After months of warnings from experts that this was coming, New Jersey is solidly within the “second wave” of the coronavirus pandemic.
With cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, rising across the Garden State, the uncertainty surrounding business closures, hospital stability and “flattening the curve” feels like a repeat of March, when the virus first gripped the state.
But not everything will be the same during the second wave as it was during the first. Nine months after the first case was reported in New Jersey, we know how to live in a pandemic significantly better than we did when the first wave hit.
Three experts chime in on the eight things we won’t have to do during this wave that we did in March.
We won’t expect things to get back to normal right away.
When the pandemic first gripped New Jersey in March, schools and offices were originally closed for two weeks, and many of us thought normal was waiting on the other side.
How wrong we were.
“We no longer expect things to be ‘normal’ soon, because we know it will be a long time before that happens,” Jennifer Robinson, Executive Director, Center of Pedagogy, said. “Instead, we look right away for innovative and uniquely creative ways to solve our challenges. We are thinking much more outside of our boxes these days.”
There won’t be fretting over mask-wearing.
The science is settled: wearing a mask is an easy, effective way to help stymie the spread of the coronavirus.
“We don’t have to wonder if we should wear masks or not. The clear answer is we should, but now we also know the difference between medical/surgical masks and face coverings,” Stephanie Silvera, a professor of Public Health at Montclair State University, said.
We also know what kind of masks we need for our grocery store trips and backyard hangs: multi-layer fabric ones are just fine for non-healthcare workers, Silvera says.
It’s not necessary to stay in total isolation.
Being forced apart from friends and family in the spring was difficult for many families, particularly during the Easter and Passover holidays.
But as we’ve learned more about the virus, we know there are certain times it’s safe to gather with loved ones, leading to outdoor Thanksgivings and socially distanced picnics.
“We know that we can gather outdoors with family and friends, with some spatial distancing, and keep the risk of transmission relatively low, but that we cannot gather indoors in the same way without putting everyone at risk,” Silvera said.
We can take the groceries right inside.
At the height of the pandemic, some people were keeping their grocery bags in the garage for several days in the hope of the virus dying off. Even then, experts said that was not necessary, but we know now surface transmission of the virus is exceedingly rare.
“Keep washing your produce the way you would have prior to the pandemic, but you don’t have to wipe down every single item with a Clorox wipe,” Silvera said.
Remote learning is less of a sprint and more of a marathon
Remote learning remains difficult for many teachers and students, particularly for those with special needs and who lack access to technology. But what came as a total shock in March is slowly becoming a new normal as we learn how to adapt.
“We know now that we need to over-communicate with our students, even if there is nothing new to say,” Robinson said. “They prefer constant communication rather than our waiting until we have a definitive answer for all of their questions.”
And after months of communication, educators better understand how to meet students where they are.
“We know that listening to our students’ frustrations is better than telling them everything will be alright,” Robinson said. “They appreciate us more and believe we are sincere when we speak to them.”
We don’t have to eat every meal at home.
When restaurants were abruptly shuttered in March, local spots that had previously been dine-in only had to adapt quickly to being take-out only. Nearly nine months in, most of those growing pains are gone.
“Restaurant personnel have become order-taking, delivery and packaging specialists,” Charles Feldman, a professor of nutrition and food sciences at Montclair State University said. “Ghost kitchens (operations for delivery only) are now able to keep off-site dining costs down.”
And outdoor dining is here to say. Usually packed up for the season by now, continues strong across the state as restaurants set up winterized tables in parking lots and on street corners.
“Restaurants have added a little bit of Europe to the neighborhood by providing outdoor dining (with heat lamps!),” Feldman.
Getting a grocery delivery doesn’t require hours of refreshing.
Grocery delivery businesses sprang-up quickly as New Jersey residents holed away at home, but delivery times were spotty, forcing people to refresh pages for hours. As more people feel safe in stores and delivery services have ramped up hiring, those spots have now become easy to find.
And other businesses have also made shopping safer, with curbside pick-up becoming a widely available option for all types of stores.
And we won’t have to fear a vaccine is several years away.
In March, we knew almost nothing about the novel coronavirus, which had first infected humans just months prior. A vaccine seemed like it could be years off, and we had no timeline for reopening the state.
But despite the anxiety of a long, dark winter as a second wave grips the nation, a light is forming at the end of the tunnel. A vaccine was approved in the United Kingdom, the first to be approved in the Western world. American approval could come within weeks.
In New Jersey, healthcare workers could see vaccines before Christmas, Murphy said, and it could be available to the general public by mid-spring.
“We’re not out of the woods yet and we still have a long way to go, so we shouldn’t toss our masks yet, but there is starting to be a light at the end of the tunnel,” Silvera said.
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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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8 things we won’t have to do during N.J.’s 2nd coronavirus wave. Why? We’re smarter this time. - NJ.com
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