COVID-19 Spike Impacts Trash Collection In Gloucester Township

Anthony Bellano
Updated ·5 min read

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — The COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact on trash collection in Gloucester Township, according to officials.

Solterra, which handles the township’s trash collection services, has seen its workforce severely impacted by the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, according to officials.

Therefore, township residents may not see their trash picked up on their scheduled collection day.
The normal 24- hour recovery pick-up of trash may also be delayed another day, depending upon the route and staff availability.

“Solterra will continue to utilize their resources and has even reached out to subcontractors to assist them within the next couple of weeks,” township officials said in a statement. “Please continue to put your trash out on your normal scheduled day. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding. Please share with your friends and neighbors.”

The Camden County Department of Health is announcing 3,347 new positive cases of COVID-19 which occurred between Saturday and Tuesday, bringing the aggregate number of confirmed positive cases in Camden County to 95,827 and 1,460 total fatalities.

Of the 3,347 new cases, 873 are among patients under 18 years old. The average age of the newly infected is 34 years old. Of the new cases, 353 were reported in Gloucester Township.

“Unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods yet when it comes to the latest surge of COVID-19,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. said. “But we’re doing all that we can to ensure that residents have access to the proper tools to keep themselves safe and healthy. And tomorrow, Jan. 19, we will be holding a virtual town hall to address the public’s questions and concerns about the pandemic. You can tune into the program at www.camdencounty.com/live/ or www.facebook.com/camdencountynj/.”

Camden County's testing sites and times are located below:

  • The Camden County Health Hub located at Camden County College’s Blackwood campus from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays by appointment only.

  • At the Health Hub no appointment will be needed on Thursdays from 8 to 11 a.m. This will be a saliva test.

  • On Tuesdays the county Health Department will be administering testing at the Charles DePalma Public Works complex from 8 to 11 a.m. This will be a saliva test.

  • On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the county Health Department will be administering testing from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Camden County Complex located at 2600 Mt. Ephraim Avenue in Camden City. This will be a saliva test and no appointment is needed.

  • Testing will be available at Cooper University Hospital, which is located the intersection of Broadway and Stevens Street in Camden, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

  • Cooper Specialty Care at Cherry Hill will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. This is by appointment only and you must be asymptomatic to be tested.

  • You can schedule your COVID-19 test at Cooper by using our online scheduling tool at this link.

Additional COVID-19 testing locations:

  • CAMCare Health Corporation has three sites where its testing residents by appointment and accepting walkups- the schedule and appointments can be made here: https://www.camcare.net/covid-info. You can also call (856) 583-2400.

  • CAMCare Gateway Health Center is hosting testing at 817 Federal Street, Camden, NJ 08103.

  • CAMCare East is hosting testing at 2610 Federal Street, Camden, NJ 08105.

  • CAMCare Clementon is hosting testing at 121 White Horse Pike, Clementon, NJ 08021.

In addition to these county testing options, the New Jersey Department of Health is also offering a mail in option. They have partnered with the same test provider, Vault Medical Services, to distribute free, at home COVID-19 tests by mail to all residents who need them. The new program is in addition to traditional testing operated at designated testing sites.

You can order a test by going to learn.vaulthealth.com/nj. The kits are shipped through UPS with next-day delivery and once you receive it, you will hold a Zoom call with a Vault health care professional to guide you through the test and answer your questions. You then send the test back in pre-paid packaging through UPS’ next-day delivery, and you must drop off the package at a UPS site or dropbox. Results should be back to you within 24 to 48 hours.

Vaccine hours:

Operational hours at the Camden County Health Hub vaccine clinic have shifted to 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays. This includes booster shots for ages 12-17.

As of Tuesday, 393,200 Camden County residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 339,616 have received two doses and 149,549 have received a third dose. More information regarding vaccination rates throughout the county and available on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard at covid19.nj.gov.

The Camden County Health Department is continuing to closely track new cases of COVID-19 and information regarding the prevalence of the Omicron variant. New cases are often reassigned to other municipalities over the course of an investigation.

This article originally appeared on the Gloucester Township Patch