Mayor Madden's Message April 3: COVID-19

A Frightening New World for All of Us

The end of the last week of March and first week of April finds all of us in a new, and frightening world, fighting an enemy we cannot see.  Because of the greater availability of testing, the numbers now in our town and county of positive cases of the Corona Virus are growing fast.  In less than two weeks, our Borough went from no positive cases to 27.

Here are a few reminders: 

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. You don't need to use hand sanitizer, you don't need to use antibacterial soap.  Plain warm water and soap works as long as you wash for 20 seconds or more.

• Don't touch your face, especially your eyes. There is definitely a connection between the spread of the virus thru one's face.  Make sure you wash your hands before touching your face!  Even if you have only been in your own home, the virus can survive on your mail or a take out coffee cup for at least 24 hours.

• Physical distancing works! This is a virus that spreads thru contacts and human density.   Personally, I hate the term "social distancing" -- we need social interaction with people, so please make sure you make phone calls to friends and loved ones, learn to chat via Skype or some other platform, and stay in touch with those that make you love and care about.  Stay away from them, but stay in touch with them!

• And please, for next week's garbage collection, help us keep our young sanitation workers safe:  garbage must be in bags and then placed in hard rimmed containers (including cans, boxes, laundry baskets) that they can lift from a rim and a bottom; no lids (or duct tape your lid down) and not overfilled.  Our crews are out there touching thousands of potentially contaminated containers and we must take every precaution possible to protect them.