This story is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. Link to video: njspotlight.com/video/staffers-in-nj-nursing-homes-still-resist-vaccination-as-covid-19-resurgent/

“That light at the end of the tunnel? It now looks like a freight train heading in our direction,” is how Laurie Brewer, New Jersey’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman, describes the threat of resurgent COVID-19 cases, which have triggered lockdowns and restrictions on visits at 124 long-term care facilities in the state even as 25 percent of staff there continue to resist being vaccinated against the disease.

Gov. Phil Murphy set a Sept. 7 deadline for health care workers to get COVID-19 shots or opt for weekly testing instead. Facilities that don’t vaccinate all their workers risk losing hundreds of millions in federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars under a recent directive from President Biden.