Good afternoon everyone, today is July 21st, 2020 I am Mayor Paul Medany and on behalf of Deptford Township Council we are back with our updates on COVID-19 information.

What we’re seeing though is everyone relaxing their safety orders. The virus is here, it’s staying here, and you’ll catch it if you don’t follow the rules, we’ll talk about that in one minute. We’re continuing our videos showing you around our great community. Today we’re in Oak Valley, Pine Acre section in Deptford Township, we’re going to show you some of the highlights around here.

Oak Valley was originally a golf course, this development started in the late 1950s. Right now, we’re at the Oak Valley Fire Station which was actually founded in August 1956, 64 years ago. Behind us is the woods, back in the day it was the Oak Valley Swim Club, which was a hot spot back then. Right across the street which you’ll see in a minute is the Rutgers Avenue Playground, which was newly renovated by Deptford Township last year. Fantastic playground and basketball court. Right down the street from here, which you’re going to get a shot of, is the Oak Valley little league complex. That was renovated 6 or 7 years ago by Township Council. As we said before in these other videos, all of these complexes are run by our volunteers, and coaches, and organizations.

Okay we’re going to get on the move, we’re going to show you some shots of our Veterans park right next to Oak Valley School, Pine Acre School is across the street in another section. Our Veterans Park was actually conceived by Councilman Joe Scott in the Veterans committee and the volunteers built it along with the design by local artist Frank Cedar who actually helped construct the park itself.
So now we’re going to show you some more spots in Oak Valley, we want to give you a little info though. Oak Valley is about 1,315 homes, about 3,483 residents by the last census. Most of the streets are named after Colleges and Universities, with the exception of the new townhomes section, which South Corner Place and Buddy Pal Place are the street names there, named after two soldiers who died in combat. Buddy Pal was actually an Oak Valley resident.

Okay now we’re going to get to our pandemic update and some information. So, COVID-19 stands for CO which is Corona, VI which is virus, D disease, 19, the year it was discovered. If first entered the country by all accounts in January of this year. We’re now 7 months into that with really no coordinated national effort.

So, we move forward. We ensure that Deptford Township residents have the knowledge and fighting spirit to beat this thing and to get our businesses opened and folks back to work.

COVID-19 is a virus that has become a disease. Viruses are living organisms, they must have a place to live. Think about this, that home is your body, a virus enters your body through your mouth, your nose, and your eyes. For us to stop the disease from spreading, remember there is no vaccine, for us to stop it, you must cover your mouth for two reasons.

First of all, your mouth when you talk emits droplets when you cough and talk. They travel in the air, then you cover your mouth to keep from those droplets from entering your mouth. So, you’re protecting yourself and protecting others at the same time. You must wear a mask everywhere you go.

Face coverings are not a political statement, right. They’re protection for everyone, every age, every business, every gathering. Face coverings are scientifically the best weapon we have to slow this thing down. Then you get to physical distancing, wash your hands, sanitize, stay 6 feet apart. Stop hugging people and stop shaking hands, really. We’re in a new normal, which we need to follow to get this thing back.

Deptford events are being planned but we’re the Governor’s guidelines which literally come out every day. Follow us on our website and our Facebook page. The mall is open. Restaurants are open for outside dining. Just today there was a new guideline that came out that sports are opening up which you have to look up because we don’t have the time to tell you exactly about the guideline. Get outside, go shopping, go visit a park, go visit a playground, but wear your face covering and stay apart.

So, look, at the end, let’s keep working together. Keep yourself and your family protected to protect others. This is a team effort, and we’re all on the team. We need kids to get back to school, businesses opened, all of that. We’ll be back to normal, but it depends on a coordinated effort Locally, County, State, and National.

We’ll see you soon, remember, please cover up.