Child care centers initially were allowed to stay open during the pandemic, after the schools were ordered to close, since families still needed child care. However, on March 28, Murphy ordered all child care centers to close on April 1 unless they could verify that they were caring only for the children of essential workers.
Since the onset of the project in March, the demand for shields and other PPEs has increased rapidly, to the extent that Montclair State is now partnering with William Paterson University and Montclair Design Week to help produce the shields, and to work on fundraising and communicating with hospitals.
A 66-year-old woman has been identified as Montclair's first presumptive case of COVID-19, New Jersey Department of Health officials said Thursday, March 12.