Task Force on Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Launches Website Sharing the State’s Progress and Readiness to Prevent and Respond to Health Threats

Implementation Underway on Recommendations from the Independent and Comprehensive Review of the State's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

TRENTON, NJ - Furthering New Jersey's commitment to applying the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic response, the Task Force on Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness has launched a new website to provide updates on the whole-of-government progress that the State has made to improve New Jersey's ability to prepare for and respond to health-related emergencies. The website can be found at: nj.gov/health/preparedness.

"The COVID-19 pandemic brought tremendous loss and hardship to our state, but it also revealed the resilience and ingenuity of our communities," said Acting New Jersey Health Commissioner Jeff Brown. "We owe it to the families who lost loved ones, to the public health and health care workers who gave everything they had, and to all New Jerseyans to carry those hard-earned lessons forward. The work of this task force is our promise that we will learn from this historic event, and the tracking website represents our commitment to transparency and accountability."

"The launch of this website reflects our commitment to transparency, coordination, and accountability as we strengthen our preparedness for future public health emergencies. By objectively reviewing the lessons learned from the COVID-19 response, we are better prepared to prevent, respond to, and recover from future public health threats," said Lieutenant Colonel David Sierotowicz, Acting State Director of Emergency Management and Acting Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. "This effort is a testament to our responsibility to serve the residents of New Jersey with clarity, coordination, and readiness when it matters most."

An Unprecedented Crisis and Response

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound and devastating impact on New Jersey - tens of thousands of lives lost, millions of people experiencing sickness, disproportionate impacts on vulnerable residents, and unprecedented disruptions to work and schooling. The COVID-19 pandemic tested and stretched the resilience of government institutions and emergency response protocols. Against unprecedented challenges, New Jersey mounted a whole-of-government response that ultimately vaccinated 4.7 million individuals who live, work, or study in New Jersey in under six months, while the state's agencies quickly modernized and scaled government services to address historic, unprecedented resident needs.

Since 2020, the Murphy Administration has been committed to learning and growing from the pandemic, ensuring that future Administrations benefit from the preservation of knowledge gained during the State's response. As such, the State of New Jersey commissioned and participated in the Independent Review of New Jersey's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, released in March 2024. This review was the nation's first and most comprehensive after-action review of a State's COVID-19 response and includes recommendations across state government to strengthen preparedness.

Shortly after the release of the Independent Review, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 356, creating the Task Force on Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness to evaluate the review's recommendations, provide guidance on implementation, and make recommendations to the Governor to strengthen the State's preparedness. The Task Force, co-chaired by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and the Superintendent of State Police, has diligently carried out its work since spring 2024.

Embedding Lessons Learned and Sustaining Best Practices

While the COVID-19 pandemic was the most significant health crisis in New Jersey's modern history, it is neither the only nor the last. New Jersey remains vigilant against concerns like vaccine-preventable diseases, travel-related exposures, cyber attacks on critical health infrastructure, and biological threats. Practices and learnings embedded from the COVID-19 response empower the State to anticipate and confront new and evolving health challenges.

Through agency activities and coordination from the Task Force, the State has implemented many recommendations outlined in the Independent Review, other related task forces, and emerging best practices. This website highlights the State's progress, providing the public with updates and resources as the State of New Jersey prepares for and confronts future public health threats and other disasters and emergencies.

Key focuses include:

• Health and Emergency Planning, including updating the State's Pandemic Influenza Plan against a range of High-Consequence Infectious Diseases, refining the State Emergency Operations Plan, and adopting the first significant update in over a decade to Communicable Disease regulations.
• Training and Preparation, including updating Continuity of Operation Plans (COOPs) and regularly exercising plans with partners.
• Equity and Public Health Resiliency, including strengthening public health systems, facilitating insurance coverage, confronting racial and ethnic health disparities, and promoting age-friendly and disability-inclusive communities.
• Congregate Settings, including reforms to strengthen care quality and infection prevention in long-term care settings, correctional facilities, Veterans' homes, and group homes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• Partnerships, including sustaining and growing collaborations and knowledge sharing across agencies, levels of government, with the health sector, and with trusted community organizations.
• Data and Technology Infrastructure, including enhancing surveillance systems, strategically gathering and sharing data, dashboarding key metrics, and modernizing systems.
• Access to Critical Resources for the Emergency Response, including maintaining strategic stockpiles, facilitating procurement, implementing nimble workplace policies, and building the resiliency of the State workforce.

Milestones include:

• The Strategic State Stockpile maintains ready access to personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, gowns, gloves, and syringes; therapeutics; vaccines; and other medications.
• Wastewater surveillance - which provides statewide, population-level insight into disease transmission trends on SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B (including avian influenza), RSV, and other diseases - has expanded from eight sites pre-pandemic to 23 sites.
• NJDOH implemented Electronic Case Reporting (eCR), an automated system that transmits case information directly from health care providers' electronic health records to public health databases.
• In April 2025, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission (CSC) proposed N.J.A.C. 4A:6-7 to sustain the hybrid telework program.
• NJDOH convened an Interagency Vaccine Workgroup in late August to minimize interruptions to vaccine availability and coverage. The workgroup brings together leaders from the Departments of Human Services, Children and Families, Education, Banking and Insurance, Law and Public Safety's Division of Consumer Affairs, and Treasury to enhance coordination. Collective actions have included issuing orders and directives to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for all ages and the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, as well as aligned messaging to the public about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.