Credit: (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
File photo
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of New Jersey’s first COVID-19 death, legislators moved to provide $20 million to help needy people with unreimbursed burial expenses for those who died from the novel coronavirus.
“Almost everyone in New Jersey knows at least one person that has passed away due to COVID-19,” said Sen. Ron Rice (D-Essex), sponsor of the legislation creating a state COVID-19 burial assistance program. “These unexpected deaths have not only brought sadness to loved ones but have added on to the economic hardships under which many are already suffering.”