mvitale

With the start of a new school year, with hybrid and remote learning as choices for families, the Ocean City school district has joined with the Ocean City Tabernacle's Son Club to offer a program that would help meet the new and changing needs of students. The Son Club is offered for free during the school year from Monday through Friday for students grades K-8 and begins Monday, Sept. 21. In addition, there is a fee-based remote learning Son Club that will be offered. Participants will enjoy indoor and outdoor games in grades K-6. They will be in consistent groups of 10. Details follow on the programs.

The Cape May County Health Department is strongly encouraging all residents to get their flu shot as soon as possible. Flu vaccination is the best way to prevent the flu and its potentially serious complications. Flu vaccine prevents millions of illnesses and flu-related doctor’s visits each year. For example, during 2018-2019, flu vaccination prevented an estimated 4.4 million influenza illnesses, 2.3 million influenza-associated medical visits, 58,000 influenza-associated hospitalizations, and 3,500 influenza-associated deaths. During seasons when the flu vaccine viruses are similar to circulating flu viruses, flu vaccine has been shown to reduce the risk of having to go to the doctor with flu by 40 percent to 60 percent...

Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton and Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson announced announce that the Cape May County Division of Veterans' Services will host a Veterans Drive-Thru Resource Event on Thursday, Sept. 17. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the front parking lot of the Cape May County Department of Human Services (the Social Services Building) at 4005 Route 9 South, in Rio Grande, Middle Township. Freeholder Jeffrey L. Pierson encourages all veterans and their families to participate in the Drive-Thru event...

Biking, lounging on the beach, sipping cool drinks, or just strolling the Boardwalk, Labor Day with its spectacular weather, brought flocks of vacationers to savor the waning days of summer. But with the COVID-19 pandemic changing the landscape where students start either hybrid or virtual learning, and some parents are working from home, some families said the plan is to continue to come down to Ocean City as long as the weather stays beautiful. The Ocean City Beach Patrol extended guarded beaches at the most popular beaches through September, prompting people to say it is all the more reason to keep coming to the resort. Christina Molina, 36, of Levittown, Pa., brings her three daughters, Gianna, 10, Julianna, 12, and Alaina, 13, down to Ocean City a couple days a week throughout the summer. On Monday morning the family sat on beach chairs along the water’s edge at Ninth Street beach. Like other bathers, they had their area separated from others to social distance...

With many people working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students doing online courses and the shoulder season nearing, Ocean City is offering guarded beaches well into the end of September. Vacationers and residents will be able to spend weeks longer on the beaches and in the surf, with the assurance that the Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards will be on duty to protect them.

Cape May County is updating its Hazard Mitigation Plan, which Ocean City officials say is a valuable tool to provide much-needed funding to coastal towns, should a disaster strike. The county will host a webinar at 2 p.m. on Sept. 10 for those interested in learning about the plan and how the county is working toward reducing impacts from hazards. The meeting will focus on hurricanes and flooding. Ocean City Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Donato said the mitigation plan is vital to the coastal communities and in recent years has provided needed funding for city projects to alleviate flooding.

For nearly six months, indoor dining has been closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions were difficult for some restaurant owners who said that takeout, curbside and delivery orders were only a small portion of their business. But on Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy allowed indoor dining for the first time since March with a 25 percent capacity. In addition to fewer people being allowed inside at one time, eateries also rearranged floor space to create social distancing, and some set up outdoor seating. Manco & Manco, Ocean City's landmark Boardwalk pizzeria, reported that the first day of indoor dining went smoothly.

Danny Russo, of Hoboken, looked out over the beach in the north end near Seaspray Road, where Ocean City's project to pump in fresh sand to replenish the eroded shoreline was wrapping up Thursday. He said he couldn’t believe his eyes. “The beaches are like four times bigger than they were last year,” he said with a smile. Russo, his best friend, Dallas Wilkins, of Newark, and his father, David Russo, spent some time on the beach fishing. They come to Ocean City every summer for a getaway. “We didn’t catch anything, but we’re definitely happy about the beaches,” David Russo noted. The work is the culmination of a major beach replenishment program that began in the spring to rebuild beaches across approximately 2.1 miles of Ocean City's northernmost and downtown beaches.

The Ocean City community is joining together to offer youth camps and programs this fall to schoolchildren and their families during the coronavirus pandemic. Camps will run Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $25 per week. All programs will begin on Sept. 14 and end Oct. 30. The camps are a result of the city’s Community Services Department, the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Ocean City school district and OCNJ CARES, a nonprofit organization assisting families during the pandemic.

Carlos Valencia, of Egg Harbor Township, worked out at Atilis Gym in his hometown Tuesday, the first day that gyms across the state were allowed to reopen since the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns six months ago. “It’s such a release. Everybody is so amped up. They are so stressed out over COVID. Going to the gym is a release,” Valencia noted. Stacy Golinski, of Somers Point, likened the reopening of fitness centers by Gov. Phil Murphy to a holiday. “It’s Christmas day,” she said after a workout. “I’m just happy to be back to the normal routine. It’s so important, not just physically, but mentally.” Chris Lambert, owner of Atilis gyms in Egg Harbor Township, Ocean City, Sea Isle City and Wildwood, along with his wife, Lesya, who is a major part of the operation, were busy checking in members Tuesday.