New Jersey was unprepared for the covid-19 pandemic and remains underprepared for the next big Health crisis that's the assessment tonight from a long awaited independent review of the state's response to the Coronavirus Coronavirus outbreak the nearly 1,000 page report commissioned by the governor's office was released today more than four years after New Jersey recorded its first positive case of covid-19 and tens of thousands of lives were lost the $9 million assessment from a South Jersey Law Firm zeroed in on actions taken by the governor's office Department of Health and office of emergency management pointing out the state had a number of factors that made it a ripe Target for the outbreak a senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan tells us the report makes clear it wasn't just the Garden State but also the nation that failed to adequately respond Jersey quickly found itself in the epicenter of the crisis and was hit with a tsunami of cases Paul zubek recounted the early days when Co ravaged New Jersey when a long-term care center stacked 17 bodies in a makeshift morg the pandemic killed more than 33,000 in New Jersey and according to a new report it's because covid caught officials here off guard ill equipped and poorly informed zuck's Law Firm produced the 900 page report commissioned by Governor Murphy in late 2022 bottom line we collectively fa fail as a nation as and as a state to be adequately prepared at the beginning of the crisis our federal government failed to provide critical guidance as to the true nature of the covid threat which in turn delayed New Jersey's response to the crisis zubac's team dug through data and interviewed more than 500 people across state county and local stages they talked to the governor's officials to folks in the healthcare and nursing home industry indries with families and EMTs and nurses still scarred and grieving from CO's Onslaught our meetings were often very emotional it was very difficult for the state County local officials service providers and health care workers to relive the trauma that they went through given the death and suffering that they saw zubek said Jersey Health officials depended on faulty CDC guidance that fail to recognize how Co spread through the air that gave the virus is an insurmountable and deadly Head Start coupled with New Jersey's dense population and proximity to New York the lack of protective gear and bad infection control protocols we experienced the second highest death rate in the country during the first stage some with a disproportionate impact on black and Hispanics during the course of that stage and throughout the crisis zuck's team agreed with scathing federal and state reports that Co hit hardest at two of New Jersey three statun veterans homes homes Menlo Park and pamis Meno Park and pamis at the beginning had soldiers running those facilities okay they did not have clinical Health Care background whatsoever the report praises the governor's strong leadership through the crisis especially his support of mass testing and vaccination it would be kind of irresponsible for me in any way to uh to suggest that any member of the administration was not giving giving giving are doing the best that they could with the resources that they had the report doesn't point to any individual person's failure rather Zub says it's a call to action A playbook for the future for the front office and lawmakers we now have this God knows how many millions of dollars report that's making calls to action that us as members of the legislature have been begging for for four years Republicans still want answers about why New Jersey's Health Department told nursing homes early in the pandemic to accept covid patients the report notes with hospitals overwhelmed long-term care was supposed to take in but separate clients with covid as we spoke to folks in the industry that thought that that was confusing you have to keep in mind though that one of the things that was also going on in March of 2020 there wasn't widespread T testing available the report makes six major recommendations among them we need better Intel a robust early warning system New Jersey needs to enhance and invest in its local Health departments train State staffers officials must protect high-risk patients especially the elderly and people of color the state needs to weigh impact of shutdowns on business and education noting New Jersey kept schools closed for too long and officials must stockpile proper medical supplies we need to keep in mind that all the officials we met with were acting in good faith on on information they had available at the time Governor Murphy commented the report both highlights numerous examples of New Jersey strong leadership during the crisis and identifies gaps in preparedness and structural deficiencies that must be addressed I know New Jersey will be better off because of this review and my Administration looks forward to working with the legislature on its recommendations zubek said Murphy had no influence or input on the report he says New Jersey needs to learn from Co because another pandemic will come in Trenton I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News