Death Certificates-Nutley (Essex County) COVID-19
Dear New Jersey Department of Health, Division of Epidemiology, Environmental, and Occupational Health,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
A copy of all death certificates, from March 2020-present, issued for residents of Nutley (Essex County) listing COVID-19 as a cause of death.
Yours faithfully,
Gary Portis
Dear Mr. Portis:
I am sending this email to confirm receipt of your records request.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian for the EEOH
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH) received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension of time until June 25, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH) received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension of time until July 9, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH) received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension of time until July 23, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH) received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension of time until August 6, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
We require additional time within which to respond to the referenced
request. We anticipate being able to respond by August 20, 2020.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
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From: DOH-deeohcustodian
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2020 12:58 PM
To: Gary Portis <[OPRA #14173 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] OPRA request - Death Certificates-Nutley (Essex
County) COVID-19
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH)
received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional
time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians
extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA
states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the
record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that
time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension
of time until August 6, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this
time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
Dear Mr. Portis:
This will respond to the referenced request for government records. If
you would like to submit a future request for government records, we
recommend that you use the online form at
[1]https://www-njlib.state.nj.us/NJ_OPRA/de... A list of the
programs under the jurisdiction of each custodian of the Department
appears at [2]https://www.nj.gov/health/opra/requests/... Use of
the online form ensures that a request is transmitted to the appropriate
custodian without delay and enables us to accurately track the request.
The State Registrar of Vital Statistics, and not the Division of
Epidemiology, Environmental, and Occupational Health, maintains death
certificates on behalf of the State. N.J.A.C. 8:2A-2 et seq., establishes
the procedure to request death certificates from the State Registrar, and
the applicable fee per record. N.J.A.C. 8:2A-2.2(d) identifies the
limited classes of persons and entities to whom the State Registrar will
release last sickness and death particulars (cause of death) on a death
certificate. To obtain forms to request vital records from the State
Registrar, see [3]https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/order-vi....
The government records law, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., obliges me to deny
the referenced request. Executive Order 9 at § 2c (Governor Hughes,
1963), available at
[4]https://www.state.nj.us/infobank/circula..., and Executive
Order 26 at § 4b1 (Governor McGreevey, 2002), available at
[5]https://www.state.nj.us/infobank/circula..., exclude death
certificates from public access and disclosure under the government
records law because death certificates are records, “concerning morbidity,
mortality and reportable diseases of named persons required to be made,
maintained or kept by any State or local governmental agency” and because
they contain information, “concerning individuals … relating to medical,
psychiatric or psychological history, diagnosis, treatment or evaluation.”
In addition, N.J.A.C. 8:57-1.14 and N.J.S.A. 26:13-26 exclude from public
access and disclosure, under the government records law, records the
Department collects pursuant to N.J.A.C. 8:57, governing reportable
communicable diseases, and N.J.S.A. 26:13-1 et seq., the Emergency Health
Powers Act, excludes records the Department collects as part of its
response to a public health emergency..
Based on the foregoing, the request is denied and closed. This response
does not waive or limit any other rights afforded this Department under
the government records law or the common law, which are expressly
reserved.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
From: DOH-deeohcustodian <[NJDOH-EEOH request email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2020 3:02 PM
To: Gary Portis <[OPRA #14173 email]>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] OPRA request - Death Certificates-Nutley (Essex
County) COVID-19
Dear Mr. Portis:
We require additional time within which to respond to the referenced
request. We anticipate being able to respond by August 20, 2020.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
From: DOH-deeohcustodian
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2020 12:58 PM
To: Gary Portis <[6][OPRA #14173 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] OPRA request - Death Certificates-Nutley (Essex
County) COVID-19
Dear Mr. Portis:
The Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health (EEOH)
received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request below. Additional
time is needed to respond to this request. OPRA allows custodians
extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA
states that “the requester shall be advised by the custodian when the
record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that
time, access shall be deemed denied.” Your request requires an extension
of time until August 6, 2020. Thank you for your patience during this
time.
Sincerely,
Steven Bors
Records Custodian (EEOH)
SB:djs