By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Atlantic County has provided a breakdown of COVID-19 cases by community after officials received criticism for not offering that aspect of the information.
Atlantic County Public Information Officer Linda Gilmore has been reporting the number of COVID-19 cases each day to the media, including listing the age range of the victims, and she has listed the communities where fatalities have occurred. However, she did not list the number of cases per community in Atlantic County, where the total has reached 173.
So far, three of the people who succumbed to the coronavirus were from Egg Harbor Township and the fourth was from Atlantic City. All were men.
On Wednesday, April 8, the county offered a breakdown of previously reported cases and new cases, each broken down by community.
According to Gilmore, who gets her information from the Atlantic County Division of Public Health, previously reported cases were greatest in Egg Harbor Township, with 29 and three deaths; Atlantic City, with 25 cases and one death; Galloway with 20 cases; and Hamilton and Pleasantville with 13 each.
There were seven previously reported cases in Linwood, five in Somers Point and two in Northfield.
Other previously reported cases were Absecon – 8; Brigantine – 2; Buena Borough – 8; Egg Harbor City – 4; Hammonton – 7; Longport – 2; Margate – 1; Ventnor – 9; and Weymouth – 1.
New cases reported April 8 were in Atlantic City – 2; Buena Borough – 1; Buena Vista Township – 1; Egg Harbor Township – 3; Galloway – 3; Hamilton Township – 3; Northfield – 1; Pleasantville – 2; and Ventnor – 1, all according to the county.
County Executive defends decision
“Atlantic County made a conscious decision early on not to provide this information to the media to help protect our full time, permanent residents from an influx of second homeowners and out-of-towners who could potentially carry the virus from areas of outbreak including New York, North Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs,” Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson stated in a press release April 8. It noted more second-home owners might come to the shore as the weather improves.
“As homeowners, they obviously have a right to be here, but they have been asked not to come, not now while resources are limited and we continue to fight further spread of the virus,” he said.
“It’s understandable they would want to come here knowing the number of cases we have is far less that what they may currently be experiencing. As of today, there are just two cases in Longport and Brigantine and one in Margate, and that’s the way we would prefer to keep it,” Levinson said. “But advertising these enviable statistics only encourages more to come to escape the threat of COVID-19. Something else to consider, they may not just be coming by themselves, but bringing their immediate and extended families to stay in their 3-6 bedroom vacation homes.”
Although the county had not reported the distribution of cases to the media, it said it provided those statistics to the mayors, police chiefs and freeholders, who, Levinson said, may have passed that along to their constituents.
“That is their prerogative, but I stand by my decision,” Levinson stated. “My duty is to protect all 275,000 of our residents. I have concerns about advertising this information, but others seemingly do not. It is pointless for us to continue to subject ourselves to this unnecessary criticism. Our energies can be better focused on the challenges at hand in protecting our residents from COVID-19.”
Levinson urged the public not to be lulled into a false sense of security if the numbers in their town are low and that they should continue to practice social distancing and other means to keep from catching or spreading the coronavirus.