DeFusco AWOL for 11 daily COVID-19 conference calls (85% AWOL)

Starting March 16, the Hoboken City Council, HHS Director Leo Pelegrini and Director of Operations Jason Freeman have been holding daily ZOOM conference meetings starting around 9:50 AM and last 20-30 mins. 

FIRST WARD COUNCILMAN BLEW OFF 11 (OUT OF 13) COVID-19 UPDATE MEETINGS.

This is a Public Service Announcement.  Hoboken residents need to know how their elected leaders are keeping their health and safety at the forefront. They all are, except for one who gets the same daily email from Council President Giattino (with meeting link) but doesn't call in 85% of the time.  In 13 days of 13 meetings, the Councilman has attended 2. 

Note, one of the Councilman's absences was due to a minor health procedure; he was home by the evening and well enough to join the bi-weekly council meeting the same evening.

What about the other 10 absences? 

DeFusco is not working with anyone on the Council or in the Administration or OEM.  He's running a political campaign amidst the pandemic, seeing opportunity in crisis. Not only did he run amok earlier by delivering door-to-door hand towels to Marine  View Residents without coordinating with OEM or City Hall,  today he's launched a citywide card-making project for seniors on a web form.

DEFUSCO COLLECTING (AND SHARING) PERSONAL INFORMATION OF HOBOKEN RESIDENTS 

Making cards for lonely seniors sounds nice, right?  His stated goal is to send cards to 5,000 Hoboken seniors made by Hoboken residents. In order to do that, you must fill out his online form, which follows a message from him:

"Fill out the form below with your contact information and number of cards you're committing to send. From there, I will email you directly with the name and address of a Hoboken senior." 

DeFusco has not shared this project with any local agency or Hoboken official: his council colleagues, City Hall, and most importantly OEM. The web form is a campaign strategy to collect names and email contacts of Hoboken residents.  Further, he is sharing the names and addresses of Hoboken seniors with strangers. Does he have their consent?

DEFUSCO "CARD-MAKING" PROJECT RISKS SPREAD  OF COVID-19 TO VULNERABLE SENIORS 

CREEPY WEB FORM  

Once again, the Councilman has not consulted with OEM prior to the launch of his citywide project.

It's not rocket science, it's just science.  An unknown number of Hoboken residents either have the virus or been exposed to someone who has the virus. This includes children. The people who DeFusco is soliciting cards from. 

Under our present pandemic circumstance, unless every single card-maker has been tested for COVID-19 and have been cleared, sending cards they've handled to the homes of the most vulnerable population is dangerous and irresponsible. 

The City should be advised to review the safety of this "hands-on" project and go from there. I am not a doctor. But I don't know my own status- it;s possible I have COVID-19 or been exposed to someone else who does.  With that uncertainty, I would NEVER send something that I've touched to a vulnerable Hoboken senior. 

DAILY COVID-19 COUNCIL MEETINGS ARE NECESSARY 

The meeting agenda is for the City, the Council, and Hoboken's Health and Human Services to get on the same page on local action, public health advisories, impacts and new policy all related to the coronavirus in Hoboken.

Every day, HHS Director Leo Pellegrini imparts the latest information from the NJ Department of Health on  the status of Hoboken residents who have been tested for coronavirus, public health advisories, and other issues related to testing in Hoboken.  

Director Freeman imparts quick-moving policy updates from City Hall, and gives the Council a heads up to prepare for the latest policies and directives.  

Each individual Council member shares what is happening in their ward and the status of any COVID-19 related community projects they are driving. The discussions also allow the City to offer any kind of assistance that these various projects may need. 

One example is the Hoboken Food Pantry Project. 

             click image to read

Three council members: Fisher, Ramos and Falco, have made a tremendous difference in expanding Hoboken’s food sources for hungry families in need. By partnering with the Hoboken Community Center, led by the beloved Toni Tomarazzo, they got support from the administration and Hoboken's OEM and CERT teams, and an expanded Hoboken Food Pantry was relaunched.

It has been extraordinarily successful- and you can help, too.

DONATE FOOD: 

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Z5851ZAWNLQY/ 

DONATE $: click here 

It goes without saying that our daily lives are being shaped by a constant flow of information about coronavirus, informing public policy and areas of need. Clearly, this administration and our council  are putting the health and safety of residents first, and are working together in our best interest;  our health providers are literally sacrificing themselves for us.  We are all as good as what we know, and how we work together in this unprecedented disaster to save as many Hoboken lives as we can.

That is why it's dangerous for Councilman DeFusco to blow off daily COVID-19 meetings--  of course he doesn't know what best practices are to protect Hoboken residents and save lives.  His profound ignorance explains his risky and reckless card-making venture. I really don't believe he'd put seniors at risk intentionally.  He's just uninformed. A dangerous thing for an elected official to be during a killer pandemic.