NORTH BERGEN, NJ – At the height of the COVID-19 epidemic, for twice a week, Christoper Bohorquez rode in empty train cars on board the northeast line of the NJ Transit railway from his hometown Edison, New Jersey, to his job as a tape digitizer for NBC up in North Bergen, just seven miles away from Manhattan.
As a tape digitizer for NBC, Bohorquez qualifies as an essential employee, since, according to a letter he received from the Department of Homeland Security, Bohorquez provides “… emergency communications sustainment and restoration support to critical communications infrastructure facilities in response to [the] COVID-19 Declaration of National Emergency.”
In other words, Bohorquez provides the necessary footage that NBC affiliates stations need in order to deliver their newscasts as best they can.
“I’m not saving people’s lives, you know, like doctors or medics or EMT’s and all that,” Bohorquez says. But y’know, I guess I do feel obligated to keep continuing the flow of information and helping out the network as much as I can.”
It’s a lonely job to do, Bohorquez says, as prior to the pandemic, he used to work with two other people in the room. But social distancing regulations enforced by NBC made it that only one person at a time was allowed at work, and hours were cut to make sure everyone got a fair share.
Fortunately for Bohorquez, things seem to be returning slowly to normalcy, as most U.S. states have begun slowly reopening themselves for business, including New Jersey.
And for Bohorquez, seeing people slowly joining his commute is a rather welcoming, as it also means he can get Uber rides to work a lot quicker than he used to.
“There’s people at the train station. Lots of people. I’m like ‘wow, ok, haven’t seen this many people out in a while. So, I guess people are starting to become less scared, and Ubers are getting easier to find,” Bohorquez said.
And it’s not just for work that people are coming out for. Over Memorial Day Weekend, New Jersians took advantage of the slow reopenings to hit up the Shore, relax at the beach, and even get in a kegger or two.
But while New Jersieans are getting a break for the cabin fever they’ve built up since the start of the quarantine, that doesn’t mean that anyone is completely safe from still catching the Coronavirus.
As of right now, Coronavirus infection results won’t be available for another two weeks, as it takes up to 14 days for any actual symptoms to develop in an infected person.
However, front line medical personnel (EMT’s, doctors, etc.) are concerned that just because new reported cases are data low right now, that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that low.
“The only reason I think our cases went down is because of the quarantining,” said Christine Bizub, a volunteer EMT from Northern New Jersey. “So, with things being open, I think that cases are going to go up.”
Only time will tell whether or not things are actually getting better for New Jersians. For now, all we can do is wait.
