011. New

American cuisine, featuring skate, Griggstown

quail and lemon curd with meringue. D

Tues–Sun, brunch Sun. $$$ X

Juniper Hill 73 Beaver Ave, Annandale;

908-335-8905. American cuisine,

featuring wild salmon and vegetable curry. L

Thur–Sun, D Tues–Sun. $$$ X

MERCER COUNTY

Elements 66 Witherspoon St, Princeton;

609-924-0078. Global-inspired American

fare, featuring Japanese striped jack fish,

Australian beef rib eye and grilled plums. D

Tues–Sat. $$$ X

Mistral 66 Witherspoon St, Princeton;

609-688-8808. Modern, global fare,

featuring lamb merguez sausage, kimchi pancake

and brown-butter cake. L Wed–Sun, D daily,

brunch Sun. $$$ X

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

• Casablanca 318 Rues Lane, East Brunswick;

732-390-1111. Moroccan fare, featuring spiced

lentil soup, lamb-shank tajine and baklava. L/D

Tues–Sun. $$ BYO X

Heirloom Kitchen 3853 Route 516, Old

Bridge; 732-727-9444. New American

menu, featuring lamb-rib tempura, monkfish and

rice pudding. D Thurs–Sun. $$ BYO X

• Lotsa Balls 25 New St, Metuchen; 732-662-

5999. Italian menu, featuring Sicilian meatballs,

sausage-broccoli rabe balls and pastas. L/D Wed–

Sun. $$ BYO X

The Frog and the Peach 29 Dennis St at

Hiram Square, New Brunswick; 732-846-

3216. Modern American cuisine, featuring sea

scallops à la plancha with crispy sunchoke,

preserved lemon, carrot and fava beans. L

Mon–Fri, D daily. $$/$$$ X

• Meeting House 277 Witherspoon St,

Princeton; 609-436-7891. New American menu,

featuring chicken, Berkshire pork shank and

grilled cauliflower. L Sat & Sun, D daily $$$

Reo Diner 392 Amboy Ave, Woodbridge; 732-

634-9200. American menu, featuring omelets,

burgers and house-made desserts. B/L/D daily.

$/$$ BYO X

Stage Left Steak 5 Livingston Ave, New

Brunswick; 732-828-4444. Farm-to-table

menu, featuring prime meats, seared salmon and

roasted duck. L Fri, D daily. $$$ X

MONMOUTH COUNTY

• 100 Ocean 100 Ocean Ave, Long Branch; 732-

795-6618. Seafood fare, featuring house-made

pastas, black sea bass and eggplant parmigiana.

D daily. $$$

• Atlantic House 67 First Ave, Atlantic Highlands;

848-300-2408. American fare, featuring

fish and chips, seared scallops and parsnip-pear

puree. D Tues–Sun. $/$$

Big Mike’s Little Red Store 101 Navesink Ave,

Atlantic Highlands; 732-291-2750. American

fare, featuring sandwiches with house-made

condiments, and salads. B/L/D daily. $/$$

The Breakers on the Ocean 1507 Ocean Ave,

Spring Lake; 732-449-7700. Northern Italian

cuisine, featuring prime steaks, veal chops and

seafood. B/L/D daily $$/$$$

• The Butcher’s Block 235 West Ave, Long

Branch; 732-795-3903. American menu, featuring

butternut squash soup, prime steaks and

lobster cocktail. L/D Tues–Sat. $$$

Drifthouse by David Burke 1485 Ocean Ave,

Sea Bright, 732-530-9760. New American menu,

featuring candied bacon strips, pasta and angel

food cake. D Tues–Sun. $$$

• Il Nido 184 Route 9 N, Marlboro, 732-851-

6347. Italian fare, featuring rigatoni with vodka

sauce, prosciutto-wrapped monkfish and filet

mignon. D Wed–Sun. $$$ (★★★ Sept 2019)

Modine 601 Mattison Ave, Asbury Park;

