As the CDC is reducing restrictions, NJDOH is increasing and creating new restrictions on our children. The war on our children has even higher stakes with every cough and sniffle that sends people to go get tested. The NJDOH guidance can be found by clicking HERE. Its time to write Judy Persichilli health commissioner at Judith.Persichilli@doh.nj.gov to let her know that parents are unwilling to participate in this nonsense. You can also contact Governor Murphy by clicking HERE.
The letter below has been submitted by one of our CAC members Christine, she has graciously provided a letter that you can edit and send to Judy yourself. It takes a team to save the New Jersey! Thank you and #fight4yourkids. If you have an idea for a letter or an action item please contact me on facebook with a DM.
Dear Ms. Persichilli,
As the CDC has loosened its COVID19 restrictions, NJDOH has decided to increase the restrictions and go beyond what the CDC recommends. Currently the CDC has reduced the quarantine to 5 days, where the NJDOH took it upon itself to continue a “7 or 10 day quarantine/exclusion” on staff and students depending on their vaccination status. In addition, the NJDOH decided to implement “COVID19 screening testing of students and staff regardless of vaccination status, twice weekly for participation in all extracurricular activities.” The CDC does not require any school to impose these procedures on children, however the state of NJ has decided the choose to implement the most harsh treatment of our children.
I want to make it clear to you that I DO NOT CONSENT to having my child tested for COVID-19 in order to attend school or participate in after school activities while my child shows no symptoms. This even includes the case of close contact. Furthermore, I DO NOT CONSENT for any other reason, including random testing, when my child is not experiencing any symptoms.
The New Jersey policy must be the same for unvaccinated and vaccinated students, which is to monitor for symptoms and stay home when sick. The fact that both vaccinated and unvaccinated can catch and transmit COVID-19 confirms that your policy is not based on science and health, it’s is designed to punish and coerce the unvaccinated. From my personal experience, the parents of a child who has experienced close contact with a COVID-positive student, will not even be notified for days after the incident, so the validity of quarantining an asymptomatic unvaccinated child does not make logical sense.
Another serious concern is you do not require New Jersey schools to notify the state of how many children have been required to quarantine and their COVID status in order to calculate the learning loss that these rules impose. You need to track the number of students that have tested positive after quarantining for close contact in order to determine how successful or unnecessary your harsh procedures will be. How are you supposed to know if this policy is worth the consequences of learning loss if you don’t go through the trouble track your procedures? This is not personal information protected by HIPAA, these are important metrics that show state transparency and provide New Jersey parents a way to understand how the NJDOH is working to help our children.
Our children have had to bear the burden of this virus for 22 months and it is time we end this. Children are not at risk for serious illness, but they have suffered and sacrificed the most throughout this pandemic. This is having tremendous negative impacts on kids and their mental health has been an afterthought. The increasing youth mental health pandemic should be a priority to NJDOH since it is more likely to lose a child to suicide than COVID19.
If your policies don’t have a more reasonable and measured approach for our children, your decisions will negatively affect them for the rest of their lives. Parents will not stand for this anymore and you WILL BE held accountable.
Sincerely,
Christine R.
If you are looking to be done with state rules and you live in the Brick Township area, please check out this new school starting January 3, 2022. spots are filling up quickly. Click on the picture for more information.
Letter to Ms. Persichilli
Andrea Martinez-Mejia, M.P.A., M.A.
Chief of Staff
609-292-1447
My email bounced back as well.. and I tried to call the NJ DOH and no one is answering the phone.