When the Cooperative Extension of Mercer County was forced to close its offices at 1440 Parkside Ave. in Ewing due to the coronavirus pandemic, faculty and staff worked quickly to move programming online and to adapt Extension services for its key stakeholders.

The Cooperative Extension continues to offer programming and other services in Agriculture and Food Safety; 4-H Youth Development; Master Gardeners, Home Horticulture and Environmental Stewards; and Family and Community Health Sciences. Here are some highlights of how the Cooperative Extension has stayed open and relevant during this public health crisis.

Master Gardeners, Home Horticulture and Environmental Stewards

• Continued the weekly Environmental Stewards class. Switched to online format (Webex) five weeks ago – plan to continue through June.
• Answering home horticulture questions from the public via email. (Helpline phones have been redirected to horticulturist’s email.)
• Developed an online version of previously planned vegetable workshop, which will be available via Webex to the public on April 25, and will be recorded.
• Beginning live chat option for the public’s questions.

Family and Community Health Sciences

• Identifying the food access and related resource needs in the communities that the Extension serves in Trenton, and also in pockets of Ewing, Hamilton, Hightstown, East Windsor and Princeton.
• Collaborating with partners to increase food access through information sharing, connecting potential donors to the food bank, for example.
• Working with the Trenton Health Team (THT) on improving food access, by elevating the food insecurity issue on their weekly call with a wide array of partners, and taking a lead role in advancing partner connections for the THT’s Trenton Food Stakeholder group meetings.
• Identifying food-related resources, specific to issues associated with COVID-19 (for example, food safety; and simple recipes using available, shelf-stable pantry items) and providing them to relevant sites and audiences, as their needs dictate.

Mercer County, in collaboration with health care and municipal partners, is operating an appointment-only, drive-up testing site for COVID-19 at Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence, and appointment-only pop-up testing sites in Trenton for individuals who lack transportation to the mall location. The Trenton sites are now open in each city ward one day a week.

Testing will be provided for symptomatic Mercer County residents age 18 or older who have an appointment. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

If you are symptomatic for COVID-19 and want to be tested, contact your primary health care practitioner. If a test is needed, your doctor will fax a prescription to the Mercer County health call center at 609-630-4031, and the center will contact you to schedule an appointment. If you voice an inability to get to Quaker Bridge Mall, you will be offered an appointment at a Trenton pop-up site along with instructions on when and where to go. If you do not have a doctor, call an urgent care facility or call the Henry J. Austin Health Center in Trenton (609-278-5900) to arrange for screening.

For the health, safety and security of staff at the Quaker Bridge Mall testing site, patients will not be permitted to leave their vehicles. Walk-ups are not permitted at that testing location.

You must have an appointment to be tested. Those who show up at a testing site without an appointment will not be able to be tested.

If you have questions about the testing process, call 609-337-4081 Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

The testing sites are collaborative efforts between the County of Mercer, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Capital Health System, St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, the Trenton Health Team, Henry J. Austin Health Center, the City of Trenton, Lawrence Township and Quaker Bridge Mall management.

If you believe you may have symptoms of COVID-19, the State of New Jersey’s COVID-19 Information Hub provides a self-assessment tool that will help you determine whether you should be tested. Visit self.covid19.nj.gov.

WASH YOUR HANDS. STAY AT HOME.

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and protect the capacity of New Jersey’s health care system for the state’s most vulnerable, all residents are under a stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Phil Murphy. Executive Order No. 107 provides for certain exceptions, such as obtaining essential goods or services, seeking medical attention, visiting family or close friends, reporting to work, or engaging in outdoor activities. It also directs the closure of all non-essential retail businesses to the public. Find more information at COVID19.nj.gov.

CLOTH FACE COVERINGS

An executive order by Gov. Phil Murphy requires workers and customers at essential retail businesses to wear cloth face coverings while on the premises, except where doing so would inhibit that individual’s health or where the individual is under 2 years of age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides information on the use of cloth face coverings.

CENSUS 2020

You haven’t missed your chance to participate in the 2020 Census! If your home hasn’t responded, a paper form is on the way. Check your mailbox this week for your opportunity to bring education, health care, housing, and political power to your community.

If a paper form doesn’t work for you, you can respond online or by phone. There are so many ways to count yourself in the 2020 Census — don’t wait!

People across America are keeping their families and communities safe and healthy by staying home, or serving the public by providing essential services. Responding to the Census yourself — is another way to do your part and help keep your community strong.

To respond online, visit https://my2020census.gov/login; to respond by phone, call 844-330-2020 (English) or 844-468-2020 (Spanish).

CURRENT STATUS

The New Jersey Department of Health on April 22 announced 3,551 new positive cases, bringing the total of positive cases in the state to 95,865 with 5,063 deaths. The most positive cases are in Bergen County, which has 13,686; Mercer County has 2,845, with 145 deaths. To view Mercer County data by municipality, please visit the Mercer County COVID-19 Dashboard at https://arcg.is/1y1eHO. Please note that municipal data lags behind the state data and will update as information becomes available. Visit the New Jersey Department of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard  for more statewide information.

The CDC on April 22 announced a total of 802,583 cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and a total of 44,575 deaths, with 55 locations (50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, North Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands) reporting cases. Total cases includes 3,981 probable cases and total deaths includes 5,862 probable deaths. For more information, visit cdc.gov.