Five Years Ago This Week, Hoboken Shut Down For 'Novel Coronavirus': See Photos

HOBOKEN, NJ — There were no tests or vaccines for covid-19 back in spring of 2020, and there was a shortage of masks. The only way to prevent the fatal virus from spreading was to keep people apart.

Hoboken Mom Urges: Please Listen To Long-Haulers

On March 13, 2020, a Friday, kids left the Hoboken schools and didn't return for the rest of the school year.

Restaurants closed and began delivery and takeout only.

People reluctantly learned to Zoom.

But not everyone could stay inside. Doctors in Hoboken asked the city to lobby for NJ Transit to restore its 5:20 a.m. bus because they needed to get to work in New York. First responders risked their lives to help others (and some in the area did not make it). Each night for many weeks, residents of the mile-square city stood in their windows to clap for health care heroes.

"Unfortunately, with the apex not projected to hit for at least another week or two; we are likely to see an even greater amount of confirmed cases," Mayor Ravi Bhalla wrote in an update on March 28, 2020. And he was right.

In New Jersey in April, hospitals filled up with people who'd caught the virus before the lockdown. The most deadly day during the pandemic in New Jersey was the last day in April, when more than 300 deaths were reported due to the virus.

Hoboken lost at least 70 residents to the virus, with the last deaths reported in the city in November 2022.

Members of Hoboken's volunteer CERT Team answered residents' questions, directing them to the outdoor testing center when they thought they might be sick. Read about them, and the most interesting questions they fielded, here: READ MORE: What Volunteers Heard At Hoboken's Coronavirus Hotline

Read about what Hoboken was like during the lockdowns here.

Further Reading

• Local Mom And Reality Star Tells Of Scary Coronavirus Fight At Home
• Hoboken Mom Urges: Please Listen To Long-Haulers
• NJ Death Toll At Least 27 Percent Higher Than Previous Year