Governor Phil Murphy, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, the New
Jersey Department of Health, and the United Ways of New Jersey announced today
that NJ 211 has been activated to help handle COVID-19 related calls from New
Jersey residents.
All residents with questions or concerns about COVID-19 and resources
available to them can call 2-1-1. NJ 211 is New Jersey’s statewide,
comprehensive, information and referral service operated by United Ways of New
Jersey.
Residents call also text NJCOVID to 898-211 to receive text information and
stay informed. To receive live text assistance, residents can text their zip
code to 898-211.
These enhancements to 211 will supplement, rather than replace, the existing
COVID-19 hotline, operated by the New Jersey Poison Control Center. State
residents with questions about COVID-19 illness can continue to call the
previously shared numbers for the COVID-19 hotline, but they can also call 211
to get answers about their COVID-19 questions.
Additionally, the Department of Health has a COVID-19 website with resources
including CDC updates, guidance for schools, colleges, businesses, long-term
care facilities, health care professionals and public health professionals. The
website is available at https://nj.gov/health/coronavirus.
Local health departments, health care providers, and medical facility staff
should continue to contact the Communicable Disease Service at the New Jersey
Department of Health with COVID-19 questions.
About NJ 2-1-1
The statewide information and referral service began in 2002 when the United
Ways of New Jersey spearheaded efforts to give people-in-need an easy way to
find health and human services by encouraging the Board of Public Utilities to
designate the NJ 2-1-1 Partnership as the sole administrator of the three digit
dialing code. Statewide coverage began in 2005. In 2017 alone, the NJ 2-1-1
Partnership provided resource assistance to over 455,000 people who called
2-1-1 or visited our website. With roughly 3,000 agencies in the organization’s
resource database and over 10,000 programs and services listed, NJ 2-1-1
provides the public with front door access to nonprofit, government and
faith-based services, as well as disaster response information.