732-893-5300. Southern fare, featuring

smoked fried chicken, pork chop and coconut

layer cake. D daily except Wed, brunch, Sat &

Sun. $$$ (★★★ June 2018)

Nettie’s House of Spaghetti 5119 Asbury Ave,

Tinton Falls; 732-922-9799. Italian menu, featuring

meatballs, spaghetti arrabiata and Sicilian orange

cake. D Wed–Sun. $$$ (★★½ June 2019)

Nicholas 160 Rt 35 S, Red Bank;

732-345-9977. New American and

vegetarian cuisine, featuring lobster sous vide,


pulled suckling pig and warm gingerbread with

apple compote. D Tues–Sat. $$$ X

Semolina 13 White St, Red Bank; 732-945-6816.

Farm-to-table menu, featuring ricotta and red

beets, Dutch country chicken breast and Berkshire

pork chop. D Tues–Sun. $$$ BYO (★★★ March 2020)

SOMERSET COUNTY

Ai Sushi 30 South Doughty Ave, Somerville;

908-526-8596. Japanese cuisine, featuring

monkfish, miyazaki beef and uni roll, and ramen

bowls. L Tues–Sat, D Tues–Sun. $$/$$$ BYO

The Bernards Inn 27 Mine Brook Road,

Bernardsville; 908-766-0002. New American

cuisine, featuring sweet potato ravioli, pheasant

and upside down-inside out pumpkin pie. B/L

Mon–Fri & Sun, D daily. $$$ X

• De Martino 9 Davenport St, Somerville;

908-722-8602. Modern Cuban cuisine, featuring

cod fritters, ropa vieja and coconut flan. L/D

Tues–Sat. $$$ X (★★½ Dec 2019)

Ninety Acres 2 Main St, Peapack-Gladstone;


pumpernickel-crusted salmon, Barnegat

Bay scallops and apple-filled doughnuts with

cardamom ice cream. D Tues–Sun. $$$ X

Pluckemin Inn 359 Route 206 S,

Bedminster; 908-658-9292. American

fare, featuring duck confit salad, pork chop and

chocolate and peanut tart. L Mon–Fri, D

Mon–Sat. $$$

Stone House at Stirling Ridge 50 Stirling

Road, Warren; 908-754-1222. Modern American

cuisine, featuring cold-smoked short ribs,

skirt steak and Nutella bread pudding. D Tues–

Sun, brunch Sun. $$$ X (★★ March 2019)

Verve Bistro, Bar & Lounge 18 E Main St,

Somerville; 908-707-8655. American cuisine,

featuring pork belly, sous vide lamb sirloin and

cheesecake. D daily, lounge Tues-Sat. $$$

Wolfgang’s Steakhouse Grill 119 West Main

St, Somerville; 908-541-0344. Steak house

cuisine with porterhouse, New York sirloin, lamb

chops and tuna tartare. L/D daily. $$$ X

I South I

ATLANTIC COUNTY

Angeline The Borgota, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic

City; 609-317-1000. Italian cuisine, featuring

lasagna, strip steak and swordfish fillets. D

Wed–Sun. $$$ X

OlÓn Tropicana, 2831 Boardwalk, Atlantic City;

609-340-4050. South American fare, featuring

ceviches, lobster and yucca fries. D daily,

brunch Sat & Sun. $$$ X

BURLINGTON COUNTY

• Oceancrat 1134 Route 73, Mount Laurel;

856-372-2829. Seafood menu, featuring by-thepound

shellfish, fried seafood and crab legs. L/ D

daily. $$$ X (★★½ Sept 2019)

Olga’s Diner 200 Route 73 North, Marlton;

856-452-5966. American menu, featuring vegan

soup, stuffed cabbage and chicken croquettes.

