Independent Review of NJ’s COVID-19 Response Released

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Mar 11, 2024

The Governor’s office today released an independent review of New Jersey’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This 910-page report was authored by the law firm Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, under the leadership of former federal and state prosecutor Paul Zoubek, with assistance from the Boston Consulting Group.

While the report recognizes the state’s response to the pandemic as “aggressive, wide ranging, and making use of the toolset it had available,” it also says that, “despite the lessons of the last four years, New Jersey remains underprepared for the next emergency.”

According to Zoubek, the purpose of the review was to examine how prepared New Jersey was for the COVID-19 pandemic. The report evaluates how well the government responded, identifies lessons learned, and offers recommendations to help New Jersey fare better in a future emergency.

The review was first announced by Gov. Phil Murphy in November 2022.

New Jersey suffered the second-worst rate of death among all the states during the initial surge of the pandemic. Overall, figures from the CDC show that between March 2020 and May 2023, New Jerseyans suffered nearly 3,000,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 33,000 deaths.

The review credits New Jersey for taking, “bold and early steps designed to substantially reduce the number of people infected,” including shut-downs, quarantines, mask requirements, and social distancing. It also acknowledges that the shutdowns had “disastrous effects on business and commerce,” and that, “school closures not only led to lost learning for students, but huge burdens on families with school-age children whose parents had to figure out how to keep their children happy, healthy, and learning. Many needed to do this while still doing their regular jobs and others needed to leave their jobs to be home to care for their children or ill family members.”

In general, the report reveals that the impacts of COVID-19 in New Jersey exposed areas where society or institutions were already weak. For example, the disproportionate mortality rate for Black and Hispanic New Jerseyans was not a result of COVID-19’s pathology, but the result of systemic inequities built into the health system long before the disease arrived. Similarly, perennial challenges for state governments (in New Jersey and beyond), such as operating flexibly, expediting bureaucratic processes, and coordinating across agencies, became likely failure points when COVID-19 upended regular operations and created a set of new demands which agencies needed to begin to fulfill on short notice.

An overarching theme that emerged in many different contexts was that the public health system requires ongoing investment.

The review additionally analyzes the state’s response specifically related to veterans homes and other congregate care settings.

“We undertook an extensive review of the serious issues that existed in New Jersey’s long-term care and congregate settings. We analyzed New Jersey’s handling of congregate settings, visiting key sites and meeting with residents and interested organizations. Our independent analysis confirms the findings by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the State Commission of Investigation (SCI), and they are accepted here. We acknowledge that substantial reforms have been made to Veterans’ Homes in New Jersey, with additional changes being implemented. This report reviews those reforms and makes further recommendations.”

“I want to thank the teams at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads and Boston Consulting Group, who, under the leadership of Paul Zoubek, issued a 910-page comprehensive and unflinching review of the state’s response to COVID-19,” said Governor Murphy. “This pandemic, which took the lives of more than 33,000 New Jersey residents and well over one million Americans, was the greatest crisis our state has ever faced. During this trying time, my responsibilities as governor required that every effort be made to protect the health and safety of all 9.3 million New Jersey residents. As we emerged from the pandemic, my responsibilities similarly demanded that we as a state fully examine what worked and what didn’t work so that future administrations can be better prepared for a crisis of this magnitude.”

New Jersey is the only state in the nation to have completed this type of independent and comprehensive review.

Murphy added that his administration looks forward to working with the Legislature on the recommendation outlined in the review.

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