The COVID-19 pandemic is not over in New Jersey, regardless of how eager elected officials — and the public — are to put the past two years behind them, according to a panel of experts that included a former state epidemiologist. “I personally can’t say that we’re in the endemic phase just yet. I think we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. And that’s true for places in the world where a lot of people are vaccinated,” said Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, who was state epidemiologist during the 2000s and returned to advise the Department of Health during the first year of the coronavirus crisis. New Jersey has the eighth highest COVID-19 immunization rate in the nation, with roughly three-quarters of residents fully vaccinated and one-third who have also received a booster shot. Polls show residents are tired of pandemic restrictions and Gov. Phil Murphy, who ended his regular coronavirus media briefings two weeks ago, began talking about a shift to an endemic, or stable, phase of the disease at the start of February. To Read the full story.