B/L/ D daily. $$$ X (★½ April 2020) NEW LISTING

CAMDEN COUNTY

Central Taco & Tequila 350 Haddon Ave,

Haddon Township; 856-833-6800. Mexican fare,

featuring contemporary dishes including tacos,

burritos and specialty cocktails. L/D daily. $/$$

• El Nopalito 47 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield;

856-651-7041. Mexican fare, featuring cacao

chicken, tamales and tacos. L/D daily. $/$$

Hearthside 801 Haddon Ave, Collingswood;

856-240-1164. New American

fare, featuring Gulf prawns, beef carpaccio and

rabbit tagliatelle. D Tues–Sat. $$$ BYO

• Little Hen 220 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield;

856-528-2282. French fare, featuring

chicken-liver mousse, frog legs and mille feuille.

D Wed-Sun. $$$ (★★½ Jan 2020)

• Reyta’s 1490 Haddonfield-Berlin Road,

Cherry Hill; 856-651-7470. Filipino cuisine,

featuring pork stew, vinegar chicken and halo

halo. L/D Tues–Sun. $$$

Taste of Szechuan 2091 Marlton Pike East,

Cherry Hill; 856-888-1370. Szechuan fare, featuring

tea-smoked duck, wontons and skewered

lamb. L/D daily, brunch Sun. $$$

Porch & Proper 619 West Collings Ave,

Collingswood; 856-477-2105. New American

fare, featuring cioppino, strip steak and choux

puff pastries. D Tues–Sun. $$$ BYO (★★½ Feb

2019)

Zeppoli 618 Collings Ave, Collingswood;

856-854-2670. Sicilian fare, featuring

grilled sardines, whole-roasted fish and zeppoli.

D Wed–Mon. $$$ BYO X

CAPE MAY COUNTY

• Beachwood at the Dunes 8609 Landis Ave,

Sea Isle Coty; 609-263-3627. Eclectic fare,

featuring short rib pappardelle, shrimp taquitos

and tandoori scallops. D Thurs–Sun. $$$

Ebbitt Room Virginia Hotel, 25 Jackson St,

Cape May; 609-884-5700. New American

cuisine, featuring lamb sirloin, house-cured

salmon and oysters Rockefeller. D Thurs–Sun.

$$$ (★★½ Nov 2014)

La Verandah Hotel Alcott, 107-113 Grant

St, Cape May; 609-884-5868. American fare,

featuring bronzino, scallops flambé and lamb. D

daily (Memorial Day–mid-Sept). $$$ BYO

Louisa’s Cafe 104 Jackson St, Cape May;

609-884-5882. Seafood and vegetarian fare,

featuring pan-seared flounder, house-made fettuccine

and bread pudding. D daily (seasonal).

$$$ BYO (★★★ Sept 2018)

MudHen Brewing Co. 127 West Rio Grande

Ave, Wildwood; 609-846-7918. Brew pub,

featuring pork chops, cheese steak and smoked

wings. L/D daily. $$/$$$ (★★½ Oct 2018)

Red Store 500 Cape Ave; 609-884-

5757. American cuisine, featuring

empanadas, Arctic-char tartare and

asparagus tempura. D Wed–Sat, brunch

Wed–Mon. $$$ X

Scola BYOB 3 Beach Ave, Cape May Courthouse;

609-536-8883. American menu, featuring

creole-spiced shrimp, stuffed portobello

mushrooms and bittersweet chocolate cake.

L/D daily. $$$ (★★ Nov 2019)

SeaSalt Ocean Club Hotel, 1035 Beach Ave,

Cape May; 609-884-7000. Seafood menu,

featuring Jersey corn and crab soup, pan-seared

halibut and ginger-scallion prawns. B/L/D daily.

$$$

• Viggiano’s On Sunset 109 Sunset Boulevard,

West Cape May; 609-435-5026. Italian

menu, featuring chicken parm, veal and meatballs.

