By Donald Gilpin

With COVID-19 new case numbers falling rapidly in Princeton and throughout the state and New Jersey’s mask mandate scheduled to be lifted in schools and child care centers on March 7, Princeton Deputy Administrator for Health and Community Services Jeff Grosser was willing to consider the possibility of moving from the acute phase of COVID-19 into “a more manageable section of the pandemic.”

On Monday, February 7, the Princeton Health Department reported 49 new COVID-19 cases in Princeton in the previous seven days, 132 cases over the previous 14 days, continuing significant declines in infections. The previous week’s January 31 tally was 83 new cases over the previous seven days and 209 over the previous 14 days. Case numbers also continued to drop at Princeton University and at the Princeton Public Schools.

”I believe the warmer weather on its way and the increased opportunity to spend significant portions of our days outside will continue to alleviate the disease burden we have seen through this winter,” Grosser wrote in a February 8 email.

He went on to discuss the health department’s ongoing efforts to deliver an effective managed response. “There is risk associated with every activity we take part in, whether it’s driving to work or playing in an adult soccer league,” he said. “Each has risk associated with injury and even death. With COVID-19 we (as a civilization) are still working out those numbers and subconscious thoughts.” Grosser stressed the value of vaccinations, masking, and physical distancing as “tools to alleviate, decrease, and minimize those risks.”

He emphasized booster doses and their uptake, primarily in the older population, as “a primary concern of the health department,” pointing out, “One of the most susceptible populations to COVID-19, those over 80 years of age, have a booster dose coverage of 75 percent. This is alarming considering the level of infection we recently saw from the Omicron variant and seeing individuals who were initially vaccinated but not boosted being hospitalized.”

Noting that “individuals are at a substantially lower risk of severe illness and death if vaccinated versus being unvaccinated” and that Princeton vaccination rates are higher than the state and Mercer County averages, Grosser highlighted the need to improve vaccination rates in specific local populations.

“Princeton residents with at least one dose received stand at the following percentages in these age groups: 5-11 at 84 percent and 18-29 at 84 percent,” he wrote. “All other age demographics for at least one dose received are in the high 90s. There is still work to do with completing the vaccination series for those age groups, and of course with booster doses.”

Grosser reflected on possible concerns and consequences of the elimination of mask mandates. “It’s easy to be frustrated that we have been living with pandemic precautions in place for nearly two years now,” he wrote, “but in the grand scheme of things, two years is not a lot of time when we look at what we know now versus what we knew back in March 2020.”

He continued, “There will be a lot of relief about dropping the mask mandate, but I think it will cause concern for some. It’s important to continue to make decisions based upon data and current disease transmissions, which typically results in some measure of risk.”

He added, “What I would tell the community at this point is that we are going to monitor community transmission, and Princeton schools (public, private, and charter) should make a decision based upon that, along with what level of vaccinations we are seeing in specific environments.”

COVID-19 testing is available at a Princeton Pop-Up Clinic near the Princeton Shopping Center at 237 Harrison Street, hosted by Ridgewood Diagnostic Center. Hours are Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Montgomery Township is also hosting a testing clinic at the Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Inc.’s Skillman Campus at 199 Grandview Road, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and the New Jersey Department of Health is offering COVID testing at the CURE Insurance Arena, 81 Hamilton Avenue in Trenton, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free test kits for at-home testing are available at covidtests.gov and learn.vaulthealth.com/nj.

The Princeton Health Department will be holding a COVID-19 vaccine and booster clinic on Thursday, February 17 at the Princeton Senior Resource Center, 45 Stockton Street, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Princeton University will continue to host COVID-19 clinics in Jadwin Gym, from noon to 4 p.m., on Wednesdays, February 9 and 16, for Pfizer vaccines, and on Thursdays, February 10 and 17, for Moderna vaccines.

Visit covid19.nj.gov for additional information on COVID testing and vaccination availability in the area.

“In the grand scheme of things, COVID-19 is still considered a newly discovered illness,” said Grosser. “It takes time to put that in perspective when we analyze the risk we are willing to take if we are infected. So much of what we know about communicable diseases comes in retrospect, and oftentimes we forget that.”