D Wed–Sun. $$/$$$ BYO

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Viet Bistro 3849 S Delsea Dr, Vineland; 856-

825-5001. Vietnamese cuisine, featuring spring

rolls, noodle soups and fish curry. L /D daily. $$

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

Tavro Thirteen 1301 Kings Hwy, Swedesboro;

856-467-8413. American cuisine, featuring

swordfish, house-made pastas and lemon-olive

oil cake. L Mon–Fri, D daily, brunch Sun. $$$ X

OCEAN COUNTY

Charlie’s of Bay Head 72 Bridge St, Bay Head;


crab cake, clam chowder and mini doughnuts. L

Wed–Sun, D daily. $$/$ $ $

Cordi’s Italian Gourmet 2140 Route 88, Brick;

732-892-6734. Menu with Italian flair, featuring

Sunday gravy, prime steaks, fresh pastas and

seafood. L Tues–Sat, D Tues–Sun. $$$

Martell’s Waters Edge 125 Bayview Ave,

Bayville; 732-269-3000. American cuisine, featuring

lobster cocktail, wild mushroom rissotto

and pork porterhouse. D daily. $$$

The Poached Pear Bistro 816 Arnold

Ave, Point Pleasant Beach; 732-701-1700.

New American fare, featuring short-rib

carpaccio, ahi tuna and lemon napoleon. D

Tues–Sun. $$$ BYO

Social 37 2 Route 37, Toms River; 732-202-

3737. Seasonal American fare, featuring cedarplank

salmon, wood-fired pizza and freshground

game burgers. L/D daily. $$

SALEM COUNTY

J. G. Cook’s Riverview Inn 60 Main St,

Pennsville; 856-678-3700. American cuisine,

featuring clams casino, crab cakes and filet

mignon. L Wed–Sat, D Wed–Sun. $$


exit ramp

Finding Love

in a Pandemic

Drastic times call for drastic measures—like diving

headlong into a new relationship. By Shelby Vittek

When Covid-19 made its

way to New Jersey in

mid-March, I was several

weeks into dating a new guy. I met

Hayden on a dating app, and we had

only been on a handful of dates in

Jersey City (where I live) and Brooklyn

(where he lives). Then came the lockdown.

Suddenly, we were faced with an

ultimatum: Would we shelter in place

together, or separately?

“I guess quarantine is a great time

to find out if you’re compatible or not,”

Hayden joked. He had a point, but I was

worried. Not seeing each other for an

indefinite period of time might abruptly

end what seemed like a really good

thing. But would spending all our time

together during a pandemic turn out to

be a disaster?

Having lived alone for the past seven

years, I am unaccustomed to having a

roommate, let alone sharing my space

with a romantic partner. Still, these are

different times.

We dove right in. Within 24 hours,

the relationship went from third date to

unofficially living together. My friends

told me I was absolutely nuts; I secretly

shared their concern.

Six weeks later, Hayden and I have

adjusted to our new way of life. It was

unusual, figuring out cohabitation

while also navigating a new relationship.

But so far, so good. We started

working from home in tandem, Hayden

at his desktop computer, me on my

laptop at a folding table he set up in his

room. (I eventually moved my “office”

to his absent roommate’s room.) Every

weekday, we pause for lunch together.

At the end of the workday, we migrate

downstairs to make dinner, moving

around the kitchen in sync. Hayden

almost always done the dishes, even if

he’s also does most of the cooking.

We’ve nurtured our relationship

without the usual date options: no

meeting up with friends at bars, no

going out for dinner, no shows or

concerts. With the outside world

closed, we have found entertainment

elsewhere. There was a virtual double

date with my friends in North Carolina.

We used Zoom and FaceTime to meet

each other’s families, staes away. We

use gaming apps like Houseparty and

Jackbox to video chat and play games

with our friends. But mostly, we spend

quality time together, and our relationship

has grown into something official—

something serious.

When we do go out—for groceries,

wine and beer—we don our masks and

clutch our hand sanitizer. On weekends,

we drive back to my apartment to do

laundry, traversing a deserted downtown

Manhattan and holding hands in the Holland

Tunnel until we emerge in Jersey.

The coronavirus pandemic has kept

most people apart. For Hayden and

me, it’s had the opposite effect. Life

together is shockingly good. It feels

normal, even though the world outside

is anything but.

ILLUSTRATION: TRINA DALZIEL


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